International Christian Retail Show attendees learned about “How to Use Digital Marketing in Both the U.S. and Internationally to Expand the Reach of Your Products” at a Monday morning digital-publishing offering led by David Manning, director of audience development, and Julio Vientos, director of the Casa Creación imprint, both of Charisma Media.

“I find this session very important because of the trends in social media and online purchases that people are making," Vientos said. "Practically we need to be updated with everything that is happening and how the industry is moving in terms of e-commerce and e-books.    

"And, if everybody is on the same page in knowing where the industry is going, and if we have the right resources and training to move our brands and our products to social media, to our Web page and beyond, I think it will be a success for everybody," he said.

Vientos noted that the market in Latin America is significantly different than in the U.S.

“It is important to understand the market [in Latin America] because it behaves totally different from the United States,” he said.

If publishers and suppliers want to engage with that population, they need to know how they respond and how they think, he stressed.

“Facebook engagement is huge and Instagram is growing, so they are connected all of the time,” Vientos said.

Manning said that moving ahead, the message is a positive, hopeful one.

“One of the biggest things I hoped to communicate is not to give up," he said. "The biggest thing for us is we are all fighting for the kingdom of God. I believe each person in attendance was truly brought here, and they have a job to do.” 

With all the bad news coming out, it can be so discouraging, and we can put our heads down and not know what to do, but with just a few changes and some hard work on social media, I think they can reposition their companies and products to be seen by a lot more people, and to get into the marketplace better, Manning said.

“The biggest success we’ve had is with Facebook. It was the one core audience we decided to tackle, and just to tell you, we weren’t really concentrating on it and trying to build it until 2013,” Manning said.

The companies two main Facebook pages were Charisma Magazine and Charisma News, he said, they were roughly at 25,000 to 50,000 between the two. Over the last two years, they’ve both grown to nearly 120,000 followers. So, every time a message is sent now, "that’s a free audience that you can get your message to," Manning said. "Our website traffic because of the increase we had on Facebook went from 250,000 unique visitors a month a couple of years ago to 5.5 million unique visitors hitting our website every month. That’s a major increase in brand awareness."

Publisher/Owner Fannie Pierce of Rapier Publishing Company said she attended the session because she wanted to know more about the digital side of publishing, and how it compares to the print realm.

“I want to know about the latest trends and how to market my books and authors digitally. I want to tap into that digital world,” Pierce said. “Digital has impacted the world.”

The session also explored trends in sale of books and magazines in the U.S. and international markets. The discussion included an overview of what is working in the U.S. and incorporated information about how to use digital marketing to help increase sales in specific international arenas.

Geared toward international publishers, the eight-session training series is a cooperative effort from CBA, Media Associates International and Magazine Training International. The training will continue through Wednesday. Those that complete all of the sessions will be awarded a certificate of completion.

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