Jumpstart Automotive Group

Actually, no, they aren’t. For someone like myself who has been so focused on what’s next in this social media revolution, it sounds funny to say. But it’s true. Magazines continue to serve a very real purpose, but that purpose has been blurred by publishers quick to defend the medium to protect subscriptions rates and ad dollars.

The 21st century hasn’t been friendly to the magazine, and there has been a lot of time spent chronicling its myriad issues. First, let’s explore the conventional wisdom.

The Internet has taken most of the blame for the fall of the magazine. The argument goes that no one will pay for content in archaic paper form when they can have the content free online with more bells and whistles. You can’t interact with a magazine in the same way you can with websites, thus its inherent value must be lower.. Also, there is a growing supposition that traditional media brands have become less and less relevant as real-time content and social news has exploded worldwide. Magazines can’t survive and keep pace in a world where major news is broken in tweets, blogs, and status updates. Lastly, and this one makes us sound like cranky old-timers, people just aren’t reading anymore. There is form of illiteracy sweeping the world as “writing” is compressed into 140 character intervals and status updates take over for written letters. Younger generations don’t have tolerance for long-form writing the way they used to.

Let’s first tackle the rise of the Internet. What most magazine companies didn’t understand upfront, is that the Internet is not a competing platform. The mistake was thinking about the magazine as the hub of the brand. The continued mistake is to think of the website as the hub of the brand when in fact, the brand is the hub of the brand. Magazines, websites, blogs, TV, are all platforms for distributing the brand’s content and experience. Content should live both in print and online because each medium serves a different purpose.

The print companies that have lost subscribers and community are the same companies arguing that content should live exclusively in the magazine in order for it to maintain its value. Media companies that have grown their communities realized early on that it is important to put your content in front of the consumer how and when they want it. People will pay for content. Not because they are forced to, but because they discover the brand, follow the brand, and are consistently presented with relevant and timely information that can be consumed in a variety of medium depending on the user’s current needs and appetite. Put another way, the explosion of media platforms allows greater opportunity for content providers to reach and engage with an audience that will ultimately have a deeper relationship with the brands they deem thoughtful, entertaining and informative.

The way a brand is discovered has changed drastically as well. No longer do we spend time searching through magazines on a rack. Instead, content companies that have thrived are those that recognize the need to format their content and distribute their content in a way that is easy to spread, share, and get into an individual’s information stream. Internet is a HUGE part of that. By saving your best content for the magazine, you are only allowing people to share and distribute your second tier content. Remember, a magazine can be shared with a few, content online can be socialized to thousands.

Let’s also remember that the social movement online is relatively new. The audience that took to this new form of content sharing is primarily composed of Gen Y. We assume that youth today don’t pay for content because they have no need to pay when it’s available for free. That’s not entirely true. Generation Y is less likely to pay for content because their purchase power is relatively low and their access to free alternatives is high. Ten years ago, I never would have paid for a magazine or a CD when I could easily get the content for free on my desktop. However, the brands that successfully got their content into my information stream through my preferred platforms and consistently delivered a quality experience are now rewarded because my purchase power had increased. I currently have six magazine subscriptions which I read online, offline, and via mobile. These brands realize that they need to provide a complete brand experience on all platforms while providing the capabilities that I expect for the particular medium.

Magazines that have attempted to prop up a wobbly circulation base, forced readers to pay for the content upfront, and saved their best content for the magazine, have effectively missed an entire generation of potential brand users. Give your community a reason to want to engage with the brand on all platforms seamlessly and they will reward you.

Finally, to address the perceived illiteracy gripping today’s youth: It’s actually the exact opposite. All of those status updates, tweets, blog posts, texts, forum responses and email add up, In fact, a recent study from Stanford University found that we are in the middle of a literary revival the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 1960s. Furthermore, the quality of the written word hasn’t suffered at all due to the abbreviated form that we are so familiar with in today’s communication. The constant access to content and the lack of barriers when it comes to broadcasting your own content to the world has fueled this revival. Generation Y has no sense of fear or trepidation when it comes to sharing their written thoughts to the masses. The ability to participate in the content and share thoughts and opinions only supports their habits of consuming content more regularly. As a result, you better allow your community to get involved with their experience with your brand. Give them an outlet not only online, but across all platforms including print. Letters to the editor isn’t enough for the 21st century and written word on paper is still an ultimate reward for your content contributors. Make it obtainable.

Magazines aren’t dead, but the ones that continue to build walls between their users and the content to falsely create a dollar value will be. It’s magazine’s love affair with the magazine that is killing the medium. Quality content, passionate community, the ability to engage with the brand on multiple platforms seamlessly and without unnecessary barriers will result in long-term success. The brand is the hub of the brand.