May 23, 2017 — Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology (DAIC) won the 2017 Azbee National Bronze Award and the Regional Bronze Award in the Online Best Use of Social Media category. DAIC used a combination of search engine optimization (SEO) and social media to increased its readership online by more than 300,000 page views in 2016 to reach more than 1 million page views in 2016.
The American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) announced the national award winners on May 18 at its 39th annual Azbee Awards of Excellence banquet in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Upper Midwest regional award winners were announced at the May 4 ASBPE banquet held in Chicago.
The DAIC team recognized by the national and regional awards includes Editorial Director Melinda Taschetta-Millane, Editor Dave Fornell and Associate Editor Jeff Zagoudis.
"Many publications are not sure what to do with social media or how to leverage it to gain more readers," Fornell said. "We began experimenting extensively in 2016 and found numerous ways to boost readership and drive more traffic to our website without the need to increase staff or increase costs. We also pay close attention to reader interests using analytics in a way that we have not done before, allowing us to see in real time what content they want. This has been much more insightful and had a much greater impact than using traditional reader surveys."
DAIC increased its website traffic from around 725,000 pageviews in 2015 to 1.09 million in 2016. Social media referral traffic to DAIC today drives 15 percent of the website's traffic and enabled a much greater reach to international readers.
This is the second consecutive year that DAIC brought home an Azbee Award, having won the Regional Silver Award in the Humorous/Fun Department in 2016 for its The Off Beat articles. Earlier in 2017, DAIC was a Jesse H. Neal finalist in the Best Use of Social Media category.
“Social media is such a driving force in communications today,” said Taschetta-Millane. “Having the DAIC team’s dedication and diligence in its ongoing social media efforts recognized by our peers is very rewarding.”
DAIC magazine is part of Scranton Gillette Communications.
The Azbee Awards honor editorial and design excellence in the business, trade and specialty press. More than 1,200 entries in 76 categories were judged by a panel of 90+ experienced B2B editors and designers. Nine SGC/SGC Horizon brands won a total of 20 national and regional Azbee awards in multiple categories this year, including sister publication Imaging Technology News capturing a Regional Bronze Award in two categories. For more information on the 2017 National and Regional Azbee Awards, visit ASBPE.org.
For more information: dicardiology.com
July 29, 2024 
