In our recently-releasedDigital IQ Index®: Magazinesreport, researchers discovered that digital brand-building was perhaps most effective through social media channels. It was magazines’ presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms that really separated the savvy from the struggling.

Among the best-performing integrated social media strategies is Rolling Stone’s (ranked 18th and “Gifted” in this year’s Digital IQ Index®), which garnered big success with its #RSFest hashtag, launched last December in conjunction with its eponymous music festival. If you look at the chart below, the hashtag (and all its associated contests) drove daily Twitter growth by as much as 500 percent. Even more impressive, though, was the account’s ability to maintain the increased number of followers after the festival had ended. People came for the free tickets, but they ended up staying permanently–a testament to Rolling Stone‘s engaging Twitter content.

Lees verder op l2thinktank.com.