Social Media Example #19: SELF Magazine

Continuing the series, “26 Social Media Marketing Examples in Detail“, I’ll review SELF Magazine and their efforts within the social space.  Since I’ve been on a workout regime lately, I had actually come across several of these efforts organically, so I hope to share my thoughts below.  Here goes:

Facebook

SELF’s Facebook Fan Page is currently being used as a way to share more of SELF content in another medium.  I tend to like SELF content, and I think judging from the activity on the page, its audiences are using its content posted to the Wall as a forum for discussions.  Overall, the look and feel of the fan page mirrors that of the magazine.   As you can see, the following shows how SELF has transformed the left side bar of their Facebook fan page with images and content that lead to their website.  This continues as a visual down the entire left side bar of the page.  In my opinion, this is a good usage of the real estate, and doesn’t quite feel like an ad.

The SELF fan page has a “This Month” tab where monthly content is promoted, a standard Facebook video tab, and a boxes tab that promotes SELF events and showcases discussion threads.  However, what immediately caught my attention was the presence of a “Customer Service” tab.  I haven’t seen a page with this feature, so I clicked on the tab expecting that they may use this tab to field customer questions and resolve subscription issues.  Instead I found a picture of the cover, and a call to action that seemed more like a promotion to buy a subscription than a place to get my questions answered.  This is pretty misleading and the tab should replaced to read “Special Offers” or something that better conveys the content.

Additionally, I noticed that SELF is cross-promoting its Facebook presence on the side bar of its site.  This is a small integration point to reach new audiences, and is an element of cross-promotion that is necessary but often overlooked.

YouTube

When I first visited SELF’s YouTube page, I thought I had made a mistake when entering the YouTube URL.  I’m not sure if they intentionally dropped the main navigation of their site in the banner space of their YouTube branded channel, or if they had no other creative to place in that space, but in my opinion this actually made it seem like a more integrated solution of YouTube and their site. I could watch a few videos and then easily navigate to the written content on their site to read more.

As an avid workout-tape viewer, I can come back to the page to get quick workouts in or build a workout from their selection.  I’d love to see this content expanded and updated more frequently than once or twice a month.  This video content could be a branded series of 5 minute workouts that you can peice together.  This could help raise their channel subscriptions and view counts if cross-promoted properly.

Twitter

SELF’s Twitter page is in obvious need of a re-haul design-wise.  Even though I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, my eyes need a rest after seeing this much pink and that many Kelly Clarksons.  Tiling is a design excuse, rather than a solution – so my suggestion is to simplify this for new followers who may glance at the page before becoming a follower.  Luckily, most followers will use Twitter applications to interact with SELF after the initial follow, and will find quality content in the form of health tips and tricks.  It seems however, that every tweet is a little too SELF-promotional (I couldn’t resist the pun).  To share the tweet love (and grow relationships with health bloggers), I would suggest expanding to tweet other health blog content.

Blogging

SELF Magazine has a host of blogs (around 8 that I counted) that serve timely ongoing content on top of its magazine content.  These range from budget tips to healthy eating tips, and are funneled through a feed that serves the most current content.  Users can then search by top rated or most commented.  Some of these posts range into double digit comments, as users are really engaging with particular content.  SELF has caught on that numbered blog fodder like “30 healthy snacks”, and “20 superfoods for weight loss” will resonate within its target audience, and chunks content into subject areas with category experts that contribute content.  This is a great example of how to manage numerous writers contributing topic-centric content.  This being said, in my particular browser it seems as if the blogs are having a bit of formatting issues, with content found below the fold.

Widgets

SELF magazine has a lot of tools, calculators, and quizzes on their site, but unfortunately I couldn’t find one that I could easily share my results with others, or grab to take to place on my Google homepage.  Some of these (that make sense) should be served as widgets to help spread the message of the brand and provide users with value.  The following is an example of a “headache log” that could easily be created as a widget instead of a PDF that you print.

Overall, SELF Magazine has great content – content that other brands would love to have, and content that lends itself to being shared, commented on, and utilized in people’s everyday lives.  This helps them in the social space, but it also hurts them in that they have so much content they aren’t really connecting with other blogs and forming relationships.  I would love to see SELF highlight these blogs by linking within their own blogs or Twitter page.

Do you know of anything else SELF Magazine is doing in this space?  Anything they should be doing but aren’t?  Feel free to share your thoughts below in the comments.



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