Business professionals seeking to create an online brand have numerous options present in front of them across multiple channels, namely:

• Blogs.
• Websites.
• Podcasts.
• Online business groups.
• Social media networks.

Communicating effectively by setting themselves apart from competition and setting up a brand will help businesses reach their target audience. All it needs is proper planning.

One of the most important and fundamental steps for such is defining the business’s brand i.e. its mission, vision, product/service offerings and expertise. Secondly, defining the online platforms and tools needed for the brand’s online communication.

Flipboard – How effective is it?

One of the best platforms ever used for online branding is Flipboard. It is a web and mobile app for curating all interests of a brand/business in one platform through collection and sharing of online articles, stories and videos. Even more interesting point to know is that tutorials of Flipboard for business marketing are present in Flipboard’s database.

Flipboard allows brands/businesses in creating magazines by adding photos, videos and links to content. Their format is fun as readers can flip through pages (just like they do with paper magazines). It has an engaged community where people can interact with each other.

The entries in magazines created through Flipboard can be flipped, shared, liked and commented upon too, as discovered by a digital marketing expert from Edmonton. These magazines (and their users) can be followed by other users too. Flipboard is also a powerful tool to help build the brand, its value and equity as well.

Ways of using Flipboard

Here are some ways brands and businesses alike can use Flipboard:

Showcasing expertise through creation of magazines based on topics

Making Flipboard magazines with focused topic areas will help the brand/business reflect on the areas of their expertise. For instance, a brand with an exclusive focus on cameras and photography can create a Flipboard magazine on cameras and another on photography.

When the brand/business has grown to reach a position where it can diversify, it can also create similar Flipboard magazines in areas related to cameras and photography, and the like.

Using these magazines as handouts for conferences, events and presentations

In order to make a magazine using Flipboard for a particular event, brands and businesses can have their content teams save articles on the topic of the event, say content marketing. The content team can curate posts and infographics and compile them properly.

Attendees of that event will surely enjoy learning about it on Flipboard (especially through its app) in following topics of interest as well as flipping through it. Presenting the event’s attendees with a handout made on Flipboard allows the brand to share it with other attendees of the event who are not part of the panel. This helps the content stay relevant even after the event.

Flipboard magazines can also help people share visual journals of speakers speaking at business conferences and social events. Any event can be covered, and its content posted on Flipboard.

Helping brands and their teams connect with similar interests and curators

Flipboard gives both brands and businesses the ability to follow and curate magazines based on topics. It also lets their content team share content with other users of Flipboard. Other than that, The Sun, CNN, TechCrunch, The New York Times, CNET and The Verge are among the news companies having Flipboard accounts.

If brands and businesses alike follow news relevant to their forte on Flipboard, then they have taken an important step for their brand. Tech companies can follow various tech startups and gather info and research about tech.

Similarly, for women entrepreneurs, role models from Startup Wisdom and Women Who Innovate are present on Flipboard. Curating these magazines and their content and sharing them within the relative community can help build the brand on the right footing.

Conclusion

The aforementioned ways of using Flipboard are compiled after thorough research and checking of Flipboard itself and the various magazines/businesses/brands present. These are the times of innovation and finding creative ways of staying relevant and interesting among people.

Flipboard is a social platform and the service offers a built-in amplified reach and potential to help businesses make their content viral. Hence, the importance of Flipboard cannot be taken for granted and the medium should be considered for use by brands and businesses alike.