Interactive Magazines

The continued success of magazines has been in question for awhile now. Many have stopped production while others have been able to stay up with new changes in the world of social media, the Internet and technology. I am a subscriber to the magazine ReadMade, and I feel they are becoming a strong contender in the world of news innovation and customer involvement.

For starters, they have a strong website with multiple blogs, which they use to truly respond to readers’ requests. They have undoubtedly built a strong community for those interested in food, art, travel and DIY projects.

But the purpose of this post is to point out their new interactive addition to their print magazine. In their latest “From the Editor”, there is a paragraph describing their new addition, SNIPP:

As you comb through our pages, you will see that there are some callouts inviting you to “S-N-I-P-P” a story via text message. This is a super-easy way for you to receive and store additional information diresct from ReadyMade HQ- it’s as easy as sending a text.

S-N-I-P-P it! invites were placed throughout the magazine underneath articles. My favorite was in their ‘We Heart Snail Mail” section. This is a section that highlights a letter or present from a magazine fan. This month a box of cookies from The Hot Cookie store in Indianapolis was featured. The paragraph talked about The Hot Cookie’s two bakers’ enthusiasm and how delicious their product was. At the bottom of the article was this invite, “To learn more about Richcreek and Kujawa, visit readymade.com or text “RM HOT COOKIE” to 76477 (S-N-I-P-P).”

I decided to check out their new interactive feature and actually text “RM HOT COOKIE” to 76477.

They responded with, “Hi. Welcome to Snipp! Text back your email address (just reply to this msg) to get addl. info on the item you just snipped emailed to you.”

I sent my email and they responded, “Thanks! We just sent you an email. All future snips will be auto-emailed to you. You can also view them at www.snipp.com (they then listed my personal user name and password).”

My email promptly received it’s Snipp! The additional information was actually fun and informative! There was a detailed interview with the two Hot Cookie owners. I was surprised how fun the email actually was. I was expecting something rather boring and repetitive of what I already read in the magazine.  I am a fan!

ReadyMade also splashes Facebook and Twitter invites beneath articles, reaching out for further involvement.

• “If you go to the Iowa State Fair, tweet us at @readymadetweets and we’ll do our best to meet you for mullet watching!”
• “…We hereby invite you to post a comment on facebook.com/readymadeonline or drop us a line at articles@readymademag.com. We’ll search our website, and poll our community of bloggers to get you making what you’re after!”

I am impressed by their content and desire to please subscribers. There is a very strong community!

Do you know of any other magazines showing similar involvement? What do you think about ReadyMade’s new S-N-I-P-P addition? Have any of the magazines you read created a special interactive feature?

Filed under: Social Media, Community, Interactive, ReadyMade, The Hot Cookie

Let’s Build a Community! (via #blogchat)

Last night’s #blogchat brought up an issue that I perhaps should have considered at the very birth of my blog: What exactly is Project UPDATE?

The concept of building your blog into a community was the main topic discussed during  #blogchat.  The conversation really brought up a plethora of questions about where my particular blog was headed.

Main take-away-s concerning basic community building:

1. Build an audience
2. Engage your readers
3. Respond/follow up on comments

As a new blogger these steps seemed a bit baffling. I asked how to implement the phases of successful community building and received great guidance from #blogchat participants.

1. Identify your audience, and then provide them with useful information
2. Encourage guest bloggers
3. Participate in conversations/chats outside of your actual blog
4. Open up conversation between readers

I began to really think about what benefits Project UPDATE offered to those who read my posts. What did I have to pull in readership? As much as I appreciate all the blogs that teach individuals how to use social media effectively, that is not what I want my site to be; many smart individuals already successfully cover that area. I do NOT want my blog to merely be an echo.

So who is my audience and what do I have to offer them?

After long deliberation I can describe the purpose of Project UPDATE as this:

To provide an educated view of overlooked, but important, marketing activities served up with a solid dose of reality and a large quantity of smiles.

Please let me know- does this interest you? I want to write about topics that appeal to potential readers. I want people to share their opinions and points of view. Project UPDATE should be a fun place where people can see how the world works through the eyes of marketers, but also have the chance to input their own personal voice.

Help me make this a reality! Let me know what you think about where this site is going! Is this a community you would like to be a part of?

Filed under: Social Media, #blogchat, Community