Today, I’m bringing you two great newsroom — and cross-collaboration — success stories:

First, we’ll delve into A Gazeta in Brazil, which just surpassed one million Instagram followers. Media companies have increasingly embraced Instagram as a vital platform for audience engagement, especially to reach younger, mobile-first users who may not regularly visit news Web sites.

With several formats for engaging users on Instagram — posts, Reels, and stories — media organisations like A Gazeta have developed sophisticated strategies for building audience and engaging viewers. 

Then we’ll turn our attention to the Toronto Star, which saw a two-day traffic surge during last week’s election that more than quadrupled the traffic of its previous biggest planned news events. The Star’s live blog and meticulous planning were key to capitalising on the moment.  

Read on and tell me what you think: amalie.nash@inma.org. 

Amalie

P.S.: If you will be at INMA’s World Congress in New York this month, please join my user needs seminar on Friday, May 23!

Story formats are key to A Gazeta’s Instagram strategy

At A Gazeta, a prominent Brazilian news outlet based in Espírito Santo and part of the media company Rede Gazeta, social media was mainly seen as a channel to drive traffic to the main Web site prior to the pandemic.

But now, its Instagram profile is treated as a product in itself, said Danilo Ribeiro Meirelles, a distribution editor at A Gazeta.

That strategy has paid off: A Gazeta recently topped one million Instagram followers in a region of just over four million people.

“Our strategy centers on delivering high-quality information and journalism that is recognised for its credibility by the people of Espírito Santo,” Meirelles said. “Fortunately, A Gazeta has a newsroom capable of producing the best local content in our state.”

A few aspects of their strategy (and ideas for other newsrooms to consider!):

• Ask for photos: A Gazeta invites followers to send in photos of Espírito Santo’s landscapes. Every day, they share daily landscape photos from the state to strengthen local identity and community engagement. “We believe this helps foster a sense of belonging and community,” Meirelles said.

• Reply to story tips: They receive more than 250 story suggestions via DMs every day, respond to all of them privately, and forward the best ones to their editorial team. “This aligns with our goal of being more attentive and responsive on social media,” Meirelles said. “The newsroom investigates the tips, and then we adapt the content for Instagram.”

• Be relevant: In general, their Instagram profile is fed with news produced by the newsroom, which is then curated for the feed and Stories. “We prioritise what’s most relevant to the residents of Espírito Santo, especially in the feed,” Meirelles said.

Story formats are key to the Instagram strategy, Meirelles said.  

“Formats are essential — and so is alternating between them. A big part of our job on social media is adapting Web site content into the most effective format,” he said.

They’ve learned that:

• Stories work best for driving traffic to links.

• Carousels are ideal for explaining complex issues.

• Reels are great for reaching new audiences outside the follower base. Reels also are used when the footage is strong.

• Headline cards work well with a strong, relevant headline.

• Photo galleries are effective when the visuals are a key part of the story.

“We tell real stories that happen close to our followers — and the more recent or immediate, the better. Our journalism is recognised for in-depth reporting on local politics and economics, but posts about heavy traffic, accidents, rain, crime, or even curious facts consistently perform above average,” Meirelles said. “Our followers value us for the practical, service-driven news we provide.” 

A Gazeta’s Instagram feed is quite active: They publish around 45 feed posts and about 60 Stories every day. It’s common to make three to five different posts about a single news item using different formats (Reels, carousels, or headline cards), as long as the story justifies it, Meirelles said. 

“Over the years, I’ve learned there’s no real limit if people want the content. Content is king,” he said. “On the other hand, if there’s not enough relevant content on a given day, we scale back. We don’t aim for a specific number of daily posts. Our goal is always to deliver what matters most to the people of Espírito Santo. If there’s nothing relevant, we don’t post. If something major happens, we post more.”

When there isn’t breaking news, A Gazeta brings in lighter, lifestyle content, especially on weekends. To make space for it, they’ve created dedicated profiles like Se Cuida (health tips) and Estúdio Gazeta (covering lifestyle, decor, etc.).

Other highlights of my conversation with Meirelles:

• What metrics are they paying attention to? Follower count is important because it reflects a large number of people trusting our content and our brand. However, what we truly focus on is reach. We aim to get our posts in front of as many local residents as possible, especially those who don’t follow us yet.

• Do they monetise Instagram? We’ve implemented a model for paid partnerships, making the Instagram page financially relevant to the company.

• How big is the social media team? Our social media team includes 10 people, four of whom are interns. We produce most of our videos in-house because they need to be tailored for social platforms. We rely heavily on interns — young professionals in training who are also native users of digital media.

• Do they use tools to schedule posts? We use Meta Business Suite for scheduling and sometimes the Instagram app itself. Since we deal with real-time news, most of our scheduled posts are for weekends and usually involve lifestyle or softer content.

• How do they handle misinformation or moderation in the comments? In general, we don’t moderate comments … . When it comes to misinformation, we try to respond and clarify in the comments. But we’ve noticed that our readers often take on this role, correcting misinformation and calling out falsehoods posted by others. 

I also asked Meirelles if there was a turning point in A Gazeta’s growth. He pointed to significant news events where their feed gained momentum, including the Espírito Santo Military Police strike in 2017 and the pandemic in 2020. 

In the case of the pandemic, A Gazeta focused heavily on providing service-oriented content in Portuguese, offering basic guidance on how to stay safe. “At a time when people were seeking reliable news, our engagement surged, and we gained many new followers,” he said.

Instagram is A Gazeta’s main platform for brand presence, especially because most Espírito Santo residents use it, Meirelles said. But the brand also is active on TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

“We prioritise platforms that our readers prefer and that yield better results,” Meirelles said. 

Each platform has its own tailored strategy:

• Facebook and WhatsApp are great for driving traffic to the Web site, so they focus on links.

