Companies Face Their Own Social Reckoning as Traffic Dries Up

Early in Aaron Sorkin’s new movie, “The Social Reckoning,” a fictional version of the idealistic data analyst Frances Haugen says: “Connecting people, it’s a virtuous mission because some people are awkward. They get to be their best self when they’re alone at their keyboard.”

We knew that wasn’t true even before Haugen disclosed internal Facebook studies in 2021 to The Wall Street Journal. Now we’re learning that social media platforms have cut back dramatically on the number of people they send to other websites such as news organizations and corporate brands.

“The decline is stark,” Laura Hazard Owen, the editor of the Nieman Journalism Lab, wrote in April, citing website traffic statistics for more than 1,000 news outlets worldwide.

News sites aren’t the only ones feeling the drought.

London-based marketing executive Reggie James wrote last year, “Social media isn’t sending people to websites anymore — and the numbers prove it.”

The plunge in traffic from social media comes as referrals from search engines are also drying up.  Summaries of search results generated by artificial intelligence increase the number of “zero-click searches” in which a user doesn’t select any links, a trend we described earlier this year.

The journalistic tools of reporting and storytelling are well suited to help companies take advantage of these changes made by search engines and social media platforms.

Changing algorithms
Over time, the platforms have changed the algorithms that determine which posts are sent to users’ feeds. The changes have been designed to keep users inside an app rather than let them easily jump to another website. It also forces brands to buy ads rather than post content.

Social media, which was once an easy way for people to discover new products and services, no longer works that way. The bottom line is that people are clicking on fewer links.

“Chasing an algorithm or a platform is not a long-term strategy,” Jessie Willms SEO editor at Guardian, told the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism this month. “It might work [for a while], but it works until it doesn’t.”

“The strategy, as we’ve seen time and again, is to build meaningful relationships with your audience around topics they care about and are willing to convert for,” she said.

Now there’s even greater need to make each social media post entertaining, informative or both. A majority of Americans (58%) say social media is an important way to keep up with the news, up from 44% in 2022, according to a Pew Research Center survey released last week.

Here are eight tips on how to use the principles of brand journalism in social media:

1. Focus on content. Put your energy into the content of a post more than into the production. Highly polished posts are great if you have the staff and budget to do them quickly. But what you say is more important than how you say it.

“High-production value content reaches wider but may not resonate with an audience who prefers genuine expression and community involvement,” social media agency ICUC Social said in a report issued in January. “While a highly polished content piece may look aesthetically pleasing in a grid or feed, this type of content does not particularly inspire its viewers to comment or share.”

2. Don’t sell. “Selling should be secondary to the entertainment you’re providing because that is truly what will keep attention now,” Kelly Samuel, a Toronto-based social media consultant wrote last year on Forbes website.

This approach is a hallmark of brand journalism. Build the reputation of your organization by presenting stories that journalists themselves would do.

“Nobody likes to be sold but everybody likes to buy,” a trainer with Dale Carnegie & Associates once said.

3. Elicit emotion. In crafting a social media post, consider how you want the audience to feel, just as you should do when writing a story.

In a blog post on TikTok trends last month, the online commerce platform Shopify suggests using “an emotional trigger: Humor, surprise, curiosity, inspiration, or relatability all encourage viewers to keep watching.”

People are more likely to remember the emotion behind a post than its facts and figures.

4. Develop a series. “Platforms increasingly reward recurring episodic content that creates habit formation and repeat viewing behavior, helping brands build stronger audience relationships over time,” Pierre DeBois, a data analytics consultant, wrote in May on customer experience site CMSWire.

There are many ways to do this. Regularly take your audience behind the scenes. Ask employees to describe their jobs. Get sound bites from suppliers. Showcase your experts. Highlight a big number of the week or month.

On TikTok, Carmella Boykin of The Washington Post explains complex stories on deadline and in 60 seconds. Not every leader has that talent, but every leader can be coached to do better.

Tips on how customers can use a product or service have become boring, standard fare on social media. To rise above the rest, these posts must be highly creative.

5. People the posts. Most corporate social media posts are impersonal.

Instead, follow the example of Post’s TikTok account, which featured three regular hosts, Boykin, Joseph Ferguson and Dave Jorgenson. Post reporters make occasional appearances.

Jorgenson, who created the account in 2019, said he initially wanted to pull in a variety of people from the newsroom. He changed his approach.

“Now people have a real relationship (and favorites) with the three people on our team as well as the dozens of journalists who make regular cameos,” he said in a 2024 interview.

Referring to comments on the posts, he said, “In any given video you can see someone saying, ‘Carmella is my favorite!’ or ‘Glad you’re back from paternity leave, Dave’ or ‘I love this new guy Joseph.’” That’s obviously super gratifying but, importantly, I think it’s the key to our success.”

Jorgenson left the newspaper in 2025 to cofound his own production company.

6. Use your data. Numbers are an important part of brand journalism, giving stories credibility by backing up what you’re saying. When it comes to social media, design consultant Bob Zeni’s guide on infographics is very helpful.

Just this month, social media management tool Hootsuite offered five examples of social media posts using data.

7. Say no to AI. Consumers and marketing teams don’t agree about artificial intelligence, according to “The 2026 Social Media Content Strategy Report,” by Sprout Social.

“While consumers want brands to make human-generated content their #1 priority, marketers are making AI-generated content a top investment (especially marketing leaders,)” the social media management software company says.

We think generative AI programs can’t supply the human touch and creativity that’s key to engaging audiences.

8. Move quickly. Breaking news is an important element of brand journalism. Casual followers of a company don’t expect a company to comment about a trend or cultural moment that’s relevant to the business. As they idly scroll through their feed, they may be pleased that the company has something to say, but they aren’t looking for it.

To develop a dedicated following, post quickly whenever the company fits into the news of the day. The audience will come to expect it.

“There is a direct correlation between approval time length and team sophistication level, suggesting that social teams with more buy-in and trust are able to act faster,” the Sprout Social report says.

In real life
In “Social Reckoning,” Haugen is played by Mikey Madison. In the movie and in real life, Haugen became a whistleblower because she was disillusioned by Facebook’s main founder, Mark Zuckerberg, ignoring the harms the platform caused and could prevent.

It’s easy for corporate social media managers to become frustrated with the social media companies, which seem intent on making their jobs harder. Maybe there’s inspiration to be taken from the real-life Haugen, who faced much bigger stakes.

Tom Corfman is a senior consultant with Ragan Consulting Group, who learned about social media as a journalist with Crain’s Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune. Do you need an assessment of your social media? Email Tom to set up a free call with him and RCG co-founder and senior partner Jim Ylisela.

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