Although our target (Z Squared Media) as a media company is corporate marketers, I get the opportunity to talk with publishers on a consistent basis. There is one constant that I find with publishers, no matter the size or industry – They don’t like to share.

Let me explain. Publishers love to leverage content from editors to position as their own … that’s basically what publishers do. We leverage great content from multiple sources and sell against it (advertising or paid content). It’s been a great strategy for years, and should continue to be so. But if you asked publishers to promote content that is not theirs and does not reside in their print magazines or websites, you better put away the knives and torches.

But that’s exactly what publishers need to do more of.

Here’s the rationale. To excel, a publisher needs to be the industry expert. They do this through content. BUT, there are hundreds, if not thousands of experts in our industries that bang the industry drum through blogs, white papers, webinars and more. There is no possible way, in my opinion, that a publisher (or magazine) can position themselves as the industry expert without bringing those industry experts into consideration.

Let me give you an example. Our goal at Junta42, from the beginning, was to be the leading source of content marketing information on the planet. No matter how much great content in multiple formats we produced, there was always someone, somewhere producing great content marketing information as well. So, we decided to create the Junta42 Top Content Marketing Blogs.

The idea of the Junta42 Top 42 was to develop a list of the top content producers in our industry (content marketing) and keep it updated. We developed a rationale for judging, and every quarter we release a new list. We started with 81 blogs three years ago, and now have almost 400 blogs that we review. As you’ll see, we promote the best blogs in the industry and link out to those blogs. Yes, we actually send people away from our site, with no strings attached.

Why would any publisher in their right mind do that?

Since launching the list, that web page has been our most popular, with over 20,000 unique visitors to that page alone. The list also gets over 1,000 inbound links directly to that page. It has single handedly been responsible for the majority of our enewsletter and RSS signups, as well as signups to our matching service (our main revenue driver). Simply put, it’s a traffic magnet and core to our business model. It also positions us as the experts in the content marketing industry by highlighting the best content in the industry (even though it’s not ours).

You might say, “Joe, this has been done for years with directories” and you would be right. Except that directories are direct revenue generators. Our top blog list is definitely indirect. We give this information away freely.

Yes, this strategy drives business for us, but it also has driven opportunity. Junta42 now has relationships with the majority of the top industry bloggers simply because of the list. They love the fact that we promote them, and they always take our calls or open our emails.

My advice is this … if your goal is to be the industry expert, you’ll need help from freelancers, bloggers, associations and more. By helping the other content producers in your industry, you can solve a lot of your own web problems as well as reach your own goals.

Joe Pulizzi is CEO of Z Squared Media, LLC, LLC, whose brands include Junta42, the Content Marketing Institute and SocialTract. Joe also speaks around the world about content marketing and sometimes promotes his book, Get Content Get Customers , called THE handbook for content marketing. You can reach Joe at joe[at]junta42.com.

Labels: B2B publishing, Digital, Joe Pulizzi

By Maureen Alley

How do you operate your online news feed? Do you repurpose what you find in your Lexis-Nexis file? Please say no.

If you don’t write your own news for your site, tell me, why would someone click on that news piece? It falls under the same thought of newspapers only publishing wire pieces. Unique content makes your brand stronger – makes readers turn to you when they want the news. If the news found on your site can be found in a million other places, readers won’t have a reason to come to you for it.

By writing your own news, you become the expert – not the wire. Use the wire, online sources (Google Reader, Twitter, etc.) to find the news. Write about the news stories using online resources, talk to a few people if you need to enhance the story. And get them published – today! Remember this is news. Writing about a news story that is even a day old online will make it irrelevant.

I know some of you are going to read this and say, “Rewrite the news? I don’t have time for that. I have to do this, that, this and that.” And I say, so what? The publishing process is now daily – if not hourly. And the publishers that can adjust to this and manage these faster deadlines will provide the content readers want when they want it.

I went from being a managing editor for nine issue/year publication to managing editor for a monthly publication with daily online deadlines. I had to adjust from deadlines every four to six weeks, to deadlines every day. It’s not easy, but once you adjust, you’ll look back at your previous deadlines and think about all the stuff you could have accomplished in all that time you had before.

I’m sure there will be many B2B editors who disagree with me in this post, but this is the Web today. This is the future of online publishing success. People expect to read something new every day. Provide your readers with quality news from you – and do it every day.

Maureen Alley is editor for Woodland Management magazine, and freelance writer/editor for other business-to-business publications. She was previously managing editor for Website Magazine and Residential Design & Build magazine. Alley has been an ASBPE member since 2006, and Azbee judge for the last two years. She can be reached at malley13@gmail.com, or visit www.maureenalley.com.

Labels: Digital, Maureen Alley, Writing

Four of five "senior-level" editors who answered the recent ASBPE/Medill Survey on Digital Skills & Strategies had one day or less of corporate-sponsored digital training in 2009.

What are the implications? How can we overcome the problem?

Join ASBPE's next webinar on Thursday, June 3, to learn about the research and about what you can do to diminish the gap.

The program:

What the research shows

1. The training gap
2. The leadership gap
3. Which skills are necessary/most important.

What you can do about it

1. How to sell your company on training.
2. How can you get training at your organization with little help from management.
3. Where to get training on your own.
4. Mini case studies

About the speakers:

Abe Peck is director of business-to-business communication and professor emeritus in service at the Medill School and senior director of the Media Management Center, Northwestern University. He is also a consultant in the B2B space.

Robin Sherman is associate director of the American Society of Business Publication Editors; a principal of Editorial & Design Services; and a former corporate director of editorial development.

Mary Slepicka is group content director of Advanstar Communications Powersport Group; and editorial director of Dealernews Magazine.

Rita Jane Gabbett is executive editor of Meatingplace.com, and on-line community for red meat and poultry processors in North America.

