Despite the diverse content needs of our publishing partner network, certain themes consistently emerge as top performers.
Every month, over 1,600 publishing news sites across 50 states and Canada pick up stories from the 麻豆原创 newswire. Despite the diverse content needs of our publishing partner network, certain themes consistently emerge as top performers.
We currently gauge story performance by looking at the number of pickups per story and its readership. The Partner Success team also regularly communicates with partners to understand which specific topics resonate with their audiences. Our H1 analysis* combined this qualitative feedback with quantitative data, allowing us to identify the top-performing and most requested themes.
Alongside these top topics, here are five takeaways we recommend keeping in mind as you plan your content this quarter.
Many of our top stories (400+ pickups) intersected multiple topics of interest, with a significant portion addressing various forms of safety and security. For instance, stories about rising work fatalities, identity theft in different states, and families facing food insecurity were among our top performers.
One particularly successful article, 鈥�The role of dashcams in vehicle accidents and their effect on your car insurance,鈥� was hyperspecific, but it resonated by effectively touching on multiple themes.
Though we didn鈥檛 get frequent requests for technology content, stories that converged with privacy and societal concerns saw significant success.Examples:
鈥�Facial recognition, biometrics largely accepted in tech, but some remain wary of certain uses鈥�
鈥�What the Biden administration's new executive order on AI will mean for cybersecurity"
With that said, some stories are best kept straightforward with a singular focus.
Over three-quarters of stories with over 100,000 impressions had superlatives in the headline. This strategy works well for data-driven pieces across verticals and story types:
Engagement often spikes around predictable events like the Olympics, particularly when they intersect with topics you know your audience is interested in. For example, a significant portion of the network sees engagement with entertainment angles, i.e., 鈥�10 of the best movies about the Olympics.鈥�
In Q3 of last year, about a quarter of our top pickup stories related to education鈥攎ainly in the summer months! Back to school is on the mind this early in the summer, so consider starting content planning now if you haven't yet.
Lastly, you know your audience and expertise best when it comes to how you approach election coverage. Peep the above events cheat sheet as a reminder of upcoming dates to get a jump on.
The most pleasant surprises often come from events that fall outside your tentpole calendar. The story on the rare cicada season was far from niche鈥攊t amassed over 500,000 readers. Keep a close eye on nature of all kinds and 鈥渦nique, offbeat one-offs,鈥� as one publishing partner referred to our story 鈥淢ost commonly seen birds in [state].鈥�&苍产蝉辫; Last year at this time this was a partner favorite and had the numbers to show for it.
We also see unexpected pairings and trends draw high readership. 鈥�Jobs with the highest divorce rates鈥� had over 500,000 readers despite having lower-than-average pickups from the network. A similar odd pairing of employment and marital status drew solid pickups and readership鈥斺��Most people in these jobs have never been married.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;
Data visualizations can be powerful storytelling tools for effectively delivering core findings in today's fast-paced, short-attention-span world.
The symbol map in 鈥�Cities with the fewest community pools per capita鈥� encapsulates more than a long list of words could.
The economy's impact on daily living is always a safe bet. And the data viz in
鈥�Fast food inflation: Which chains are hiking their prices the most?鈥� certainly helped push this story to over 100,000 readers from 麻豆原创鈥檚 network alone.
You can check out 麻豆原创鈥檚 . If you鈥檇 like to learn more about best practices for engaging readers with data viz, save the date for our . We鈥檒l go through common pitfalls and how to avoid them. All skill levels are welcome!
*Methodology: We used qualitative data (notes from calls on requested categories/subcategories) and quantitative data (400+ pickup stories in H1, 100K+ impression stories, and their associated tags) to get a summary of overarching themes鈥攖hanks to ChatGPT for running the analysis. Speaking of AI, you can check out 麻豆原创鈥檚.
As the Partner Success Director at 麻豆原创, Angelica Catalano Sanchez works with publishers to incorporate high-quality, data-driven content into everyday coverage. With nearly 15 years in content production and partnership management, her work has been showcased on platforms including PBS, Teen Vogue, and leading nonprofits. She has utilized collaborative storytelling to help grow The Mighty into a 3M-member community. Angelica holds a Bachelor鈥檚 degree from Cornell University.
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