Guide
Local news social media video: explain what it means for residents
Updated
The most useful local news video is a short explainer: what a council decision, road closure or new bill means for the person watching. This guide gives five story types and a daily routine two people can keep.
In short
- Local newsrooms should post short explainers that say what a story means for residents.
- Each explainer comes from a story your reporters already filed, so it needs no new reporting.
- The same five kinds of story work all year, such as what changes for residents, how to apply for a permit and follow-ups.
- Start with three videos a week at a fixed time. One a day is the most two people can keep up.
- Saves, shares and comments naming real streets show it is working. Follower count tells you little.
- Local story types that work all year
- 5 types
- What a 30-second explainer holds
- ~75 words
- Where to start, at a fixed time
- 3 a week
What is a local news explainer video?
It takes a story you already filed and says what it means for the person watching.
- Few others make these videos, because national outlets cannot cover every town and aggregators do not know which street is affected.
- The reporter who filed the story in the morning can explain it on camera in the afternoon.
- Reading the headline aloud does not work. Say what changes, from when, and what the viewer should do.
Filed story or explainer video
The same reporting, told for a different purpose.
Example
- The filed story
- The council approved a change to the parking scheme
- The explainer video
- Your street changes on the 14th. Here is what to do about your permit.
What it does
- The filed story
- Reports the decision
- The explainer video
- Tells a resident what to do about it
New reporting
- The filed story
- Done this morning
- The explainer video
- None needed
| The filed story | The explainer video | |
|---|---|---|
| Example | The council approved a change to the parking scheme | Your street changes on the 14th. Here is what to do about your permit. |
| What it does | Reports the decision | Tells a resident what to do about it |
| New reporting | Done this morning | None needed |
Five local news video ideas that work all year
Pick these five once, and you no longer have to decide what to post every morning.
- Fixed story types teach your audience what to expect, which is a big part of why they come back.
- "What is that?" videos answer the question before a neighbourhood group answers it wrongly.
- "How do I?" videos are purely practical, and they are the ones people save and share most.
- Local figures are often buried in PDFs, and a video can pull one out and say where it came from.
- Follow-ups show viewers that you stay with a story after the headline.
Five local story types
| Type | What the video says | Example |
|---|---|---|
| What changes for you | What a resident does differently, and from what date | A new parking scheme |
| What is that? | The answer to a question people asked in a neighbourhood group | The building going up on the corner |
| How do I? | Where to apply, who to call and the deadline | A permit, a rebate, an appeal |
| A local number | One figure about your area, said out loud with where it came from | Response times, a waiting list, the tax rate |
| The follow-up | What happened next to an older story | A story from six weeks ago |
Type: What changes for you
- What the video says
- What a resident does differently, and from what date
- Example
- A new parking scheme
Type: What is that?
- What the video says
- The answer to a question people asked in a neighbourhood group
- Example
- The building going up on the corner
Type: How do I?
- What the video says
- Where to apply, who to call and the deadline
- Example
- A permit, a rebate, an appeal
Type: A local number
- What the video says
- One figure about your area, said out loud with where it came from
- Example
- Response times, a waiting list, the tax rate
Type: The follow-up
- What the video says
- What happened next to an older story
- Example
- A story from six weeks ago
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
A daily routine two people can keep
Make the video from reporting you already did, not as a second job on top of it.
- Post at the same time every day, so people know when to look.
- Start with three a week. One a day is the most two people with other work can keep up.
- Keep three a week going for three months before you move to five.
- Record two or three videos back to back on two days a week, instead of setting up five times.
- Keep two explainers that never go out of date, such as how the council works, for a sick day.
One local explainer, from idea to posted
Every step takes minutes, because the reporting was done this morning.
Pick it in the morning meeting
One filed story, one decision inside it
Write what you will say
About ten minutes, roughly 75 words
Record it with the day's other videos
Back to back, in one sitting
Post at the fixed time
The same time every day
Answer comments twice, 20 minutes each
Once after posting, once in the evening. The comments often give you the next story
How to handle comments on local news videos
Local viewers often reply with facts, so the comments work like a tip line.
