Publishers: 3 Tips to Accelerate your Transition to Digital

Traditional media is struggling with the advent of digital disruption. Users are now in control of what they want to watch and when they want to watch it. 

As a graduate student studying Media Strategy and Leadership at Northwestern University’s Medill school of Journalism, I found 2 articles which highlight how to create a multimedia presence in the new digital marketplace.

Snapchat to unveil Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue by Saba Hamedy on Mashable is an article about Vanity Fair unveiling its most important issue of 2016 in an unconventional channel—Snapchat Discover. The channel will feature a few Snapchat-exclusive features and will be live for 36 hours. The partnership not only demonstrates Vanity Fair’s attempt to attract younger audiences via Snapchat, but also help Snapchat expand its content offerings to its viewers.

                                                                                                  Source: New Yorker Magazine

Traditional Radio to Make Audio Awesome Online by Shan Wang on Niemanlab is the article about Boston public radio station WBUR getting their website an overhaul in order to make audience more engaged with its digital offering. They've built a brand new platform rather than a redesign.The new website tackled the obstacles preventing audio from being a first-class citizen online and active on social media. It is just the start of how audio can work better on the social web.

Based on the ideas in these articles and my studies in Medill Journalism program, here are three actions you should consider to leverage the social media.

1.       Follow your audience - Bring the content to people where they are, so that they can find out that who you are and what you do.

2.       Digitize content - Create content in the way pivoting digital channel, where powerful social influence can help content go viral.  

3.       Keep reinventing - Don’t be afraid to use unconventional channels which give traditional media a cool new lens on what they have been doing over years.

Today, you need to think digital with every content item you develop to accelerate the transition new and ever-evolving social media platform.

Wenjing Fei is a media and marketing professional with 10 years of experience. She worked as senior feature editor for ELLE MEN Hearst Magazines China, focusing on business section and long-form stories. She is currently studying Media Strategy and Leadership as a McCormick Fellow at Medill - Northwestern University, with a focus on digital media skills and business strategy. 
Connect her on Twitter or  LinkedIn