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OPA Digital Q&A Define Media Group’s Adam Sherk on Social Media: Part II

The “OPA Digital Q&A” showcases perspectives on key trends in online publishing and media by industry leaders.

On March 6, 2012 Adam Sherk, VP SEO and Social Media, Define Media Group, will lead a discussion at OPA’s annual Social Media Day on audience development best practices.  In advance of his presentation, we had the opportunity to ask him a few questions. Here is Part II of his responses (Click here to read Part I):

How can publishers maintain active social outposts without sacrificing on-site community and engagement?

AS: Fortunately for publishers, sharing links is a huge part of social media activity. As a result major social sites have become valuable referral sources as opposed to taking away traffic.

A lot of the conversation around content does now happen off-site, but interestingly this has not led to a drastic reduction in on-site user activity. From what we have seen over the past few years social media has increased the total number of conversations as opposed to taking those conversations away from the main site. And publishers can always experiment with things like Facebook Comments to try to bridge the two.

In addition, off-site activity can be a great source of ideas and user generated content that can be leveraged on the main site (as well as the print publication) in interesting ways.

The New York Times is particularly is good at pulling social content into a value-added package of some sort on their own site, either in combination with their own reporting or through things like data visualization.

For those publishers that you view as being most successful in the space right now, are there particular metrics they are using to show the success of their social media campaigns?

AS: Traffic is still the most important measuring stick. As with search traffic, it is good to look at YoY (Year over Year) growth across the various social outlets as opposed to getting too focused on MoM (Month over Month).

As I referenced above it is also useful to compare user activity and behavior both among social sites and against other sources of traffic. This can inform site and content planning that will ultimately lead to increased engagement and conversions.

In addition it is good to define specific goals for both ongoing social activity and for specific promotions (like a special package or feature) to establish a meaningful way to evaluate success.

Total followers, likes, tweets, +1’s, pins, etc. are also interesting to monitor, but quality of engagement and achievement of specific goals wins out over quantity of activity.

How does social media impact SEO?

AS: Social media impacts SEO in a number of ways both directly and indirectly.

For instance Google is using Google+ and Bing is using Facebook to directly influence the search results that signed-in users see. Google’s new “Search Plus Your World” initiative is a very big push towards greater personalization through social connections and social activity.

Google+ does not yet have the mainstream adoption of Facebook or Twitter, but Google is making it a major priority and heavily promoting it. So I wouldn’t expect it to go away anytime soon. At a basic level this means publishers should be making the most of +1 buttons on content templates and official Google+ pages.

The engines are also looking at social activity in aggregate as way to evaluate the popularity or relative “importance” of content and the authority of sites. Links are still much more important but social signals are growing in prominence and value.

If Google had better relationships with Twitter and Facebook we would already see greater visible integration of a wider range of social signals in its ranking algorithms. This has seemingly taken a step back in the past 1-2 years as Google places its bets on Google+.  But it would be foolish for Google to ignore activity on other social sites.

About Adam Sherk

Adam Sherk is VP SEO and Social Media for Define Media Group. Adam works as an embedded strategist and trainer, helping news and content sites to develop and execute effective SEO and audience development programs. Adam writes about SEO and social media for publishers at AdamSherk.com.

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OPA Digital Q&A: Define Media Group’s Adam Sherk on Social Media - Part I

The “OPA Digital Q&A” showcases perspectives on key trends in online publishing and media by industry leaders.

On March 6, 2012 Adam Sherk, VP of SEO and Social Media at Define Media Group, will lead a discussion at OPA’s annual Social Media Day (#OPASMD2012) on audience development best practices.  In advance of his presentation, we had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about social media best practices, social plug-ins and more, This is Part I of a II part series with Adam. As always, we welcome your questions and comments.

When it comes to social media best practices, what are some examples of publishers gaining traction?
AS: There is still a lot trial and error going on (which is one of the great aspects of social media). Encouragingly, over the past couple of years there has been an evolution towards incorporating social media into a cohesive audience development strategy as opposed to treating it as a separate initiative.

I am fairly familiar with magazine publishers like Condé Nast, Time Inc. and Hearst, all of which are doing good work.

The New York Times has been active in social for quite some time but in the past year or so they have stepped up their efforts. ABC News is doing well too and The Washington Post is having success with its Social Reader.

I have also been impressed with NPR. They recently shared an interesting case study on their experiments with Facebook Page geotargeting.

