NN: Why going viral isn't all down to luck

[Logo]( To put effective social media strategies in place, look at the data Hi there, Going viral on social media often seems like a matter of luck rather than strategy. Social media algorithms generally have a huge role to play in what gets spread across networks, leaving the content creators themselves feeling somewhat helpless in trying to figure out how to sustain the engagement. But it's not all out of the publisher or content creators' hands. We [increasingly see publishers using predictive technology]( to be more data-informed about how they run their social media strategies. By having visibility on the type of stories and trends about to see engagement online, as well as the performance of different content formats, such as videos, publishers can help manage distribution. Having a keen awareness of what the target audience wants to see more of is also crucial in making sure that what succeeds today won't flop tomorrow. Editors and reporters alike can use these predictions to figure out a story’s viral potential. With these signals, it's possible to see early in the day which posts across are likely to be trending across Facebook by lunch. We can have a better idea of how our content will perform, as well as competitors’ content in our space. We can figure out how to plan our own promotion and placement, based on these predictions. And it's not just publishers - brands and agencies can implement these practices to great effect too. Having a story go viral once may seem simple, but replicating over and over is where strategy and data comes in. [Check out the NewsWhip guide to going viral.]( How NewsWhip helped French newsrooms fight 'disinfo' Earlier this year, NewsWhip was involved CrossCheck, an initiative to fight give newsrooms the training and tools to fight 'fake news' in the French presidential election. We [talked to a project manager from CrossCheck]( to hear how the journalists used Spike's predicted engagements feature to get ahead of the stories that were going to be big on social media that day. "(Spike) allowed us to say ‘ok, we should cover this, because we can see in Spike that it’s going to get 8,000 shares in the next 24 hours, even though it only has 100 shares now.’ To have that early warning mechanism was hugely useful,” explained Sam Dubberley of CrossCheck. By addressing something that obscure and irrelevant to the larger political debate, the newsroom risks putting fuel on the fire by giving the perpetrators more exposure than the original piece warranted. But by waiting a day, the story could have gone super viral, already misleading readers, and leaving the newsroom playing catch up to produce a debunk that would only reach a fraction of the viewership of the problematic story, meme or image itself. And the predictive feature in Spike managed to pinpoint where early stage memes and misleading stories would end up with a large degree of accuracy, allowing news organisations to get a data-informed view of what stories will be big on social media later in the day. [Read the full article on our blog](. [Photo]( Report: The Top Sports Publishers on Social Media Data-driven insights around sports trends and sites on social media, and tips on how to reach your fans and build an audience online. [Photo]( What Publishers Should Expect from Social In 2017 Midway through 2017, this report remains essential reading for anyone looking to understand social publishing. [Photo]( What We've Learnt from Three Years of Social Data Learn how social distribution has changed for publishers since 2014 with our data report. Noted - When it comes to social video, one of the constant questions publishers have is 'how do we know that this is working?' Views and clicks will only tell part of the story. That's partially why watch time is more and more important. Digiday [interviewed eight publishers to get their thoughts on the metric](, and how they make it work. - Business Insider is ten years old. The site has been a trailblazer for successful 'digital native' publishing brands online, and [in a new interview](, founder Henry Blodget talks revenue, international expansion and more. Here's his take on the 'nichification' of the TV industry: "What has happened to print over the past 10 to 20 years will happen to television over the next 10 to 20. That will create a big opportunity for big digital brands to make inroads. Not to kill anybody — nobody ever gets killed in the media business, they just get niche-ified. All this change should create opportunities for some companies to get much larger than some companies currently think." That's all for now. If you find this newsletter useful, please [recommend to a friend](, and [follow us on Twitter](. If you have any queries that you think we might be able to help with, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Thanks for reading, Liam and the NewsWhip team. Useful Links Products Resources Blog Contact www.newswhip.com About Us 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. This email was sent to {EMAIL}. If you no longer wish to receive these emails you may [unsubscribe]( at any time.