Event details:

Date: Thursday, June 3

Time: 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. EDT

Location: Your desktop computer.

Cost: $20 for members, $45 for non-members

To register:

Option 1: Pay online. Use the web form below to pay online via credit card or PayPal. Instructions for obtaining webinar access will be emailed to you once you have paid.

Member Status

ASBPE Member $20.00 Nonmember $45.00

Option 2: Use PayPal via email. Go to PayPal and use the Send Money tab to send the proper amount to asbpe.info@asbpe.org. Instructions for obtaining webinar access will be emailed to you once you have paid.

Option 3: Pay by check, pay by credit card offline or pay for multiple registrations at one time (regardless of payment method). Fill out this registration form (78K Word doc) and return it to Holly Lundgren with your payment by June 1. Webinar access info will be provided once you have registered.

Questions? Contact Steven Roll at b2beditor@gmail.com.

Labels: Digital, Webinars

By Howard Rauch

Discussions about today’s editorial workload dilemma usually focus on how we split our time percentagewise between online and print. I followed the same line of thinking while creating an editorial performance survey for an upcoming ASBPE webinar. But early input via initial telephone brainstorming sessions with survey respondents suggests the need for another mind set.

For instance, consider the point raised by a group editorial director who has embraced “web first” content creation. He believes online and print activities must be blended into one fluid process. “We have not changed the way we gather information, write it for the web and then repurpose it for print,” he said. However, significant changes have been made in production procedures, especially how deadlines are organized.

Another brainstorming conversation mulled pros and cons of expedience as the answer to making job ends meet. For instance, I’ve noticed some sites relying moreso on straight reruns of press releases. The editors don’t try to hide the fact that content is far from original. “We select only the most relevant stuff for rerun,” says one online editor. “It doesn’t matter if we’re not the source in every case.” My view? WRONG!!! Our content-creation emphasis must be on exclusivity and enterprise. Does anyone not understand why that approach is mandated?

Labels: Digital, Howard Rauch, Webinars

By Steve Roll

We’ve all heard how no content should be wasted in the Multi-Platform Age.

• Those pictures that didn't make the cut for that magazine story? Use them for an online slideshow.
  
  
• The sidebar you didn't use in the feature article? Expand on it for a blog post.
  
  
• The interview you recorded last week for that profile piece. Turn it into a podcast.
  

But the New York Times has recently taken this a step further by creating content about content that hasn’t even been created yet. They do this in the TimesCast videos each morning, in which the editors discuss the topics that will be covered.

This is an intriguing use of video technology to provide public access to what had previously been private discussions among editors.

The idea of releasing incomplete content is not new. Journalists have been using Twitter to float trial balloons for story ideas or find sources for a couple of years now.

But Clark Hoyt, the public editor for the New York Times, pointed out that his publication has fallen prey to some of the risks of always being on.

On the second day of TimesCast, Bill Keller — NYT’s executive editor — misspoke about a story involving Israel. Although the TimesCast videos are edited before they are released for public view, Keller's slip up had somehow made it through.

Hoyt said:

It once did not matter if editors had all of their facts straight at the morning news meeting; there was plenty of time for reporting and editing. But with the world looking over their shoulders, things are different. Editors are dressing better, speaking in complete, sound-bite sentences, and mistakes are embarrassing.

In the same article, Hoyt noted that one of the paper's reporters said something embarrassing on Twitter and a couple of its writers for one of its blogs fell victim to an April Fool's Day hoax.

What's most interesting is that the New York Times seems bent on pressing ahead with using these new technologies, despite some of the risks they present.

Which would you say is worse: missing one or more important stories, or being wrong and embarrassed sometimes?

Steve Roll is the Immediate Past President of ASBPE and chairman of the Webinar Committee. Follow him on Twitter at @b2beditor. His e-mail is b2beditor AT gmail.com

Labels: Digital, Media Business, Steven Roll, Technology, Writing

By Howard Rauch

How to deal more effectively with mounting print/digital workloads will be my focus during an ASBPE June 17 webinar.

In advance, I invited all concerned editors to complete a questionnaire outlining their current responsibilities. Respondents were asked to focus primarily on their online workloads. They were challenged to identify their most time-consuming tasks.

During follow-up phone calls starting May 15, I’ll consult with each participant about possible ways to simplify workloads. An extra benefit: all respondents receive an analysis of e-newsletter content based on the eight-factor scoring system I outlined in a recent Editor’s Notes article (556K PDF; available to ASBPE members only).

Early returns reflect some significant patterns. Here are a few:

1. Production responsibilities are major time consumers. In several past editorial performance projects focusing on print, I often found production processes were hampered by burdensome practices. There is every indication that the same holds true for online. Of course, that depends on how you define “production.” I include assorted posting functions — coding, sizing photos, proofreading — anything else that’s distinct from original writing/editing tasks.

2. There is agreement that job overload has impaired editing quality. This is especially true in those cases where e-newsletter workload has doubled or tripled in the past three years.

3. Publishers not yet committed to dedicated digital staffs will never exploit online marketing potential to the fullest. Descriptions of current workloads make that clear. For instance, developing a strong package of high-value webinars and white papers requires several days a month of focus. Furthermore, it seems farfetched to expect besieged staffs can deliver a continuous flow of exclusive, high-enterprise content.

We’ll discuss all of the above and much more on June 17. Meanwhile, there’s still time for you to benefit from advance participation. Just complete a performance questionnaire and return it to me before May 15. For more information or to obtain a copy of the questionnaire, contact me via email (howard@editsol.com) or call (201) 569-7714.

Labels: Digital, Howard Rauch, Productivity, Webinars, Work Life

By Tonie Auer

• How can your publication succeed online?
• What points should a social media policy address?
• What challenges will face us as we convert our magazine from print to digital only?

Answers to these questions — and quite a few others — are in these 20 high-value posts from the ASBPE National Blog.

