Social Media Kau Tau

Sound RIDER! picks an approach to social media

Back in 2009, when I penned the 10 year history of Sound RIDER!, I closed the last chapter noting that we would stay on track as an online magazine, focusing on what we do best – editorial aimed at enriching the riders ride.

I also noted that we had no plans to get caught up in the developing phenomena of social media. It had stumbled with sites like MySpace and otherwise and we were still in a wait and see mode as to how it would pan out.

Five years later we’re going to throw in the towel and play, but it’s taken us this long to develop a strategy to do so and to build the arsenal of what we will use to partake.

Each month we bring 6-12 new features to the magazine. Over the last 15 years we’ve been building a sizeable archive of content. Even stories from as far back as 1999 are still relevant today. And although it’s not possible to feature every story in each new issue (there’s over 1,000), social media will provide the extension in which to spotlight our wealth of wisdom and insight when the time is right.

For instance:

Last week the weather started to cool down. The perfect opportunity to remind folks about our 10 fall weather riding tips and how to stay comfortable as the temps drop. So we linked the archived article into Facebook and Twitter.

On Monday I realized the Oyster Run would be coming up the following Sunday. We have a nice piece in the archive that offers up alternative routes to keep riders away from US 20, which will be jammed in both directions starting in the early afternoon. Facebook and Twitter became the obvious ways to promote this article. In fact, we ponied up a little marketing money to broadcast it specifically to Harley-Davidson enthusiasts in the Puget Sound region, pulling in several thousand views for the link.

Tuesday the rain showed up, and again we dug into the archive, polished up our rain riding piece from back in 2001 and ran it up the social media flagpole.

Many of you who know me, know I have my qualms about social media. With only 24 hours in a day, many people are becoming robots addicted to their smart phones and tablets for more than a few hours each day, digesting primarily useless information, reducing their own productivity and some say, we’re turning into a society of morons.

It occurs to me that people are spending less time digesting books, useful news content and learning from the web, instead substituting that time with watered down social media fascination. To that we say “Slow down… and read an article!”

From time to time you may see us note a new item in the store, or promote an upcoming event. There’s bills to be paid. That all being said, the plan at this time is to restrict posts to no more than 1-2 a day. Anything more than that gets annoying!

So as we open a new chapter at Sound RIDER! the commitment will be to provide content across social media that will be an extension of enriching the riders ride. Same commitment we’ve always had, taking it one step further.

For you the reader, subscribe to the monthly newsletter email and get all the newest content. Then follow our feeds and satiate your moto passion further all month long, clicking through on the posts that interest you.

Facebook: soundridermag
Twitter: @SoundRiderMag

Tom Mehren/Fall 2014