The Weekly Bulletin | April 17, 2025

Catch up on your members' content, check out the community buzz, and browse through job opportunities

Author

Vahe Arabian
April 16, 2025

Hi SODP community,

Let’s recap on what’s been happening, the new content, industry updates, tips, and more.

Join our upcoming webinar!

Are you struggling to balance audience engagement, content monetization, and tech simplicity? You’re not alone. Many publishers face the Goldilocks Tech Trap —tools that are either too clunky or too expensive, leaving growth stalled .

Join us for "Managing Millions: Better Audience Engagement Without the Tech Headaches" , where we’ll show you how to escape this trap and build scalable, profitable systems.

💡 What You’ll Learn:

✅ Turning clicks, scrolls, and headlines into actionable insights for stronger audience relationships.

✅ Streamlining over-complex data workflows to drive growth and ROI.

✅ Quick wins to turn loyal browsers into superfans.

✅ Striking the perfect balance between effective tools and agile systems .

Hosted by Denis Haman , CEO of Glide Publishing Platform Denis champions a “lean publisher mentality,” empowering media organizations with scalable, user-friendly CMS solutions.

📅 Date: April 29, 2025

🌐 Online Event

Don’t miss this chance to transform your audience engagement strategy and future-proof your publishing business.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Short-form isn’t just a trend—it’s reshaping how audiences consume video. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels have trained viewers to expect fast, diverse, and relatable content on demand.

To align with this shift and future-proof your video strategy:

  • Think Utility, Not Just Entertainment – Deliver value in under 60 seconds, whether it's a quick tip, explainer, or reaction.

  • Leverage the Creator Economy – Partner with relatable voices who resonate with niche audiences.

  • Design for Discovery – Short-form thrives on algorithms. Hook early, use text overlays, and make it thumb-stopping.

  • Watch Duration > Views – High retention beats high reach when it comes to feeding the algorithm.

Short-form isn’t replacing long-form—but it is redefining the expectation of what content should feel like, even in traditional formats. Audiences aren’t just watching less—they’re watching differently.

Make it short. Make it useful. Make it unforgettable.

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SODP POSTS

Audience management’s Goldilocks problem: how publishers get caught between tech that doesn’t work, or is too complex to use

When it comes to audience management, one thing we at Glide see with so many publishers we speak with is that they are caught in a “Goldilocks problem” with their audience and content technology.

At one end of the scale, they have built up a web of ill-fitting, generic tools that lean on one another to do basic things the publisher wants. On the other hand, they have expensive enterprise systems that need major investment in staff and resources and are often financially out of reach for small and medium-sized publishers.

Too often, news and media publishers end up stuck with an assembly of tools that “sort of” work, but not well enough to give them the edge they need, and at a hidden cost to the business in lost revenue.

The “first-party data” wake-up call

We’ve known for years that first-party data is key to the future of digital publishing: every publisher or news media business that uses Glide Headless CMS is on that journey.

With the uncertainty around the future of third-party cookies, Google search, and declining referral traffic from social platforms, publishers are prioritising direct audience relationships. Yet, many are still scrambling to make sense of the data they already have.

JOB BOARD

➡️ WTWH Media is looking for a an enthusiastic, motivated, and detail-oriented assistant editor to work on their Drug Discovery & Development (www.drugdiscoverytrends.com) and R&D World (www.rdworldonline.com) brands.(Remote, USA). SEE MORE

➡️Big Splash Media seeks a senior editor who will be responsible for managing and overseeing the creation, editing, and publishing of content across their various platforms. (Australia). SEE MORE

COMMUNITY BUZZ

Industry News

➡️ As AI-powered SEO platforms evolve, they’re rewriting the economics of search engine optimization. This transformation threatens to upend the traditional agency model in three ways: Dramatically lower costs. Automate technical capabilities. Provide unbiased, data-driven decisions. READ MORE 

➡️Google said it again - structured data does not help your site rank any better. John Mueller of Google said this on Bluesky, "Structured data won't make your site rank better." He said, all it is "used for displaying the search features listed in" this search gallery document. READ MORE 

Social Media Discussions

➡️ Brogan Renshaw on LinkedIn:

Dear digital agency, there’s enough work for you too.

You're not in competition with me, nor am I with you.

There are thousands of SEO agencies, freelancers, and consultants out there— yet we continue to grow year over year.

Why? Because SEO is evolving faster than ever, and the demand is only growing.

↳ Over 8.5 billion Google searches happen daily—and growing.

↳ AI-powered search (LLMs like ChatGPT, Google Gemini) is changing how people find answers.

↳ More searches happen across new platforms—TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, and even AI chatbots.

These are the highlights for the last week.

Until next!

Vahe Arabian and the editorial team at SODP