How important is on-site optimization? What are some of the things publishers should keep in mind when deciding on the right social plugins to use? How much is too much?
AS: On-site optimization is critical. It starts with the basics like which social sharing buttons to add and where to place them. That seems pretty straightforward but you’d be amazed at how often sites make mistakes with it.

Facebook integration gets a lot of attention now as publishers try to figure out their comfort level with things like frictionless sharing. Like buttons, Open Graph tags and reasonable use of Facebook Social Plugins are standard practice now but it will be interesting to see how this evolves.

Publishers are also doing things like comparing pageviews and time on site (by content type and social referrer) in an effort to create optimized experiences for social media visitors. This ties into ad sales and conversion rate optimization too as user intent and behavior varies by social site and as compared to search or direct navigation traffic.

Check back on the blog tomorrow for Part II of Adam’s answers to find out how publishers can maintain active social pages without cannibalizing on-site community and engagement.

About Adam Sherk
Adam Sherk is VP SEO and Social Media for Define Media Group. Adam works as an embedded strategist and trainer, helping news and content sites to develop and execute effective SEO and audience development programs. Adam writes about SEO and social media for publishers at AdamSherk.com.

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Gannett to Launch Subscription Model Across All Community News Websites

Gannett announced in an earnings call that it would be unveiling a new online subscription model for its US publications, excluding the USA Today.

The company announced a number of revenue generating initiatives, including the creation of a new digital marketing services business targeted at small and medium size businesses, but it is the online subscription model that got the most press. 

Like the existing system in place at the New York Times, the model will limit access for nonsubscribers, and offer paid content on all platforms, Jeff Bercovici of Forbes, noted.

PaidContent praised Gannett’s localized approach – that “its pricing and paywall strategy to each individual market—meaning that issues of pricing, bundling and meters will be determined on a paper-per-paper basis.”

PaidContent’s Jeff Roberts wrote: “This seems like a smart strategy—not only will the company have a chance to implement an optimal formula for each paper, but it will also acquire a wealth of price and marketing data.”

The mediasphere will no doubt anxiously watch Gannett’s next few months as it begins rollouts of the online subscription model, but one thing is clear: similar approaches have worked because readers are reaffirming that they will pay for valuable content.

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Trend: Publishers Forging Key Partnerships to Bolster Tablet Products

In 2011, the world witnessed the iPad become one of the year’s most popular gift items. Now that more affordable tablets - such as the new Kindle Fire – are coming to the market, it’s no surprise that a recent study by the Pew Research Center found that tablet and E-reader ownership has nearly doubled in the U.S. over the holiday gift-giving period. As the surge in tablet use continues to grow, some publishers are looking to leverage the popularity of tablets through strategic partnerships.

Two examples point to the trend of publisher/tablet maker partnerships. MediaPost reported that Barnes & Noble joined forces with The New York Times to offer consumers who buy a digital subscription of the newspaper on a Nook $100 off of a Nook Simple Touch or Nook Color tablet. AdAge reported a slightly different model, with the announcement that News Corp’s The Daily app will now be available on certain Verizon-marketed devices. Consumers that already own a Galaxy Tab will have access to The Daily app through a software update. Both approaches aim to incentivize tablet purchase and increase app usage.

Since tablet maker/publisher partnerships are relatively new, we will have to wait and see how this seemingly symbiotic relationship performs.

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How Consumers Learn About Brands 

How did you hear about your most recent purchase? Chances are, it wasn’t from a social network.  I read a recent eMarketer study with interest and found the most salient item in the study to be that US internet users learn about new brands more often from online elements that are not social media, but rather from online media (news sites and blogs) or online advertising.

As the study shows, 40.6% of US Internet users most frequently or often learn about new brands, products or services through online media such as news sites and blogs, and 30.8% learn about new brands from online advertising compared to only 24.1% of users who most frequently or often learn about brands through social media.

We weren’t surprised. The OPA enlisted Harris Interactive to conduct a study research to understand how consumers perceive content in different online environments, and whether these perceptions impact consumer responses to advertising. The research, titled A Sense of Place: Why Environments Matter, found that consumers are more likely to trust content on media sites (72%) than portal channels (60%) and social media (23%). The study also found that audiences on media sites are significantly more likely to believe these sites’ advertisers are high quality and reputable (24%), compared to portal channels (20%) and social media (8%).

