Despite news that UK publishers are predicting a 16% growth in their digital revenues in 2009, many will be stunted by a failure to show genuine interest in their customers, warns social media expert William Buist.
Although the move away from a reliance on advertising revenue is a positive one, Buist, who specialises in developments in The Societal Web, says that having multiple touch points and opportunities to generate revenue with their audience is absolutely key to growing market share in a recession and that many publishers are simply missing the point when it comes to online communities and customer engagement.
“As we move from web 1.0 through Web 2.0 to web 3.0 and beyond, we will see the emergence of the ‘Societal Web’. Publishing will move from telling to listening, from informing opinion to collaborative insight, from one to many and from monomedia to infinatemedia. The challenge for publishers during this inevitable transition will be on how they can continue to maintain the income stream and adapt to the changing world of media,” says Buist.
“To succeed, organisations need to move with their target audience who aren’t simply standing still,” continues Buist. “The only way to know where they are and where they are going is to be engaged in the conversations with them and that means being interesting to them and interested in them. Most brands do well at being interesting to their audience, but not so well at showing they are truly interested in their audience in return.”
Buist suggests that whilst paper media is not likely to disappear, there will be pressure on pricing whilst costs will continue to rise and circulation will be hard to grow offline. “Online geography has less meaning so the right titles will grow globally but only the best will make it. And in order to make it, you need the right people to be talking about you at the right time and in the right places,” he says.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
William Buist is Managing Director of Abelard Management Services, which specialises in developments in the Societal Web.
After a 22 year career in Insurance, including serving as Head of Business Risk Management and Chief Underwriter for Lloyds TSB Insurance, William became a director of a consultancy company in 2001 that focuses on supporting corporate teams delivering major change, where he has achieved substantial success with many medium and large clients.
William personally focuses on online community development, social networking and collaborative development within and between businesses. Amongst his many clients, he has facilitated the growth of the Ecademy Life Members Community – a premium global group of Entrepreneurs and Business Owners of which he is now the Club President.
William is also the author of ‘At Your Fingertips: A guide to successful online business networking’ (£5.99, Word4Word) which draws on his own experience of using and working in online network as part of his own marketing and development strategy and highlights the challenges that many face.
For more information visit please visit www.abelard-uk.com
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