Every online account held by the magazines, publishers, editors and ambassadors, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, started using the hashtag #MagsMoveMe from 10am, reaching out to their 3 million social media followers.

And, the results were incredible.

Within an hour the hashtag was trending on Twitter, and within two hours there were 50,000 interactions across all platforms.

Over the 24 hours of the initiative, the total audience reached was 4,978,767 and the hashtag achieved 1,466 mentions across social media and online sources globally. 

Facebook and Twitter won out as the most popular social channels, with 93% of traffic originating from here. Together Pinterest and Instagram only bought in 7% of traffic, highlighting user platforms of choice and the need to work in these areas.

Magazines stay relevant 

Last year the Audit Bureau of Circulations mid year magazine audit revealed that magazines were seeing an overall average sales drop of 4.2% year-on-year.

But MPA executive director Robin Parkes believes that the #MagsMoveMe initiative demonstrates that printed magazines still remain at the heart of the media world and are still the original and relevant community for like-minded people around their chosen topics. 

This Australian and industry first initiative demonstrates a bold, powerful statement of the magazine industry’s collective reach, engagement, motivation and influence and underscores the depth of creativity and imagination on sale every week. 

Australian Women’s Weekly editor-in-chief Helen McCabe agrees with this, saying that the debate about social media’s importance to magazines and brands is over. 

The fact is it is absolutely critical. It allows direct communication with the reader which means often a full and frank exchange of ideas and views.

On AWW we use it to find and research stories and to receive invaluable feedback on everything from our covers to our story selection. It has gone from being something I did occasionally to being a significant part of my job.

Even without the help of online, Matthew Stanton, CEO of Bauer Media and Chairman of the MPA, believes that the magazine industry is enduring the tough economic times and is far from losing relevance with consumers. 

Stanton says that in the past 12 months, consumers bought 172 million magazines at a total of $894 million, proving that magazine sales are still as relevant and robust as ever. 

[Image credit: Tracy Hunter]