✌️ Revisiting your vibe

Whether you checked every box on your list or you didn't quite make it to the publication promised land, we bet you can look back on your 2024 with pride. You put yourself out there, tried something new, and picked yourself up when you fell flat on your face. (Don't worry, nobody saw. 🤗) So, what's next? This week's newsletter is about reviewing what you've learned, getting familiar with future trends, and gaining a tactical advantage over the competition. Let's go!

In this week's issue 📨

• Your 2024 data breakdown
• Social media trends to watch for
• Brighten your blog's content strategy

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here!

Measure the madness

At the beginning of 2024, you more than likely set goals for how you wanted the year to play out for your publication. Hard work? Check. Progress? Check. Brat Summer? Double check. But now that the year's almost over, how do you quantify all your successful (or unsuccessful) moments? It's time to turn those details into valuable insight for 2025 and beyond.

The Mailchimp team shares some examples of common blogging business goals that will help break down your data for a prosperous new year.

Increase traffic

• If you haven't seen much traffic growth over the past year, many publishers look to search engines like Google and tools like Google Search Console for assistance. Resources like these help optimize your content by analyzing your publication's impressions, clicks, and position on Google Search.
• Determine which of your blog posts are ranking well and which ones aren't. What can you learn from your popular posts to uplift your unpopular ones? You should also consider how your entire site flows and what elements can help keep readers consuming your content.

Attract new subscribers

• If your subscriber base stayed a bit stale in 2024, turn to tools like Google Analytics or Plausible to discover the specifics. If you've never considered analytics, the time is now! You can't get better if you don't have the data to learn from, and the right analytics tools can save your sanity.
• For example, if you created some posts or pages to get people to sign up for your newsletter and you're not seeing positive results, check your traffic analytics. If your traffic numbers are optimal, ensure that your site and newsletter are designed to encourage conversions.

Collect customer feedback

• The goal of gathering honest insights from your subscribers should always be a priority each and every year. There's nothing more valuable than the out loud thoughts of your readers. Without them, your business wouldn't exist, so if you haven't developed a feedback flow, now would be the time.
• If you received a good amount of customer feedback this year, use their responses to develop your 2025 content. What work should you continue doing, and what should you stop entirely? To increase responses, polish your promotion tactics to raise your relationship with your readers.

Drive brand awareness

• You can take many roads to increase your brand awareness, like collaborating with other publishers in your niche, guest posting, or connecting with experts. Brand awareness can be challenging to measure, so developing specific strategies like these is vital.
• Another key to brand success is honesty. What brand-boosting tactics did you try in 2024? Were you successful? What can you do differently in 2025? If you didn't quite get the attention you wanted this year, carry over what went well and leave what didn't work behind.

Interesting stories & ideas 📚

• The great migration to Bluesky – 404 Media
• An introvert's guide to networking – Journalism.co.uk
• Reflecting on five years – Creativerly
• AI tools for your newsletter – Inbox Collective
• Two-thirds of news influencers are men – Nieman Lab

Trending up

As technology advances and trends get more micro, each year always seems to move faster than the last. That's why staying on top of the social media landscape is more important than ever so your publication can hit the ground running after the holidays. No matter your niche, having an impactful presence in online social spaces can be your key to new growth for the new year.

The team at Gain highlights the top social media trends and predictions of 2025 so you can prepare to shine online.

#1 Hyper-personalization is all about using data analytics to deliver more relevant content to your readers. Think about how to personalize your work in the coming months to better connect with them.

#2 Social commerce is the new way to buy, and apps like Pinterest and Instagram have already mastered it. If you've always wanted to offer e-books, online courses, or brand merch, e-commerce integrations can help.

#3 An active online community is crucial for your publication to thrive next year. Your followers crave more direct engagement, and 86% of marketers think social media community building is a winning strategy.

#4 Micro and nano influencers create genuine engagement through their niche audiences. This means you don't have to find the most popular kid in school to partner up with. Now, a smaller base equals greater loyalty.

#5 TikTok is young people's go-to search engine. More than ever before, consumers love highly informative and engaging content that solves problems quickly. If your business doesn't have a TikTok account, it's probably time.

#6 Authenticity is now a high priority when choosing a brand to support or a product to buy. In a modern social media world filled with ads, filters, and bots, consumers yearn for transparency. Be authentic always!

Get ready, get set

What will your work look like in 2025? If you had a successful 2024, you'll probably continue creating the same quality content. (If it ain't broke, etc.) But if your year was a bit lackluster, or you've fallen out of love with your niche, you might have the itch to switch things up. Whatever your case, strutting into the new year with a solid content strategy is a must.

Brian Glassman, director of SEO at DreamHost, shares some key content insights that will give you a strategic advantage in 2025.

‣ Unsurprisingly, AI usage will be at an all-time high next year. If you're thinking about using tools like ChatGPT to assist with your content marketing, just be sure that AI is only enhancing your work and not totally automating it. You never want to use AI as a low-effort shortcut. Your subscribers can always tell.

‣ Thanks to social media apps like TikTok, video content has exploded. 90% of marketers claim video increases their brand awareness, so if you haven't considered video content as part of your strategy, you should hop on the bandwagon! Just be sure that whatever you create pushes your goals forward.

‣ This year, Google has been experimenting with different page formats, new website rankings, and AI search results, but they're also promoting content made by real humans who are experts in their field. This means if you're giving people what they want with positive intent, your 2025 rankings should be high.

‣ The digital world has quickly discovered that people love interactive content, which can drive 30% more conversions than the static variety. When building your new content strategy, incorporating quizzes, contests, and giveaways can boost growth and build connections within your subscriber base.

‣ The patience of the general public seems to thin with each passing year. To combat this, ensure your publication's navigation makes sense, your site speed is high, and you never present clickbaity links. The fewer clicks a reader has to do, the better. Click fatigue is real!

‣ 2025 isn't here yet, but you can jumpstart your content strategy by reviewing all of the work you did this year. Take note of what went well and be honest about what didn't. Consider asking your team or your subscribers for feedback on what new content they'd like to see.

Curator's pick ✍️

Enjoy this newsletter? Forward to a friend or hit reply to share your thoughts. We don't bite! 👻

Want more how-tos? Search our library of tutorials and subscribe to our monthly "Build with Ghost" newsletter.

Join our Ghost Creator Community! Connect with like-minded people who create content professionally — apply here.