Why Publishers Have a Huge Advantage on Social Media

newyorkmagazine-emojiIt’s a mad, mad world out there on the social platforms, but publishers have a leg up when it comes to social strategy.

As a brand, you’ve got to leverage a multi-channel strategy to engage a wider audience.  And it’s no picnic out there, as anyone who is on social media regularly will tell you.

Fortunately, publishers have a real advantage when it comes to understanding social media and how to use it, according to William Petersen of theAudience.  The key to social media, he asserts, is to think like a publisher.

“Consumers are savvier than ever before and know instantly when they’re being marketed to—especially in social,” he tells the staff at Min in this article. “Engage your users with compelling content and they will share it with their own audiences, moving your story quickly and effectively through social systems. Hit them over the head with an overt marketing message and they’ll lose interest.”

Fairly simple, when it comes down to it, right? And publishers are uniquely poised to create this kind of engaging, storytelling content…it’s what they do all day long.

“When you create content from the mindset of a publisher instead of that of a marketer, you set yourself up to maximize the efficacy of social engagement and distribution,” Peterson continues.

He strongly cautions against using click-bait strategies, a practice that we believe can severely damage your brand. We are pleased to see many publishers dropping those “promoted stories” links.

“While click-bait and one-off practices might drive consumption in the short-term, these activities very quickly begin to wear down both the patience and allegiance of consumers. To build brand loyalty, you need to avoid practices that could be perceived as a disregard for, or an indifference to, your audience,” he notes.

Like all of us, Petersen is aware of the rapid change that happens in social media and feels that publishers again have a skill set to help them navigate through it.

“Magazine media brands and social media are the perfect complement to each other. No matter what the social platform, an almost universal trait of social media users is an unquenchable thirst for great content—and magazine media brands have built strong businesses delivering great content to subscribers from the beginning,” Peterson explains.

“Paired together and packaged appropriately, the power of media brand content delivered via social channels is unrivaled in its ability to reach consumers,” he concludes.

So go, be social…just be smart, be savvy and create fantastic content that your readers will love. Because at the end of the day it’s the people, not the platform, that matters to publishers.