Flipboard

Flipboard is a multi-device and cross-platform application that merges social media elements, news streaming, and magazine-style formatting. It curates content from around the web and sends it to your smartphone as customizable smart magazines, offering users access to stories, videos, blog posts, and other pieces of content. Often, this is done by aggregating content from blogs, news outlets, and social networks. The Flipboard app is accessible from smartphones, tablets, and PCs/Laptops through a website.

To start using this app, subscribe to topics such as news, technology, Flipboard picks, design, travel, and more. Once your feed is filled with the desired content, comment or flip it to a magazine you created. It lets one create multiple magazines with different privacy settings.

7.1.2 Why Should Publishers Care about Flipboard?

Flipboard is an online magazine that allows readers to curate content from various sources such as blogs, websites, news sites, online magazines, and social media. Flipboard is one of the most widely used mobile news platforms, with an audience of more than 145 million monthly active users. The Flipboard audience consists of engaged and tech-savvy individuals who value good storytelling and share interesting or inspiring content.

Most of Flipboard’s readers are in the US, but the platform has grown to include users from over 160+ countries worldwide. They have over 100 million monthly active readers.

The readership share also splits evenly between millennials, gen-X, and boomers. A majority of these users are affluent readers who are curious and influential. They like investing in themselves by learning more about what they like.

7.1.3 How to Get Started with Flipboard

Become a publisher on Flipboard by applying and getting your content published automatically in a magazine through an RSS feed. It is important to remember that you have to be the owner of the content on the RSS feed. You can not use someone else’s RSS feed or create your magazine. Alternatively, you can manually share links.

How does Flipboard decide what content to feature?

There are two ways Flipboard chooses the content to publish — manual and algorithm-based.

Manual

Rather than relying on a computer algorithm, the content selection process at this website is done by real people. Editors and users can curate content, selecting pieces to create unique magazines. This task involves human experts choosing the content for publishing to ensure only the more interesting content is featured.

Algorithm based

First, the algorithm looks at the popularity of content from each source. More popular posts from each source are given priority, as they are engaging and interesting for users. The algorithm also weighs which topics are trending by looking at user engagement across different platforms. If a topic is gaining traction on social media or with users on Flipboard, it will be prioritized over less engaging topics.

Moreover, Flipboard’s algorithm also looks at user preferences. For example, Flipboard might feature more articles about sports if the user has expressed an interest in sports-related content in the past.

Applying for publisher status

Applying for publisher status requires you to make amendments after logging in to your Flipboard account. Navigate to Settings to upgrade to a publisher status.

Alternatively, you can follow this link and sign up as a publisher on Flipboard.

Once you complete the signup, you’ll see the following message.

Verifying a profile

You can verify the profile as belonging to a genuine person, company, publication, or organization. Ensure it accurately reflects you as an online entity with a completely filled-up bio and a profile image. Also, complete the magazine set up before applying for the verification badge.

Moreover, profiles must show evidence of regular, high-quality content curation that gives consumers a unique perspective and a streamlined ad experience. Flipboard holds the right to remove the badge and take further disciplinary action if they find your account giving incorrect or misleading information during the verification process or if you break any community norms.

7.1.4 Nice to Have

Create storyboards

Efficiently plan and organize your magazine’s content creation and management using Flipboard’s storyboards. Leverage Flipboard features to simplify compiling multiple content pieces into categories, digital magazines, multi-page storyboards, etc., and distribute your finished content to followers. It also has a custom storyboard editor that helps reorganize your magazine’s content simply by dragging and dropping items into your storyboard.

Here are some of the quick steps to get started creating Flipboard Storyboards.

Step 1: Navigate to the Flipboard profile > Storyboards. Here, click on the “make a new storyboard…” section.

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Step 2: A dialogue box pop-up will come up. Write down the storyboard’s title and description here, then click on Create.

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Step 3: The Curator Pro screen will open for you to distribute the magazine. You can also add topic tags by clicking on them.

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Step 4: Add keywords for your first tag. When you type, you will see a range of associated keywords appearing as a list. Choose and click on Save.

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Step 5: Next, you can add the body to the storyboard. Check for the textbox under Welcome to your storyboard. Enter a URL for the Storyboard, or add a title section. Press enter to add the selection.

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Step 6: To add stories to a section in Storyboard, tap Edit on the far right side of the section title.

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Step 7: The editing section allows you to change the size of the thumbnails appearing on Storyboard. You may input the URLs you want to put in the section’s text area and press the enter key.

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Step 8:The section will be updated to include the new URL. Click Edit to the right of the URL to change its name or description. Click on the Save option when done.

