Republican Eagle's news group now RiverTown Multimedia

The Red Wing Republican Eagle and its sister news organizations are rebranding their division as RiverTown Multimedia.

Individual properties will continue to strengthen their hometown identities while the group’s new name emphasizes that together they are much more than simply 10 newspapers operating under the former RiverTown Newspaper Group identity.

Get a glimpse of what RiverTown Multimedia offers by watching a video. at http://www.rivertownmultimedia.com.

“We’re rebranding as RiverTown Multimedia to reflect the changes of our industry,” Division Manager Steve Messick said.

Readers in both print and online will start noticing the RiverTown Multimedia logo as it takes effect today.

“We want to showcase how our digital products and services — including video, email marketing, mobile web, blogs and social media — can connect advertisers with our growing audience,” Messick said.

RiverTown Multimedia officials anticipate people will view more 25 million pages of locally produced content in 2012. The division had more than 2.27 million pageviews and 336,000 unique visitors in May alone.

The Red Wing Republican Eagle’s website — www.republican-eagle.com — had nearly a half-million pageviews and more than 46,000 unique visitors last month

The group includes Hastings Star Gazette, Farmington Independent, Rosemount Town Pages, South Washington County Bulletin (Cottage Grove) and Woodbury Bulletin in Minnesota and Hudson Star Observer, New Richmond News, River Falls Journal and Pierce County Herald (Ellsworth) in Wisconsin.

In addition, RiverTown Multimedia has the western Wisconsin news outlet www.rivertowns.net.

“We’re moving quickly toward completing the transformation into a 24/7 news organization where our readers connect with us electronically at work, at home and on the go via mobile devices,” Roger Sievers said. He leads the RiverTown Multimedia’s digital products.

“People traditionally think of us as strictly newspapers. We are so much more,” R-E Editor Anne Jacobson said.

Readers want quick, accurate news when and where they choose, she noted, rather than simply waiting until the newspaper drops in their mailbox.

To complement the instantaneous, quick-hit nature of RiverTown Multimedia websites, the print editions will continue providing valuable in-depth news and local features to our subscribers. They will get those pieces first, she said.

Our news organizations have two strong platforms, Sievers and Jacobson said, and people use both.

“The Red Wing Republican Eagle isn’t going away and we don’t believe local newspapers are going away either. We think the expanded business model of both multimedia and print is the future,” she added.

“Our mission is the same, but we do have dynamic new tools helping us deliver the news our community wants,” Messick said.

RiverTown Multimedia team members have held free digital information seminars for local business groups and chambers of commerce this spring throughout our region, Messick said.

“We’ve learned so much and know we can help equip local businesses with skills for online marketing,” he said.

Rivertown Multimedia is a division of Forum Communications Co.

Tags: business, news