Social media is a key source of website traffic, an exciting way to showcase your content, and the key to building a community around your brand. But how much time and resources should you devote to this channel? What team and what tools are required to measure and maximize your ROI? Using real-life case studies from media brands using Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, Jennifer Reynolds explores building a social footprint that fits your publication, will expand your audience, promote your brand, and drive more revenue.

1. Making Social Media
Make Sense for Your
Business
Jennifer Reynolds Alberta Magazines Conference
Managing Editor, Digital March 2014
Reader’s Digest Canada Calgary, Alberta
jennifer.reynolds@rd.com
@ReynoldsJenj
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2. Social media dominates
time spent online
25%
13%
11%
9%
9%
6%
Social Networking
Online News
Online TV
Online Radio
Microblogging
Blogging
Canadian Internet Users (Average Time Spent Per Day)
Source: eMarketer 2013
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3. Where are we ‘socializing’?
20.5
19.6
6
6
5.8
3.9
Facebook
Youtube
Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
Instagram
Canadian Unique Visitors per Month (Millions)
Source: comScore February 2014
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4. Social users are MOBILE
75% 75%78%48% mobile only
Source: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest
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5. Source: comScore
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6. 13 Things You Need
to Know to be
Successful
in Social Media
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7. 1. What are your
GOALS?
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8. GOAL: Grow website traffic
8

9. Social Media vs. SEO
Social
• Encourages creation of sharable
content
• Gain feedback through engagement
(comments, likes, shares)
• Rich data available
• Passive audience: Content finds me
through my network
• Senior execs question it
• Requires some investment (not free!):
consulting, training, tools
• Earned reach is yours to keep
SEO
• Encourages cramming content with
keywords
• Understand customer intent through
keywords (if/when available)
• Keyword data less available
• Active audience: Relies on user queries
• Senior execs get it
• Requires significant investment:
consulting, training, tools
• Earned rankings can disappear with
Google algorithm updates
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10. Search Results are SOCIAL
Source: Searchmetrics SEO Ranking Factors – Rank Correlation 2013
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11. GOAL: Grow subscriptions
11

12. GOAL: Increase app
downloads
12

13. GOAL: Create new ad
products
13

14. GOAL: Collect UGC
14

15. GOAL: Collect UGC
15

16. GOAL: Collect UGC
16

17. GOAL: Test new content
National Magazine Award Winner
Gold – Science, Technology and the Environment
Silver – Essays
17

18. GOAL: Test new content
18

19. GOAL: Drive to offline
platforms/events
19

20. GOAL: Brand awareness
20

21. GOAL: Brand awareness
21

22. GOAL: Promote key
brand initiatives
22

23. Sometimes, you can have it
ALL
Canada’s Most Interesting Towns
1.2 million page views
669 submissions
1,453,835 votes
• RD’s most shared Facebook content (2012)
• UGC content for online and print
• Newsletter signups
• Live event in Quebec City
• Visitors received special sub offer
• Sponsored section
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24. 2. How will you
SELL it?
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25. YOU are a
marketer
25

26. 3. How will you
MEASURE it?
26

27. What are your KPI’s?
• Digital Reach: website traffic, newsletter
signups, social fans/followers, social
engagement, UGC content, app downloads
• Revenue Growth: visits, page views,
CPMs
• Offline Reach: print subscriptions,
newsstand sales
27

28. 4. What TOOLS
will you use?
28

29. 29

30. 5. What are the
BENCHMARKS?
30

31. Okay, but is
that GOOD?
31

32. 6. What’s the
TIME FRAME?
32

33. 7. What are the
ACTIONABLE
insights?
33

34. 34

35. 35

36. Facebook Post Boost
36

37. Boost Results
37

38. 8. How will you
build your TEAM?
38

39. Social Media Task Force
Content
Team
Technology
Team
Customer
Service
Team
Marketing
Team
39

40. Outsource or Insource?
• DO go outside for guidance and expertise
• DON’T task an outsider with managing
your brand in social media
• DO identify the most socially-savvy
resource you can afford
• DON’T let interns run your social media
40

41. Assign Stories
Vet Pitches
Edit Stories
Layout Pages
Collaborate with art team
Writing Content
Proofreading
Research
Fact-Checking
Custom Publishing SIPs
Digital Editions
TWEET & RETWEET
POST TO FACEBOOK
FOLLOW INFLUENCERS
ANALYZE TRAFFIC
PIN & REPIN
CREATE HASHTAGS
POST TO YOUTUBE POST TO GOOGLE+
RESPOND TO COMMENTS
START CONVERSATIONS
The New Job Description?
MONITOR COMPETITORS
INDUSTRY AWARENESS
CORPORATE ADVOCACY
41

42. One Voice or Many?
42

43. Ongoing Training
JOURNALISM COMMUNITY
MARKETING COMMUNITY
43

44. 9. What is your
BRAND VOICE?
44

45. 10. Which
PLATFORMS
will you use?
45

46. 46

47. Extraordinary Uses: Twitter
47

48. Extraordinary Uses:
Pinterest
48

49. Extraordinary Uses: Google+
49

50. Extraordinary Uses: Storify
50

51. 11. What is your
CONTENT
strategy?
51

52. 1. Entertaining
2. Informative
3. Inspiring
4. Surprising
5. Brand-relevant
6. Useful
7. Cute
8. Funny
9. Nostalgic
10. Smart
Top 10 Social Attributes
52

53. Make ‘em laugh
53

54. Make ‘em think
54

55. Inspire ‘em
55

56. Amaze ‘em
56

57. Make ‘em hungry
57

58. Surprise ‘em
58

59. Best Really Good Practices
• Post format matters
• Variety is important
• #Hashtag it
• Outreach
• Frequency
• Time of day
• Adapt headline/post by network
• Use platform targeting
59

60. 12. How will you
build your
FOLLOWING?
60

61. Fan-Gated Content
Hashtag Photo Contest
700+ photo submissions
2,000 new page likes
• UGC content for online and print
• 400 newsletter signups
61

62. 62

63. Cross-Promotion
63

64. More Audience Development
Tactics
• Target your niche
• Target your subscribers/visitors
• Follow influencers
• Join/start conversations
• Add sharing tools to your website
• Publish great content. Often.
64

65. 13. How will you
LISTEN to the
community?
65

66. 66

67. 67

68. 68

69. 69

70. 70

71. Key Takeaways
71

72. 13 Things You Need to Know
to be Successful in Social
1. What are your goals?
2. How will you sell it?
3. How will you measure
it?
4. What tools will you
use?
5. What are the
benchmarks?
6. What’s the time frame?
7. What are the actionable
insights?
8. How will you build your
team?
9. What is your brand
voice?
10. Which platforms will
you use?
11. What is your content
strategy?
12. How will you build your
following?
13. How will you listen to
the community?
PLANNING OPERATIONAL
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73. Questions?jennifer.reynolds@rd.com
@ReynoldsJenj
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74. Thank YOU!
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