My Interview with Publishers Australia

Posted on November 16, 2010June 27, 2019 by Matthew Green

For those of you who don’t already know, my company, Creative Folks, specialises in workflow solutions for printers, publishers, ad agencies, graphic designers and video production companies throughout Australia and New Zealand. This includes print, online and iPad app creation tools used to produce all the magazines on display in this post. Back in October I was interviewed by Ms. Jill Park from Publishers Australia about digital magazine creation. With kind permission from the PA Board, here is a copy of the transcript for your enjoyment.

What makes a good/bad iPad app?
The iPad is all about maximising the end-user experience. A good iPad app should offer the consumer more than just a digital replica of the print copy. When gathering content for an article or story there is likely to be several photographs and extended text other than the few hundred words allocated to the page. There may also be historical content, video archives and audio files that offer relevancy to the subject. Print does not allow the publisher to take advantage of this extra material but the iPad allows you to present it with your own creative style.

Why should magazines create their own apps?
There is an art to magazine creation. The combination of photography, typography, design and editorial skills defines the quality of the product. With the right tool set in place, publishing companies are more than capable of producing their own apps and therefore controlling their own creativity.

However, internal app creation is not going to be a suitable business model for every publisher. Small teams on tight deadlines may find it easier and more cost effective to outsource the app creation to third party companies that offer these services at reasonable prices.

Is there a great demand for iPad apps for magazines?
Definitely. A quick search for the word ‘magazine’ on iTunes will deliver the user hundreds of results in various languages from niche titles to major brands such as Time, GQ, Wired and People.

How should the content differ for the print and iPad version?
The iPad offers a whole new level of creativity for designers. Photographic slideshows from the red carpet, video of the latest Lamborghini test drive, celebrity interviews, live sport results, social media interaction, even a dynamically updating TV guide are just some of the examples of how the content can differ from the print version.

The iPad has thousands of funky apps already available from astronomy to some very addictive games (have a look at Angry Birds and you’ll see what I mean). The point is, there is a lot of eye candy on the App Store so if you want the consumer to continue purchasing your product over all the other options available to them, then you need to offer them more than a high-resolution jpeg of the printed page.

What do editors looking to create their own apps need to consider?

Editors need to think beyond the page, which is something they should be used to doing considering that a lot of magazines have their own web site. A food magazine may want to include a step-by-step video of the featured recipe. A music title may want to include snippets from the cover band’s latest album or concert. Fashion shoots will want more than that ‘one good shot’. Gather and collect as much content as you can because that gives you more choice.

Don’t to it halfheartedly though. No video content is better than a few links to some low resolution YouTube clips.

Are these considerations different for apps for other devices?
Not really. The big difference will be the ability to use Adobe Flash in the other tablet devices.

How does the WoodWing app software work?
WoodWing believes that good app design comes from good designers. They provide plug in tools for Adobe InDesign to enable the user to create the layouts and make best use of the available content. WoodWing Content Station allows the designer to adjust page positioning to ensure that the app flows smoothly for every swipe and tap; and provides an overview of the publication before the app is created. WoodWing Enterprise manages the collaboration within and between the design and editorial teams; and their Digital Magazine Server creates the app once the final design and layout has been approved. It is a simple process that involves very few steps, but one that gives control over the creativity of the app back to the designers, which is where it belongs.

Does it work across non-iPad devices?
It will as soon as the other devices become readily available. (postscript: WoodWing announced on October 6th that they had a cooperative agreement with Samsung to bring digital publications to the Galaxy Tab. Click here to read more.)

Is it suitable for publishers of all sizes?
WoodWing is an inexpensive modular solution. You don’t need to be a large publisher to use their products.

Which iPad apps for magazines do you think work best? Why?
Apps are continuously evolving and what works best for some may not be right for others. The original Time Magazine still offers video content, extra photos, extended editorial and engaging advertising. It is available to be purchased through a digital storefront and much of the extra heavy-duty content, such as audio and video files, is accessed as required when the user is online. WIRED, on the other hand, gives you absolutely everything in one humongous download. Both solutions work well. Sports Illustrated gives their readers access to a live scoreboard whereas Net-A-Porter provides a fashion shopping experience complete with product descriptions and editor’s recommendations.

Recently released apps have become more of a hybrid solution that incorporates HTML5 technology to provide breaking news or animation for their covers and internal pages. For examples of these have a look at the Dutch apps Veronica and Auto Week or the Russian version of Cosmopolitan. Veronica launches with an up-to-the-minute TV Guide and the current version of Auto Week has a Lotus Evora winking at you with its halogen headlights.