We combed through posts from the blog's three-plus years of existence to compile some of the best. In choosing these posts, we had specific criteria in mind. We wanted to highlight posts that provide actionable, “how-to” material in an easy-to-use format (blogs with bullet lists and checklists were favored). We also wanted the posts, as a group, to cover a variety of topics.

With those considerations in mind, here are 20 of the best ASBPE National Blog posts, roughly in reverse chronological order.

• Two posts by past ASBPE president Steven Roll address social media guidelines. One is “It's Never Too Early to Adopt a Social Media Policy”; the other is
  
  
• “Got a Social Media Policy?”
  
  
• “President’s Letter: It’s All About Brand at the Symposium,” by current ASBPE president Warren Hersch, reports on ASBPE’s November 2009 Digital Symposium.
  
  
• “5 Things To Consider When Converting To Digital Only” is a Q&A with Sara Zailskas of Housing Giants on her publication's experience of the process. The piece was contributed by Chicago chapter board member Erin Erickson.
  
  
• “McCracken: Experimentation Vital to Web-Launch Success” is another report from the Digital Symposium, this time on a session presented by Technologizer founder (and former PC World editor in chief) Harry McCracken.
  
  
• “6 Ideas To Boost Revenue, Readership, or Recognition” contains advice from ASBPE Washington, D.C., chapter president Katy Tomasulo.
  
  
• “SEO Best Practices” was contributed by former Website Magazine staffer Maureen Alley.
  
  
• “Twitter Tips for B2B Editors,” another post from ASBPE officer Katy Tomasulo, features advice specifically for those of us who work at business, trade, professional, and association publications.
  
  
• “Top 10 Strategies To Drive Traffic To Your Blog” was contributed by Michelle Rafter, a long-time freelancer on technology and other topics. Rafter writes the very popular blog Word Count, aimed at freelance writers and editors.
  
  
• “Seven Reasons Why You Should Start Your Own Blog” was contributed by Steve Roll, who did just that with the Latin America travel blog Travelojos.
  
  
• “No Matter How Painful, Editorial Productivity Should Be Analyzed” came from Howard Rauch, an editorial consultant and chair of ASBPE’s ethics committee.
  
  
• “No Solid Answer To ‘What’s Next For B2B?’” reported on a roundtable hosted by ASBPE’s Cleveland chapter.
  
  
• “Want To Learn HTML? Get Your Feet Wet” offers basic coding tips from ASBPE web editor Martha Spizziri.
  
  
• “We Are Already Marketers” is Christina Pellett’s argument for why editors shouldn’t balk at requests to help market their publications. Pellett is now editor of Agent Sales Journal.
  
  
• In “Building Your Wings on the Way Down,” Technologizer's Harry McCracken gives advice on starting a new publishing venture.
  

• Joe Pulizzi, founder of the custom publishing marketplace Junta42 Match, contributed three posts with advice for freelance writers. “Getting into the Custom Game” tells freelancers how to break into custom publishing (aka content marketing);
  
  
• “The Freelance Writing Retirement Plan: Create an Asset” gives advice for maximizing income; and
  
  
• “You Are What the Web Says You Are: Writers and Social Media” explains how many writers’ online presences are lacking.
  
  
• The advice in “Making Time for Print and Online” comes from Dan Blank, director of content strategy and development for Reed Business Information. (Dan also blogs at danblank.com.)
  
  
• “Sure, ’09 Will Be Tough. You Can Tell the Grownups, Though: They Think Rationally” comes from consultant Thomas H. Temin, It still holds up in 2010.
  

The ASBPE National Blog’s value never stops. We have ongoing discussions scheduled on plenty of hot topics. And take advantage of the opportunity to express your own view via a follow-up post. Email me at tonieauer@gmail.com.

Labels: Blogging/Blogging Strategy, Career/Employment, Custom Media, Digital, Economy, Freelancing, HTML, Management, Media Business, Productivity, Social Media, Technology, Tonie Auer

By Tonie Auer
DFW Chapter President

I've been on a roll, talking about professional development and making yourself indispensable. Now I'm going to lead you to another valuable resource to make yourself look like a genius to your boss and colleagues: The Journalist's Toolbox.

This is a hodgepodge of great links for how to find information on topics ranging from multimedia editing tools to editing and fact-checking references. If you need to find a clearinghouse of information on weather, military or even foreign policy, there's a link for that information, too.

It all goes back to being the go-to person in your office. The publisher's administrative assistant needs to find the ZIP code of some head office in Walla Walla, Wash., but she isn't the greatest at figuring out how to find it. So, make yourself invaluable and be able to offer her that assistance. She'll remember it. Trust me.

Labels: Digital, Productivity, Social Media, Tonie Auer, Work Life

By Ginger Conlon

At 1to1 Media we’re all about helping our readers improve their customer engagement, so we had better practice what we preach. And we do. In fact, we have a formal (though not written), award-winning engagement strategy that includes gathering and using feedback, hosting roundtables, facilitating introductions, interacting on our site and on social media sites, and tracking and scoring reader engagement based on their interaction levels. Any media organization could benefit from adopting or updating its approach to reader engagement.

And, here's the cutoff: interested in reading more about the elements of their strategy and the benefits the publication and its readers experienced? Look for the next ASBPE newsletter for a complete listing. Don't get the newsletter? Join ASBPE. It is one of our member benefits. Plus, you get all the rest of this great piece of information.

As editorial director of 1to1 Media, Ginger Conlon is responsible for the direction and day-to-day editorial operations of the award-winning 1to1 Magazine, its website, e-newsletter, blog, and podcast series, as well as the executive journal Customer Strategist. Additionally, she serves as president of the New York chapter of the ASBPE. Contact her at ginger.conlon@1to1.com.

