Welcome to the digital age, a place where magazines and newspapers no longer can stand on their own. We’ve entered an era where printing is too expensive, and print ads are ineffective. It’s a time where the paper we used to buy at the shop, is online for free.

Newspapers have become a digital media, and with that transition have embraced new media and new marketing tools. Understanding that newspapers are using social media is just the first step, recognizing how they do it is the next.

Social Media Sharing

Traditional media is doing a great job recognizing the viral nature of their work. With so much content, and most of it being breaking news, the chances of it making the front page of sites like digg is very high. Every time the New York Times goes hot, they reinforce their brand as the first with breaking news and highlight that the community prefers their articles.

Telegraph.co.uk highlights all their other posts on digg, using the digg widget. Sometimes the news is breaking news, or odd and funny. You can bet that they’re getting a lot of traffic, and introducing new people to their content because of the widget.

Although I haven’t found another traditional publisher using the digg widget, I noticed a lot were using sharing tools, similar to the image below. They’ve recognized that the first step to viral content is making it easy to share.

Highlighting Blogs

In the blogosphere is where a true convergence is seen. Traditional media no longer acts like an island, separated from new media. They’ve embraced the idea of the “amateur journalist” and are recognizing the conversation that occurs.

Many news sites are tracking blogs that are referencing their articles, and then ranking the content similar to how technorati ranks blogs based on inbound links.

Recently, there’s been a jump in the number of blogs, twitter accounts, and podcasts done by journalist. It’s a great way for them to publish on their own, and old media took notice. Now, it’s rare to find a traditional media site without a blog or blog section. It’s being used to highlight editorials, and journalists’ opinions.

Promoting Widgets

Similar to social media sharing, traditional media is exploring viral marketing. Widgets are being used to get articles on blogs and desktops, as well as making it easy to share content. Telgraph.co.uk has done a great job with their widgets (as well as other social media strategies) and I’d be surprised if other sites don’t follow in their footsteps.

What It Means for Marketers and Bloggers

So why does all this matter? Well first and foremost, as traditional media pulls new media into the fold, the line that separates “reputable” news and “amateur” news is blurring. In the haste to be first, many stories are leaking through the cracks without an editorial process.

It also means that what might just be important to you (something you quickly wrote on your blog) might get picked up by a news site. Journalists are reading blogs, they’re looking at blogs for new stories, and trying to get the pulse of the community. Don’t be surprised to find your blog or an article your wrote in the Wall Street Journal. You never know when someone might call you for an interview.

I’d love to hear what you think about this topic. The idea of traditional media and new media is one with many facets, and recognizing how they’re melding is important to know what’s going to happen next. If you have an example of new uses, or an idea on how traditional media could use bloggers more, leave a comment. We want to know.

Where Traditional Media and New Media Converge is a post by: Samir Balwani

One of the things that drives me nuts are people that create web strategies without any thought of how it helps a company. (Brand reinforcement on its own is not a successful goal.)

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I go crazy when I see people still citing digg as a viable social media strategy, or when I see people state that more traffic equals more money. I can send you loads of crap traffic, please tell me if it makes you any real money.

Social media is not all about digg traffic, or sending people from facebook to your site. Sure, it can be used for that, but in no way is that an effective use of your time.

A good social media campaign will focus on creating a relationship. Taking the old media method of advertising – a one way conversation – and making it a joint marketing production. Asking questions, finding out how to make your product better, and making your consumers a part of your innovation and publicity is Marketing 2.0.

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Instead of trying to get on the front page of digg all the time, target niche social media sites. Have a product for women? Get your blog posts on the front page of Kirtsy. Internet marketer or social media guy? Make sure you’re reading Sphinn.

By looking at smaller more focused communities you’re able to cut out people that don’t care about your product. You target only those that might buy your product instead of wasting your time on others.

This idea isn’t only applicable to digg and social news site, but also social networking sites. I’ve already said before that advertising on facebook is a waste of time. Instead use it to cultivate a community. People are interesting in learning about you, showing off that they bought your products, and be a part of a group.

There’s been a paradigm shift in marketing. Welcome to new media marketing.

The old thinking of content being king, the thoughts that traffic is money, and the idea that branding is for large companies, is a thing of the past. Now customer relations is taking a front seat. Creating brand loyalty and getting people to talk about you is king. The community and communication is most important.

Stop Chasing People That Don't Care About You is a post by: Samir Balwani