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Over 70,000 social media professionals are reading this newsletter today!
📰 How Publishers Are Crushing Social Media in 2026
Where's your audience finding your content right now?
Search? AI? Newsletters? Nope. It's the feeds they scroll multiple times a day.
Social feeds shape what people see first and which brands they recognize over time. When readers see your brand reacting to news daily, that exposure compounds into trust, a recognizable point of view, and a consistent presence in daily conversations.
The publishers winning in 2026 are treating feeds like editorial products. Here's how The Guardian, Daily Mail, and other top media companies do it. 👇
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6 Steps to Build a Killer Publisher Strategy 🎯
Most publishers fail because they skip strategy and jump straight to posting.
Here's the playbook that actually works:
1. Define what success looks like 🏆
Success usually falls into these buckets: audience growth, engagement, traffic, brand authority, and revenue.
Pick ONE primary goal. If you're chasing newsletter sign-ups, an IG Reel with fewer views but more link-in-bio clicks beats a viral Reel that sent zero traffic.
Don't get distracted by vanity metrics!
2. Choose the right platforms 📱
Different platforms reward different behaviors.
DuckDuckGo's founder did an interview with Entrepreneur. The full YouTube interview got 465 views. But a short clip posted as an Instagram Reel? ~21K views.
A scroll-stopping hook ensures new people discover your content!
Start by identifying where your audience already engages. Focus on no more than 3 platforms to start.
3. Decide what content you'll post (and what you won't) 📋
This is where publishers accidentally sabotage themselves.
The best approach? Dedicated content buckets.
Common publisher buckets include: breaking news, context and explainers, quotes and key takeaways, opinion pieces, evergreen content, and audience prompts.
Check out how The Guardian organizes content buckets on Instagram; their feed is a masterclass in structure.
Also create "negative" buckets: low-impact articles, internal announcements nobody cares about, and content that doesn't fit the platform.
4. Build a realistic posting schedule 📅
Consistency beats frequency. Every time.
Posting daily for 2 weeks, then disappearing for a month does more harm than good!
Here's a sample posting schedule:
1-2 posts per day on high-volume platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
3-5 posts per week on slower channels like YouTube.
Clear themes for specific days.
Use a Facebook scheduling tool like Post Planner to stay consistent!
5. Create a system for finding, planning, and reusing content ♻️
You probably have a deep, underused content library that's rarely tapped for social!
An article that first appeared as an X post can later become an Instagram Reel, a carousel, or a short video explainer.
Tips: Plan content in batches, turn articles into multiple post formats, reuse evergreen content intentionally, and keep a rolling queue of ready-to-post content.
6. Track performance and double down on what works 📊
Take a close look at your winners. Do more of it.
Take a close look at your underperformers. Do less of it.
Track: engagement rate, reach and impressions, click-through rate, follower growth, and top-performing content by format and topic.
See how Entrepreneur optimizes for repeatable signals: posts that get the most saves, drive predictable clicks, and formats that perform even on slow news days.
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Best Platforms for Publishers in 2026 🌐
Not every platform is built for publishers. Here's the breakdown:
Facebook 📘
Despite the "Facebook is dead" narrative, 38% of American adults consume news on Facebook!
Links are the most popular content type at 38.9%. That's huge for publications.
Tips for crushing it on Facebook:
Optimize for comments and shares, posts that spark discussion outperform simple links.
Use link posts strategically, alternate between native text, links, and image/video posts.
Don't ignore FB Groups! A niche group with engaged members is gold.
Experiment with native video, Bloomberg uses FB Reels for short news clips AND founder interviews.
Instagram 📸
According to the Association of Magazine Media, Instagram had 24% growth in magazine followers year over year!
Instagram is perfect for visual storytelling and reaching younger, mobile-first audiences.
Treat it as a visual explainer platform. Turn news stories into Reels or carousels to break down concepts.
Impact Media posted a GIF as a Reel with an attention-grabbing caption, and it got 660K views!
More tips:
Prioritize native Reels: Morning Brew's "consultants for consultants" Reel got 1.2M views and almost 50K+ likes.
Design content for shares and saves: The Pint newsletter uses meme-based Reels to drive newsletter signups.
Use IG Stories like The New York Times: story teasers with links to full articles.
YouTube 🎬
35% of American adults consume news on YouTube, making it second only to Facebook!
