How Lifestyle Mags Are Killing it on Social

Marketers increasingly look to social media to evaluate the potential impact of even the most traditional media buys. You may think of print magazines as being as old-fashioned as it gets. However, a new report from Engagement Labs shows many men’s and women’s lifestyle mags have successfully evolved to find their social media sweet spot.

According to Bryan Segal, CEO of Engagement Labs, “People still love the touch and feel of print magazines. They’re still a great medium, even if they’re past their heyday. Let’s face it, content is still king and queen. Social just serves as a new distribution network. Magazines have already mastered developing great content, now their challenge is parlaying it into a great digital experience.”

According to the report, many have already achieved that goal.

Measuring Social Media Performance

Engagement Labs measured social media performance for several top men’s and women’s lifestyle magazines using their eValue tool. The eValue score is composed of Engagement, Impact and Responsiveness metrics.

• Engagement is the level of interaction content receives on a specific social network

• Impact is the reach content receives on a specific social network

• Responsiveness measures how much, how fast and how well a brand responds to actual conversations amongst its users.

The Results from the Study

Perhaps it shouldn’t be that surprising that these print magazines have adapted well to social media. For years, bloggers have used Cosmopolitan as the ultimate guide for creating attention-grabbing headlines. Prompting someone to make an impulse purchase at the checkout line demands the same understanding of human nature as getting them to click a link. Perhaps not surprisingly, Cosmo had the best performance ranking on Twitter and Facebook, and ranked #2 on Instagram.

From Then to Now

Prompting someone to make an impulse purchase at the checkout line demands the same understanding of human nature as getting them to click a link.

As a marketer, analyzing the options for your paid media dollars is more complex and nuanced than it’s ever been. Fortunately, we also have more hard data than we’ve ever had. It’s just important to think through the implications of that data holistically. What do the numbers represent, in terms of value to your brand?

What lifestyle magazines have to offer marketers now is intrinsically the same thing they’ve always had to offer. Not just eyeballs, but the positive association with their brand, which consumers emotionally relate to leisure, enjoyment and their personal passions.

That sense of loyalty and community is a natural fit with social media, and it looks like many men’s and women’s magazines have successfully translated their passionate community of readers to the social space.