Labels: Digital, Ginger Conlon, Productivity, Social Media

B2B editors are increasingly getting into Web video. Here's a detailed, step-by-step walk-through to help you get a vivid picture of the editing process from a fellow B2B editor who today produces and edits some 40 videos a year. Other aspects of the video process will be covered but the focus is on editing with the standard editing platform: Final Cut Express. We will walk through the actual editing process of a short video.

We will show you how to:

• transfer video from your camera to the editing platform.
• edit video to create a sequence (Final Cut's term for the edited video).
• add transitions.
• add music.
• add voiceovers.
• enhance badly shot or lighted footage.
• export to a playable file.

Rob Freedman, senior editor of Realtor Magazine, has recently made the crossover to multimedia journalism and will offer his "been there, lived through that" experience so you can learn his lessons--and avoid his mistakes.

Event Details

Date: Friday, February 26, 2009

Time: 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. EST

Location: Your computer

Cost: $20 for members, $45 for non-members

To register:

Option 1: Pay online. Use the web form below to pay online via credit card or PayPal. Instructions for obtaining webinar access will be emailed to you once you have paid.

Member Status

Member $20.00 Non-Member $45.00

Option 2: Pay by check or pay for multiple registrations at one time (regardless of payment method). Fill out this registration form (76K Word doc) and return it to Christina Pellett with your payment by February 25. Webinar access information will be provided once you have registered.

Questions? Contact Steven Roll at b2beditor@gmail.com.

About Rob Freedman

Robert Freedman is Senior Editor of Realtor Magazine, published by the National Association of Realtors in Washington, D.C., and past president of ASBPE and the ASBPE Educational Foundation. He is involved in all aspects of multimedia publishing and produces weekly Realtor Magazine news videos. Robert is the author or editor of several books on business communications, including Journalism That Matters (Marion Street Press) and Best Practices of the Business Press (Kendall-Hunt).

Labels: Digital, Education, Technology, Webinars

By Jim Sulecki

Rare is the opportunity to see the beginning of a new media platform, and rarer still to be in a position to help shape it. Yet in the digital age, this is precisely the fortuitous place that we early 21st-century journalists occupy. As was the case with the pioneers of television, many of the approaches we take today to online media will no doubt be refined over time but they also will help to define this completely new way to view and describe the world.

This portends great things for B2B editors and writers, and especially for those who can retain their journalistic backbone while shaping a whole new outer identity. Like early TV journalists trained in radio who first merely read the news to the eye of the camera before discovering television’s potential for visuals, we must put aside our own print assumptions and adapt the online medium as a new and unprecedented means of multiplatform communication and interaction.

Here, in no particular order, are 10 trends – currently in various stages of adoption – that have the potential to make or break our editorial careers, depending on how well we adapt.

1. We will be measured. Gone are the days when we as print journalists could proclaim an article a success if we received a handful of favorable calls and letters or emails. Today the online brand with the most opens, unique visitors and pageviews wins. And this will be true for individual writers and articles as well. Audience response is not everything – there always will be room for the important story that absolutely must be published – but metrics increasingly will be how the money people keep score.

2. Our content will become “co-creative” with our audiences’. That is, we’re going to share more and more of the authorship of our media products with the people who consume them. Article comments and online polls have been joined by sparks of dense, peer-to-peer interactions in online communities and growing numbers of blogs by industry experts – natural descendants to magazine columns. Coming now or soon: far more audience-supplied text, images and video, which itself will spin off more audience interaction. And how long will it be before our B2B sites begin true crowdsourcing – issuing “open calls” for collective, problem-solving contributions from our communities? B2B media historically has published articles identifying pressing industry challenges; now we can become instrumental in their very resolution.

3. Editorial-produced content will focus predominantly on analysis and exclusives. I think we’re in the middle of a long-term decline in the need for what used to be called “news of record.” Major company and people announcements, meeting news, and tradeshow coverage become commoditized when they hit everyone’s websites at the same time. Remember too that we’re not alone in using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. to follow the slipstream of daily developments. In the future we’ll spend less time and attention on non-exclusive news reporting and more of our efforts on (a) expert analysis of the meaning of and likely reverberations from breaking developments, and (b) editorial presentations that our brands alone are known for – rankings of companies and people, expert predictions, exclusive columns and blogs, etc. A deeper and more expert knowledge of our markets than often has been true in the past will be needed for us to do this.

4. We are in the entertainment – as well as information – business. B2B media historically has been resistant to much of the entertainment value of consumer media, but in an online realm where disparate worlds can and do collide, we may be at liberty – in fact, compelled – to discard some of our businesslike soberness in order to remain relevant. Some marketers already have discovered the great value of using humor in viral video, such as Blendtec and its faux-retro “Will It Blend?” series. Prediction: video and audio scriptwriting is in your future; in fact it already is reality in some corners of Meister Media, where we recently constructed a video production studio. Likewise, the very graphic presentation of B2B websites will evolve, as Flash and other forms of animation come to the editorial webpage as surely as consumer-like 4/c forms chased cover-to-cover b/w from our magazine pages. Editors increasingly will work with designers and web developers in “directing” animated presentations.

5. We (not publishers) will be the primary marketers of our own content. Posting our content, once the coda of our work, now is setting off a secondary step of “placing” links in social media; monitoring metrics; and modifying story angles, headlines, ledes, etc. in a gambit to reap more pageviews. Again, this duty will fall on the individual journalist as surely as the work of crafting the very story itself.

6. It’s nearly certain that no member of our audience is going to pay us or our publishers directly for our content. The Wall Street Journals of the world notwithstanding, the vast majority of the media will have little to no success turning around the deeply ingrained expectation for free content online. It’s been estimated that as few as 5% of online users will pay for digital news. As is the case with controlled circulation magazines, this reality will require editors to continue working with their publishers and their advertising community to attract commercial support that pays the freight.

