#Trending: Bustle UK

Since launching in 2013, Bustle has become the premier digital destination for millennial women. The fastest-growing and largest female-focused publisher in modern media, with 82 million monthly readers, Bustle Digital Group works with creators to uncover issues and stories that matter, through the lens of authenticity, inclusivity and conversation. Along with other outlets in the group including Nylon, Elite Daily and The Zoe Report, Bustle is an impressive operation, complete with an award-winning team.

The UK edition boasts 260K Facebook fans and 52.6K Instagram followers alone, whilst the global channels, such as Bustle’s YouTube, pulls in around 452K subscribers and over 216.5 million video views. Bustle UK social media finds that sweet spot between entertaining and topical. On Instagram, the account is predominantly meme focused – building a community feel by creating a space for likeminded women who resonate with the relatable, light-hearted content. Whilst Facebook is more centred on pushing out website content and articles – starting a conversation via thought-provoking editorial.

As a digital first publication, Bustle’s social integration is relatively natural. The social team works closely with editorial to ensure its audience is served the content it wants and vice versa. Rather than social media simply following suit and amplifying the website, both departments work in tandem to keep consistency and create an experience that appeals on both channels.

In this post, we’ll take a look at the key lessons to be learnt by going straight to the source, consulting with Charlie Mock, Bustle UK's Senior Social Media Editor. Charlie’s previous roles include writing for the likes of DIY Magazine, Wonderland, Mashable, NME and London In Stereo.

On an ‘insights-led’ approach…

Bustle UK operates under an audience-first, personalised approach to marketing, coupled with a world-class suite of technology products. This allows the brand to speak to the many or the few, those united by curiosity about the world and engaging with its audience how, when and where it matters most. Charlie Mock claims they see the biggest spikes in engagement and traffic when they listen to what their followers want and then originate ideas accordingly: ‘We use a combination of insights from the platform and the site to plan our content.’ One way Bustle does this, is by using the in-built functions of the platforms to gain real-time feedback: ‘We use the quiz and poll functions on Instagram Stories all the time! It’s the best way to gauge exactly what your audience is interested in or thinking, in that exact moment.’

On finding a balance…

‘Our readers are tapped into everything from abortion rights in Northern Ireland to which celebrities are going into to jungle for I’m A Celeb.’ Says Charlie, speaking of the eclectic mix of subject matter Bustle covers. ‘Ensuring we’re sharing the right balance of these areas can be tricky.’ Bustle UK separates topics between different areas of its social platforms to create a more cohesive vision of the brand. ‘Separating things between stories and feed has been incredibly helpful on Instagram. On Facebook, we’re lucky enough to have a number of subsidiary pages that cater to some specific audience interests, e.g. ‘My Favourite F Word is Feminism.’

Bustle also recognises that it needs to maintain a level of flexibility when it comes to the aesthetic of its pages. Every publication will have its trademark look and feel, but Bustle shake things up outside of that and keep things fresh by not subscribing to any rigid guidelines. ‘We do try to keep our content on brand, in that there are a number of colours you can expect to see over and over. Outside of that, though, there’s no way of knowing where the platform is going next so maintaining a level of fluidity means we can adapt wherever necessary.’

On trademark tone of voice…

Charlie Mock describes Bustle’s tone of voice as: ‘honest, tongue-in-cheek and relatable’. Acutely aware of its diverse and astute target market of women aged 18-34, Bustle UK presents news and culture, hitting topical talking points in a frank and open fashion, intermingled with sarcastic observations and witty comparison. Whilst some may find it a complex mix, it arguably reflects the opinions of its key demographic and acts as an intelligent mouthpiece for the generation.

Copy and captions are relatively colloquial without being too young and the platform doesn’t feel obligated to present information through a lens of rose-tinted glasses: ‘We try to be realistic – some of our posts are a little bit sassy and dry, because that’s what life is. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good laugh at a top quality meme along the way.’

