How can you engage an audience that is overwhelmed with noise and suffering from attention deficit disorder? What are the tactics that editors and publishers must employ to cut through? And is there any proof of measurable business benefit from doing this? Val Voci of CQ RollCall, Luis Hernandez of Thompson (TIS) and Charity Sack of American Academy of Actuaries provided some guidance at the SIPA conference in Washington DC….
Breaking through the noise
Begin at home
Test out each new social platform at home, said Charity Sack, and enlist your friends, family and colleagues for feedback
Relevant relationships are key
Ask your audience what they want, build a relationship with them, and make sure your content is relevant….what’s in it for me?
Apply classic marketing discipline – even in this new world
Social media have transformed publishing from broadcast to a 2-way conversation, and mobile has made it instantly accessible, 24/7, anywhere. But the classic approach of plan, test, document, measure and course-correct still applies. Create a campaign calendar to keep you on track and watch the metrics.
Remember what works on each platform
On YouTube, people remember and share stories, so tell them stories. On twtiter, people pay attention to movers and shakers, so behave like one. On facebook & linked in, people pay attention to people they know, so cultivate your network. Familiarity breeds confidence and builds authority.
Make a promise, whet the appetite and ask for action
Be clear about what makes you different or better, and stick to your promise. Engage your audience with a taster of your content, and call for the click-through.
Renewal rates repay engagement effort
Luis Hernandez of Thompson has seen a 10% point growth in subscriber renewals since embarking on an editorial engagement strategy. Use email to open the conversation, but offer multiple channels to connect: twitter, LinkedIn, blog…
Regular email drives engagement with website
Emails grow web traffic by a third – they need to reinforce the value of the subscription and link back to another article or feature on the site. Forms and tools are big drivers , eg in HR compliance.
Blogging great for ideas – and new contributors
Monitoring which blogs get read and which generate comments is a clue to popular topics. Thomson re-use paid content to create blog articles, and some readers offer to contribute blogs – or feedback on new product ideas.
Turn headlines to benefits for twitter
Rather than just broadcast web article headlines, spin the benefit of the article and use this to tweet the link.
Re-use content in new forms
Repackage subs content as slide shows, podcasts, webinars, quizzes, video…. Thomson included free webinars as part of subscriptions as some prefer to learn this way. Video is growing fast, so need to plan how you can create content efficiently.
Use analytics to identify low users and re-engage
If subscribers haven’t logged in for 60 days, send a retention email highlighting what they might have missed. Try services like Eloqua or Scout Analytics.
Check your niche on all social channels
Even when readers aren’t using a social platform, vendors may be, and you have a chance to engage with them. Suppliers of underground storage tanks were using Pinterest to share images – not what you’d expect in a niche b2b sector.
So the advice was to try out new platforms that match your audience, stay relevant, be canny about repackaging content, and use planning and testing to learn what works. The impressive impact on renewals from Thompson’s engagement programme is ample evidence that it is worth persevering.
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Carolyn Morgan has launched, acquired, grown & sold specialist media businesses in print, web and events. She launched the Specialist Media Show in 2010 and grew a community of ambitious publishers keen to grow their digital activity. SIIA acquired the Specialist Media Show in 2013 and Carolyn is now Programme Director for SIIA UK. Follow Carolyn on twitter at @siiauk.