10 Trends That Could Make (or Break) Our Editorial Careers

10 Trends That Could Make (or Break) Our

Editorial Careers

Jim SuleckiDirector, eMedia

Meister Media Worldwide

Jim Sulecki

• Daily / weekly newspapers, essays, op-eds

• B2B writer and editor

• Editorial management

• Publishing management

• TV writing, audio production

eMedia management

• Web developers

• Studio M video / audio

• Content / graphics

• Advertising / marketing

• Audience development

Unprecedented Transition

TV Is Not Just Radio Before a Camera

Likewise…the Internet Not Just Print on a Screen

• Interactivity

• Multimedia

• Immediate access to deeper data

Few media ever go away. They just step sideways to accommodate new ones.

Potential for Best of All Worlds• Incisive text• Brilliant images• Direct paths to deeper data• Audio / video• Animation

If…we prove our value through the transition.

So how do we remain relevant?

(1)Know that we will be

measured.

“There are no lies / When you see that look in their eyes” - Fastball, “Warm, Fuzzy Feeling” (1998)

Watch Metrics

• Many editors now check visitor and pageview reports every day

• Some as much as every 15 minutes (!)

• On-the-fly testing: multivariate testing on heds

• Leeway given to editorial-mission coverage

Set Targets• Shoot for continuing growtho E.g., MMW: 52% YOY growth in UVs, 83% in PVs,

41% in time spent

• Performance integrated into annual reviews, even financial incentiveso Use this FOR you! E.g., in pay raise discussions

o You = content = more web traffic = more $

More PVs, UVs (1) Check our egos

(2) Become fastidious number-checkers

(3) Learn from the monster number-gatherers- e.g., if your own tradeshow is gathering the most PVs, maybe there’s an editorial idea there

More PVs, UVs (4) Clarity over cute – write heds that could be translated into another language and still be meaningful

(5) Use numerals

(6) Get to the point – quick

(7) Link out. Try to get links in.

(2)Our content will become

“co-creative” with our audiences’.

One-to-Many Many-to-Many

Content not with a megaphone, but as a conversation-starter.

I Am Audience, Hear Me Roar

I Am Audience, Hear Me Roar

Audience-Generated Content(1) Article comments

(2) Polls

(3) Message boards

(4) Online communities

(5) Blogs by experts (heirs to magazine columns)

(6) User-contributed images/video: e.g., Magnify.net

Audience-Generated

Content

(7) Crowdsourcing / wikis

Now, for the sake of print...How do we circle this type of

engagement back into our magazines?

Re-Engagement in Print(1) Re-purpose online comments as ‘letters’

(2) Photo pages / contests

(3) First-person stories (‘as told to…’)

(4) Any kind of ‘roundup’ stories

(3)Content produced by editors will focus predominantly on

analysis and exclusives.

So Much Information…

2:37 pm

1:32 pm

12:46 pm

Fri, April 16

So Much Information…

So Much Need for Analysis

RBI CEO Says Sky is Not Falling

Analyst: News Foretells More Closings

Editorial: Media Must Stop the Bleeding

400 Words of Analysis…

…4400 Wordsof Audience Comment

The Power of Exclusives

(1) State-of-the-industry reports

(2) Rankings

(3) Own-event coverage

(4) Own-award coverage

(5) Webinar coverage

(4)We are in the

entertainment – as well as information – business.

Business ≠ Boring‘Will It Blend?: 83 Million Views on YouTube

Animated Presentations of Content

Let Us Entertain Them

Don’t Work Without a Script

(5)We (not publishers)will be the primary

marketers of our content.

• Social media

et etc.

• Monitor PVs. Adjust heds, angles, etc.

• Check no. ofinbound links

Our Job to Make Stories Go Viral

(6)No one will pay usor our publishers

directly for our content.

• Estimate: As few as 5% of online users will pay for content.

• Good news: Most B2B has operated in this environment for decades.

• Editors may have to work more with publishers than ever.

(7)The fading “bright line”

between editorial and sales will get even dimmer.

• “Print dollars to digital dimes.”

• Audience engagement = more UVs/PVs = better ad environment.

• Web metrics are like incessant readership studies. (‘We will be measured.’)

• Editor’s creativity/knowledge in more demand than ever.

• No ‘gutter’ on web pages to delineate edit and ad pages.

• Fewer type fonts to signal editorial copy from advertiser copy.

• Savvy marketers know content deepens message.

• How to represent sponsored content?

(8)Our content will be read as

often (if not more) on mobile devices as on computer

screens.

• ‘Maw’ of fresh content gets hungrier

• Copy must be more incisive than ever

• Graphics: utility rather than pretty

• Apps? Video?

(9)Print content will gothe premium route.

Current B2B Model

• Industry leaders get magazine

• Anyone meeting basic occupational levels get magazine

• All get website

Coming B2B Model

• Industry leaders get premium magazine and access to website

• Anyone meeting basic occupational levels get access to website with registration

Impact on Magazine

(1) Bigger trim sizes return

(2) Paper stock goes back up

(3) Long-form features return

(4) Lavish graphics return

(5) ‘News of record’ moves to web

(6) Most ‘departments’ move to web

(10)The Millennials will want

our content, but in different packages.

“Still reading magazines? What are you? Amish?”

- Wired, 2009

Millennials

• Nothing against print. Un-green, can’t be texted or Facebook-ed.

• Content like dim sum – if tasty and brought to their attention.

Trade Media for Millennials

• Media company ‘finds’ Millennial.• eMailed avatar promises to help make

Millennial awesome in their new job.• Interactive demo walks Millennial

through media’s many job resources.• Facebook / online community

becomes hub of all communication.

Closing Thoughts

Workday of the Near Future?8:00: Check web metrics

8:15: Check email

9:00: Article lead

9:15: Tweet formulated as question / trial balloon

9:30: First call on lead

10:15: Tweet summary (attributed or unattributed)

11:45: Short item for day’s enews / website

11:50: Item with link on Twitter, Facebook, blog

1:00: Check web metrics

1:15: Second call

2:15: Begin scripting 2- to 3-minute audio feed

4:00: Begin formulating full-length magazine feature

A Few Tips• Don’t get bogged down by print. It’s just one

piece.

• Gather and disseminate content in real-time, as a constantly moving ‘slipstream.’

• Make use of every bit of content around you.

• Cut mercilessly. If it’s not generating interest, advertisers, or industry leadership – why do it?

• Demonstrate and prove your worth.

So Where to Next?• Chin up – the future will be great

• Know your audience better than ever

• Tap your inner creativity

• Good writing, storytelling still trumps all

• Work hard but have fun

• Know that you’re part of a media revolution

Thank You

Jim Suleckijsulecki@meistermedia.com

twitter.com/jimsuleckieMediaEncyclopedia/blogspot.com

Q&A