• TikTok helps them reach a younger audience, so they post lighter content and experiment more with videos and photo galleries.

Finally, what advice would Meirelles offer to other newsrooms trying to grow their Instagram presence today?

“You can’t grow on Instagram without original content. Credible information is the key to performing well on social media,” he said. “Beyond that, I’d suggest starting with simpler formats — headline cards in the feed and Reels using raw footage (sent by users or from security cameras). Contrary to popular belief, investing in your Instagram feed is one of the best ways to grow your presence.”

Tell me about your Instagram strategy: amalie.nash@inma.org. 

Toronto Star’s new live blog stands out in election coverage

The Canadian federal election — which saw huge voter turnout as Mark Carney and the Liberals won — led to a two-day traffic surge for the Toronto Star that more than quadrupled the traffic of its previous biggest planned news events.

The results were a major success for the Star’s SEO strategy, newsroom coordination and collaborative culture, said Executive Editor Grant Ellis. 

“A key driver was our cross-functional SEO council — made up of editorial, product, audience, and engineering leads — which meets weekly to set shared goals and quickly address performance issues,” Ellis said. “That foundation allowed our editors to apply high-impact audience tactics in real time as the election unfolded.”

The Star’s top story? Its live blog, which is a newly developed product launched for this election. Although the Star has had live experiences for years, it didn’t have a product or tool built for it. 

The live blog became a central destination for readers throughout the night, delivering high-impact updates and sharp analysis from top political writers and columnists.

“We only launched the blog template a few weeks prior to the election, but it was a huge success — beautiful clean design, urgent, and collaborative. It became a dynamic focal point for our coverage,” Ellis said. “Our automated results dashboard and riding-by-riding breakdowns also performed extremely well — these tools were clean, intuitive, and fast, giving users exactly what they needed without friction. Together, these elements drove millions of visits.”

To prepare for the election, the Star’s editorial team set out to treat its digital offering as seriously as broadcasters treat election night. 

What does that mean? 

Ellis explained: “This meant rigorous collaboration, both internally and with other departments. It meant creating a real rundown of what we would deploy across virtually every few minutes for the two whole days — stories, columns, live blog contributions, e-mail alerts, app pushes, etc.

“Everything was timebound, so that there would be no dead spots, but also flexible to respond to the news. The audience team provided us with SEO tracking and goals to make sure we went into the big night knowing what the reader really cared about and the questions they needed answered.”

Other highlights from Ellis:

How did you balance real-time reporting with contextual or analytical content?

To take some of the burden off of the staff political writers, we brought in some of our contributing columnists and reporters from other sections to grab some oars on the live blog. While several writers had to wear multiple hats, they knew going in whether their main focus was going to be live contributions or end-of-the night analysis and write-throughs.

What role did social media and platforms like Google and Apple News play in driving traffic?

Because of the Meta ban on news sites in Canada, social media was unexceptional — basically just a lot of X posts. But Google was our biggest traffic driver, especially organic search. While it was by far our biggest two-day period on Apple News with millions of views, it clearly was secondary to our much more lively, feature-rich site and app. The audience clearly prefers the open Web to walled gardens on nights like these.

Were there any surprises in audience behaviour or engagement patterns?

We expected a big audience to our data and automated riding results. We didn’t expect it to be the absolute tidal wave that ensued. We also didn’t expect it to stay near its crest hours past midnight.

What lessons or takeaways will you carry forward into your next big news event?

Whether the analogy is TV or even Broadway, treat a big election night like a real production. What did this mean for the Star? Having a table reading to go through your run of show. Your stars might be reporters and politicians, but also make sure everyone working election night has space to star in their own role. Have everyone in the same room and sitting near each other, including product, IT, out-of-town editors, masthead, etc. Slack has nothing on an old school newsroom.

What advice would you give to other newsrooms looking to grow audience during key political moments?

Tell your family members “I’m sorry” ahead of time. Certainly don’t say you’ll “probably be home by midnight.”

Have a similar story to share? E-mail me: amalie.nash@inma.org.

Mark your calendars

Upcoming INMA events that shouldn’t be missed:

• May 14: “Subscription Masters with The Guardian: Reader Revenue Success Without Paywalls,” presented by Liz Wynn, chief supporter revenue officer at The Guardian, and Greg Piechota, INMA’s Readers First Initiative lead. Register now.

• May 19-23: INMA’s World Congress of News Media in New York City. Join me for a workshop on user needs on May 23. Register now.

• May 28: “Newsrooms and Metrics: Insights from 14 Newsrooms,” my next Newsroom Transformation Initiative Webinar. I’ll share insights from my latest report and will be joined by Janice Pereira, editorial data lead, The Times and The Sunday Times, and Kristin Kornberg, leader/insight and content development, Aftenposten. Register now.

• June 4: “Unlocking AI Content Licensing: Strategies from Dow Jones & The Guardian,” presented by Traci Mabrey, general manager/Factiva, Dow Jones, Robert Hahn, director of business affairs and licensing, The Guardian. Part of INMA’s Product & Tech Initiative. Register now.

• June 18: “How Village Media Has Aggressively Grown by Focusing on its Digital Playbook,” presented by Jeff Elgie, CEO of Village Media. Part of INMA’s Newsroom Transformation Initiative. Register now.  

About this newsletter

Today’s newsletter is written by Amalie Nash, based in Denver, Colorado, United States, and lead for the INMA Newsroom Transformation Initiative. Amalie will share research, case studies, and thought leadership on the topic of bringing newsrooms into the business of news.

This newsletter is a public face of the Newsroom Transformation Initiative by INMA, outlined here. E-mail Amalie at amalie.nash@inma.org or connect with her on INMA’s Slack channel with thoughts, suggestions, and questions.

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