Speaking on a panel of fashion insiders at Toronto’s first-ever Social Media Week, Flare editor in chief Lisa Tant discussed the role social media plays at the magazine. “For the magazine it is a question of how do you marry the long deadlines of print with the immediacy of social media,” she said. “We analyze the idea in the magazine rather than go for immediacy because we're beat at that game.”

That is not to say that Flare does not participate in social media, in fact Tant says, its online presence played a sizable role in the success of the magazines fall and winter issues. “I leaked Flare’s December Lady GaGa cover to Perez Hilton exclusively and within two days it had been picked up by over 400 websites,” she said. “In a down year, Flare’s September, October and December issues broke sales records.”

Flare.com gets 80,000 visitors per month, said Tant, its Twitter page has over 3,000 followers and they have hired a blogger to cover fashion week in London. “We don’t consider Flare to be a magazine, but a brand,” she said. “And we are always looking at ways to grow.”

Though she did not comment on whether Flare or Rogers is developing applications or content for the iPad, Tant said she thinks the product will be “phenomenal” for the publishing industry. “There are natural fits for the iPad, like Maclean’s and the shopping magazines,” she said. “With the introduction of such products print copies of fashion magazines might get more expensive and luxurious. They will be for the people who want to see the details.”

An avid Twitter user herself, Tant said she offers these tips to Flare staff for using the tool to the brand’s benefit:

-Take the reader behind the scenes with you.
-Don’t reveal too much (e.g talk about the photo shoot, but don’t say who it’s with).
-Don’t be too sarcastic, or overly cute — remember the tone.
-Share industry news and acknowledge the source.
-One smart quality tweet is better than three stupid ones.
-Don’t be too personal.