The content engine is a handy analogy to describe the role of a content agency: We build the engine, fuel it, and constantly fine tune it. Strategies, sites, publications, processes, and so on are the engine itself; content is the fuel; analytics and insights are how you fine tune it.
Kevin Briody
Kevin is the Director of Digital Strategy, and is currently fighting a disturbing PowerPoint addiction.
Find him elsewhere:
If you’re like me, you tend to get a little antsy on planes. This airborne anxiety has nothing to do with a fear of heights or screaming babies, but rather idle time.
It would be foolish to discuss storytelling in the 21st century without giving a nod to Facebook, the social media juggernaut that, with its status updates, notes, wall posts, “likes,” etc., has changed the way we communicate and turned the stuff of our daily lives into bite-sized stories.
It comes in many forms. You likely do it every day, perhaps sometimes without even noticing. If you read the title of this post before clicking on it, you know that I’m not describing eating—or whatever else may have just popped into your head. (If you care to share, please feel free to do so in the comments.) Storytelling, a basic unit of connection, is one of the great joys of humanity.
Austin Morton
Austin is assistant editor for Spirit Magazine.
It's a sad day in the technology world. Honestly, I can't imagine what my life would have been like without the creations of Steve Jobs. As I reflected on his passing on October 5, I couldn't help but think how technology (especially in the past decade) has shaped the success of social media.
We all know that blogging takes time, thought, motivation and passion about a particular topic. But life can overwhelm us, thus, making some of us blog quitters. But hold on! Don’t fall off the blogging wagon.
From the dawn of the Internet, links have always been an important ranking factor when it comes to search engines. We’ve all heard that the more relevant, inbound links pointing to a Web page, the better the chances are for that page to show up in search results with targeted keywords.
Obviously, social media signals can now be an important ranking factor as well. When sharing content links through social media, it tells search engines that content is beneficial. This racks up your ranking points.
Social media have recently exploded onto the business scene. Pace has joined the online social scene and discovered that writing with limited characters for an interactive audience is, in a sense, different.
Bettina Johnson
Bettina is the interactive content and online community manager.
Connect with Bettina:
LinkedIn
Twitter
Personal Site
This example of custom content solved my problem by suggesting items to purchase at the grocery store, and it changed my purchasing behavior for several weeks.
Anne Weston
Anne is an art director at Pace.
As my reading habits changed during each life stage, cookbooks, Web sites and other content sources influenced what I buy at the supermarket.
I love great magazines, don’t get me wrong. I think that magazines can be compared to a good friend; they know what you like and what you’re interested in, and they help you answer questions when you need a bit of guidance. A print magazine can be a mini-vacation from your daily life that is completely portable and doesn’t need to be charged. A digital device I do believe can never really replicate the hands-on experience of flipping a page, or if it can we are still years away from it. Here's my review of my favorite magazines: Parents, Fast Company Online, and Groupon.
Typically on our blog we talk about content marketing, advertising, publishing, trends in the industry, etc. But today we get to post a video of someone else saying it for us!
We all know apps usage and adoption is on the rise. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project 35% of cell phone users have apps on their cell phones and 24% of them are using them. But what does that really mean to us? How are we using them? And more specifically how are marketers and grocery store marketers using them?
I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Tom Haggai, chairman of IGA, INC. and brand ambassador for IGA in China, at the Pace Communications offices this week about the grocery industry and grocery marketing.
You think of the definition of housekeeping, and it typically doesn't elicit great feelings of excitement (especially for us working mothers). And it's not necessarily a word used to help describe modern family life. For many of us, housekeeping is the cooking, cleaning, laundry and such that we squeeze in on the evenings and weekends. We just do it to get by. So when I was asked to review the Good Housekeeping website, I approached it with a sense of apprehension. Will a brand established in 1885 really have an online offering of interest and value to the modern woman?
Let's admit it: The Runner's World website isn't for everyone. If you have no interest in running or exercising, it's not for you. However, as a recreational runner I jumped on the chance to review it. I am one of those crazy people who actually enjoy running, and when training for various distances from a 5K to a marathon, I have always found the information on the site useful, informative and inspiring.
Emily Wright
Emily works as a new business account manager.
Google +1, a new feature released by the search engine giant, adds a social component to Google Internet searches. When you are logged into your Google account, you can “+1” any search results, which your Google contacts will be able to see. It serves a similar purpose as the Facebook “Like” button, allowing users to receive more customized search results and will eventually be incorporated with +1 buttons on websites.
Google has released a quarterly publication, a 63-page digital magazine called Think Quarterly that features articles on business and technology topics. This first edition is focused on data and was designed and edited by The Church of London, a British creative agency.
