Once viewed as traditional print publications’ vaunted enemy, the Internet now represents one of the best marketing tools for paper-and-ink magazines. It may still be the enemy in many respects, but rather than remain in denial about the here-to-stay popularity of digital media, print publishers instead are using the most popular social media sites on the Web to promote, complement, or even bolster the prized content they provide on their magazine pages. How are social media sites useful to traditional media outlets? Here are just a few of the clever ways sites like Facebook and Twitter can be used by print publications:
1. Content Teasers
Without giving away the whole story, social media sites offer publishers a chance to give readers a glimpse of what’s in their current issues, with the hopes of either redirecting readers to a web version of their print publication, or to a magazine stand to purchase a hard copy. Either way, headline glimpses are a great way to hook readers who might otherwise have missed a story in which they have interest.
2. Content Enhancement
Since many magazines don’t offer digital versions of their print publications, and as a result many magazine websites draw very little traffic, social media sites let magazine publishers take advantage of the benefits of digital publishing and the large audiences who have become faithful social media users. Photo galleries, video sidebars and the many other qualities that have made the Internet so popular are not possible in print, so publishers turn to social media networks to enjoy the best of both worlds.
3. Reader Endorsement
While Sally from Peoria may have loved the cover article she read in the latest issue of her favourite magazine, the only way for her pass that along used to be to mention it to friends. These days, she clicks “Like” on Facebook, or sends out a Tweet offering her praise, and hundreds, even thousands, of others can see that on her status update, giving the magazine the type of reader endorsement that isn’t possible in the flat print version.
4. Editorial Interaction
Among the more popular pages in many magazines are the Letters to the Editor, because readers enjoy seeing what other readers think of a writer’s take on a particular story. Social media websites not only make it possible for readers to post their “Letters to the Editor” immediately, but also for editorial staff members to respond, generating a back-and-forth interaction that draws readers closer to the product. Today more than ever, readers enjoy being “close to the story”, and this interaction with writers, photographers and editors gives them that satisfaction.
5. Branding Opportunity
To get their magazine covers in front of more eyes, publishers have to put those covers where more eyes are looking. Since fewer and fewer people are looking at the drug store magazine rack, publishers have seen the benefits of instead turning to social media outlets. There, the glamour cover shots will be searched for and found by more people.
6. Revenue Generator
Whether selling subscriptions to the entire print and/or digital products, or promoting the sale of an individual photo, magazines can use social media as a low-cost way to advertise themselves. Ironic, no? Especially popular are online links to photo stores that let readers choose from hundreds of images from a magazine’s archives. Also common is the selling of reprints of popular covers and advertising compilation books written by reporters whose work has appeared in a magazine.
7. Affiliate Content
Writers are often the stars behind a magazine’s success. Combine that reputation with the popularity of blogging on the Internet, and magazine reporters suddenly have a new outlet through which they can show their work. Free of space limitations and less hindered by subject boundaries, writers can offer content for which the pages of a magazine often don’t have room. This interaction allows writers to build more personal relationships with the readers who follow them and, in the process, boosts a magazine’s standing with fans.
Today’s article was written by Tom who writes and is a reviewer with CartridgeSave, offering the best ink cartridges in the UK.
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