5 Things I Learned at the FOLIO Show

Earlier this month a group of us traveled from TMG in D.C. to the Marriot Marquis in New York to “join the media revolution” at the FOLIO: Show.

The event had tracks on monetization, content, management, and marketing—and great key notes from the likes of Mashable’s Pete Cashmore and Time Inc.’s Fran Hauser.

Here are the five coolest things we saw or heard at the show …  

1. Content: Whole magazine pages, or parts of them, have become scan-able on mobile devices via digital watermarks layered under the design. Is your art director scared yet (or perhaps thrilled to be losing those ugly black-and-white codes)? The technology was really cool, and it makes the entire magazine interactive. Companies like Digimarc are leading the pack, and it’s already being put to use in publications such as House Beautiful. The trick is educating your readers so they know when and where to scan.

2. Apps: We saw an up-close presentation of the new app from the bridal gurus at The Knot and were impressed by the genius way it mapped its offerings. It personalizes the user’s content based on the amount of time the until the bride’s wedding date, and speaks to what brides need, not what they necessarily want, with location-based filtered searches for vendors. Plus, crowd-sourced photos, check-off lists, and email-able, link-able, synch-able lists means everything they plug into the app can be accessed elsewhere. Super smart and usable.

3. Marketing: Service-driven integrated marketing powered by publishers, not necessarily big agencies, is winning ad dollars. Sales has to be retrained to sell services, not just one-off products (new mantra: clients, not customers; new business, not insertion orders; relationships, not transactions). And marketing has to be retrained to productize, systematize, standardize—and then customize it. Every client wants custom solutions. But having a system and family of standard products underneath those custom solutions will keep you sane.

4. Web: We sat in a crash course on web analytics, which schooled us on the basics of running reports and testing. One key nugget that stuck out to us: Pay special attention to exit pages. When you see where your web visitors are jumping ship, you can create an end-game strategy (with things like new content or teasers) to keep that audience on your page longer.

5. Social Media: Social oomph, Twiangulate, Storify … we were presented with way too many ways to Tweet. The differentiator these days is who is following you—key influencers, etc.—rather than how many are following you. Tools like Twiangulate will map connections between friends and followers, helping you understand your followers and find sources for content.