Internet users are experiencing online video in an exciting new way—and I don’t mean increased episode offerings on Hulu. A growing number of companies are using online video to enhance brand conversations and inform consumers about their products and services in an entertaining way.
Social media is dramatically changing the way journalists do their jobs. By using social outlets like Twitter and Facebook, journalists can keep their fingers on the pulse of their communities and get information across more efficiently than traditional news sources. In Libya and now Japan, people are using social media as a way of sharing news, contacting loved ones and donating money to relief efforts. These events have shown the increasing importance of social journalism in disseminating news in an efficient and timely manner.
Changes are coming to the Internet that will expand its territory through custom domain name suffixes. Last week in San Francisco, investors, entrepreneurs, and business and organization leaders met for the first .nxt conference, which featured seminars on the guidelines for applying for the custom names.
Increased usage of mobile smartphones is changing the way people communicate digitally. Depending on their audience, many marketers today may need to place more importance on social networking and mobile communications.
AOL has bought The Huffington Post for $315 million, with $300 million to be paid in cash and $15 million in stock. Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, says that the merger “combines content, community, and social experiences for consumers.” The new relationship should bring positive changes for both companies since The Huffington Post is known for its content and social media, and AOL has the necessary resources and networks to disseminate the news globally across several digital platforms.
A report from FOLIO: magazine shows the numbers and rankings for the top 50 magazines that are most followed on Twitter.
Barnes & Noble’s NOOK newsstand has sold 650,000 subscriptions and single copies of their 120 periodical titles, due to the large success of their newest color touch-screen e-reader, the NOOKcolor. Since Christmas, B&N reports that they have sold 150 percent more subscriptions than they did in the previous year.
Recently, John Cass, Head of Digital Marketing here at Pace, had a chance to talk via podcast with Lon Safko, author of The Social Media Bible and the speaker at the Social Pulse 2011 conference in Las Vegas later this spring. The conference will be focused on corporate social media, and Lon will be giving a keynote on the return on investment (ROI) of social media marketing, as well as leading a workshop on LinkedIn.
Just as online buying quickly became a popular way to shop, mobile shopping is experiencing its own wave of popularity. A new study from ForeSee Results concluded that the percentage of people shopping on the Web from their mobile phones increased from 2% in 2009 to 11% this past holiday season.
As our first blog post on the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) stated, the 2011 CES saw a burst of tablets. With the emergence of all these new devices, many operating on the Android system, consumers will definitely have a lot to choose from when finding a tablet that suits their needs (and their budgets).
After the first few days of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it's apparent that tablet devices are the main attraction. What's all the hype about, and what do the competing companies have to offer consumers? Read more about the top competition.
As we saw this past year, digital publishing has moved into the world of the handheld device. Digital media such as tablet devices, eReaders and smartphones have gained popular attention. Predictions for 2011 say that these trends will continue, especially with regards to social media.
There are several big new items on the digital market for this year’s holiday season. Many analysts say that eReaders and tablet devices are the best gifts for 2010, and they expect the sales of these devices to soar. What do you think?
During this holiday season, consumers may see more Quick Response (QR) codes creeping up in advertisements. A QR code is an image that you can scan using a smartphone, which then reads the code and brings the phone to a website, images, or other text, including someone’s contact information.
Here's our review of the new tablet computer from Samsung, the Galaxy Tab, which has generated a large discussion in the tech world as the first real stab at competition with Apple’s iPad.
Magazines are getting some iPad love. That’s the news from Nielsen’s recent survey of iPad owners, which found that 41% have purchased a paid iPad app from a magazine publisher. Overall, 63% of iPad owners have downloaded paid apps, with games (62%), books (54%) and music (50%) the top categories.
That QR codes are multiplying like bunnies isn’t news. They now tattoo magazine pages—from titles as diverse as Golf Digest and U.S. Airways—as well as direct mail campaigns, in-store displays, billboards and other venues. Last month, Bravo Network launched its QR-embedded Bluefly.com commercials, while last week, Dom Pérignon created buzz with QR codes on bottles of its new Andy Warhol tribute champagne (in Japan only), linking consumers to a hip product video.
Apple and Verizon Wireless confirmed its much-rumored partnership, announcing on Thursday that the iPad will be available in Verizon stores beginning Oct. 28. Bundled with a Verizon mobile hot spot (mifi), the Wi-Fi-only iPad will sell for the same price as the 3G-equipped iPad: $629 for the 16-gigabyte version, $729 for the 32GB, and $829 for the 64GB version.
