The Digital Vibes

I’ve been receiving daily posts from Mequoda with strategies for publishers to bring and optimize their content online and on other platforms, thanks to a tip-off from my partner who’s been following Mequoda for some time.

Mequoda recently wrote a post providing a case study of how Real Simple magazine is repurposing content to extend its reach and create ubiquity in its readers’ lives. This is a tested-and-proven strategy already adopted by Oprah to anchor her as a goddess in many facets of a woman’s life – from daily TV ritual, recipe search on her website, to reading O magazine before bedtime.

I’ve extracted some excerpts to spark off ideas for your content:

Real Simple repurposes their magazine content online by featuring recipes, as well as beauty, life, organizing and food tips via articles and videos.

Website content is repurposed in theirsix editorial-based email newsletters.

A weekly half-hour show, called Real Simple TV, launched on PBS in 2006. Since then, they have added video to their website which features cooking classes, beauty tips and more that starts from their magazine and is repurposed into their television show.

The content from their magazine inspires numerous Real Simple branded books. Real Simple has published six books to date: Real Simple: The Organized Home, Real Simple Cleaning, Real Simple Solutions, Meals Made Easy, Real Simple Weddings, and Real Simple Celebrations.

But repurposing content doesn’t stop at products. Real Simple also hosts different entertainment and cooking events, such as the Real Simple Entertain NY event. Used to satisfy advertiser requests to touch the consumer in person, Real Simple also sponsors a number of events each year. “Problem Detector” seeks women’s opinions on their most frequent and bothersome problems and informs the magazine’s editorial.

Real Simple has also branched out into radio. They have a relationship with XM media on its Take 5 women’s channel that includes a variety of one-minute Real Simple Solutions segments that run 10-12 times a day.

Merchandise is huge for Real Simple. Their readers and articles have inspired dozens of branded home office and desk accessory products are sold primarily through Target stores; cleaning products are sold at smaller chains. In the first year, more than a million units were sold.

RealSimple.com has seen a 75% growth in traffic over last year, resulting in more than 760,000 unique visitors a month with an average of over 5.5 million page views (May 2008, according to Compete.com). Content from Real Simple magazine is repurposed for free all over their website, with recipes, stories or videos and then used to sell subscriptions, books and back issues through email newsletters and by driving traffic from their other media outlets. Every publisher should be giving away lots of free content online to increase traffic and sell more subscriptions, products and services.

To read the full post, visit: http://daily.mequoda.com/i//online-publishing-strategy/how-real-simple-publisher-repurposing-magazine-content_724-1.html