7. The fading “bright line” between editorial and sales may get even dimmer. Publishers and salespeople are as challenged by the transition to online as editors are, with the famed “print dollars to digital dimes” devolution reducing revenue and profit margins for many media outlets. Publishers need audience engagement like never before. Web metrics are like nonstop readership studies – they’re conducted year-round, year in and year out. In order to generate more pageviews and, hence, ad impressions, the editor’s creativity and knowledge of audience needs and behavior will be in even more demand, sometimes directly in the service of the advertiser. This is not necessarily a bad thing – in fact, it’s probably good for the longer-term employment prospects of the editor – but emerging discussions about online ethics are very timely, as the differentiation between editorial and advertising is not always as distinguishable online as it is in print.

8. In just a few years our content will be just as likely to be read on mobile devices as on desktop and computer screens. In fact, as I wrote this, a report in min predicted that mobile will overtake desktop web in three years. Text for smaller screens must be pithier and more useful on the go, and its development even faster – nearly instantaneous. Graphic images must be more workmanlike and immediately useful, less ornamental. And video played on handhelds is on the verge of a breakthrough.

9. Print content will go the premium route. In a web-first environment our online content often will be priority one on a day-to-day basis, but that doesn’t mean print will go by the wayside. In my view, print publications will be developed for a more select audience worthy of the additional costs of printing and distribution. To coexist in an online world, print content will need to improve overall and reassert its unique value. I envision a return to larger trim sizes, higher-quality paper, and more lavish editorial and graphics – but again, for a more select audience, and likely at a less-than-monthly frequency.

10. The Millennials will want our content, but in different packages. I recently wrote in my emedia blog about my college-age daughter’s disinterest in newspapers. But a rejection of the medium doesn’t necessarily equate to a rejection of the content. Example: the Beatles are more popular now than they have been in years, in part due to Rock Band’s popularity with the iGeneration. The Millennials of course will demand content that is relevant to their specific needs – a challenge for every generation of journalists – but what they consume must be served in a context that they like and are used to: far from reliant on paper; mobile (of course); entertaining and irreverent (think Nickelodeon, their cable channel of preference growing up); interactive (think Facebook); and customizable (think iGoogle).

As a media platform the web already has been around for 15 years or more, so isn’t it funny that we should still be talking about how to adapt our content for its uses? I don’t think so. The early 2010s for emedia are roughly analogous to the early 1960s for TV, which is to say: the infrastructure has been laid, the technological novelty (and intimidation) is wearing off, the audience is reaching a critical mass – and attention now turns to the quality and value of the contents that are pulsing through this pipeline rather than on the technical marvel of the pipeline itself. For anyone involved in the creation of content, it’s an adventurous time to be alive.

Jim Sulecki has more than 25 years of editorial, publishing management and sales/marketing experience in business-to-business and consumer media. Currently he manages Meister Media Worldwide’s 20 brand and custom websites, 12 branded e-newsletters, custom e-media, webinars, and online video/audio, crafting sales and marketing strategies and developing online content and search engine optimization programs. He was named “Innovator in Business Media: Online Executives” by BtoB Media Business magazine in June 2009.

Labels: Digital, Editing, Jim Sulecki, Management

By Warren Hersch
ASBPE President

Hardly a day goes by, it seems, when publishing gurus (or, closer to home, our own publishers and editorial directors) aren’t urging us to latch onto the latest social media or tech craze.

We all need to make our copy SEO-friendly and communicate with our readers via Twitter, online forums and blogs, we’re told, lest our trade magazines and newsletters become dinosaurs without a following.

Put service journalism into practice

Amid all the prognosticating, it’s easy to lose sight of how our B2B publications became the respected industry voices they are today: by practicing outstanding service journalism and investing in core assets that strengthen the brand. That lesson was brought home to the assembled attendees at last month’s ASBPE 2009 Digital Symposium.

A theme of the gathering was that B2B writers and editors can, where appropriate, leverage social media, search, and data aggregation tools to better engage readers in issues important to their respective fields. But they also stressed that such tools will only be effective if they serve the needs of one’s audience and a publication’s brand objectives.

Hinda Chalew of Staffing Industry Analysts, one of three presenters on the B2B social communities panel, said that editors at her firm’s three B2B pubs make extensive use of blogs, virtual events, surveys, and online social journalism tools. But the editors don’t use Facebook, My Space, or other Web communities. The reason: Most of the publications’ readers, decision-makers who supply and buy temporary staffing, don’t frequent these sites.

Knowledgeable writers provide substantive content

InfoWorld editor-in-chief Eric Knorr, a speaker on the panel about organizing print and online editorial teams, said his information technology magazine went through an “identity crisis” in April 2007 when it became an online-only publication. That wrenching change forced the magazine to reexamine, and ultimately give greater prominence to, the core assets that underpin the publication’s brand loyalty: InfoWorld’s top writers and bloggers, most of whom work (or have worked) in IT.

For Jim Sulecki, director of emedia, Meister Media, a publisher of specialty magazines for agricultural professionals, the use of online media has done wonders to generate Web traffic. Fresh Air Forum, a “cluster” community for professionals in ornamental horticulture, boasts nearly 700 members, the largest of the publisher’s online forums. Yet, Sulecki said such communities won’t realize their full potential until they’re integrated with the publisher’s brand sites: Cotton Grower, Crop Life, Precision Ag, and 14 other publications that serve agricultural professionals. (ASBPE members: See story in ASBPE member newsletter, November/December 2009, page 7 - 556K PDF.)

Edit for the busy reader: Clarity over cleverness

Few B2B editors have enjoyed as much success in leveraging social media and other Web tools as Technologizer editor Harry McCracken, the symposium’s kick-off speaker (see story on page 3 of the November/December member newsletter - 556K PDF). Since July 2008, McCracken’s online following rocketed from zero to 500,000 subscribers, thanks in part to his mastery of social media tools and certain “new essentials” (such as the ability to work in real time) the online world requires.

