Hearst Magazines is the giant behind some of the most popular monthly magazines in the world. Their reach is global – but they wanted to further tap into the power of social to grow new audiences and harness the interests of their existing fans in new ways.
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CHALLENGE: How can you know what your fans want to see on each social platform?
Hearst Magazines is the giant behind some of the most popular monthly magazines in the world. Their reach is global – but they wanted to further tap into the power of social to grow new audiences and harness the interests of their existing fans in new ways.
With so many niche magazine brands, Hearst needed a one-stop solution that would allow them to see how followers were reacting to their content on all the social platforms. With Spike, Hearst can analyze how different stories perform with certain audiences, and use that information to inform their content strategy.
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By using Spike, we don’t need to trawl several sources to find out what’s a big story across the categories our portfolio spans.”
Audience Development Manager Andy Joannou says Spike has allowed them to cover a wide range of sectors, and cut hours of research time by knowing exactly where and when to target their efforts.
“Spike helps us set an agenda for the day: to see what people are reading and where to focus editorial attention. By using Spike, we don’t need to trawl several sources to find out what’s a big story across the categories our portfolio spans.”
Andy says the first thing his team does in the morning is load up Spike. Andy checks each category of interest, like “entertainment” or “food & wine” and feeds the stories and topics he sees spiking back to Hearst’s various brands – so they can either cover it in news or create features based off of larger trends.
Using customized Spike panels to track what’s happening across their portfolio, Andy’s team can use social engagement data to decide what’s going to perform best today and prioritize resources.
Andy now knows exactly what his different social communities want to see, and how they want it presented on each platform.
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We’re covering stories a lot faster and pushing those stories out on the platforms we think would appreciate the story most – we see higher engagement levels across these pieces than others.”
“We’re covering stories a lot faster and pushing those stories out on the platforms we think would appreciate the story most – we see higher engagement levels across these pieces than others.
We’ve noticed significantly increased reach on Facebook for stories originating from Spike compared to other organic posts, as well as higher levels of engagement.“
NewsWhip Spike assists Hearst’s editorial decisions to grow social communities and readerships – leading to more shares and stronger fanbases.
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