Planning for Platform: Targeting Social Media Messages Across Different Channels

Planning for Platform: Targeting Social
Media Messages Across Different Channels
Ryan Lytle, @rlytle
Social Projects Manager
Mashable
11:00am - 12:00pm | #plan4platform
Sarah Frank, @sarah_frank
Executive Producer
NowThis

@mashable @rlytle #plan4platform

45,000,000
25,000,000
2 Billion+
MONTHLY UNIQUES
SOCIAL FOLLOWERS
MONTHLY SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS
Community is what drives us.
Our readers are smart, passionate and connected.

The Numbers
60+ accounts across 20+ social networks
Facebook: 3M+ likes (104% growth year over year)
Twitter: 5M+ followers
Instagram & Vine: 400K+
Snapchat Discover: Launched August 2015

TheTeam
Team of 7 social producers and assistant producers broken down by coverage
areas
Tech
Business
Lifestyle
Viral
Entertainment International
Main

@nowthisnews @sarah_frank #plan4platform
Mobile Social
People get news on social feeds, through video, and on mobile devices.  
NowThis a distributed media company. 
We create content to live where the users live. 
We make consuming news easy AKA friction-less.  
Video+ +

Having been at the right place at the right time, NowThis owes its fast growth to
leaning into the distributed model early and aggressively.
The Numbers
Monthly Video Views
MILLION
435 MILLION
3.5
60+16+ 20
Producers
Social Followers
Distribution Points Assets Daily

•Content is distributed & discovered on social networks, portals & through partnerships.
•Content is optimized for distribution on discovery.
•Content is unique to distribution points.
WTF Is Distributed Media?

•Teams organized by main distribution points
•Editorial + Insights leads on each team providing
a constant cycle of feedback
•Training, experimentation, testing
•Data: What isn’t working?
Trending
Facebook
Platforms
The Team
Analytics
& Insights
Facebook

11:00am - 12:00pm | #plan4platform
Social Case Studies

• Mainstream
• Fun & Uplifting
• Innovations
• Utility
• Smart, Insightful Lists
What works for us?

• Targeting allows publishers to seek out an
audience that may be actively interested in a
specific story you share
• Test your niche content with a smaller
audience
• Get your posts in front of an audience already
actively interested in a specific story
• Build out new audiences by using your actively
engaged audience segments
Targeting

Native Video
• Experiment with all your video content
and monitor closely what works
• Put your videos in specific categories and
determine which styles/tones your
audience responds to
• Average views vs. 80th percentile views

• Facebook video defaults to mute
• 70%+ users on mobile
• Thumbnail + first 5 seconds are crucial
• Post copy counts
• Look at your completion rates
• Emotion drives shares
• Examine failures, not “viral” hits
What we know

•Would I share this story on my personal
Facebook page?
•Do I actually care about this story?
•What’s the most interesting part?
•What part is holding my attention?
•What emotion are you trying to convey? 
Ask yourself…

The GOP debate

• A place for experimentation
• Multi-tiered live event approach
• A/B testing headlines
What we know

Apple’s iPhone 6S event coverage
• Multiple brand accounts
• Multimedia mixing
• Live streaming recap
Multiple Twitter accounts
@Mashable
@MashableTech
@MashableGIF
Live Events

Mixing Media

Live streaming recap
• Event live streams
• 2 pre-live streams
• 2 post-live streams
• 1 post-event Q&A
• As media organizations, we have
the opportunity to give our audience
access.

The GOP Debate
• Speed matters
• Live events are great way to try
things - #hashtags, new looks
• Diversify your feed

What we know
•15 second video
•Remember what the platform is built
for
•Visuals first, caption comes later
•Default is mute
•Would you “heart” it?
•There is such thing as “too much of a
good thing”
•Use metrics with context (no sharing)
•Use the loop
•Experiment

• Consistency - 1-2 posts/day
• Subject - Places, People, Animals, Tech,
Food
• Tone - Light, Fun, Detailed
• Community - UGC, Photo Challenges,
#FollowerFriday, #MashPics
What we do

•Content lasts only 10 seconds &
disappears in 24 hours
•It’s not built for publishers, it’s a private
messaging service
•People like insight into things they have
never & will never see
•Ask for feedback, it’s an additional data
point
•Remember, there is no means of
discovery
What we know

Putting Snapchat in the hands of
reporters
Experimenting with look & style

Interviews & utility stories
Using other platforms for distribution

•Time limit
•Character limit
•Humorous nature of the platform
•Context, context, context (especially in
breaking news)
•4 posts/day
•Think about time of day
What we know

• Determine a specific style and
tone
• Have a strategy for distribution
• How are you sharing your
Vines?
• Will they be embedded on
site?
• Invest in the production of
these assets
• Visual elements for articles
• Real-time coverage
What works for us

@mashable @rlytle #plan4platform @mashable @rlytle #plan4platform
• Tumblr’s active users grew by 120% in
first half of 2014*
• Nearly 80% of Tumblr posts are photos/
GIFs**
• Less than 1% of Tumblr posts are link
shares**
• Nearly 30% of reblogs on Tumblr occur
more than 30 days after the post was
published***
*Global Web Index
**Yahoo Labs
***SimplyMeasured
What we know

Content
• Social good
• Inspiration
• Humor
Tagging
Variety
• GIF sets
• Photo sets
• Native video
The goal is to tell the full story through visuals
@mashable @rlytle #plan4platform @mashable @rlytle #plan4platform
What works for us

Photos, gifs, long tail
It’s on Tumblr before it’s a trend
It has a very vocal & progressive
personality

• The long-tail platform
• It’s aspirational
• User-powered platform
• Just 30% of brand
engagement came from
own pins
What we know

Tweak your assets for Pinterest to fit the
platform
Creating visual assets specifically 
for Pinterest

• SEO for Pinterest
• Keyword rich headlines
• Strong photo descriptions
Focus on…

Is There News Here?
• Tricky for news because it’s lifestyle, aspirational, long-
tail
• Find a quote that will resonate after time
• Infographics or visual facts perform  
well
• Vertical images perform better than  
horizontal

Platforms are not just traffic generators. They are
complex personalities and deserve focused attention.
• Platforms have a purpose. They were built for something
before news entered the equation.
• Platforms are about people. The users are the most vital
part of the narrative.
• Listen to your audience. They often tell you what they
feel without explicitly telling you.
• Find your voice. If people are to follow you, what’s in it
for them?
• Look at your worst practices. That’s where there is the
most room to improve.

• Each network has a unique user base with varying 
intentions for using the platform.
• Be clear about your intentions for using a platform as
you start strategizing for your brand.
• Practice. Review. Repeat/Alter.
• Make sure your message is consistent.
The biggest mistake a publisher can make on social is
trying to force its brand on a platform.

Planning for Platform: Targeting Social Media Messages Across Different Channels

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