Batch 10 up on the virtual stage — Meet Followistic
By: Next Media Accelerator
Tags: Startup, Reader Engagement, Media, Innovation, Publishers

Vanessa Naumann is the co-founder of Followistic, a NMA-startup which helps publishers to reconnect with their audience. Vanessa told us which cool features they’ve packed into their engagement toolset and why we need to have trust in order to innovate.

João Loureiro and Vanessa Naumann. Photo: Tom Medici / The Fish&The Knife

Hey Vanessa, what is your home office status?

For me working in the home office is not a new thing. I was traveling a lot for work, so working remotely really feels normal for me. Right now I want to help spread the word to how people could deal with the situation and show people my best practices.

Go for it! What are your pro survival tips?

Don’t be too hard on yourself. Meditate, so that you have a clear mind, and also take breaks. Drink a lot of water, eat healthily. When it comes to working structure: only pick three things to focus on in a day and set aside time for strategic discussions with your team.

Oof, the home office can be tough!

“Why wouldn’t readers like a truly personal reading experience?”

What is Followistic working on?

Followistic is a reader engagement platform that helps online publishers or content creators to get their readers back to their page continuously. We created a widget which is shown at the end of every article. Within this simple widget, the readers can tell the publisher exactly what topics they want to read about more often. They are then notified via email.

How do publishers benefit from your product?

The publisher gets a behavioral analytics dashboard, where they can follow what the readers like. That information is very useful for the publisher’s content strategy. We basically bridge the communication gap between readers and publishers. So readers feel more engaged by being able to give their feedback and have full control over the content they receive.

“We basically bridge the communication gap between readers and publishers.”

Speaking of the publishers, what changes are you expecting in the media industry?

The media industry will change but right now it’s just not changing fast enough. Maybe the situation in the Corona crisis allows us to understand how important technology is in our lives. Because now we need to reach out digitally to each other in order to improve our human connections. I think Followistic fits right in. Through our widget, we are pushing the conversation of the publishers with the audience.

Followistic at Web Summit 2019. Photo: private

“If you never try to make a change you won’t get forward.”

What drives the team of Followistic?

We really want to create purpose through digital products. When we started, I think it was most important to create value and also to give readers control. Now we also want to change the publishing industry. Yeah, it’s a moonshot to say that, but we want publishers to understand that personalizing and giving readers control can be a huge advantage. Everything is more personal today. So why wouldn’t readers like a truly personal reading experience?

Last but not least: why should people work with you?

I think we all are great communicators. We understand humans and can explain really well why the technology works for people out there. We don’t have the highest knowledge in publishing — that’s a fact. But we are willing to learn. And sometimes it’s helpful when somebody from the outside brings in another perspective of your own industry. That’s why we’d love to work with publishers so that we can understand the publishing industry much better. To work with them directly on the market and to develop the best products for them. Often people seem to be afraid to try new things. But if you never try to make a change you won’t get forward. Sometimes it’s important to take a leap and trust innovators like us. It’s worth a try!