Lily Mirror

What is it about?

Third-semester students on the Online Journalism study programme have created an Instagram channel for SV Darmstadt 98 as part of the ‘Editorial Practice 1’ module. On this channel, they publish new posts every week focusing on various aspects of the club. These include previews of upcoming matches featuring club statistics, as well as reviews of past matches. They also share information about the club’s history and conduct interviews with players and staff. In addition, street surveys are carried out to gauge fans’ opinions and feedback on the club.

Implementation:

First, the students held a joint editorial meeting to consider their target audience. Many factors played a significant role in this. Once the target audience had been defined, the media format was selected on that basis. Which media formats does the target audience use most frequently? All agreed that social media, particularly Instagram, is used extensively by their target audience. The students then brainstormed a channel name and created a logo design. Finally, various editorial roles were assigned within the team, and the first drafts were written and forwarded to the relevant roles for further editing until a final post was produced. This was then published on Instagram.

Outcome of the project:

What sort of posts were created, for example?

For example, street interviews were filmed in which the students asked SV Darmstadt 98 fans for their views on the club. A three-part interview was also conducted with attacking midfielder Aaron Seydel. Before each upcoming match, a preview post is uploaded in which the students present the expected line-up for the forthcoming match and provide further information about the game. Following on from the preview post, a recap post is published about the last match, containing information such as the final score and the club’s match statistics. News about the club is also shared, such as upcoming player transfers. In addition, weekly ‘History’ posts are uploaded, which shed light on the club’s history – for example, through a player profile introducing former SV Darmstadt 98 players and explaining why they were so important to the club, or the history of the stadium. There’s no shortage of humour on the Instagram page either, as memes are shared regularly.

What lessons have been learnt from the project work?

Through the project work, students consolidate the skills and knowledge acquired in other seminars, such as identifying topics, conducting research, and producing text and images. They apply these specifically to the respective project objective. In doing so, they also develop the ability to apply their knowledge of planning journalistic media content as part of a collaborative editorial team, in order to present the best possible outcome for their target audience.