Cosmo uses a lot of animations within the pages of their magazine to create a unique and highly-engaging end user experience. Scrollable text columns in transparent overlays keep the photography visible underneath the article without impeding the readability of the story. Fashion hotspots provide the reader with extra product information when they tap on the models boots, skirt, accessories, etc. Even the advertisements have been upgraded with extra content. There is one article about Autumn fashion, I think – my Russian is not too good :-), where pastel coloured leaves fly around behind the text as if blowing in an invisible breeze (pictured). Cosmo really is one of the most creative pieces of magazine app design I have seen so far.

Some publications however have opted for a more simplistic approach. Jaguar Magazine has only a small number of pages but its content is laid out in a very stylish and elegant manner. The Guardian Eyewitness app offers the end user beautiful photography with tips on how the image was captured.

There are also some excellent examples of newspaper apps from the Australian, the New Zealand Herald and the Malaysian Star, to name but a few.

My advice to publishers is to research what’s available on iTunes already. Download titles that are similar to yours, and some that are vastly different as well. That will help you to get a feel for what features are available and what works best. Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you should.

Is there anything editors could learn from non-magazine apps? Please give examples.
Oh sure. Apps like Blogshelf and Flipboard present content in a clean and easy to read environment. Discover by Cooliris gives Wikipedia a makeover with article searching, rotatable pages that offer extra information such as maps and statistics, historical bookmarks, and daily cover changes. Apps such as the ABC and NPR bring news feeds to life with audio and visual content as well as the ability to share articles via email and social media. The Guardian Eyewitness app, as I mentioned before, demonstrates the iPad’s ability to display dazzling photography.

How can people monitor subscriptions?
Subscription management is the current hot topic for iPad publishing. Apple don’t offer a subscription mechanism at this stage so the best way to manage it is probably to emulate People Magazine. They have linked their iPad app to the print subscription so their customers can input their user ID and download the iPad app for free. If the user is not a print subscriber then they can buy the issue from iTunes and transact the purchase through Apple’s systems.

Creative Folks are a Strategic Partner of Publishers Australia.

About Publishers Australia

Publishers Australia is a non-profit trade association that represents the leading B2B, specialist B2C, custom and digital publishers in Australia.

We currently have over 120 publisher members who produce more than 800 consumer, business and customer publications in total.

We have developed a powerful network of national and international alliances across the creative industries to keep our members up to date on matters that affect them.

We inform our members of industry trends; defend them against unnecessary regulation; and promote the editorial and financial health of our industry.

We have a strong interest in training and development through seminars, workshops, event keynotes, Excellence Awards, and an annual conference as well as access to a range of learning resources.

As publishers are becoming multimedia, cross-platform brands, we aim to guide our members into the future by providing advice on the digital revolution reshaping our industry.

Lighting the Touchpaper

Posted on October 14, 2010June 27, 2019 by Matthew Green

5 Tips to Starting a Digital Strategy by Matthew Green

Several months ago I wrote an article on why businesses should be using Social Media. The statistics proposed by NeilsenWire, AdNews, The Australian newspaper and the ABC News website lead to the following conclusion.

“With almost 7,750,000 wage earning Australians currently engaged in some form of social media the answer for most people should be a resounding ‘yes’.”

Matthew Green Pine Gap Being the sort of person that likes to practice what he preaches I established and continuously maintain my corporate social media presence. This includes our website, blog, Facebook Page, LinkedIn Discussion Group and company Twitter account. On top of that I also manage my own personal blog, twitter account, Facebook page etc. It’s a lot of work for a small business with limited resources (not to mention the fact that I am the proud father of five wonderful children) but it is a commitment you need to make if you want your efforts to be rewarded.

Like any marketing activity, a Social Media strategy needs to be planned and Heidi really helped us a lot with this process. Our clients and suppliers are a diverse group of companies but the three main outlets of Social Media they all seemed to use were Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We also discovered that our corporate newsletters were widely read so we had to factor that channel into the equation as well. What we came up with was a corporate blog site that we could feed through to our Facebook Page, Twitter account and Linked In Discussion Group. Heidi also introduced us to an application called TweetDeck that enables us to post Twitter comments to multiple sites including our Facebook page. All of a sudden we were able to write once and publish to many; and all our apprehensions were gone.

Since establishing our Social Media presence and becoming actively involved in the community I have made a number of observations that I would like to share with you.

1. Make sure you ‘tweet’, ‘blog’ and update your Facebook status regularly. Visitors will stop visiting if the content remains the stagnant. How often you do this is a business decision you have to make. I try to blog twice per week for my company and once for myself. However, I update Twitter and Facebook almost every day. Although this costs my company three to four hours per week of my time, I know that the group of followers we have appreciate the effort.

