A presentation given at Magazines West in Vancouver on June 17, 2011: How the National Post, Best Health, Today's Parent, Flare and BlogTO are using social media right.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES
Kat Tancock • Magazines West • June 17, 2011

2. Social media:
Waste of time or valuable tool?

3. Today's agenda

4. 1. Best Health and Twitter

5. Be out there and aware

6. Retweet and respond

7. Be fun and engaging

8. "Engagement begets engagement."
– Meg Pickard

9. Repackage and continue
the conversation

10. 2. Lisa Tant and Twitter

11. Be personal and sincere
"I think it’s successful when the brand
comes first but the editor can add some
personality to it."

12. Converse and engage
"Respect people and engage with people. I
tweet back and listen to people. I feel that
they can send me information or feedback
and they know I’ll pay attention."

13. An "instant focus group"
"I can get a sense of how well a cover might do by
the feedback we get from it as soon as we post it
online on Twitter – it's incredibly valuable."

14. More tips from Lisa
Use Twitter to see what's going on: "I've even done fact-check that way",
e.g., waiting for a designer to be announced
Remember who you are: "If you wouldn't want it on the first page of the
company newsletter, don't tweet it"
Be careful: "It's a really big forum and things can get retweeted
massively... I don't swear on Twitter"
Be interesting: "There's a lot of people I don't follow anymore because
they just blather on"
Be positive: "If I'm hiring someone I do look at their Twitter feed. If
they're negative I'm not really interested."

15. 3. Today's Parent and Twitter

16. Throw a party
"@TodaysParent had
reached over 100,000
followers on Twitter and
we wanted to celebrate
and thank our followers!"

17. How did #todaysparent100k work?
"For a two-hour period, we asked questions that drove users
back to our site or the magazine for answers and gave away prizes
from partners."
Goals: Reward followers, continue to grow list. "We got there."
Now at 130,000+ followers.
#todaysparent100k hashtag created for consistency and
branding.

18. Accessible, fun, targeted

19. Tips from Elana Schachter
Know your audience. "Our event was in the late afternoon but I
think next time we will try later in the evening, when young kids
are in bed."
Promote the event – but not too far in advance. "People are so
busy these days, one week's notice is plenty."
Work with your brand. "Parents, especially moms, seem to be
very active when it comes to tweet culture."

20. 4. Best Health and Facebook

21. "Communities already exist.
Think about how you can help
that community do what it
wants to do."
– Mark Zuckerberg

22. A targeted incentive

23. Advertise where appropriate
Facebook ads can be targeted
to specific demographics and
interests
PPC/budget means no
(accidental) overspending
Have a plan that maximizes
conversions
Test, refine, test again

24. 5. BlogTO and Flickr

25. "It simply made sense."

26. Content and community

27. Engage with what's there

28. More tips from Tim Shore
Do what makes sense. "Flickr was the most popular photo
sharing site [when we launched in 2004] and many of us were
already using it."
Repurpose. "We feature Flickr photos at least three times a day:
in the Photo of the Day, the Morning Brew and the Radar. We
also feature Flickr photos in other posts as appropriate."
Have guidelines. "Our Flickr community is really great at
adhering to the guidelines we've set out for them."

29. 6. The National Post and Tumblr

30. It's the dashboard that matters

31. Repurpose and be where the
audience is
"We're taking
content we’re
already creating
and turning it into
content that is
meant to work in a
certain space."

32. Use the platform (not only) to
promote print

33. 7. The National Post and Foursquare

34. Decentralize content
1. Take the newspaper, rip it into squares,
sprinkle it across Canada.
2. Get past the idea of a centralized news construct where you
have to go to a site or read a paper to find out what’s going on.
Make the news contextual to where you are.

35. An election experiment
"Add a game layer to the election, to a real-
world event. Also wanted it to stand as proof of
concept for the idea of mobile-based polling"

36. Tens of thousands of check-ins

37. Tips from
Chris Boutet
Put stuff out there, see how people
respond, then refine the idea.
Watch activity through analytics
and interaction and tailor the idea
as you go.
Give followers more of
what they want.

38. Rules to follow
Experiment and refine
Play around, but focus your efforts
Work with your brand and audience
Respect the local culture
Track goals and results
Have a plan

39. Thank you – and thanks to:
Lisa Tant, Flare (@lisatant)
Chris Boutet, National Post (@chrisboutet)
Elana Schachter, Today's Parent (@elanamatic)
Tim Shore, BlogTO

40. kattancock.com
kat.tancock@gmail.com
@kattancock
kattancock.tumblr.com
linkedin.com/in/kattancock
slideshare.net/kattancock
instagram: kattancock