Monthly Archives: July 2012

Forget dabbling: In Asia, social media is here to stay

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Should Asian magazines find ways to use the unique opportunities offered by social media? Recent statistics suggest it’s not only an option, but a necessity for magazines that want to gain credibility among subscribers and visibility among potential subscribers. Social media is here to stay and it’s a critical source of information and entertainment for millions of users.

According to a recent Burson-Marsteller study, social media usage in the Asia-Pacific region has exploded in recent years, up to 107 percent in South Korea and 12,305 percent in Vietnam. More than half the region’s population is active on line, with Facebook the most popular social network.

With everything else a publisher has to do, it’s difficult to find time to do more than dabble in social media. However, dabbling isn’t going to get us anywhere. It’s time to think beyond simply handling occasional social media interactions. It’s time to develop a strategic plan for your social media outreach.

Use Facebook to interact with subscribers

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Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are valuable tools for magazines which have discovered the value of interacting with subscribers. But how do you use these platforms effectively? And how do you keep them from draining valuable staff time? The Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) has offered some tips developed by Brad Best, RJI’s advertising editor, and a team of Missouri School of Journalism students after weeks of analysis of a major Midwest metro daily newspaper. Here are five tips regarding Facebook.

1. Ask questions as a way of beginning discussion about events or issues. Make sure to link back to an article about the event, in order to drive traffic to your Web site.

2. Use visuals to add interest to the layout of your Facebook page.

3. Integrate new technology and media into your page in order to keep it lively and interesting. Consider posting videos of events, authors, or themes related to an article you want to feature.

4. Find a balance between daily posts and conversations. Too many posts will clog users’ feeds, and readers will begin to unsubscribe.

5. Prompt the visitor to read the Web site article related to the discussion question on Facebook.

Download the full article at http://rjionline.org/news/how-use-email-tool-your-news-site

 

Chinese magazines see new opportunities and challenges

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The secular magazine market in China is booming, according to Chinese publishers interviewed recently by Publishing Executive. Chris Hu, publisher of Elle Decoration and Quentin Lin, editorial director and associate publisher of Elle Men, were interviewed at the Yale Publishing Course in England last week. Both publications cater to the rapidly growing affluent urban population and both finance their magazines with advertising of luxury items. The advertising income is essential, they say, because glossy magazines cannot make money selling magazines on the newsstand.

Another challenge is distribution.  China is a large country spread across five time zones, and the 21 provinces have varying policies for periodical distribution, ranging from newsstands to the post office to state-owned stores, making it impossible to establish a unified distribution policy.

But one of the biggest problems is the gap between the rich and the poor and rural areas and cites. This requires different marketing strategies in different places.

Nevertheless, some magazines have managed to overcome at least some of the obstacles to grow exponentially. According to a China Daily report, Men’s magazines, a relatively new entry in the Chinese media market, have enjoyed an annual growth of 30 percent since 2006.

Social media may have been a factor in this growth. There are more than 500 million Internet users in China and according to a Chinese government report over half are on a social network. China’s microblog, Weibo, is an important tool for magazines, says Lin, and publishers are making increasing use of social media.

Work as a journalist in China, however, is not without its dangers. Two senior newspaper executives in Shanghai were recently removed from their positions, presumably because of incautious reporting on sensitive issues.

The 10 biggest digital magazine mistakes

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So you’ve launched a digital magazine or you’ve created a digital twin for your print magazine. Congratulations! Now take this 10 point checkup to see how you’re doing. In a blog published by Unbound Media, Michelle Kalman tells of contacting a broad mix of industry experts to research some of the key problems in digital magazine publishing. These are 10 of the big mistakes she discovered.

1. Duplicating the print experience. The print and digital media are not the same. Both present limitations and opportunities. Recognize the limitations of the digital medium, but also be sure to take advantage of all the opportunities it offers to build your magazine’s community through social media tools or to extend your story through video.

2. Assuming the online user experiences digital content in the same way a reader experiences print content. Your online navigation may not easily parallel your printed table of contents. Online users may jump around more than print readers. The importance of position may change and you may need to make your advertisers aware of this fact.

3. Not bothering with research. Just because you’ve researched your print publication doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do research before you begin to develop your digital version. Look at successful online magazines and figure out what makes them work. Find out how your readers want to access content.

4. Failing to get the best digital talent you can afford. Hire talented web developers and designers to produce your digital version. They will know what works in print, but may not work on line. Don’t forget to invest in social media activities.

5. Producing too many pages. The attention span of an online reader is much shorter than that of a print reader. Forget the three-page articles with columns of grey type.  Break down content into smaller bites in separate sections. And don’t forget to include creative elements to keep the reader’s interest.

6. Not keeping up with changing technology. So you’ve created a digital magazine or a digital version of your print publication. What platform are your readers using? Does your online publication work well on that platform? Each platform has its own rules and restrictions. There’s iPads, Android tablets, various readers, and mobile apps–plus whatever came out last week. No single digital product is going to work well on all platforms. You’ll  need to keep up with the technology to know where best to spend your digital dollars.

7. Thinking of money before engagement. Is your digital publication a desperate attempt to pull in some funds for the organization? In that case, it’s likely to fail. You’ll need to create engaging, relevant content in order to attract and involve an audience.

8. Not considering the advertiser. Advertising considerations are not the same as reader requirements. Spend money and time on preparing the right online presence for your advertisers.

9. Forgetting to get feedback. As you are developing your new online  magazine, get input from all those who will have a stake in the success of the publication. That includes audience, advertisers, and your staff.

10. Being satisfied with the status quo. Keep improving; take advantage of new digital opportunities and make sure your content continues to be fresh and engaging.