2. On the flip side, don’t be a blog hog. If people see you flooding the twitterverse with useless trivia then you will quickly become associated with spam and filtered out.

3. Share your knowledge and offer useful information. Don’t just try to sell your wares because that is the surest way to become unfollowed.

4. Don’t get discouraged if you fail to gain instant success. In many instances, building up a viable social media presence takes time and effort. Not everyone will end up the size of Mashable or Hubspot.

5. Be honest! The global social network is an incredibly large organism and the old adage that ‘bad news travels fast’ is especially relevant.

Finally, the most important rule of all in my opinion, and one I’m sure everyone has been guilty of not doing at some stage is, – Reciprocation. If you do not acknowledge a retweet, comment on a blog, or offer an insight into a discussion, how can you expect your community to do the same for you.

Social Media Commentary

Posted on July 10, 2010June 27, 2019 by Matthew Green

Should you be embracing social media?

There’s no argument that social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress etc are growing in popularity day by day but to what extent are Australians getting involved? According to Nielson’s 2010 Social Media Report released in March there were 9 million Australians interacting regularly via social media with Facebook as the main platform. Twitter’s audience expanded by more than 400% in 2009 but perhaps the most important statistic to come from this report is that nearly two in every five online Australians are interacting with companies via social networking sites.

So who’s out there?

The ABC News site reported in February that Australians were leading the world with an average of seven hours per month spent on social media sites. Source ABC News

Nielsen’s online site NielsenWire noted in March 2010 that mobile social networking was predominantly used by the 35 – 54 age group (36%) and the 25 – 34 age group (34%) with a further 16% of participants in the 18 – 24 bracket. Source NielsenWire blogsite

That’s a lot of disposable income investing their time online.

Print budgets shift to social media.

AdNews reported in April that almost half (47%) of businesses have shifted marketing spend from print to social media. The online survey of 347 Australian businesses found 70% intend to conduct some form of social media activity this year, compared with just 40% in 2008. And it is not only print taking the hit. The survey found significant proportions of businesses are diverting funds to social media from direct marketing (33%), online/digital (26%), TV (15%) and radio (14%). Twenty-one percent of big businesses and 40% of SME’s will expand their marketing budgets in 2010 specifically to fund social media. “In the past year, there has been substantial growth in the number of consumers engaging with companies via social media,” Nielsen online research director Melanie Ingrey said. Australians lead the way in social media adoption with 86% reading online consumer product reviews and 75% belonging to some form of social media. Two-thirds (61%) of businesses already use social media to achieve brand building, however, 29% do not measure ROI from social media activity or don’t know how to. This lag in measurement is a barrier to entry for many businesses, however Ingrey said it is an “easy fix” and predicts a huge rise in adoption rates of social media in the next year. Source: AdNews Online, 21 April 2010

Social Networking On The Road

The Australian newspaper reported on June 8th that global smartphone shipments are tipped to more than double in the next four years from 246.9 million in 2010 to 506 million in 2014. Apple reported on June 22nd that they had sold over 3 million iPads in 80 days. Source Australian IT and Apple.com

The exponential uptake in mobile technology will have a profound effect on the way products and services are researched and consumed.

“Incredibly, nearly nine in ten Australian Internet users (86%) are looking to their fellow Internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands, and Australians’ engagement with online word of mouth communication is going to increase in coming years as social media plays an increasingly important role in consumer decision making” states Melanie Ingrey, Research Director for Nielsen’s online business. Source NielsenWire article Australia Getting More Social Online as Facebook Leads and Twitter Grows.

The proliferation of smartphones has lead to a surge in mobile social networking. Nielsen’s report found that over one quarter of social networkers (26%) participated in mobile social networking in the past year. Facebook is the most popular site accessed via a mobile (92% of mobile social networkers have visited Facebook), followed by YouTube, Twitter (18%) & MySpace (9%). However, Twitter sees the most frequent mobile usage, with half of its mobile users visiting the site daily. In comparison, Facebook saw 36% of its mobile users visit the site daily, while 22% of MySpace users and 16% of YouTube users were making daily visits.

Back to the question, should businesses be embracing social media?

With almost 7,750,000 wage earning Australians currently engaged in some form of social media the answer for most people should be a resounding ‘yes’. Like all marketing activities though, you need to develop a strategy. Make sure you ‘tweet’, ‘blog’ and update your Facebook status regularly. Set measurable objectives such as increasing traffic to your website or improving your ranking in search engines. Share your news, views and knowledge with your audience, don’t just go for the hard sell. Most importantly, be honest. The global social network is an incredibly large organism and the old adage that ‘bad news travels fast’ is especially relevant.

My Social Media Sites