Stan Chew, SMV Group
Dear print publishers, the language of marketing today is experiencing a seismic change due to social media. Today’s new marketing vocabulary includes fans, engagement rates, sentiments, brand love, influence scores, shares, downloads and retweets. This new marketing vocabulary may cause you to assume that this is the language of consumers being really passionate about your paper or magazine.
Wait. Let’s rethink this a little. Have you ever seen someone talking passionately about your paper and spoke about your title enthusiastically? I don’t think so. It’s because your readers don’t really care at all. Look at the corresponding chart (source: Nielsen).
The reason consumers and readers alike are linking themselves to brands is to get access to special promotions, unique information and of course be entertained by brands. It is not as much about having a conversation with them. Here’s the big truth: Social media has misled you, or dazzled you with so much stars that as you continue to search for new ground in social media, yet you don’t have a sense of where you are really heading and how to make it work for you.
Don’t assume
Because it’s easier to see the screen right in front of us and measure the likes and the number of fans or the conversations that happen, we assumed that people care about brands. It’s easy to assume that people want to participate, that people want to be fans, that the audience loves your content, and that the depth of the content is a lot better than the breadth of relevance you bring. That is hardly true, studies have shown that readers and consumers today are fickle minded and loyalty is very much a commodity. In fact, studies show that 50% of all knowledge about a brand is held by just 20% of its buyers. What this means is that 80% of buyers and consumers today buy without understanding the true value they are getting from a brand.
In reality, the act of letting our untamed instincts take over the making of purchase decisions is often the derision of a rational choice. A brand is really as good as the last experience it has created. So here goes the first question: How have publishers today integrated themselves into the lives of the modern consumer today, creating value in a meaningful real time manner? Essentially, are you a print title that tries and get people to continue reading your publications or are you a title that people want to consume?
Where do you start?
It’s time to unlearn the tricks that worked at the peak of publishing, imagining that readers continue to stay passively contented just reading your content. Today, the consumer experience begins with a conversation that could happen online, continue offline, and go back online. The lifespan of a piece of news or opinion lives on the surface of daily commotions until it gets shoved down the news feed. That’s how long a piece of content last. Be spoken about or risk going unseen. Here are some of the ways print can stay relevant again in the age of social media:
1. Open the content distribution loop. Make it steal-able and multipliable
The most engaging part of any audience experience happens when the content and fodder for conversations grow into streams that are addictive and fun. These content needs to be curated, encouraged and tracked in real time. Invest in technology that taps into consumer sentiments and listen actively, while allocating new spaces in the paper or magazine for consumer generated content. Be provocative. Make an impression.
2. Be real time and stay real time. Celebrate the people, not the paper
There is a huge opportunity to be part of the conversations that happen beyond the paper. Conversations are often based around 
a piece of content, content can be triggers, they can also be extensions. Editors, journalists and writers need to proactively seek out such conversations and be part of the ongoing conversations. Put faces to the editors, tell people why they are important, give them a social feed, and make them the story tellers of the paper. Get your staff to be trigger happy on social media. Keep the conversations going on and on and on.
3. Go hyperlocal to reach the audience of audiences
Today readers have their own audience, every time they post and write something, it’s for keeping their audience entertained. At the same time, locally relevant news are becoming more and more important. Social media and mobile has provided the technology for news and opinions that matter around a neighbourhood. Seek out these audiences and tap into their audiences. Be the local enabler, the local hero, the local gossiper, the source.
4. Enhance the playbook – encourage an organisation structure social by design
Magazines and TV owners are now moving into what we called creative marketing, making editorial team part of the servicing
teams or marketing teams. Content and editorial direction when merged becomes even more powerful. Magazines like Monocle have done so with much success. This can be further enhanced when a social element is built into it. Challenge the editorial and marketing team to go beyond to design content for social participation that enhances the entire story telling.
The impetus to change is no longer one of selection but one of need today. I still enjoy holding my newspaper on a weekend, or the occasional magazine flipping in a coffee shop. But know this, I’ll probably be holding my mobile phone at the same time, trying to read the news feed and checking the latest emails that came in. Can you intercept this and pull me back to the moment?
