How to manage content to gain audience in a digital magazine
Technical and strategic keys to scale up the digital version of a magazine or newspaper.
4 mins read
Content structure
Before we begin, we must clearly define a content structure, as it will save us many headaches and provide us with a clearer vision of the overall functioning.
In previous experiences, I have seen how poor planning has led to duplication of developments, money, and time invested day after day.
From a strategic point of view, the best approach is to organize the structure based on the types of content in our ecosystem, the most common are:
- Article
- News
- Newsletter
- Video
- Podcast
- Survey
- Presentation / Slide
- Downloadable
- Comment
- Social media post
These contents can turn into a sponsored content at any time. That's why it does not include, for example, the type advertorial.
Additionally, we have content typical of any website, such as:
- Home page
- Section / category page
- Listings page
- Search results
- Landing page
Before starting, it is important that the Editorial and Digital Marketing departments coordinate, to properly plan the content before creating it, and maximize the reach of each post.
This not only affects the theme, or the length of the texts published in each format, but also the readiness of the reader to consume the content, and what action we want them to take after consuming it.
Practical example:
Imagine that we write an article about exclusive spots in Palma de Mallorca to have a negroni, it wouldn't make much sense to send the complete article in a newsletter first thing in the morning, since the engagement would be very low.
Instead, we should schedule the article to be sent through the newsletter and posted on social networks at the local time when the reader is planning their next outing. (Or assign it a category, for example, "Dining out" and have this category only sent during certain time slots).
Regarding the format, it would also not be advisable to send the complete article, as we do not encourage the reader to take the action we need: Visit our website.
Instead, we should create a summary for the newsletter to only show part of the content, so that the reader is encouraged to visit the website and thus engage with advertising, and interact with other content. We can also create slides for viewing on Facebook or LinkedIn, reels for Instagram or TikTok, or even podcast segments that refer to the article. Each platform will require a different action, and it will all depend on our acquisition strategy, target audience, and the theme of the content.
The key to this methodology is that if it is properly planned, we do not create bottlenecks in the social media publishing processes or in the creation of newsletters, since much of the work would already be prepared by the Editorial team.
IMPORTANT: We must not forget that our goal should always be to increase the number of interactions our audience has with the content, as this results in an increase in advertising revenue and the number of subscribers.
How to avoid mistakes when publishing content
This may be one of the hardest parts to accept: Humans make mistakes.
On numerous occasions, I have seen an editor make spelling mistakes in the drafting of their articles, and these mistakes ended up published. Usually, the backlash was directed at the team of writers, who were supposed to review the work, although it was rarely their fault.
What was happening?
In the case I have in mind, 5 or 6 people were exchanging information via email, creating an endless thread of corrections. Sometimes, the original content was correctly revised by the editorial team; however, this did not prevent a second editor from giving their opinion in the thread and sending a copy of the complete article with their changes, erasing the previous corrections.
It's also relatively common to encounter broken links when clicking on a post in social media, either because it has been deleted, the link has been changed, or because the post on social networks was made before the news itself.
Fortunately, all of this can be solved with technology. Nowadays, we have content management systems that allow the editing of an article by several people in real time (just like Google Docs does), configuration of workflows to prevent publishing content unless certain people have approved it, etc. We also have mechanisms to check if a link is broken before publishing content on social networks, and to correct it, and thanks to the help of artificial intelligence, to detect any type of error during the content writing process.