Streamline Your Social
Spend less time on manual social media tasks and more time increasing engagement across your social channels with all-in- one social media management platform Sprout Social. Plan, organize, and deliver social content and campaigns with cross- network scheduling. Track campaign performance and identify, personalize, and respond to incoming messages quickly. And evaluate outcomes with comprehensive data and reporting tools. Perhaps the most useful feature is Sprout’s Smart Inbox, which consolidates incoming messages and notifications
from all of your social channels and enables you to task them to other Sprout users for follow-up. There’s also SproutLink, a link-in-bio solution for your social profiles (including Instagram) that helps drive traffic from your posts to your website. Free 30- day trial; paid tiers start at $199/mo. sproutsocial.com
What [and Who] Is Innovative in Media?
The Innovation in Media 2024-25 World Report explores the most profitable developments impacting media today. Authored by media consultants Juan Señor and Jayant Sriram and published in partnership with global trade association FIPP, the report analyzes use cases in terms of gains in reach, revenue, and relevance. Hot topics covered in this year’s report include AI (negotiating use of content and integrating AI tools into content creation), the power of freemium paywalls for growing advertising and subscriptions, the importance of creating an effective first-party data strategy, and the value of high-quality print. Available as a digital edition; priced in euros. tinyurl.com/Innovation2425
Time to Rev Up Your Revenue?
Association RevUP is “the podcast that will get everyone in your association talking about revenue health.” If that sounds appealing, and necessary, tune in. The limited-series podcast is presented by the Professionals for Association Revenue (PAR) and was produced this past summer. In eight 25-minute episodes, Association RevUP explores how to assess the health of your association’s business and provides tactical steps for improvement. Topics include shaping organizational culture, providing effective sales leadership, turning sponsors into partners, using data to drive business, and more. Episodes available wherever you get your podcasts. tinyurl.com/RevUpPod
Promote Your Enviro Cred Without Greenwashing
This kit, from the nonprofit Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE), provides resources designed to help you showcase your sustainability efforts authentically and transparently while avoiding common pitfalls of greenwashing. The tools include an integrity checklist, a guide to prevention mechanisms, and a multiphase strategy plan template. Up your game further by taking IAE’s new Green Shield Course, a social science-guided training and certification course that aims to improve the integrity of environmental advertising and communications. Free. tinyurl.com/GreenwashToolkit
Apple Call Recording … It’s Coming
Apple is rolling out a new feature: the ability for users to natively record a voice call on an iPhone without using a third-party app. This will be available to iPhone users running iOS 18.1 or newer versions. To enhance transparency, Apple will announce that the calls are being recorded. At the time of writing, the iOS 18.1 update was still in beta stage and expected to roll out to all eligible devices this fall. On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, these voice recordings can be automatically transcribed within the Notes app. Stay tuned.
What Makes Great Magazine Advertising?
UK-based Magnetic, a trade organization for consumer magazine media, hosts an online archive of creative magazine advertising worth exploring. Magnetic’s extensive collection of case studies dives into the challenges, execution, and results of individual ad campaigns. In its Attention Hub, you’ll find articles on the subject of attention and two of its key drivers: trusted environments and relevant context. Under Research, find a collection of slide decks loaded with stats and facts about how magazines fit and perform within the media mix. magnetic.media
The USPS Makes Changes to Its Annual Promotions
Magazine publishers mailing via Marketing Mail Class have an opportunity to save on postage by taking advantage of the Postal Service’s Annual Promotions. The USPS typically makes a handful of changes to its promotions each year. For 2025, those changes include:
- A new promotion called Continuous Contact, which applies to “iterative or complementary” pieces mailed two or more times to the same delivery point [read: magazine issues!].
- The introduction of two “add-on” promotions that can be used only in combination with either or both of two other promotions.
- Informed Delivery is now an “add-on” promotion rather than a primary one.
- The Integrated Technology promotion (previously “Emerging Technology”) can be used for any consecutive six-month period in 2025.
- Using gloss paper stock (alone) will no longer qualify for the Tactile, Sensory & Interactive promotion. postalpro.usps.com/promotions
The Image Editing Tool You Need
No budget for a digital retoucher? No problem! Content-Aware Fill is an advanced feature in Adobe Photoshop that allows users to effortlessly remove unwanted elements or fill in missing parts of an image while preserving the natural appearance and consistency of the surrounding area. The tool’s intelligent algorithm analyzes the patterns, textures, and colors found in the neighboring pixels and generates a fill that closely matches the original content. Remove distracting objects, fill in or replace areas, and extend the background or bleed of an image or illustration. tinyurl.com/ContentFill
It’s Colossal!
The website Colossal offers a marvelous, diverting gallery of visual artistry, wizardry, and weirdness. Nothing mainstream here. Colossal is chock-full of offbeat and unusual design, illustration, photography, exhibits, film, and “visual culture” cleverly curated since 2010 by founder Christopher Jobson and his team. It’s a daily, scroll-worthy source of entertainment—and inspiration—for creators of all stripes. thisiscolossal.com