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Gain followers

Flipboard provides businesses, content creators, and individuals with an effective way to expand their audience and build influence. Start adding Flipboard Follow and Share social buttons to your website. This helps promote the brand, content, or message to a larger, more engaged audience. Not only will this help to increase followers, but it will also increase the chances that their content will be shared among their readers’ followers on the platform.

Alternatively, urge your writers and contributors to make Flipboard Accounts, assemble their own stories, collaborate with and add to your publisher profile, leave comments, and advertise their Flipboard profiles through other social media outlets. This helps amplify your stories on Flipboard and increase traffic.

Growing newsletter and partnering with a publishing team

Flipboard is a popular choice among publishers because it makes things easy and is especially responsive regarding editorial featuring and resolving technical issues. Newsletters offer publishers a great way to directly reach their readers with the most up-to-date information.

You can manually curate magazines to feature content related to a specific event, theme, or editorial idea as an editor. Also, you can adopt RSS feeds to publish magazines automatically. Once you complete the Magazine, share it on your social media accounts and your website with the Flipboard Magazine Widget.

Publishers often choose Flipboard for its user-friendly interface and responsive customer service regarding editorial features and technical issues. Newsletters offer a great way for publishers to stay connected with their audiences, providing them with the most up-to-date information.

Moreover, they can monetize the same by allowing advertisers to sponsor them. Flipboard has a range of newsletters, such as those covering photography, personal finance, lifestyle, travel, etc. Editors curate all such newsletters to ensure that publishers reach their target readers.

7.1.5 Avoid These Common Pitfalls

Flipboard magazine titles should bear catchy yet descriptive title, conveying what it stands for. With over 15 million Flipboard magazines, you can create compelling titles by avoiding the following key pitfalls.

#1. Avoid too generic titles

Creating a captivating title is essential for drawing in readers. Generic or dull titles like “Finance,” “Sports,” or “Latest News” may produce little to no enthusiasm. Crafting a headline that stands out and captures your audience’s attention is important. Therefore, checking out these tips to create compelling headlines for your storyboard is best.

#2. Tailor headlines to appeal to your audience

As you create a headline, it’s important to remember who your intended audience is. Do not get carried away by wordplay in an attempt to craft the most attention-grabbing title. Avoid crafting a sensational headline that appeals to the masses but turns off your target audience.

So think about who you want to read what you write and figure out how to make it happen. This helps considering the kind of content you usually provide and the tone you typically use when writing.

Such an approach helps guide you when wording your headline. For instance, being too smart when writing headlines for business can put the readers off.  Also, a serious title for readers subscribing to your humorous or light-hearted content may not please them.

#3. Balance SEO and reader relevancy

Developing catchy headlines interesting to both people and bots can be challenging. To increase the chances of your post being noticed, ensure your headlines combine elements that make them stand out to search engines while still compelling to readers.

For this, keep your headline relevant and topical. It should correspond to the post and be related to trending topics that interest readers. Making the headline SEO-friendly is also key; consider what words a person would type into a search bar to find your post, and make this the headline. Finally, making your headline unique is important to stand out from similar posts.

If you use a title, ensure it describes the content as any mismatch (in title and body content) is likely to annoy readers and cause frustration for search engines. A good headline should also be timely. If something is getting a lot of attention, viewers will search for postings on it rather than those about more timeless or irrelevant topics.

7.1.6 Examples of Sites Done Well

Flipboard magazines are a popular platform publishers use to provide curated collections on any subject, such as recent technological advancements, mouthwatering recipes, and seasonal shopping.

By allowing anyone to become a contributor, you can change any magazine into a group magazine to foster community, dialogue, and engagement with readers.

More on Flipboard group magazine

Group magazines offer a great platform for editorial team members to showcase their writing, voice, and point of view. They can share articles that have been especially inspiring or educational and invite readers to comment and engage in a meaningful conversation. This is a great way for editors to connect with their audience on a deeper level.

The latest update now allows for comments and notifications to be visible on both in-app and web platforms, allowing you to stay informed and engaged on any device.

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For instance, a popular lifestyle digital publication didn’t go beyond the additional best practice setup. Still, it stayed focused on being in tune with its audience by publishing health, food, and end-of-year review news pieces. Enabling this with Flipboard drove consistent traffic in December 2021.

7.1.7 Actions and Takeaways

Flipboard is a great platform for publishers to reach a larger audience and increase engagement with their content. It provides a user-friendly interface, allowing greater customization for your publications and fitting your brand’s style. It also lets you connect with readers and increase your content’s reach on social media.

Although Flipboard publishing can be a great way to reach more readers. Take time to understand the platform and its features which will help you make the most of your Flipboard experience.

It is also important to keep up with the platform’s updates and use analytics to track your publications’ performance to ensure your content reaches its intended audience.

Start implementing the aforementioned tips for your Flipboard publishing. This will help grow your audience, enhance the reader’s experience, and increase leadership.