Magazine ResearchKaty FleethamIdea Generation

Social Media Magazine- Summary of important/popular events or posts from social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.Fashion Magazine- Magazine featuring the latest fashion trends, mostly aimed at females, containing strongly airbrushed photographs of models.Music Based Magazine- Fan-based magazine for a certain taste in music and information/news stories about popular bands.Hobby Magazine- A magazine based entirely on a specific hobby or activity such as photography, video games or even caravans.

Chosen Idea- Brief

I have chosen to create a social media magazine. I intend to include important events or posts from popular social media sites. These posts may come from celebrities or they could simply consist of posts online that are popular or viral. The magazine will mainly consist of posts from Twitter and Facebook, but could also include information or news from other sites such as tumblr, whisper, tinder or even YouTube. I could name my magazine The Media Social. I will aim to release a magazine each annually.

Existing Products and Production Techniques

The magazine to the left, Social Networking: A Beginners Guide, is similarly a magazine based on social media. But instead of publishing stories from social media, it aims to teach people how to use social media themselves. I may decide to include some content similar to this in my magazine, although I believe this may be aimed at an older audience. As my magazine will be aimed at an audience of 16-24, this may not be as applicable to my audience, who are more up to date with technology and the Internet. The layout of the front cover could provide me with inspiration for my magazine. For example, the tabs at the top of the page are taken form a computer screen, which is relevant and creative. This is a single-issue magazine that was released to the US in 2012.

The Social Media Monthly contains articles and popular topics that are affecting todays social media. It takes information from online and publishes it in a magazine, as offline material. On the left I have displayed the front cover of their third edition sold. This magazine started the discussion of Does social media need a magazine? With all the content online, many believe that it is unnecessary to have a magazine of this kind. On the other hand, it provides a summary of the whole social media month in a form that people can keep. Where as social media content seems to fade away over time, making it difficult to find a particular post that someone wrote a year ago, this magazine can be kept for years to come. The magazine also has an online site, accessible simply by the Internet or by scanning the QR code on the front cover. Below, I have included the reader demographics for people buying the magazine.Although the percentages are close, with 55.3%, it appears that this magazine has a larger female audience. With 39.7% it appears that their audience is mainly made up of members between the ages of 25 and 34. 41.9% of people buying the magazine believe they are at a professional level when it comes to the use of social media. 89.3% of the audience is located in the US. Above, are some images that illustrate exactly how the contents of the magazine are displayed. The magazine keeps a clear and neat layout with a bright colour scheme. It uses large titles on some pages as well as images to catch the readers eye. Similarly, it includes quotes in bright boxes to draw attention to important information. It uses a clear font to make the writing easy to read and so that the words flow. Also, it puts important headings in bold so that they are easy to find.The magazine had a print distribution of 15,000+ and could be found in over 470 stores. It was sold at a price of $6.99 USD or $7.99 CND, which can be converted to 4.41 UK sterling. With 64 pages per magazine, exactly 50% of these had been taken up by advertisements. 70% of their distribution was through retail stores, 20% were sold at events and the remaining 10% were sold through subscriptions. As of 2014, 84 companies had advertised their services or products in the magazine. The dimensions of the magazine were 8 3/8 x 10 7/8.

The red background behind the text catches a viewers eye, drawing their attention to the magazine.The white text stands out against the bright background. The text is bold and written in capital letters with an easy to read font.

This is the date the magazine was released.This lets the reader know that this is the first issue of the magazine that has been released.The name is trademarked, so it cannot be infringed.

The barcode is for retail purposes, but the price is also written above it to inform potential buyers of the price.This lets the reader know what they can expect to find in the magazine.The QR code can be scanned by mobiles, it will take the reader to their website.The background is a very dark grey, which makes the icons and imagery stand out more due to their bright colours. The dark blue and bright orange are contrasting colours, these stand out.These are the range of social media sites that the magazine covers.

Here is the front cover of a tech magazine, which I believe will have a similar audience to my own. This is the most recent, June 2015 edition. Down the left, it gives the reader an idea of what to expect inside the article, with the intention of persuading people to buy the magazine. The main advertisement on the front page includes links to their social media sites at the bottom of the page, as well as contact details for their own website and telephone number. The magazines website details can be found under the magazine title in a smaller font. Beneath that, the magazine also includes a brief description or phrase stating that it is The magazine of the electrical goods industry. Their logo can be found at the top left of the page, and the date of release is displayed above the title at the top right of the page. This is a magazine that is released on a monthly basis.Above, are some examples of pages that you will find in this issue. A good portion of the magazine is actually made up of advertisements, and trying to sell people these new advanced technology products. The magazine has a clear layout, making it easier to look for certain products or topics with their larger headings. It includes circular, coloured text boxes, which contain any key information. The magazine seems to use the colours blue and grey frequently as part of their colour scheme. Most images are accompanied by captions. Not including advertisements, the magazine contains many pictures as a way to display the product to potential consumers. The rear page of the magazine is a whole page advertisement. Get Connected only share their media pack with potential advertisers.

Other Competition

Besides from magazines, there are similar publications online that my magazine would compete against. BuzzFeed and UniLad for example, take large stories, many that become popular through social media, and they publish them to a wider audience. Over 50% of BuzzFeeds audience is aged between 18 and 34 and 75% of their traffic comes from social media itself. But, BuzzFeed is more than just a website, its a team of people gathering and sharing stories through social media, as well as producing their own articles and videos. Although BuzzFeed does not come in the form of a magazine, it has some similarities. For example, the name BuzzFeed is always found in an eye-catching, bold and red font.One of the biggest competitors, when creating a magazine such as mine, is simply social media itself. As all of my content will come from social media, all of the information in it is likely to have already been published, and individuals can access the content for free online. This is one of the contributing factors to the decision for annual release.

Intended Audience

I intend to create a magazine for an audience between the ages of 16 to 24. As a young audience, I would expect that many people of this age group would have a general interest in social media, and possibly spend a lot of time online. I intend to take what they may have seen online, and what they may have missed to create a magazine of the latest trends and stories. I will include content that should appeal to both genders. For example, I could include celebrity gossip tweets, as well as social media updates and the latest technology, to appeal to as many people as possible.

Bibliography

http://www.buzzfeed.com/?country=uk http://gcmagazine.co.uk http://www.slideshare.net/chrisabraham/media-kit-for-the-social-media-monthly-and-the-startup-montly-magazines http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2011/08/The-Social-Media-Monthly-Cover-with-Astronaut-2-e1305405191585.jpg http://thesocialmediamonthly.com Social Networking: A Beginners Guide Magazine Production (Media Skills) Paperback