This has been a great week for Subscription Insider, wrapping up another sold-out Payment Boot Camp. We enjoyed meeting some of you and sharing the wisdom of our subscription, billing and payment experts!

While that was going on, we were also working on this week’s edition of Five on Friday. In this issue, Pagefair shows how Facebook is winning with its ad block strategy, PR Daily shares how marketers can increase webinar attendance, Meredith Corp. signs 700,000 paid subscribers to The Magnolia Journal, Media Blog tells us how to create viral content in 6 steps, and CIO shares 8 things that CMOs need to know now. Enjoy and Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers and grandmothers out there!

4 Ways Marketers Can Boost Webinar Signups

We love doing webinars at Subscription Insider, and we’re always pleased that we have great turnout, but who wouldn’t love a few more signups? PR Daily offers four ways marketers can boost webinar signups:

1. Create a great signup page. PR Daily recommends a simple, concise, brief description with three to five fields in the opt-in form to gather information (e.g., name, company, email address, etc.)
2. Share webinar info. via social media. Through scheduled social media posts, drip updates and reminders, you can engage possible attendees. PR Daily suggests you highlight a common problem and offer your webinar as a solution. For example, our July 19 webinar solves the problem, “How to Select the Right Subscription Technology.”
3. Establish the ideal time for the webinar. Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best for webinars. Weekends are always a bad idea, and Mondays and Fridays are not optimal. PR Daily recommends early afternoons mid-week for a business-oriented audience.
4. Focus on your audience. In your marketing, including your signup page, focus on what your audience needs and how you can address those needs.

For more information on boosting webinar signups, read the original article on PR Daily here.

Facebook Q1 Earnings Show They Have a Winning Ad Blocking Strategy

Earlier this week Pagefair shared the three-step ad blocking strategy that helped Facebook grow desktop ad revenue, despite a decline in desktop usage. David Wehner, CFO of Facebook, attributes the 22 percent increase in desktop ad revenue in the first quarter of 2017 to the company’s efforts to limit the impact of ad blocking. Pagefair outlined Facebook’s steps:

• Listen to user grievances
• Fix privacy, user experience, security and bandwidth (e.g., using IAB’s LEAN* ad blocking standard display formats)
• Serve ads using tamper-proof ad serving technologies

*LEAN stands for Light, Encrypted, Ad Choice Supported and Non-Invasive Ads

Read Pagefair’s full article here. Read more about IAB’s LEAN ad blocking standard display formats here.

The Magnolia Journal Has 700,000 Paid Subscribers with Third issue

With the third issue of The Magnolia Journal on newsstands today, Meredith is seeing big success, boasting 700,000 paid subscribers for a magazine that is less than a year old. Launched in October 2016, the quarterly lifestyle magazine is based on Chip and Joanna Gaines’ popular Magnolia brand. The initial run of the magazine was 400,000 copies with a cover price of $7.99. Within a week, retailers were sold out.

The Magnolia Journal’s second run in February 2017 was 750,000 copies. At that time, Meredith increased its efforts to generate subscriptions. The magazine’s third issue is due out today. It will be mailed to 700,000 subscribers who pay $20 for a one-year subscription. That translates into $14,000,000 in subscription revenue alone! It doesn’t include newsstand sales from national retailers like Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble and Whole Foods.

Meredith reports that advertiser interest in the new magazine is strong with big names like Chevy, Samsung and Pier 1 signing on. Some advertisers have even written custom brand creative specifically for the magazine.

“We are thrilled about the immediate success The Magnolia Journal has enjoyed, and we’re excited to offer our advertisers and marketing partners access to a large and devoted consumer audience,” says Christine Guilfoyle, Meredith Senior VP/Publisher. “We are giving advertisers the opportunity to align with Chip and Joanna Gaines and to capitalize on this unique consumer engagement, which makes ROI more impactful.”

Creating Viral Content in 6 Steps

PR Newswire offers 6 steps for creating viral content that readers will want to share.

1. Good storytelling framed for your audience. Ask yourself, “Would I share this?” If not, move onto another story.
2. Stand out from the crowd. Good stories are important, but you have to stand out in order to get people to read them. Differentiate yourself from the pack by letting your voice and personality shine through or by offering a unique perspective on hot topics.
3. Choose the right platform. Rather than trying to be on every platform, choose those that fit your brand and make sure the content is appropriate for each platform. For example, Instagram is highly visual, so keep the copy tight, pithy and memorable. You want to do long form? That’s more appropriate for you company’s blog, news page or newsletter.
4. Know your audience. Just like knowing what platform is right for you, you also want to know what your audience wants and what content they are already sharing. A good way to gauge how readers are reacting to your content, read and respond to the comments, mentions, DMs and PMs.
5. Give Snapchat a try. PR Newswire admits that Snapchat can be labor intensive, but it is a fun place to experiment with content and to learn more about your readers.
6. Hire the right people. Select a social media team that is versatile, nimble and eager to learn because social media is changing all the time.

Learn more about creating viral content on PR Newswire here.

8 Things CMOs Need to Know Right Now

At the Marketo Marketing Nation Summit, industry leaders offered scores of tips and strategies for success for CMOs. CIO culled and curated that advice and shared eight tips. Here are the top four:

1. More is not better. Consumers and subscribers are inundated with marketing messages from brands, and the more they get pummeled with marketing, the more they will tune them out. Instead of providing a continuous stream of marketing messages, focus on the long-term customer relationship.
2. Talk less and listen more. Listen to your customers, no matter where they come from, but especially digital channels and platforms. Gather data on your customers, so you can spot trends and gain insight.
3. Evaluate marketing ROI through customer loyalty. Use customer loyalty as a key metric to understand how your brand is really doing.
4. Be yourself. Consumers don’t want to be misled. They want authentic relationships which can be achieved through a strong brand identity, honesty and transparency.

Read the rest of CIO’s tips and advice for CMOs here.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Have a great weekend!