Do you blog? If not, maybe you can... and we'll help you start. In this issue of Engage, we discuss blogging and explore why it can be a crucial part of your custom media strategy—don't just join the online conversation, but shape it! Don't forget to check out the latest launches, and our video interview on blogging. If you get even one idea, we'd like to think Engage is worth reading (and now watching)!

industry buzz

Bringing Pages to Life
Out with the old, in with the new! Magazine readers may soon notice a difference in their reading experience. Advertisers such as Verizon and Johnson & Johnson have started creating promotions that literally grab your attention with music, lights, scratch-and-sniff, and other sensory overload tactics. Check out some of the latest ideas...

A Picture is Worth...
In an effort to further engage consumers with editorial, magazines such as Rolling Stone and Men's Health are encouraging readers to "take cameraphone pictures of icons on ads, then send them to a certain number." The advertiser then provides the reader with a special offer in return for their extra engagement. Find out more about this new reader experience that is great for advertisers!

Calling All Snobs!
Are you a snob? If so, there's a new magazine (and Web site and television station) on the scene just for you. Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian billionaire worth over $22 billion, is spending more than $150 million to launch the new magazine "for people who are successful and those who want to be successful." Take a sneak peek before the first issue comes out this summer...

Disclaimer: Access to some sites may require registration.

diamond in the rough

Blogs: More Than Just Talk

Thanks to the proliferation of social media, audiences and communities are already engaged in a rich online conversation. That's why publishing a custom magazine plus a creating a vibrant blog is a vital strategy, enabling you not only to participate in that conversation, but to shape it.

In an interview on the TMG Online Video Network, Jeff De Cagna, chief strategist and founder of Principled Innovation, explains that the largest opportunity lies in viewing magazines as more than containers of information—and in beginning to think of them as platforms for engagement. According to Jeff, by integrating your magazine with a blog, "you take the publication from being simply a print medium to being a social medium. That's where the real power is unleashed."

Watch Jeff's video interview

For example, Jeff notes that magazines are among the most important voices for associations. Integrating a blog extends this voice—and influence—online. The power of blogs, Jeff says, is getting "a chance to be a thought leader in the community and shape the conversation in that space as well."

Blogs also enable associations to leverage their unique content and point of view, commenting on just-breaking events and putting information into context.

Bottom line, says Jeff: "Web sites are great but Web sites don't make you part of the conversation culture." Blogs and magazines do, by creating powerful synergies for getting members to interact, give feedback, and build an association community. And that's why Jeff thinks every association should have a blog.

Given all the benefits, why doesn't every organization already have a blog? Technology can be a stopper, but blog platforms are actually very simple to implement and use. The bigger issue is losing control over content. While blogging raises some valid concerns (including legal risks and the chance for people to post comments that run counter to what the organization believes), association consultants like Jeff advise weighing these concerns against the overwhelming benefits that come from using social technologies like blogging.

Ready to test the water? Find out what you need to know in our new Best Practices Guide: Blog Basics for Custom Magazine Publishers

Connect    Blog Basics for Custom Magazine Publishers.

Engage    Do you have a blogging question or tip to share? We'd love to hear from you!

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