Dive Brief:
- Business Insider is the latest publisher to try out posting content directly to social media platforms rather than trying to lure viewers back to its site with links.
- Via its new “Insider” project, Business Insider is publishing video content directly to Facebook and Twitter as well as full text articles to Facebook.
- The online news publisher is also taking advantage of Instagram and Tumblr.
Dive Insight:
Facebook has encouraged publishers to post content directly to the social media platform instead of driving that traffic back to their own websites with links, and Business Insider has embraced the idea with its new “Insider” project. Through insider Business Insider is posting short videos to Facebook and Twitter, as well as full text-based articles to Facebook, and is also adding Instagram and Tumblr to its social media presence.
There’s a planned Insider website launch scheduled for next year, and the social media experiment is helping determine the focus and coverage areas for the new site. Julie Hansen, president of Business Insider, told The Wall Street Journal, “Were launching on social to begin with because it’s a great way to iterate and find the voice of a brand. The feedback loop is so immediate.”
The risk in the plan is Business Insider has no way to monetize the audience for this content, especially since there’s no web presence for the new Insider project, but Hansen said the current goal is awareness about the new brand and looking toward monetization once there’s an audience to show potential advertisers.