- People send corrected street names, things the council left out and news from meetings you missed.
- The reporter answers comments for about 20 minutes, twice a day: once after posting, once in the evening.
- The second person posts the video, keeps the schedule and flags anything that needs the reporter.
- The reporter who answers is the person people start sending tips to, which is why it should not be handed around.
- Correct a mistake once, in public, and do not argue with anyone twice.
- A good question from the comments can become tomorrow's video, as long as you say where it came from.
How to tell if local news video is working
Watch what people do with the video, not how many people follow you.
- Judge it after three months, not after two weeks.
- Expect small, useful numbers rather than big ones.
What each number tells a local desk
| Number | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Saves and shares | The explainer was useful. People plan to use it. |
| Comments naming real streets | Your viewers are local, not random |
| Views | Useful, but they tell you less than saves and shares |
| Follower count | Almost nothing at this size |
Number: Saves and shares
- What it tells you
- The explainer was useful. People plan to use it.
Number: Comments naming real streets
- What it tells you
- Your viewers are local, not random
Number: Views
- What it tells you
- Useful, but they tell you less than saves and shares
Number: Follower count
- What it tells you
- Almost nothing at this size
Where Cutroom fits
Editing an explainer by hand takes 30 to 40 minutes, so five a week fills a working day. Cutroom does that edit in about a minute.
- You upload one video of the reporter talking, up to 3 minutes long.
- You get a finished 9:16 MP4 with captions burnt in, in one of 40 caption styles, and a hook at the start.
- A producer can fix a misspelled street name by editing the transcript.
- Cutroom cannot clip a long recording, such as a full council meeting.
- Each explainer costs 100 credits to edit plus 20 per minute to export, so about 110 credits for 30 seconds and 120 for a minute. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 videos of 30 seconds, with no Cutroom mark.
- Posting the plain video with the free caption tools in the apps is fine until the habit has lasted a month.
Three ways to edit a local explainer
| Option | Time or cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Edit by hand | 30 to 40 minutes a video: captions, vertical framing, name checks, export | A desk with a spare editor |
| Post the video as recorded | Free, with the caption tools in the posting apps | Three posts a week |
| Cutroom | About a minute a video, about 110 credits for 30 seconds | A daily post |
Option: Edit by hand
- Time or cost
- 30 to 40 minutes a video: captions, vertical framing, name checks, export
- Best for
- A desk with a spare editor
Option: Post the video as recorded
- Time or cost
- Free, with the caption tools in the posting apps
- Best for
- Three posts a week
Option: Cutroom
- Time or cost
- About a minute a video, about 110 credits for 30 seconds
- Best for
- A daily post
Questions people ask
- What should a local newsroom post on social media every day?
- One short explainer built from a story you already filed. Pick the decision inside it, say what changes for a resident and from when, and stop. Reading the headline aloud does not work, because the headline was already in the feed.
- Do local explainer videos need new reporting?
- No. The reporting was done when the story was filed. The video turns it into something a resident can act on, which takes about ten minutes of writing and one recording.
- How many people does a local video desk need?
- Two: a reporter who records and answers the comments, and someone who posts and keeps the schedule. One person can manage three videos a week. One person doing a daily video on top of full reporting usually stops by the second month.
- Should a local newsroom post to every platform or pick one?
- Pick the one where your readers already are, stay with it for three months, then add a second if there is time. Uploading the same video twice is easy. The real cost is a second comment section to read twice a day.
- How do we know whether local news video is working?
- Watch saves and shares rather than views. A saved video about a permit deadline means someone plans to use it. Comments that name real streets show your viewers are local. Give it three months, and expect small, useful numbers.
- Can Cutroom turn a long council meeting recording into clips?
- No. Cutroom takes one video someone recorded on purpose, up to 3 minutes long, and returns a finished vertical video. For a council meeting, record a short explainer about the decision instead.
Explain what the news means for residents, at the same time every day. Your first video is free.
Try for freeYour first video is free, no card, and you have 7 days to make it. It carries a Cutroom mark; Lite at $19.99/month removes it