in this issue: industry news | building relationships with user-generated content | interview: frank mcgill | latest launches ENGAGE is a monthly newsletter designed to keep you and other association leaders on top of trends in magazine and web publishing, as well as in branded content. If you get even one idea a year, we'd like to think Engage is worth reading.
According to this BizReport article and the Magazine Publishers of America, the magazine industry has seen a huge increase in the total number of digital offerings, with 62 new initiatives this year alone. These digital extensions exist to entice online users to pick up the print publication, and run the gamut from online content to blogs to podcasts.
National Geographic's Traveler magazine has launched an interactive blog for those readers who want to be able to search archives and post photos or comments about their own trips.
This TV Week article reports that Scripps Networks is looking to expand its online presence through the purchase of Recipezaar.com, a user-generated recipe and community site that features more than 230,000 recipes.
Magazines from the Windy City
Every summer the Chicago Tribune publishes its own list of the top fifty magazines of the year. This year's list is out and it specifically focuses on magazines that also have a web presence. This list covers everything from "Home Life" to "Travel" to "News." Take a look for yourself, you may discover a few new titles to visit online.
Hyperlocal News Reporting
This article from The Washington Post reports that the paper has launched its first of several "hyperlocal" resource sites, in an attempt to become the dominant local news and information resource. These community-focused sites will combine "traditional reporters and photographers with bloggers, videographers and extensive databases on schools, businesses and churches." Check it out at LoudounExtra.com.
Disclaimer: Access to some sites may require registration.
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Building Relationships with User-Generated Content
by Judy Kirkland
Serving members means building relationships. User-generated content (UGC) could make the difference to your success. It's the foundation of Web 2.0—what Internet guru Tim O'Reilly defines as "openness and participation." Wildly popular websites like You Tube and My Space demonstrate how UGC builds traffic and relationships. It can build businesses too: browse MySpace for friends' profiles and you may also come across the blog of the Humane Society of the United States, or a profile page for Wendy's square hamburger, part of Wendy's "good to be square" advertising campaign.
On your own website, UGC can advance your nonprofit's educational goals, boost event attendance, and much more. It can also be a fast and inexpensive way to expand member services as you strengthen your group's voice, clout and financial base. But, a successful incorporation of UGC on your site means an even balance between freedom of speech and filtered content. This white paper by eModeration highlights the concepts any organization should take into consideration before allowing UGC on its website, including community guidelines and user differentiation.
Here are some successful examples of integrated UGC:
Sharing: Health Central offers a great model for using UGC to connect members with advice or shared experiences. Click on Bipolar and you link to articles by featured experts plus advice from people coping with the disorder.
Content: Associated Content provides ready-to-use original video, text, audio or images. From a user review of a new treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome to a video clip of how lupus has affected the life of a pregnant woman, it's easy to connect with content that readers value.
Education: Want to educate, inspire, and involve? Take a page from a GE Healthcare website filled with photos people have sent in showing themselves engaged in healthy activities.
Fundraising: Senator Barack Obama's website allows user participation and donations. The "MY" features tab allows users to connect with other Obama supporters, send messages, and even create fundraising events (like a DC group's "Bid on Your Crush for Obama" auction and mixer).
click here to suggest a trend; image above by David McGlynn.
Tell us a little about McGill Partners.
What are the top challenges facing association publishers?
What do you see as the biggest opportunity for associations?
How has the industry changed?
To whom should association publishers look for inspiration?
looking for more? suggest additional interview questions.
McGill + Partners Consulting has, for 20 years, consulted to consumer and business publishers and to not-for-profit organizations with services ranging from strategic planning, creative, circulation and membership development to market research, advertising sales and financial.
Let's talk about the BIG one that's facing every traditional "publisher," whether they are an association or commercial enterprise—and that's, of course, developing and implementing a strategy that optimizes the integration of print and electronic media. We believe a best practices marriage of print and electronic media is a classic example of, to borrow from Aristotle, "The whole is more than the sum of its parts."
The expansion and evolution of media. Certainly this expansion will continue, and requires an association publisher to have a clear media strategy that assures it remains fully relevant to its constituents, that it is cost-efficient operationally, and that it provides a solid foundation to maximize revenue opportunities. An association's flagship publication—in itself profoundly important as a communications, member relationship and revenue tool—becomes even more valuable when fully leveraged with complementary e-media.
Among associations and non-profits there is a tradition of quality, insightful and influential media. What we find exciting today is the number, breadth and depth of individual organizations that are recognizing the value and benefits that media provide. Across the association and non-profit communities, the bar is being constantly raised on print and electronic media activities—with very positive results both in achieving communications objectives and, in many cases, in developing or expanding significant revenue platforms.
Certainly, associations can look to their colleagues for inspiration and insight on media best practices. In our consulting practice we've always felt that associations can benefit from the techniques and methods of leading commercial publishers—the newspaper industry, for example, has generally pursued a more aggressive deployment of electronic tools and electronic-print integration. The New York Times is an example, and, of course, there are always lessons to be learned from studying the great media companies.
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The latest consumer magazines to hit newsstands, courtesy of Magazine Yellow Pages.
Home. Work. Time. Leisure. This is the "first magazine dedicated solely to helping people tackle their organization needs." Check out the sample digital issue online, complete with page-flipping.
A magazine for the more than 10.5 million cancer survivors in the U.S., showcasing success stories and helping readers rebuild from "the day treatment ends, and for the rest of their lives."
There's a new magazine on the 60-plus scene, and this one "isn't for people who sit around in their rocking chairs." ELDR is a a sassy quarterly publication targeting the upper-echelon of the AARP demographic.
"Better Conditioning, Better Focus, Better Golf." This magazine covers nutrition, conditioning, mental focus, exercise, travel, fashion, philanthropy and more, aiming to keep the tradition of the game alive.