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OPA 10th Annual Summit: Day 3

The third day of the 10th Annual OPA Summit featured a lively discussion about paid content, featuring executives from LinkedIn, The New York Times Company, and Financial Times.

Moderator Jeffrey Rayport, Operating Partner, Castanea Partners asked the participants to crystallize their paid content business strategies.

Rob Grimshaw, Managing Director, Financial Times, said the FT was essentially trying to create a business that generates more and more revenue from its content, and settled on a metered model that charged users when they hit a threshold of articles.

He also discussed how switching its mobile experience from applications to HTML5 was a risk, but it has ultimately paid off handsomely. Since the FT launched the app, its traffic from Apple devices is up more than 50%, he said.

“We feel although it was a gamble, we’ve put ourselves in a much better position,” Grimshaw said.

Paul Smurl, Vice President, Paid Products, The New York Times Company, told the attendees that they need to research the tolerance of their audience to pay for content. He echoed Grimshaw’s previous comments that the Times found that people were more than willing to pay for premium content.

Unveiling a metered system has not impacted traffic to the New York Times, remaining at 44 million global unique visitors, which is flat year-over-year.

Another interesting aspect to the unveiling of digital subscriptions is that it gives publishers greater analytics to understand what type of content their users prefer.
“You want to know where the oil is on your site better than others,” Smurl said. “It allows you to think [deeper] about average revenue per user.”

LinkedIn, as a social media company, took a slightly different approach. They made sure they weren’t impacting the experience of those who use the site for general networking, while locating a paid model for recruiters and other power users.

“We [looked to] creating paid opportunities that didn’t overall negatively impact the ecosystem,” Sutherland-Wong said.

And because a majority of users spend time on LinkedIn in a free capacity, that active audience provides an effective ROI for those who use the paid services

The panel served up plenty of evidence that online subscriptions have a bright future, with the key takeaway that publishers will find success with paid models by putting resources towards understanding their customers and paying attention to their needs.

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OPA 10th Annual Summit: Day 2 Afternoon

The second half of day two of the 10th Annual OPA Summit featured a number of start-ups (Singly, Luminate and Moat), a fireside chat with Michael Zeisser, SVP Liberty Media, and a presentation from Benjamin Palmer, Co-Founder and CEO, The Barbarian Group.

Each of the startup presenters brought an interest thought-starter to the audience of publishing professionals.

Jason Cavner, Co-Founder and CEO, Singly, broached the interesting concept that your digital identity could become a paid service in the future.

Chas Edwards, Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Publisher Development, Luminate, surprised the audience with the stat that 10% of all photos in humankind were taken in the last 12 months. By showing how photos continue to be a huge driver of multimedia content, Edwards emphasized the opportunity for publishers to leverage Luminate’s platform, which helps publishers realize incremental revenue through advertisements or ecommerce applications linked to their photos.

Jonah Goodhart, Co-Founder, Moat, highlighted a future where advertisers will measure the impact of campaigns through attention metrics, versus the traditional click-based data.

Zeisser painted an environment of unlimited internet startups explaining that the “cost of creating an Internet company is almost negligible.” He said that investment in online properties will increase and elaborated saying his company looks to share best practices and guidance to the companies it invests in or acquires, so they can focus on the next opportunity.

He emphasized his belief that Internet companies must consistently evolve and take risks, as companies that don’t stand a great chance of failure.. f

The Barbarian Group’s Palmer sees social media as a catalyst for brand advertising dollars to move online. He summed up the day’s discussion by touching upon how social media agencies and publishers can work together to produce compelling campaigns. As marketers create shareable content, they will increasingly want to leverage the considerable audiences of publishers to tell their brand stories

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OPA 10th Annual Summit: Day 2

The second day of sessions at the OPA Annual Summit focused on marketing and branded content.

Leading off, Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, VivaKi, identified audience, brand, content, data and enterprise as the key components for ongoing success for marketers.

He focused on marketers needing to understand their audience, but not just the people who buy the most of their products.

“Most marketers focus on heavy users, but we also have to focus on the heavy voice, or influencer,” Tobaccowala said. “If you don’t defang your detractors, it doesn’t matter what you do with your advocates.”

The three most important forces guiding the next phase in marketing are the Internet as “connection engine”; “digital leakage”, or how the digital spaces makes unlikely competitors of key brands; and D.A.D. (disaggregated, accelerated, distributed content).