Some 55.7 million Americans 13 and older owned smartphones during the three months ending in August—up 14 percent from the May period, a new comCast survey showed. And while RIM held firm as the leading smartphone platform—with 37.6 percent of U.S. subscribers, versus Apple’s 24.2 percent and Google Android’s 19.6 percent—only Android gained market share:
With BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. finally joining the tablet war—unveiling the RIM PlayBook last week—the battlefield is more crowded than ever. Roughly five months after Apple began selling its iPad, the computer maker is fending off a scrum of tablets, including HP Slate, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Dell’s latest entry: a 7-inch tablet set to launch in a few weeks.
By the end of May 2010, 49.1 million people owned a smartphone. This is according to a recent study conducted by Comcast that took place between February and May of this year.
As predicted, we're continuing to see new players pop up in the eReader market. Sony is expected to release two new eReaders, the PRS-350 and PRS-650, in addition to the rumors that they are working on an Android-based tablet. Plastic Logic also announced that they have ceased production on their Que eReader, which was supposed to launch earlier this year.
“Magazines are making a comeback thanks to the Apple iPad,” writes Jeff Cormier on TheiPadFan.com. In his article he cites pubs like Glamour and Wired who have each experienced new success with their respective iPad apps. So how quickly should we jump on this new technology?
With the number of eBooks sold surpassing the number of hard-copy books sold on Amazon.com, there’s no question that the concept of the eReader is working. (No kidding.) But what about other kinds of digital content?
This may or may not be a surprise to you, but the iPad isn’t going anywhere soon. If you’re starting to think that this is playing out like a certain other device that took the digital world by storm nine years ago … well, you’re probably right.
In an article for The New York Times technology blog “Bits,” Nick Bilton writes that many publishers are “aggressively experimenting” with new devices (i.e. eReaders) that could potentially take the place of their current paper-based products. Interestingly, as Bilton notes, a lot of magazine apps don’t offer the ability for readers to link to or send what they read on the screen to Internet-based social networks like Facebook or Twitter … yet.
The release of the no-frills Kobo eReader (born from a partnership between Borders bookseller and Kobo, an online eBook retailer) seems to have sparked a trend. Last week, both Barnes & Noble and Amazon slashed the prices of their Nook and Kindle, respectively, in response to the Kobo and its $149 price tag. And it makes sense. While the Kindle, Nook and now the Kobo can’t compete head to head with the iPad and all its apps and features, they can definitely compete where it may just matter a little more: the consumer’s wallet. If it really is the convenience of digital content that makes it so appealing, why not forego the extras and save a little money?
With the huge success of both the Kindle and the iPad (as well as other eReaders), the written word is rapidly becoming more and more comfortable in the digital format. But should custom content transferred from the page to the screen really be so different? Popular Mechanics’ Senior Technology Editor Glenn Derene recently told Daily Finance, an AOL Money and Finance site, "No matter how excited you get about interactive design, you can't lose sight of one basic thing, which is nobody needs to learn to use a magazine." When creating their iPad app, the magazine decided that their goal was not to impress their readers with fancy technology, but instead to replicate the most successful aspects of the magazine format while utilizing the iPad’s capabilities.
So should we think of digital magazines as just that—a magazine that just happens to be read on a screen instead of paper—or does this new format demand a new attitude? Here’s more on the subject:
Digital Trends Team
Insights on eReader, mobile and digital trends from Pace.
When I think about magazines that I read and admire, I realize my list isn’t nearly as sophisticated as others’. So I asked myself what my criteria were for returning again and again to one publication. Here’s what I’ve discovered: While I may read books to daydream about faraway people and places, I prefer magazines that offer practical information relevant to my life.
I'll admit it: I read women's magazines. It's my guilty pleasure, my escape from the testosterone in my house (I have two boys). So I welcomed the chance to review the website for Ladies' Home Journal.
Melissa Bragg
Melissa is an editor at Pace.
Long ago and far away, in a time when I didn’t work for a custom publishing company, I thought of magazines as doors and windows into other worlds where I could actually go. Simply by opening and turning the glossy pages, I could sit for hours imagining myself in houses beautiful, in better homes and gardens, or surrounded by glamour, feeling so vogue, so cosmopolitan! As a grown-up, I may not have as much time to sit around imagining myself anywhere, but my youthful assessment was right-on. Magazines do bring the world around us to our literal front doors.
MORE magazine. In that one simple word it uses as its title, it promises a lot. Does the magazine's website deliver? Let's take a look.
Lynn Gianiny
Lynn is assistant art director with US Airways magazine.
Latest Posts
News
Blog
New Santa Barbara Apple & Android App Launched
Next: Santa Barbara App Provides Go-to Services for Visitors.
Pace Communications Names Director of Digital Strategy
Company continues personnel expansion in digital media.