'NatGeo' Leads Publishers In Social Media Engagement

A pioneer in social and other new media channels, National Geographic continues to show other publishers how it’s done. In June, NatGeoblew away the competition in terms of social media engagement, according to new findings from social-analytics startup Shareablee.

All told, the publisher accumulated about 39 million social “actions” -- from follows and likes to comments and retweets -- during the month.

Its closest competitor in the engagement game was The Huffington Post with less than 8.5 million actions across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Bleacher Report came in third with less than 7.5 million social actions, while Buzzfeed wasn’t far behind with less than 7 million actions.

Tania Yuki, founder and CEO of Shareablee.com, tried to explain NatGeo’s outsized social prowess.

“National Geographic's ability to engage social audiences is striking, with the publication drawing nearly five times the total engagement as the second-ranking title,” Yuki said.

Rival publishers should note that NatGeo is racking up the majority of its social actions on Instagram, a network that is highly visual and particularly popular of young socially-active consumers.

National Geographic's success clearly underscores the potential of the visual web, which the other top publishers in June have yet to fully explore,” Yuki added.

Since the beginning of the year, NatGeo’s engagement has doubled from 17 million actions in January to 34 million in June.

National Geographic Channels is a joint venture of the National Geographic Society and 21st Century Fox. The company did not return requests for comment, on Monday.

According to Shareablee, the top performing categories of publishers during June included entertainment (with more than 45 million social interactions); general news ( with over 24.5 million); and fashion and style (with just over 21 million actions).

Next story loading loading..