THE BEST OF APC An e-collection of 12 of the highest rated presentations from APC 2010 to 2012 11. How to Generate and Manage User Generated Content Collin Crowell General Manager, Ringier Vietnam Presented in APC 2010 How to generate and manage user generated content for publishers How to generate and manage user generated content for publishers How to generate and manage user generated content for publishers User generated content… • Yes, it’s popular, but it’s not just hype, but a real publishing solution – Make content faster, stronger and smarter – Stay competitive – Attract talent – Improve your bottom line I’m American. From New Orleans. Who am I? In 2005, I joined this Swiss company. I worked with a great Web development company. In, 2002 I moved to Qingdao, China. I started a media business in Qingdao. Learned publishing overseas. Where I helped build this magazine and Web site. HCMC is my home. Been here for one year. I went back to school last year and got my degree in digital media publishing. I lived and worked in China until… Ringier who? A long story… • Ringier is 175‐year old family‐owned Swiss media company • We just teamed up with Axel Springer and are now the market leader forEast and Central Europe. • Crazy enough, we’ve been in Vietnam for nearly 20 years. – We helped found some of the first magazines in Vietnam: Vietnam Economic Times… – Women’s glossy, ThoiTrangTre… – Then almost lost it all… • Now we’re back for more. What does Ringier do in Vietnam? 1. Develop and maintain our current business First women’s fashion magazine in Vietnam. Top 5 magazine brands in Vietnam Just 8 months old. No. 1 circulated family cooking magazine in Vietnam 2. Introduce top tier international brands to Vietnam 3. Build digital brands that rely on user‐generated content for growth But enough about me. The web and print. It’s not a zero-sum world in publishing. But… Cannibals! The web eats my print business. I don’t believe this. I find that the web engagesmy readers, drives down my editorial costs and improves my overall performance. No money! There’s no money online or I can’t make money. My experiences tell me this is wrong. Change your perspective. I find, that at worst, the web can save you money. The City Weekend Project • City Weekend is an English entertainment magazine in China. www.cityweekend.com.cn • We were poor. We were behind. We had to think differently. • Fortunately, we had a great CEO who championed the Web (even though he didn’t know what that meant.) Before we were just like everyone else… • A small group of editors would plan, source and edit content into a magazine. • After the magazine came out, some poor “web editor” would be responsible to upload all the content online. • The only interactivity was that users could submit classifieds. • Our staff turnover was high. Work was hard! The trick was to reverse it. Instead of making a magazine, we made a website that made a magazine. Users (including businesses) created CW content • They recommended and reviewed new restaurant and bars • They shared photos from events and parties • They made lists of their favorite places and people • They blogged about news and events • They added events • They made the content… Editors just edited it. Thewebsite becamethe smartest guy in the room • Editors and users shared events, articles, listings, photos, classifieds and comments with the site. • Each “object” shared by users was ranked on the site. The best of the web was analyzed by the editors and exported into print. • Editors andSales and Marketing were alerted to new content via the CMS’s content approval system. • The CMS exported the best content directly into InDesign. It also published the content into our email updates and mobile service. UGC content flow in the City Weekend CMS 1 2 3 4 USERS * CMS EDITORS CMS • Visit site • Create content • Listings • Classifieds • Articles • Events • Photos • Categorized, ranked, managed and shared data • Alerted users • 24/7 • Approved Sorted and edited data • Exports data into: • Magazine • Email update • Mobile phone • RSS feeds The magazine advertised the web interaction for users Contact editor. Read blog. Contact the author. Read more. Pick your favorites Add your events It was one big circle Products Users/Readers • Magazine, email update, mobile phone • Share content they like and want Editors The website • Organize, edit, share, help design • Organizes, ranks, edits, shares, alerts So, did it work? So, did it work? 800 unique daily visitors in 2006 Today, 26,000 (doubleour competitors) ☺ 3,000 listings in 2006. Today‐ 16,451 In 2006, we had zero registered users. Today, we have 93,699. • CW is now the market leader in Beijing and Shanghai. CW has a staff of 15 editors. Our next competitor has 30. • • • • Yeah, but… We’re doing it now with other “magazines” • Well, we’re doing it with our cooking brand, BepGiaDinh. – Readers share their recipes – Write blog articles – Review products, recipes and places • We’ll have 12,000 members by December 2010 • Six editors (48pg. Bi weekly) Web promos The magazine drives traffic to the website Share your recipes Now, we launch digital brands first… Then print • Ringier is launching four new digital brands in 2010. The first, is a wedding planning website. www.marry.vn • Users (and businesses) can add, recommend, share, rate and review content. Same as CW. • Soft launch was this Monday – 300 members on Day 1. Each member estimated to spend 15‐20,000 USD on their wedding • The “Best of” Marry magazine comes out for wedding season. Final thoughts on UGC 1. Reverse the process – bottom to the top 2. Think of your content as objects and build databases of “objects” that can be moved around into your media products 3. What’s in it for me? Users won’t share unless you’re giving back i.e. exposure, vanity, etc. 4. There are a lot of great CMS for UGC 5. The web has everything, print has the best – don’t duplicate But enough about me. What do you think of me? P.S. We’re hiring.