Magazine industry launches new social media campaign to demonstrate reach and engagement

The Magazine Publishers of Australia (MPA) members Bauer Media Australia, Pacific Magazines and NewsLifeMedia today launched an Australian-first social media initiative to underscore the collective power and reach of mass consumer magazines, on any platform.

From 10am today, May 1st, every one of the publishers’ Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest social media accounts, held by magazine titles, editors, publishers and ambassadors, featured a #MagsMoveMe theme, encouraging readers to get involved and share how magazines move and inspire them.

Each magazine, editor and ambassador today tweeted, posted and status updated a relevant question to their audience using the #MagsMoveMe theme. Some of the questions posed included ‘What has this magazine moved you to do? Cook something new? Phone your Mum? Try a different dress? Go for a run? Write a list? Be kinder to yourself? Keep up the fitness regime?’

Readers are able respond with their favourite magazine moment, with images, posts and Tweets.

The total magazine industry has more than 3 million social media followers across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest and daily visitors to their websites of over 700,000.

Says Robin Parkes, MPA executive director: “This Australian and industry first initiative demonstrates a bold, powerful statement of the magazine industry’s collective the reach, engagement, motivation and influence and underscores the depth of creativity and imagination on sale every week.

“The response has been extraordinary – since 10am this morning we’ve had 50,000 interactions across all platforms and were trending within an hour.”

Says Helen McCabe, Australian Women’s Weekly editor-in-chief: “The debate about social media’s importance to a magazine or a brand is over. The fact is it is absolutely critical. It allows direct communication with the reader which means often a full and frank exchange of ideas and views.

“On AWW we use it to find and research stories and to receive invaluable feedback on everything from our covers to our story selection. It has gone from being something I did occasionally to being a significant part of my job.”

Says Edwina McCann, Vogue Australia editor-in-chief: “Vogue Australia has a highly engaged following across our social media landscape. It allows our audience to have conversations with the Vogue team, who provide daily opinion and coverage to increase content freshness and respond to searched trends and themes. Social media makes our industry more accessible and shareable and also provides us with instantaneous feedback to better understand our readers and react accordingly.”

Says Jackie Frank, Marie Claire publisher and editor: “I love using social media as an avenue to express my passion for magazines. It’s great to see the industry coming together to show our collective strengths.”