According to Reuters, 30% of users worldwide rely on YouTube for news.
What I learned from The Guardian's YouTube strategy:
Treat YouTube as a library, invest in evergreen explainers, deep dives, and documentaries. The Guardian has dedicated channels: Guardian Live for deep dives, It's Complicated for evergreen explainers, and Guardian News for current events.
Thumbnails and titles are editorial decisions; they put serious thought into every one.
Shorts supplement the main videos. When NASA astronauts returned to earth, the Short focused on dolphins greeting the shuttle, then linked to the longer video.
TikTok 🎵
TikTok is no longer optional if you wanna reach younger audiences!
It ranked 4th among news sources for American users.
Daily Mail has emerged as a trailblazer; they're the most followed news account on TikTok with 25M followers!
Key practices from Daily Mail's TikTok strategy:
Treat TikTok as a storytelling engine: short-form explainers and vox pop format (informal street interviews) to capture public sentiment.
Avoid newsroom formatting! Succeed by providing stories in formats audiences already engage with. Daily Mail uses "TikTok edits" with specific sound effects, voices, and transitions.
Having team members who understand how younger generations think has been a key driver of their success.
Which Platform Is Best for YOU? 🤔
Platform | Best For | What Publishers Win | Key Tradeoff | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TikTok | Audience growth & discovery. | Fast reach, non-follower exposure, cultural relevance. | Weak monetization, short content lifespan. | Best for growth |
YouTube | Long-term value & authority. | Evergreen traffic, strong monetization, and depth. | Higher production effort, slower feedback. | Best long-term asset |
Brand presence & consistency. | Visual storytelling, audience touchpoints, fast reach with Reels. | Limited discovery, link friction. | Supporting channel | |
Legacy reach & distribution. | Existing audience reach, occasional viral spikes, and clicks. | Declining organic reach, pay-to-play. | Traffic-driving channel |
Focus on winning ONE platform first. Build traction, create systems, then expand!
3 Key Trends for Publishers in 2026 🔮
1. Algorithm-first content is replacing follower-first content 🤖
Algorithms prioritize watch time, dwell time, saves, shares, replies, and conversations.
If you understand distribution, you can win on any format. Analyze top-performing posts, reverse-engineer why content spreads, and design hooks and framing to drive retention.
2. Community-led platforms are driving deeper engagement 👥
As organic distribution gets more volatile, publishers are shifting from views to conversations.
A Facebook Group with 4K members where 700-800 engage daily is FAR more valuable than a Page with 4M followers getting 3-4 comments per post.
You're winning when people are talking WITH you, not just ABOUT you!
3. Short-form video continues to dominate discovery 📹
Short-form video is still the fastest way for new audiences to discover publishers.
6 in 10 Gen Z consumers find long-form content THROUGH short-form clips!
A simple format highlighting 1 idea per video is more than enough. Add text overlays for clarity, and you're good to go.
Pro Tips to Keep You Winning 🏅
Design posts for engagement, not perfection ✨
Your most polished posts can fail miserably!
Overly polished posts often underperform on feeds built around speed and conversation. Prioritize clarity, lead with the takeaway, use simple visuals, and write like an ACTUAL human.
Reuse your best-performing content on purpose 🔄
Most publishers treat social posts as disposable. Post it once. Move on. Forget it.
That's a HUGE waste!
If a post performed well once, it earned that stamp of approval from your audience. You can expect similar results when you republish your previous hits.
Here's how to do it in Post Planner: Go to Analyze Posts, sort by Post Performance, choose a time period, and sort by likes/shares. You can re-add posts to your queue in bulk!
Batch your work to save time and stay consistent ⏰
Daily posting decisions kill consistency, the one thing every social platform rewards!
Instead of starting every post on a blank page: plan posts weekly or monthly, write multiple captions at once, and schedule content in advance using social media scheduling tools like Post Planner.
That's how you turn social from a daily slog into a predictable workflow!
Ready to Build Your Social Strategy? 🚀
Publishers usually lose on social because their strategy isn't easy enough to follow for the long run.
To win in 2026, keep it simple: focus on engagement patterns, build robust systems, and reuse winning posts.
Looking for an all-in-one social media management tool? Try Post Planner free today!
That’s all for today. Thanks for reading. Now…
Go BIG or go home!
~ Josh from “This Week in Social Media”
Disclaimer: Some links may be affiliate links that pay us commissions.
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