NN: Viral Publishers & Brands on the Campaign Trail

[View this email in your browser]( What we can learn from viral publishers This week we took a look at some of the tactics used by viral publishers in their web and Facebook content, to see what traditional publishers can learn from these trail blazers. We also examined how politicians are talking about businesses on the campaign trail. How viral publishers engage audiences on Facebook This week, we take a deeper look at the tactics, posts and record engagements for the top five viral publishers who consistently generate high numbers on Facebook. Every month we track the most engaged publishers on Facebook, and every month, a handful of viral publishers beat out traditional news sites for a place in the top twenty. LADbible, UNILAD, 9gag, The Dodo, and VT drive so much engagement on Facebook that even if you don’t recognize those names, there’s a high chance you’ve seen one of their videos. All things viral, meme-able, shareable, weird, or heartwarming gets circulated on the platform through one of these publishers. As these publishers tend to provide an example to traditional publishers in how to approach social, we thought it worth taking a look at what, exactly, is working for them. Some of the key advice that traditional publishers can take on board, following the lead of these viral publishers, is the following: - First things first, content. While not every article or post can feature a baby or animal or the double-threat: a baby animal, pets, and relatable stories go a long way on Facebook. - Another interesting insight, 97% of the top 100 most engaged posts from these publishers used emoji in their descriptions of the posts. Only 3% did not. They show emotion and give people an idea of whether or not the video is going to be funny or sad. - Manage expectations from your audience. Consistently delivering content that resonates allows your audience to expect a certain type of content and further, engage with it. You can read the [blog in its entirety here.]( Corporate critiques in the 2020 race The 2020 campaign trail can be a tough place to be a brand, with many of the Democratic candidates taking aim at what they see as inappropriate business practices. We looked at the data to see what’s resonating. Given the broadness of the race, we decided to take a look at any time a Democratic presidential candidate has been mentioned in the context of a major brand so far this year. Our search includes all Fortune 100 businesses, as well as a few other large companies. So, which brands were the most talked about by the candidates, and what drove engagement? Of the top hundred most engaged articles we looked at on the web for this study, Big Tech was the most talked about. Amazon appeared in twenty of the top hundred articles, while Facebook and Google appeared in seventeen and twelve respectively. Other companies were written about at a lesser rate, and often lumped together to talk more generally about finance or healthcare, without necessarily being called out by name, at least in the headline of the article. You can read the [full blog here](. Introducing: The NewsWhip PR Bulletin The NewsWhip PR Bulletin will be launching in two weeks, so there's still time to sign up before the first one launches. The NewsWhip PR Bulletin will be a monthly newsletter highlighting how our data can be used in agency use cases, as well as industry trends and interesting stories from the PR universe. You can sign up to [join the mailing list here](. Noted - Instagram announced a new [fact-checking initiative]( this week - The White House [wants to regulate]( social media moderation - Verizon [is selling Tumblr]( to Wordpress owner Automaticc - The viral fridge tweet you heard about is [probably not real]( That's all from us this week. As ever, if you want to get in touch with us, you can do that [here](. If someone forwarded you this email and you would like to subscribe, you can do that [here](. Have a wonderful weekend, Benedict and the NewsWhip team. [Website]( [Twitter]( [NewsWhip]( [LinkedIn]( [Instagram]( [NewsWhip Spike]( [NewsWhip Analytics]( [Resources]( [Blog]( [Contact](mailto:%20hello@newswhip.com) Millions of stories, videos, and social posts are published each day, sparking billions of interactions. NewsWhip transforms this ocean of social data into actionable insights to inform your content strategy. NewsWhip products show you what audiences are engaging with in real time and what has performed best historically – in every vertical. Copyright © 2019 NewsWhip, All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you opted in for the NewsWhip blog newsletter and updates. Our mailing address is: NewsWhip 47 Merrion SquareDublin, Ireland [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.