But McCracken emphasized that other, old writing essentials are also key to building and maintaining a superior brand. Among them: Emphasizing clarity over cleverness; pushing takeaways to the top; practicing the best service journalism you know how; and making content so good that people want to tell the world about it.

Labels: ASBPE Conference, Digital, Harry McCracken, Social Media, Warren Hersch

By Erin Erickson
ASBPE Chicago Chapter Vice President

I recently spoke with Sara Zailskas, Assistant Managing Editor of Housing Giants. The digital magazine recently won a National Gold Digital Azbee award for General Excellence in the digital magazine category.

Sara was able to speak about the process of converting a print magazine into a digital-only magazine. She spoke honestly about overcoming hurdles and the current status of the magazine:

How did you decide which magazine to convert to a digital-only magazine?

Our publisher and editorial director looked at what our audiences wanted and how those wants worked within our needs as a magazine. Going digital also allowed Reed Business Information to test new ways of working with digital publications, which we’d been using for some time in their simplest forms (converting PDFs to a flipbook, for example). It was a natural and exciting step, and other magazines within RBI have made the switch since.

What were the initial steps you took when preparing to convert the print magazine into digital?

We looked at all aspects of the magazine, from the production schedule to design, and asked a lot of questions: how much would our editorial production process have to change to publish a digital magazine? What needed to change about our design to make it reader-friendly on a computer screen? What type of content would we need to make the most of digital journalism capabilities?

And of course, none of this would have been addressed without examining the cost factor, too. If publishing a digital magazine were more expensive than a print publication, we likely wouldn’t have even considered it given the state of the economy at the time and our audience’s wants and needs. The benefits of digital capabilities extended to our advertisers, too. We heard that agencies were thrilled to be able to create multimedia ads.

What were the biggest roadblocks you faced during the conversion process?

Surprisingly, the things we thought would be a huge challenge weren’t: we successfully took our editorial production schedule from six publications a year to 23, and preparing our product for digital production was much easier than we anticipated. We knew the adjustment for our audience would be significant, but our feedback from readers told us we were doing the right thing. Don’t get me wrong; some people hated the conversion, but the majority contacted us in support.

The challenges came when silly, simple technology things wouldn’t work; for example, we’d submit a file in the right format but it wouldn’t play correctly. Those situations always worked out, but it sometimes took a lot more time than we would have liked.

The other main challenge – and I expected this – was to get writers to wrap their heads around digital storytelling. Considering audio and visuals – and Flash illustration possibilities and such – truly is a new approach to planning an article that doesn’t always come naturally if you’ve been doing journalism a certain way for years. My advice would be to help writers brainstorm audio/visual opportunities, then follow up with them to make sure they come in with the final submission. And if they don’t, send ’em back out until audio/visual components are included.

Which processes needed to be changed and how when it came to acquiring and using the digital media?

On the editorial side, we budgeted extra time for planning multimedia components with our writers as well as preparing those components for inclusion. We have an editing department, but it still takes time to select how you want something edited, write up supporting text to accompany it for the publication, etc.

We also had a couple days built into our production schedule to test and review the final product. We essentially had a traditional “to printer” deadline, which is when our files were due to our digital publication vendor, and a “blast” deadline, which is when all the wrinkles had to be worked out of the digital magazine after it was put together by our vendor and then made live.

What is the status of the magazine now?

I like to think of our status as taking Gold in the first Digital Azbees, which our staff is really proud of. But unfortunately we published our last issue in April. Housing Giants, which is for home-building industry executives, launched right when not only builders began going out of business, but a wave of manufacturers – our advertisers – began shuttering. The goal is to relaunch it in better economic conditions.

Labels: Azbee Awards, Design, Digital, Erin Erickson

By Warren Hersch
ASBPE President

BusinessWeek: Audience engagement boosts traffic

Digital journalism isn’t just about providing multimedia content. To be effective, that content has to actively engage readers, drawing them into discussions with B2B reporters and editors, and with each other. So said BusinessWeek.com Technology & Science Channel editor Tom Giles during the Web Site of the Year presentation at ASBPE’s Digital Symposium last month.

“Today, context is just as important as content,” said Giles.

At last count:

• Unique monthly visitors stood at 10.2 million, up from 6.4 million in 2006.
• Monthly page-views total 50.4 million, a 20.3 percent rise over the 41.9 million recorded in 2006.
• Most accessed links are video and pod­cast feeds, which nab, respectively more than 500,000 and 820,000 visitors a month.
• Page views driven by search engines are up 45 percent over the last four years.
• BusinessWeek.com's sister site, Business Exchange, now claims more than 32,000 registered users.
• The most active topic, social networking, boasted more than 2,051 new articles and 255 users on Nov. 25.

To encourage reader engagement, Business Exchange sports a “Featured User” box for the individual who has contributed the largest number of posts to a particular topic; and a “What’s Your Idea” section where readers can suggest stories for the magazine.

Note: A longer version of this article appears in the November/December 2009 ASBPE Editor’s Notes member newsletter; it is also available on the ASBPE web site.

Warren Hersch is the ASBPE national president and senior editor for National Underwriter Life & Health.

Labels: Awards, Azbee Awards, Design, Digital, Warren Hersch

By Katy Tomasulo
President, Washington, D.C. Chapter

In 2008, Harry McCracken left his long-time role as editor-in-chief of PC World magazine to launch Technologizer, a Web site devoted to technology news and reviews. McCracken admits he didn’t know whether Technologizer would take off. But he got his answer pretty quickly: Within a few months of launching the site, readership climbed from zero to 500,000 unique visitors.

At the ASBPE Digital Symposium Nov. 6, he offered up some of the tips and lessons he's learned so far:

• Informality reigns on the Web. Treat it like a conversation by utilizing opinion and analysis, addressing the reader directly, and encouraging visitors to chime in with commentary.

