Creating a Mobile Readership and Increasing Presence

Publisher Reg Buxton

Reading habits of consumers are changing rapidly and mobile viewing and consumption of news is having a major impact on news properties. Niche publications are flourishing in print, however, a mobile version can create a larger impact outside of a publications normal distribution center.

Life In Naples Magazine publisher Reg Buxton, started utilizing Social-Impact for publishing an online flipbook of his monthly magazine in 2011. This effort was intended to reach an audience that may want to read the publication, but weren’t in the distribution area of the high end distribution points in Naples and Collier County. The launch of the online magazine created a new audience of more than half his print distribution.

Over time, the flip magazine wasn’t quite adequate for people to share stories and news in the publication, so in 2012 Buxton added a website that could post stories directly.

Life In Naples Magazine Desktop View Click To View

This individual posting of stories made it easier for people to share stories the affected them, or to help publicize information on their favorite charities. Social-Impact lead the staff at Life In Naples magazine on effective methods to posting of stories via social media pages. This had a dramatic increase in the amount of traffic to the website, while the Facebook page created a strong impact on the community awareness of stories in the magazine.

Mobile phone usage of the website went up dramatically, and the traffic on the website increased as well via mobile consumers. A new website was created to make it easier for readers to find what they were looking for.

Included in the new website:

• Stories broken down and listed by category
• Latest stories posted
• Search capability
• And an improved mobile version for the website and the online flipbook.

Mobile View Click To View Online

Daily posting to Facebook and twitter have increased penetration of readership. Individuals were able to share their stories with ease to their favorite social media site with the click of a button.

The Life In Naples Magazine online presence now exceeds that of the print version, creating a dynamic experience for the reader, that can read the stories in a time, place, and method that fits their reading habits.

As far as trends in media, niche publications are flourishing, while the newspaper and national magazines struggle to adapt to a loss of viewers on the web.

Life In Naples magazine continues to grow print revenues, and is creating a greater impact on the larger community via a strong web presence. Next step? Creating a revenue source from the web presence.
Watch the video below for more: