b-guided> May 2011 / Web Communication Project / by Sandra Kristbjarnard.
The aim of this project is to make the website of the magazine 驶b-guided始 (www.bguided.com) a Web 2.0. This is a lifestyle magazine and guide published in Spanish and English in four cities of Spain; Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid and Bilbao. It features contemporary culture of Spain and is divided into two parts, the magazine and the guide. It has five separate sections; b-ing, b-wear, b-served, b-seen and b-guided which includes topics about architecture, art, design, fashion, food, music and night life. #
Since Facebook started in 2004 its user growth has more than tripled and in
January 2011 there where 600 million users on Facebook. Twitter accounts are around 200 million. With these numbers there is no wonder that brands and companies are using this opportunity to promote themselves in the social media. Moreover, if you want your homepage to reach Google quality search you are going to have to have a Web 2.0 page. Foursquare is a newly discovered platform where people check in to places such as restaurants and tube stations to tell people online about their experiences or just to inform others where they are and have been. #
The publishing industry is undergoing major transformation because of new
consumer trends; more people are reachable online and through technology. Publications have to look at new ways to maintain their audiences and to find new readers by delivering new experiences with strategies such as mobile devices and ipad application. #
The strengths of b-guided is that it is bilingual, both in Spanish and English, which
gives them broader audiences. It is very contemporary and has a fun use of the magazine name with the content; b-inspired, b-served, b-guided, b-wear, b-ing and be-seen. The weaknesses of the magazine are that their website is still Web 1.0 while their competitors are using Web 2.0. Also, they might be trying to reach to broad audiences with all these different categories as they are covering design, fashion, architecture, food, music and night life on both national and international level in the guided part of the magazine. The opportunities in the market is the Web 2.0 technologies which rely on user collaboration such as blogs, peer-to-peer networking and social networks. There are millions of people online every day and it is the biggest reachable market. The threats are that if somebody gives a bad promotion about the magazine it will get quickly out and people will listen to it as more people listen to peer-to-peer communication and less to advertising. Another threat are other magazine that are free or cheaper. #
B-guided is a cosmopolitan magazine for cosmopolitan people. The target market
are man and women of all ages that love traveling, the city and it始s culture, fashion, exploring the new and enjoy partying. Another segmentation are tourists who travel to the
cities for short period of time and want to be informed with what is happening in the city of their choice. This is a big group of both English and Spanish speaking travelers. A third target group are foreigners living in these cities either studying or working and have interest in getting to know the city from a cultural point of view. #
To change b-guided website (www.b-guided.com) to Web 2.0 social media, RSS,
blogs and Wikis for instance has to be added to the website with a strategy that results in a successful communication with readers online. First, I would connect their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/bguided) to the website to get more traffic to the page and as a result more people “liking” them. Even get “liking” click on their actual page as it gives easier and quicker access. They need to add information about the magazine on the Facebook page as well as where to purchase the mag. Perhaps better would be to connect Wikipedia on the website. #
I think a Twitter account would be appropriated as they are a magazine; they could
tweet about who they are interviewing, new designers, whatʼs happening in the city etc. and follow other people. Also connect links that brings people to youtube for videos, website of designers or restaurants and events in the city. In this way they could more easily communicate the image of the magazine, what it is about and itʼs interest and at the same time reach even bigger audiences. It has to be thought through first though; a twitter strategy where they would choose a employee of the magazine who is good in communicating with people and gives them insight in the magazine in a transparence and fun way. #
Another thing is RSS; where people would require to get newsletters sent to them.
This is a very important part as it is a good strategy to let readers know when new issues come out and remind people of the magazine. This would be a newsletter with detailed information about current issue content, links connected to Facebook and Twitter and contact information. #
As it is a city guide I would make mobile strategy with an application available of the
magazine for people to easily look into the guide on the go. This would be available through the website www.b-guided.com. Lastly, an application for ipad would also be made to give readers the opportunity to get new experience of the magazine as that is a new market that I think a contemporary magazine/city guide has to get into, also available through their website. #
By adding time and money into these new application and the social media and
giving employees new work title (social media manager) it is going to have to generate revenue from somewhere. This is done with increased awareness of the magazine,
through Twitter especially, that will hopefully generate in more sales of the magazine. Also the ipad application will have a cost. Next step after changing the website to web 2.0 is to keep the content always fresh and up to date, keep the audiences interested and to get people involved by asking for feedback. Consumers are moving so fast and we have to keep up with them by listening to their needs because it is there where the success really comes.