“The next 10 years will be fantastic for the [publishing] industry if it lives up to its potential,” Tobaccowala said.

Tobaccowala, however, pointed out that there will always be unforeseen challenges and opportunities, or “black holes” when looking to the future. In 2002, he reminded the audience that Facebook didn’t exist, Google was just a search company, and Apple was given up for dead.

Matt Freeman, Vice Chairman/Chief Innovation Officer of McCann Erickson, highlighted how online publishers and advertising agencies have shared goals.

“The agency business and online publishing are not that dissimilar,” Freeman said. Adding that the goal is to determine “how we can work together to create new ideas in partnership with online publishers.”

Linda Descano, CFA and Chief Administrative Officer of Global Marketing & Corporate Affairs at Citi, talked about how her company is taking a stronger approach to content, from holding Twitter parties to launching social media sites.

The company asked itself: “How do we thrive in a conversation economy?”

Descano said that Citi’s previous marketing efforts lacked cohesion and a singularity of message, so they needed to alter their approach.

Citi has subsequently transformed its content strategy from the sort of formulaic “About Us” approach to identifying what information is relevant for its customers.

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OPA 10th Annual Summit: Day 1

The first day of sessions at the 10th Annual Online Publishers Association Summit highlighted the fundamental global changes that are impacting the publishing industry.

Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi discussed the economic outlook for the next couple of years in opening comments.

While he says full recovery is a few years away, he is optimistic and predicts that 2012 will be better than 2011, and 2013 will see additional improvement.

Mark indicated that the next big opportunity for US companies is in China, but that products and services must be re-imagined in order to succeed in that very unique and different culture. This holds true for content as well.

Our next speaker Peter Francese, Demographic Trends Analyst for the MetLife Mature Market Institute, noted that the state of the union for publishers is strong, considering how limitless the demand for content has become.

He broke down the various demographics that will be consuming the most content. He focused on both the young–noting that children are starting to access content online at around 5 and 6 years old–and grandparents, of which there are 65 million in the US alone.

For the latter, he said that when users encounter a new life stage, e.g. becoming grandparents or seniors, the need for content that explains the new worldview increases.

Genevieve Bell, Intel Fellow and Director of Interactions and Experience Research, Intel Labs, INTEL, spoke next about how Intel uses anthropology to better understand how its products fit into this changing landscape.

She highlighted the fact that the world is not just more connected, but that the US is no longer the center of the web-driven world.

“17% of the world’s Internet users were based in the US in 2010 vs. 65% 10 years ago,” she said.

“You need to be clear about who you are targeting, not just creating a fantasy of who your user is,” Bell said. “It is essential that technology providers and content providers make things that cut through the clutter.”
                 
She highlighted a number of trends that impact the publishing space. For example: the proliferation of devices. While consumers are struggling with what devices are relevant to their lives, they have decided that no one device will do it all.

But not everything is changing; Bell is quick to point out that Americans still watch five times more TV in a month than spend hours on the Internet.

Plenty more to come tomorrow and don’t forget to tune in at 9:15 am ET and 9:50 am ET for the next two live streamed sessions from the summit

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OPA 10th Annual Summit Kicks Off; Live Streaming Exclusive Presentations Feb 1 & 2

Today marks the start to the 10th Annual OPA Summit taking place in Coral Gables, FL. In honor of our organization’s 10th anniversary, today and tomorrow, we will be live streaming three sessions directly from the Summit. The exclusive presentations—listed below—will offer thought provoking dialogue around the theme “New Ideas for a New Decade” designed to bring forward fresh approaches and new tools for the online publishing and digital advertising industries. To tune in to the live stream, click here. We also invite you to follow the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #OPASUMMIT10 and follow the live tweets @OPA_PamHoran.

Live Broadcasted Sessions:

Excavating the Future: How Intel Is Applying Anthropology to Invent New Technologies

February 1st, 2012 - 1:30 pm - 2:15 pm ET

Genevieve Bell, PhD - Intel Fellow and Director, Interactions and Experience Research - Intel Labs, INTEL

Digital Marketing: The Way Ahead

February 2nd, 2012 - 9:15 am - 9:50 am ET

Rishad Tobaccowala - Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer - VivaKi

The 21st Century Advertising Agency: Everything Old Is New Again

February 2nd, 2012 - 9:50 am - 10:20 am ET

Matt Freeman - Vice-Chairman, Chief Innovation Officer - McCann Erickson

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