Ever wonder what challenges other publishers are facing or looking for ways to streamline your day to day work schedule? The group discusses these topics and much more on the last Friday of the month at 10:00 a.m. EST.

This discussion group was started by AHP past president, Cheryl Erpelding, as a spinoff of the Small, But Mighty workshops that were held during the annual seminars for several years and founded by another AHP past president, Warren Wilson. Cheryl has been a supportive force for small publishers within AHP and she is still willing to share her experience via this group. The group meets for an hour and encourages an open conversation.

Publishers, as well as editors, of small publications are invited to join the group discussion.

Conference Dial-in Number: (712) 432-1500

Participant Access Code: 989134#

For more information, contact: Karen Pickering. [email protected]

Developing Keywords - The Starting point for Horse Business Internet Marketing. Over 80% of all online transactions begin with a keyword or phrase search. Searchers have questions and problems; they are searching for solutions and answers. Keywords set the foundation from which you develop your content for your website, blog, newsletter ...

To continue reading CLICK HERE.

The time has come, the Walrus said, to link with many things..."

With all respect to Lewis Carroll, our social media is evolving into a multi-discipline. Having survived Facebook facelifts, Twitter reTweets, and LinkedIn lookers at your profile, it's time to start swimming with social media's other big fish.

Meet Instagram and Pinterest. The further we advance technologically, the truer it remains: A picture is worth 1,000 words. Or more, according to 19 Reasons You Should Include Visual Content in Your Marketing, posted in August 2012 by Amanda Sibley on blog.hubspot.com. Citing stats by 3M Corporation and Zabisco, visual images process 60,000X faster than text and 40% of people respond better to visual information than text.

No wonder Facebook photos perform best for Likes, Comments and Shares compared to text, video, and links.

Visually-driven Pinterest and Instagram should be the next tools in your social arsenal. Citing PriceGrabber, 19 Reasons noted 98% of people with Pinterest accounts use Facebook and/or Twitter; 37% of Pinterest users log in a few times weekly, 29% a few times monthly, 15% daily and 10% multiple times daily.

Much like Twitter is an 'inside track' to following the posts of the high-powered, Instagram is where trending smartphoners load direct from camera to Instagram (bonus - free tools to edit image saturation, contrast, etc). You can link Instagram to Facebook, further enhancing your visual reach.

Not sold yet? Final thought: According to Shareaholic.com, Pinterest generated more referral traffic for businesses than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

Snap that.  

L.A. Pomeroy has been an AHP member since 1992 and oversees social media and public relations for organizational and publishing clients, and for her own editorial voice as an industry equinista (fashion + equestrienne).

Who is behind the creativity of native advertising? An article on Creativity-online.com named four publishers who are frontrunners in spearheading their teams to create sponsored-content for their advertisers. To learn who the top four are, read A Look at Four Big Publishers, And How Their Native-Advertising Teams Shape Up.

NicheMedia collected interviews with several of its conference speakers at the NicheMedia Digital Conference held in Nashville on September 30 to October 2. Niche Media has shared these interviews so that non-attendees can learn from industry leaders like social media and content marketing strategist Jay Baer, founder of Monumental Shift Andrew "Drew" Davis, content marketing guru Carla Johnson, and more. To access the post and read the interviews, CLICK HERE.

Sending holiday cards to say thank you?

The American Horse Council is asking its member organizations, their members and the entire horse community to help in the drafting of the 2015 National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Equine Study, which is in the preparation stages now.  NAHMS is within the U. S. Department of Agriculture and is working with the National Agricultural Statistics Service to prepare for its Equine 2015 study. 

The horse industry's input is essential if this study is to address the priorities and questions the horse community has about itself.  All organizations should pass this request on to their members so that as many horse owners, breeders and stakeholders can participate in the preparation of the 2015 study goals.  

 Please take a few minutes now to complete a 5-minute survey. CLICK HERE TO BEGIN SURVEY

The word, "brand," is often associated with a product. But a brand can be anything including a print publication. While the doomsayers say print is dead, you and I know that it is not. Print on paper has been around since Gutenberg invented the printing press and it's not going to disappear. 

Radio didn't disappear when television arrived, nor was television replaced by the internet. These are forms of communication and as publishers you are in the business of communicating. How you deliver content to your readers and viewers can come in many forms of media including, print, online, video, audio and digital. And that is the exciting part. Today, you have numerous options at your disposal and print will continue to be one of them.

The day of multimedia publishing has arrived and it's time to recognize the brand that you have created and nurtured in print for many years. It's also a time for publishers to appreciate the built-in audience you already have. While you need to continue to market and promote your brand, you aren't starting from scratch. You already have a loyal consumer base.

Recently, I watched a video of the opening address given by William "Billy" Morris, CEO of Morris Communications, Inc. at the ACT 4 Experience Conference started by Mr. Magazine, Samir Husni. The focus of the conference was the power of print integrated in a digital age.

 Morris talked about how publishers need to build on their print platform and he used his travel division as an example of print and digital integration. He emphasized the importance of delivering content to customers that is both timely and accurate. Having been in the publishing industry for many years, Morris was enthusiastic about the advent of digital publishing that allows publishers to interact with their readers more frequently via every communication media available. With so many distractions for a reader's attention, frequent contact via social media, video, print, websites, mobile apps, etc. keeps readers focused on your brand.

I've read that in today's digital world, the consumer is in the driver's seat. Marketing your journalistic brand requires a strategy that starts with knowing your audience and developing content that is vital to them as well as expected from your brand.  Publishers are the communicators in the equine world. It is your responsibility to provide the horse community with well-written journalism and accurate facts that can be delivered quickly when necessary or with inspiration and beauty for posterity.  For many of us who are veterans in equine publishing, the significance and historical value of the print publication will remain dear to our hearts forever. But the different ways we can communicate our stories and knowledge both visually and digitally is exciting and opens endless doors to creativity that can be spread to new and old audiences of horse lovers.

So go forward and build on your print publication brand by creating multi-dimensional media that targets your niche and develops content that engages and entertains your audience. 

While this post focuses on print publishers, the message is for all who are involved in communicating within the horse industry. Let us all set the standards in good journalism, continue to build awareness of the horse world, and explore ways in which we can live long and prosper in the digital age.

And remember to write for the brand. 

To view the video of Mr. Morris' opening address at the ACT4 Experience Conference, CLICK HERE.