More and more consumer fashion magazines are embracing social media platforms as part of their coverage. How are your brands being communicated on the digital front? Ragtrader asks marie claire digital managing editor Viola Wong to take us behind the scenes.
marie claire has just celebrated its one-year anniversary on Twitter.
When we created our profile in late 2008, Twitter was mainly the domain of savvy bloggers, IT professionals and early adopters. We joined in order to build a following over the holiday period and drive traffic back to www.marieclaire.com.au. In terms of our broader digital strategy, we wanted to expand the general marie claire audience and saw Twitter as the space for that audience to build a relationship with us. But we soon discovered the true value of Twitter wasn't just broadcasting links, it was an opportunity to engage in real-time communication, receive instant feedback and to join a community that was as passionate about fashion as we were.
By February, Ashton Kutcher had helped make tweeting the new black, while in an Australian first, marie claire publisher/editor Jackie Frank's tweets and photos from the Milan and Paris autumn/winter 09 shows instantly took our followers to the front row. Through Twitter, we invited readers inside our spectacular Prix de marie claire Awards in April, and by Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in May, our followers were asking us for more backstage tweets, runway photos and instant commentary.
This year, we've aspired to bring instant gratification to devoted fashion and beauty followers every day. Here are some of the ways we've used Twitter in the past 12 months:
Fashion and beauty previews: enabling readers to see upcoming collections and products at media showings, and supporting Australian brands like Lover and Bloom with our posts from these events
Interactive interviews: collecting reader questions to ask in our interviews, from the practical (tips and trends) to the wacky (ever wondered what Poppy King's used lipstick looked like? We asked the question and took a picture of it: http://www.twitpic.com/og5h6)
Australian firsts: the only media to tweet backstage photos from Swim Fashion Week in February
Celebrity interaction: exchanging messages with celebrity tweeter Demi Moore!
Cross-platform integration: using Twitter to link the magazine, website, Telstra mobile site and Facebook
Along the way, we've developed rules to guide our tweets:
Make every tweet count: before clicking send, we think about how the update will benefit our community
Follow those who follow you, read every direct message, every re-tweet, and every reply
Respond to your followers by tracking your impact, discovering what they love and giving them more of what they want
What will our second year hold?
Sixty per cent of our Twitter clickthroughs currently originate from
overseas. As we continue to be more creative and more innovative,
we'll take our unique Australian view of fashion to a growing
global audience.