Kipp Bodnar recently\u00a0wrote a post\u00a0at HubSpot\u2019s blog titled The Next Big Thing for Marketers: Social Magazines.\u00a0 In it he opens with the trend that tablets are here to stay.\u00a0 He\u2019s right, but let\u2019s think bigger than tablets.\u00a0 Tablets are just one type of device within the larger category of ultra-portable devices. Ultra-portables have steadily grown in popularity over the last few years in many forms, and will continue to evolve as innovations in the technology behind them advance.\u00a0 But ultra-portables aren\u2019t the trend either.\u00a0 The trend is mobile.<\/p>\n
After his introduction of the trend, Kipp goes through 3 reasons social magazines are important for marketers.\u00a0 Kipp is a smart marketer and his articles are usually quite good, so I was expecting a thoughtful piece \u2013 especially with a title that promised so much (that Social Magazines are the \u201cnext big thing\u201d).\u00a0 But as I read his reasons, I\u2019m not convinced \u2014 at least by these reasons in particular.<\/p>\n
How much do software platforms within portable devices play a role in your digital marketing?\u00a0 That all depends.\u00a0 The apps that are catching on in popularity from a content perspective are those that build upon content\u00a0that is already popular<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0already being consumed<\/em>\u00a0on the web.<\/p>\n All the closed\/paid magazines\/apps are essentially the\u00a0reinvention of CD-ROM media.\u00a0 We all remember how well that ended.\u00a0 The media is\u00a0quite obsessed with apps, but it\u2019s a\u00a0misplaced hope\u00a0in a\u00a0false savior.\u00a0 The marketing industry is equally guilty and tend to get just as wound up about every new piece of technology (hardware or software).\u00a0 Both need to think critically about how that technology actually impacts what they do vs. immediately declaring it the next big thing.<\/p>\n Speaking of next big thing, in Kipp\u2019s article, he obviously is influenced a bit by\u00a0Scoble\u2019s reaction\u00a0to the flipboard.\u00a0 Aside from the fact that Scoble classically jumps to conclusions about apps he likes being revolutionary and \u201cchanging everything,\u201d remember that Scoble is talking about consumer tech\/content consumption.\u00a0 This does\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0change the core aspects of content marketing.<\/p>\n Anyway, on to Kipp\u2019s reasons \u2014 I said I\u2019m unconvinced these reasons in-particular are why social magazines are the next\u00a0big thing<\/em>\u00a0for marketers.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps<\/em>\u00a0for consumers (yet to be seen).\u00a0 Let\u2019s list them and discuss why.<\/p>\n 1. Noise Reduction \u2013 Many marketers today are working to get social opt-ins on Twitter and Facebook in hopes of getting their content included in the information stream of prospective customers. The problem is that, for many people, their social streams are filled with too much content, and much of it gets lost in the crowd. Because social magazines help to filter and better display social streams, it is likely less content will be lost to noise and companies will have better opportunities to connect.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If your social stream is filled with noise, this is your own fault.\u00a0 If you follow a bunch of people on Twitter or have a bunch of Facebook friends constantly sending noise, not signal \u2013 any app that helps filter it is just going to give you aggregated noise.\u00a0 Facebook (who I\u2019ve actually\u00a0been\u00a0critical of\u00a0in the past) has actually been doing a pretty good job natively of filtering signal from noise for me lately (or maybe the ~1,000 people or so I\u2019m friends with are being more interesting).\u00a0 Either way, it\u2019s our own fault if we suffer from a poor signal to noise ratio.<\/p>\n Further, these types of social magazines merely interact with content already within streams.\u00a0 In other words \u2013 as a marketer, does Tweetdeck somehow affect what you should do on Twitter?\u00a0 Not really, it\u2019s just a way for\u00a0users<\/em>\u00a0to interact with that content.\u00a0 There are many potential tools, including a perfectly useful web-based version (the trend of apps does not denigrate or suddenly make less useful web-based versions).\u00a0 Understanding apps and usage patterns are important, but they don\u2019t necessarily change what marketers are doing from a strategy standpoint.\u00a0 In fact, if you are already publishing\/syndicating content in an open platform, (as you should be) you\u2019re likely well positioned for shifts.\u00a0 Startups who produce applications such as social magazines are always going to build them in ways that leverage existing content.<\/p>\n 2. A Return to Visuals \u2013 Successful traditional print and offline marketing has been dominated by great visuals and tight copy. Today Twitter streams, RSS readers and online news sources are dominated by catchy headlines and bullet points. Social magazine prioritize the value of powerful images in online storytelling. Blog posts with powerful images that help illustrate the message of the post will translate well to this new method of media consumption. Pictures now have a greater impact on who reads your content.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A return to visuals?\u00a0 I disagree \u2014 visuals never went away and are possibly the\u00a0most popular<\/em>\u00a0content format on the web (and have been that way for a\u00a0long time<\/em>).\u00a0 In fact, as I noted\u00a02 years ago:\u00a0 viral images predate viral videos, and have been around since the AOL and Prodigy days when there wasn\u2019t enough bandwidth available for the everyday user to access video.\u00a0 For success examples of visual-based sites, look at blogs like\u00a0Smashing Magazine, digital newspaper sections such as Boston Globe\u2019s\u00a0The Big Picture\u00a0or even images section of Digg, Reddit and 4chan.\u00a0\u00a0Images have been vital\u00a0to digital publishing before social magazines existed.<\/p>\n 3. Social Segmentation \u2013 Many large companies still publish magazines and distribute them to their B2B customers as a method of nurturing and educating potential buyers. Social magazines allow potential buyers to create their own magazine that is most relevant to them. This relevancy means that potential customers are more likely to read the magazines they create instead of the magazines that marketers print and mail to them. Marketers will need to shift focus and make it easy for content to be included in social magazines by providing RSS feeds and aggregating content through social media.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Potential buyers can create their own magazine that is most relevant to them right now.\u00a0 With just a web browser.\u00a0 In fact, they\u2019re already doing it:\u00a0 it\u2019s called RSS.\u00a0 Bullet point #3 speaks to the importance of offering compelling content through a feed, which is true.\u00a0 But success here has less to do with what types of apps are used to consume it, and more to do with publishing great content.\u00a0 I agree with syndicating and letting users do what they want with it, but I\u2019m far less concerned with\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0they subscribe.<\/p>\n As streams, aggregators and real-time services\u00a0already exist<\/em>\u00a0do you think specific apps that offer variations on consumption and social features impact what you\u2019re doing from a strategic standpoint?\u00a0 We already live in a long-tail app and platform world.\u00a0 People will continue to receive and share content in diverse ways and start-ups will keep creating interesting ways to do just that.<\/p>\n Understanding the variety of different ways content is being consumed is important, but the low level skill.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t call each new consumption device or piece of software \u201cthe next big thing\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s all happening within a larger ecosystem.\u00a0 The best marketers are fluent enough in what\u2019s happening to realize it\u2019s actually\u00a0not about technology, it\u2019s about ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kipp Bodnar recently\u00a0wrote a post\u00a0at HubSpot\u2019s blog titled The Next Big Thing for Marketers: Social Magazines.\u00a0 In it he opens … <\/p>\n