On platform and territory specifics…

Speaking of catering to its target market, Bustle UK also excels at keeping content locally relevant. Without pressure to adhere to international regulations, the UK page is very much UK centric in its operation. According to Charlie: ‘Although there are places we overlap with our U.S. counterpart, it’s more of a natural coincidence than a forced alignment. We cater to two very different audiences, experiencing very different things; it’s important that we’re able to speak to that in all of our content streams.’

As well as being territory specific, Bustle seeks to differentiate between social platforms when it comes to strategy. Facebook is about post flow and headlines for the title, whereas Instagram is far more nuanced, with greater platform sections and functions to navigate, there is much to consider when planning how users might engage with content. Continuing with the theme of segmentation, Bustle very much believe social should act as an entirely different medium to the magazine in so far as they don’t expect the same content to have 360-degree impact. Charlie provides this tasty analogy: ‘You’d be pretty miffed if you turned up to burger restaurant that only served pizza, or a pizza restaurant that only served sushi. People are looking for something different depending on where they go, so you have to be prepared to continuously adapt and reformat content to best suit that specific platform.’

On social media reforms…

Bustle is very much enrolled in the ‘roll with the punches’ school of thought when it comes to the changing landscape of social media developments and shakeups. When discussing the recent removal of Instagram likes, for example, Charlie isn’t running into an underground bunker any time soon. ‘I think social media users are more savvy than letting a metric dictate their engagement habits! With boards and direct messages, there are so many more ways to show you appreciate a piece of content than just double tapping. We all thought stories was wild when it first rolled out on Instagram, but now look at us! I try to avoid overthinking platform changes — more often than not, they end up fitting more seamlessly into a strategy than you thought.’

She’s also not too disturbed by external threats that could diminish Bustle’s carefully curated authenticity. On the subject of bot activity, she claims: ‘It’s pretty easy to clock a bot commenting on a post, so we just report any comment spam repeatedly to weed it out.’

On engagement…

Bustle spends a lot of time thinking about what its audience are engaging with online. ‘There’s no use just churning out the same content week on week because “it works”,’ says Charlie. The team report and analyse regularly to look that little bit deeper into insights that help them get a real handle on what people are expecting – and not expecting – from them.

Charlie’s top tip for building a loyal, dedicated following and a stellar reputation? ‘Engage with your followers, especially when they’re calling out something specific in a post. People expect accountability, avoiding it only dilutes the position you hold as a brand.’ Publications should not shy away from answering tough questions from its readers as it could serve to create a better, stronger platform and boost positive sentiment.

On inspiration…

Charlie Mock takes inspiration from the wealth of external content available to her, and there’s a lot of good work out there. ‘I love seeing all the ways brands are building a voice on platforms that don’t necessarily lend themselves to their content output. Outside of the digital publisher landscape, there are so many beautiful and interesting accounts to follow.’

Social media managers shouldn’t shy away from good old-fashioned competitor research, as well as wider observation of the landscape as there could very well be insight to be gleaned from others and a bit of recon may challenge you to think differently about your output. ‘Netflix are absolutely killing it on Instagram’ exclaims Charlie, ‘I love checking in on all the new ways they’re engaging with followings whilst also promoting their product. Also, I’m very into The Face relaunch on IG’.

On the bigger picture…

Charlie would advise social marketers to think about the future and be aware of the wider context in which they operate. ‘I’m keeping a close eye on how platforms are marking the social media experience more enjoyable for users,’ she admits. Bustle concede that it’s hard to not get bogged down in the numbers when you can measure success to minutely, but believe social media is heading for increased functionality in the coming years: ‘Everyone’s a multitasker nowadays, so apps should be looking to make people’s lives as easy as possible, whilst also keeping them in-app. We saw it in the move to Swipe Ups and in-feed shopping on Instagram, so it would only make sense for that to continue.’ The outlets and brands that will survive are those that are ready for the playing field to shift and have a strong reactive plan in place.

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