Presentation given by John Ore, Business Insider. For digital native brands, social distribution is almost a requirement to reach your audience where they are most comfortable. Being mobile-first is crucial in embarking on a successful social distribution effort.
3. 3
Smart Storytelling for the Digital Generation
Smart, high-impact business
news and features.
Science, technology, and innovation
making the world a better place.
Life is an adventure.
Digital-native storytelling
4. 4
How We’ve Done, Collectively
100M+
global uniques
across all sites1
#1
largest US
business news site2
60%
of traffic from
mobile/tablet1
#1
in reach against
affluent millennials2
20M+
combined
followers & fans3
2B+
monthly video streams
across sites & platforms4
Sources: 1Google Analytics (February 2016, BI and TI combined); 2comScore; 3BI, TI, INSIDER combined (Aggregate of all Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram social handles and pages); 4Site, Facebook, Youtube,MSN (BI, TI, INSIDER combined)
10. 10Source: NewsWhip (June 2015); Reflects sum total of likes, comments, shares, Retweets, replies, and favorites
Content Optimized for Social
4.7M
1.6M
648k
434k
348k
193k
Social Interactions on Facebook + Twitter
#1worldwide producer of social
video in tech category
Top 5
global Facebook
video producers
#1producer of social video
in the business category
11. 11
The Evolution Of Distribution – Facebook Instant Articles
Facebook Instant Articles
PROS
• Legit speedy
• Facebook fill rate
• We built for scale
CONS
• Fewer referrals
• Loss of control
12. 12
The Evolution Of Distribution – Google AMP
Accelerated Mobile Pages
PROS
• Legit speedy
• Well documented, “open”
• Minimal monetization impact
CONS
• Varied UX in search results
• BI mobile pages were already fast
• Limited utility in early going
• More a requirement than a benefit
13. 13
The Evolution Of Distribution – What’s Next?
Messaging Apps and Bots
PROS
• Growth!
• Definitely lean mobile
CONS
• FB Messenger…
• Audience viability for news?
14. 14
Stories for and about people who seize life, rather than
letting it happen to them – delivered to you where readers
already are and when readers want it.
16. 16
INSIDER Verticals
For all things
food-related,
including recipes,
hacks, good
eats, and more.
For all things pop
culture and
entertainment.
For all things
fashion,
architecture,
innovation, home,
products, and more.
For people who see
something wrong with
the world and who fight
for what’s right.
For wander-lusters,
adventurers, and
armchair sightseers.
For stories around
people who take
charge of their
bodies and health.
18. 18
Why a site?
1. Occupies an integral part of an ecosystem of distribution destinations
2. Facilitates storytelling that can’t be easily done elsewhere
3. Provides monetization opportunities that are more within our control
Notes de l'éditeur
INTRO, me.
Discussing today’s world of digital publishing. To reach your readers, you need to:
BE MOBILE-FRIENDLY. But don’t forget platforms like desktop!
BE MULTI-PLATFORM. Reach readers where they want to hang out.
This is the FULCRUM: where social and mobile collide, social IS overwhelmingly mobile.
Business Insider – 8 year old digital only brand, leading the industry in business news for the digital generation.
Started with 3 people in another company’s loading dock.
2100 PVs the first day.
Now 46MM UU (comScore)
Tech Insider – Saw the growing demand for BIs tech content, saw a market for spinning it off into its own site.
Hit and exceeded 2015 traffic goals within 6 weeks of launch.
TODAY! INDISIDER launches – opportunity to address a new market
Our storytelling is focused on:
Digital-only: not constrained by legacy media, freedom to use different narrative devices (video, pictures, embeds) to tell stories
Positive: the glass is 2/3 full. We cover businesses, technology, people and places that have a positive impact on our lives
Multiple channels of consumption: go where digital natives want to consume content
This approach has enabled our brands to lead the industry. NOTE video views and mobile/desktop mix: YES, mobile is important, but can’t ignore the folks still consuming content from desktop (for example, people who genuinely read BI from work, etc.).
Digital IS different: storytelling opportunities and distribution channels exist that do no in traditional media. Look at BuzzFeed’s exploding watermelon. That couldn’t have existed in traditional media, and likely won’t exist again (lightning in a bottle).
Our success has come from ensuring our storytelling is aligned to the needs of our audience, which includes their preferred consumption mechanisms. We pursue a MIX of storytelling to appeal to readers across platforms. Facebook is good for short engaging video, but not good for markets updates.
This represents mobile consumption across platforms, so it’s no surprise that our social distribution has spurred mobile growth as a result, especially in recent months. Especially for our INSIDER brand, more on that in a bit!
Given our mobile-friendly, digital native origins, we prioritize the reader experience on mobile. We’ve long focused on performance on mobile devices, especially as it relates to load times and data consumption.
EXPLAIN chart, what it represents: for once, smaller is BETTER!
Mobile content and ad load times are critical to ensure the reader experience focuses on the content and you can generate loyalty and return visitors.
IMPORTANT: how ad blocking factors into this equation!
Even better in comparison to our peers, and even when benchmarked by the maker of Crystal: at the time, a highly-anticipated ad blocker.
No surprise that our content is optimized for social, since a lot of our consumption comes from there: Short, video, autoplay without sounds, lots of images/captions, sharable. 85% of Facebook video is consumed without sound.
Thirsty Concrete at 95MM views and counting (https://www.facebook.com/techinsider/videos/419013808296981/)
Rainbow bagel at 66MM views and counting (https://www.facebook.com/Insiderfood/videos/vb.1494731297498009/1517814765189662/?type=2&theater)
Confluence of mobile consumption, digital storytelling, and social growth perfectly positions publishers to take advantage of emerging distributions mechanisms that skew almost exclusively social and mobile.
As a result of the confluence of mobile and social, we’ve seen platforms like Facebook push for even more optimized mobile experiences:
Native video (autoplay, sound off)
Instant Articles (fast load times)
NOTE: certain content does better in IA than others – strategy (interview tips, job hacks), lifestyle and sports do better than markets analysis.
And while not really “social”, Google and others have tried to emulate the Facebook Instant Articles experience with Google AMP. Can think of it as platforms competing.
Really varied UX (not in Google app?), need a number of AMP-ready pages in search results to display the AMP carousel, etc.
CASE STUDY! Launching a new website today is our INSIDER brand which has been on social media exclusively for 9 months.
Brand dedicated to stories about people who see life as an adventure, and don’t wait for it to happen to them.
Launched on social only fall 2015. Storytelling already optimized for social, and content was a huge hit. Allows BI to expand its reach as well as audience to new demographic and ad clients.
143 days 1M FB followers
Next 25 days 2M FB followers
Adding verticals accelerated followers of the entire brand.
Proud to launch thisisinsider.com today! Very clean, visually appealing site that adds another key asset into our distribution mix.
A site provides discovery via SEO, for example, that can’t be achieved elsewhere on closed platforms.
Many social platforms have specific limits on their presentation (Twitter: character limits, Facebook terrible at slide shows, Snapchat and Instagram have specific implementations, etc.). A site gives us tools like text posts and slideshows that our readers crave and a crucial to our storytelling.
Additional monetization – direct, programmatic, sponsorship – is never a bad thing, and it’s more in our control than Apple News or Facebook Instant Articles.
And now we’ve come full circle!
A distribution ecosystem needs to accommodate your readers’ preferred methods of consumption, whether by site, platform or device. Social and mobile are HUGE elements of that! But they are still part of a diverse ecosystem that needs to be considered.