• The smaller your site, the louder you need to be to be heard. If a hundred other sites are covering a story, you won’t get the clicks unless you are either first or are offering a fresher take/analysis.

• Don’t overthink SEO (search engine optimization). McCracken uses common sense for headlines and URLs by thinking about what people will type into Google when looking for information. For example, by using the headline “Firefox 3.5 Review,” his article on the release of the latest version of the Firefox Internet browser landed at the top of Google searches.

• Don’t write for Google, particularly the idea of putting a keyword in the article dozens of times. “If you use the word ‘laptop’ [repeatedly] in a 400-word story, people are going to know you’re not writing for them.”

• But don’t neglect Google, either. McCracken stressed that it’s not as complicated as some make it out to be. Avoid industry jargon and use words that real people use (e.g., use “laptop” instead of “notebook”), a task the Google Trends tool can help you figure out. Read Google’s own advice on making your content Google-friendly and apply to have your magazine’s articles indexed by Google News.

• Practice “Link Love,” a golden rule principle of linking unto others as you would have them link unto you.

• Reject the notion that only short articles work on the Web. While attention spans are shorter, “Content should be as long as the content justifies,” McCracken said. Technologizer features both long and short items, as appropriate. Short chunks are ideal for getting stuff up fast, for example, but he still has pieces that take longer to develop, just as in print.

• Experiment. Experiment. Experiment. Pay attention to metrics to see what topics are of interest, and see what people are commenting on and asking for. “The best way for you to learn is to give it a try.”

Note: An expanded version of this article will appear in the November/December 2009 ASBPE Editor’s Notes member newsletter.

Katy Tomasulo, president of the Washington, D.C., chapter of ASBPE, is deputy editor for EcoHome, Building Products, and ebuild.com.

Labels: ASBPE Conference, Digital, Harry McCracken, Katy Tomasulo

By Elena Gontar

When I first heard of Facebook I thought it was a social network website to communicate with friends and connect with long lost acquaintances. I thought it would be primarily for people who want to reach out to those they know. And apparently that was the idea a few years ago, when Facebook was first invented. It was initially restricted to college and high school kids to chat and swap photos with friends. But all that changed a couple of years later, when more and more people joined Facebook.

Elena Gontar is a real estate writer in Brooklyn. She can be reached at elenagontar@gmail.com.

Labels: Career/Employment, Digital, Elena Gontar, Social Media

By Katy Tomasulo
President, ASBPE Washington, D.C. Chapter

During the ASBPE National Editorial Conference in July, I hosted a workshop that offered attendees 19 ideas for combating the down economy. These ideas — all of which have been implemented at B2B publications across the country — resulted in some sort of payback, whether through revenue, readership, or recognition, or a combination of the three. Here are six of my favorites:

1. Revenue: Remodeling Capitalizes on Current Events
When the stimulus package was introduced in February, Remodeling magazine editors immediately realized that the implications — and opportunities — for their readers were huge. The staff scrapped their plans, already in progress, for the June 2009 issue and produced a comprehensive guide to the stimulus package that explained to readers what it was and how they could take advantage of it. And not only were readers in need, manufacturers were eager to advertise so that it was their energy-efficient building products that were chosen for stimulus-dollar spending.
Result: The issue generated a 25%-30% bump in revenue for that month. It also spawned additional and future unbudgeted revenue generators in the form of a sister Web site, a Webinar, a virtual conference, and a pavilion at the magazine’s trade show.

2. Revenue and Readership: Hotel World Network Capitalizes on Down Economy
In response to the recession, Hotel World Network, which includes Hotel & Motel Management and Hotel Design magazines, launched an online campaign “100 Days to Fight the Recession,” a daily e-newsletter that gave readers actionable tips and advice on how to survive the tough market. In addition to the email, the content is housed on the Web in free downloadable PDFs that can be easily saved, printed, and shared. The content also is supported by forums that discuss each day’s topics.
Result: The company brought in a large chunk of unbudgeted revenue and received a fantastic response from readers.

3. Recognition: Engineering News Record Puts Itself in Its Readers’ Shoes
To investigate the state of crane safety at a time when accidents have been occurring too often, Engineering News-Record’s Tudor Van Hampton put himself in his readers’ place: He trained for and took a national certification course in crane safety. Only by experiencing the process could Van Hampton truly know what it was like, share the experience with readers, and bring attention to the importance of safety and training.
Result: ENR earned multiple accolades, including a Neal Award and an ASBPE award.

4. Revenue: Michigan Municipal League’s Business Alliance Program
The editor of Michigan Municipal Review created the “Municipal League Business Alliance Program.” Members (suppliers to local government) joined in exchange for benefits that boost their marketing visibility in the state, including discounted advertising rates and exhibit space. Once created, the program requires little effort or expense to administer.
Result: $150,000 in immediate annual revenue; encouraged further advertising and exhibit space purchasing

5. Readership, Revenue: Digital Editions
If you have a limited print circ, digital editions can expand your reach exponentially by being emailed to a larger subscription base not part of the print run. They also can provide a value-add to market to your print advertisers. Digital editions can require little effort on the part of the edit staff (the print product is simply converted by an outside vendor) or they can be updated with audio, video, and other rich media to enhance the experience even further. Utilizing digital editions also is an alternative, as well as less expensive and less risky, option for special supplements outside the regular print schedule.

6. Revenue: Journal of Light Construction Books
The Journal of Light Construction, a trade journal offering hands-on, in-depth coverage of building processes and techniques, capitalized on its trusted content by repackaging 20 years of how-to construction articles into a comprehensive book, “The JLC Field Guide,” and interactive CD-ROM. The book is filled with how-to illustrations, instructions, diagrams, and charts. It was so popular, a second volume was published.
Result: The book cost $300,000 to produce, but generated $750,000 in its first year alone.

Katy Tomasulo is deputy editor for EcoHome magazine, Building Products magazine, and ebuild.com at Hanley Wood Business Media in Washington, D.C.

Labels: ASBPE Conference, Digital, Economy, Katy Tomasulo

By Maureen Alley

Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that are the most innovative. The magazine industry has been trying to figure out for some time how to manage digital opportunities with its print products. And with that, some magazines try too hard where others excel.

Last year, during my New Media and Technology graduate class, we discussed Esquire’s October 2008 cover. This cover was different than any cover before it. The cover had electronic ink – an image that flashed and scrolled. FOLIO: magazine also reported on the cover in July 2008. According to FOLIO:’s article, the battery for the electronic ink lasts for 90 days and the issue sold for $2 more than the normal cover price.

Esquire’s October 2008 cover literally combined print with digital. But, I’m not sure that’s what is meant when we say we want to complement print products with digital opportunities.

On the other hand, magazines like BtoB are successfully using print and digital opportunities in ways that take advantage of the opportunities available from each medium.

BtoB magazine has daily articles on its website that are original content written by the magazine’s staff. They aren’t wire articles that are simply pushed to its site automatically. This provides the magazine with original content and its readers with industry information from a source they trust.

Articles on its site are set up for reader comments creating a community for readers. By providing this function to your readers, you’re making them feel valuable and part of the conversation.

In addition, each article provides the opportunity for the reader to bookmark, share, and e-mail articles. A big part of online success is syndicating content. By not including these functions on each article, you’re ignoring a viral readership.

The magazine also has a very strong social media presence. By following BtoB on Twitter, followers get up-to-the minute breaking news. This also adds to the magazine’s syndication.

BtoB magazine is used simply as an example of the many magazines that are doing it right online. There are many more out there. And there are many magazines out there that have yet to provide online communities for their readers, viral sharing options, and original content instead of wire content.

Where do you stand in this mix?


Maureen Alley is managing editor for Website Magazine, a trade publication dedicated to Web professionals. She was formerly managing editor for Residential Design & Build magazine, a property of Cygnus Business Media. Alley graduated with a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and is currently attending Roosevelt University in Chicago for her Masters of Science in Journalism. She has been a member of ASBPE since 2006 and was a judge for the 2009 Azbee Awards program. She writes a blog at www.maureenalley.com about young journalists and new media. Contact her at malley13[at]gmail[dot]com.

Labels: Digital, Maureen Alley, Twitter

By Steven Roll
ASBPE Past President

The Wall Street Journal has one, the New York Times has one, Bloomberg has one. What about your publication? Does your publication have a social media policy?

Like many B2B publications, chances are your publication has been dipping its toes in the social-media ocean, but hasn’t jumped in yet. Maybe you’ve set up a Twitter account or a fanpage on Facebook, but nothing more.

Even if your publication is still in the exploratory stage, it’s probably a good idea to adopt a social media policy.

After making a few informal inquiries last week to some tech-savvy editors, I was somewhat surprised at how many publications still haven’t adopted a policy for how writers and editors should conduct themselves when communicating in a professional capacity on social media. Many of the people I spoke with said they were in the process of developing one. (Of course, the reason I was asking is because I'm drafting a policy for my company.)

Maybe editors are reluctant to adopt a formal policy because they feel social media initiatives are something that should be built from the “ground up.” After all, it’s mostly the younger people who have fully embraced it. Perhaps adopting a formal policy might somehow inhibit the free flow of conversation on Twitter etc. Both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg were criticized for adopting overly rigid policies.

It seems like the danger of off-message or inappropriate communications outweigh the awkwardness of adopting a policy concerning a medium many of us don’t fully understand yet. But it seems like it would be a lot easier to change an misguided policy, than to try to somehow compensate for an offensive Tweet or misguided blog post.

The social media policy I’m working on has two levels. The first level is a set of broad principles that outline some basic rules of conduct. Here are a few:

• be honest and transparent;
• coordinate your messages with your publication;
• add value;
• blog about what you know;
• if you make a mistake, admit it, and correct it; and
• be diplomatic and professional — especially with the people who are behaving rudely or with whom you disagree.

The second level reads more like a style guide. It will include more specific information such as:

• a sample blog post;
• what a typical Tweet should look like; and
• best practices for sharing a blog post on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

To be sure, the policy my company ends up adopting is likely to look entirely different than my conception of it. But even if that turns out to be the case, I think it's a worthwhile exercise to start establishing some guidelines. Otherwise, how else will you be able to identify inappropriate conduct. Like old age, having a policy to point to sure beats the alternative.

Through a colleague, I found the following gem at the Online Database of Social Media Policies: Chris Boudreaux, author of the upcoming book Social Media Governance, has assembled 82 such policies on the book’s website. From companies to charities to military organizations, it’s a treasure trove for those struggling with social media guidelines.
Source: Social Media Governance (via Mashable)

Labels: Blogging/Blogging Strategy, Career/Employment, Digital, Electronic Style Guide, LinkedIn ASBPE, Management, Productivity, Social Media, Steven Roll, Technology, Twitter, Work Life

Digital Symposium: Practical online strategies and tactics for the B2B editor
Friday, Nov. 6, 2009
Hyatt Regency
San Francisco Airport

You can’t afford to stop learning, especially now. High value. Affordable. Always from ASBPE.

Included in your registration fee:

• One full day of interactive sessions designed with B2B editors in mind.
• Real-world solutions from experienced experts.
• 5 sessions, 11 speakers.
• Network, share advice with other B2B editors.
• Digital Azbees winners slideshow and luncheon. See the best of the best.
• Affordable registration compared to other industry events.
• Convenient location by the San Francisco airport.

Among the sessions are:

Labels: ASBPE Conference, Digital