How lifestyle publisher POPSUGAR is engaging with its younger audience

Credit: By pedrosimoes7 on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Engaging younger audiences has been a key focus for many publishers over the past few years, with the under 35 year-olds encompassing distinct characteristics from previous generations and increasingly reading stories on mobile devices.

Lifestyle publisher POPSUGAR has been developing its production strategies in the past two years in order to engage with this generation, studying what young people want to read.

Christine Maitland, director of business development and strategy, POPSUGAR, told delegates of the FIPP London conference yesterday (10 May) that among the publisher's list of tools, the editorial staff use an in-house system which analyses 300 different channels to monitor social engagements on the web.

"We look specifically at the acceleration of content engagement, so if something is getting 'likes' at a much faster rate than another story on a different website," explained Maitland.

"It is a great way to be reactive and make sure that we are first with a new spin or are able to take on something that's important to our users."

The publisher also uses an internal metric to analyse how well its own stories are doing, giving all its articles a "POPSUGAR Engagement Score", which encompasses a range of factors such as page views, time spent on page, link click-throughs and social sharing metrics.

"When we create a score for a particular article, it goes into a matrix of topics and timelines, so we can see what topics get the most engagement, at what times, and on what platforms, so we can shape the editorial calendar going forward," said Maitland.

Using this in-house analysis, POPSUGAR, which currently receives six million unique visitors per month to its website, has developed an editorial strategy to help meet the needs of younger generations.

"We use the acronym IPA, which stands for immediacy, personalisation and authenticity.

"Ticking these boxes is the most efficient way to ensure that everything we do from an editorial perspective delivers content efficiently to our consumers in the way that they expect," said Maitland.

We have to be willing to write stories that will only speak to a portion of our audience base... one size doesn't fit all anymoreChristine Maitland, director of business development and strategy, POPSUGAR

Although the publisher's desire to be ahead of the trend and immediate is unsurprising, POPSUGAR's approach to personalisation stands out.

"For us, personalisation is not just about tailoring topics to an individual, but recognising that the way we write content is changing – one size doesn't fit all anymore," said Maitland.

"We have to be willing to write stories that will only speak to a portion of our audience base and recognise that that audience base will be highly engaged with it, so we will get great returns off the back of it."

The publisher also uses multiple Facebook pages to represent its different verticals, aiming to personalise stories for different sections of its audience.

"If we know that a user is more interested in fashion or fitness, they have a page of content that is dedicated to them, and a community to engage with on Facebook that is all about those topics," said Maitland.

"Although it is more effort to create multiple types of content to address different segments of your user base and then to target that effectively, it does deliver returns in terms of both engagement and ultimately reach."

Finally, to encourage authenticity, POPSUGAR employs young writers and well-known bloggers who are both passionate and knowledgeable about the site's output.

"We are really about being a best friend and that is where a lot of our authenticity comes from – we are a very positive voice, really down to earth," said Maitland.

"We have those stars that are viewed as experts in their field. Not only do people love their engaging personalities, but they know they can trust them over time. Some of our staff writers are being featured regularly on programmes like The Today Show."

Similarly, John Avlon, editor in chief of The Daily Beast, told delegates in a separate FIPP talk yesterday that hiring journalists who are "influential in their own right" can be a key advantage.

"There is no substitute for getting a collection of great voices under your roof to be brand ambassadors everyday and having their [stories] ripple through communities of influencers," he said. "That's the way you are going to get organic growth and real engagement."

Maitland also pointed out that younger people have been advertised to from the first article they have ever read in the media. "They are very savvy. If you are trying to push them something that is not organic, or speak in a tone of voice that doesn't resonate with them or your brand, they are going to see through that very quickly," she said.

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).