What’s up everyone! Welcome back to Stronger Social and Happy New Year! I hope 2026 is off to a great start for you. Last week, I hit on how to get promoted and step into a new and bigger social role (check it out here if you missed it). And today…I’m hitting on one easy tip and habit to create more engaging social content.

In this issue, we will go over the following:

Let’s go 💪

-Sam

As social media professionals, we all want better engagement for our social posts.

Let’s face it. There is no better feeling than when a post pops off - whether you expected it or not. There’s nothing better than comments flooding in, you’re seeing the shares climb, and the likes are just multiplying.

It’s the best and nothing beats it.

Working in social media has its highs and lows, and generating a lot of engagement is one of those highs. But how do you generate more engagement? Well today, I have a simple tip for you that will make your life a lot easier and help you generate more engaging social content.

One of the biggest lessons that I have learned in my career as a social media professional is that if you want to create highly engaging content, then you need to consume highly engaging content. In this field, we need to spend time studying what others are doing, and consistently seek inspiration. Every single social post is a learning opportunity for us.

But…

You need to do this in a way that doesn’t burn you out and leads to endless and mindless scrolling. Because I get it, we are on our phones all the time.

1️⃣ Make a list of world-class brands on social media that are known for their exceptional, highly disruptive content and campaigns. Aim for 5-10 brands. These can range from Taco Bell to Gymshark to National Geographic.

2️⃣ Make a list of brands within in your competitive set, in your industry, or is industry adjacent. For example, if you’re a sports nutrition brand - you could look into brands in the athletic/sports world. Aim or 5-10 brands.

3️⃣ Make a list of creators who are creating highly engaging content on social. I would probably recommend creators that live within the same world as your brand. If you’re a beauty brand, your list should have beauty creators. Aim or 5-10 creators.

4️⃣ Now that you have these three lists - I want you to set two time blocks in your calendar. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. Both for 15 minutes each. These are your ‘social study times’ where you will log into social to intentionally study content and consume content for the sake of creating better content.

5️⃣ Now that you have a time block and two lists - now is the time to dive in and intentionally study and consume content for the sake of application. No doomscrolling for hours - just intentional content studying. For your first 5 minutes, I want you to study industry leading brands (step #1). Then the second 5 minutes you can study brands within your competitive set (step #2). And you guessed right - the last 5 minutes of your 15 minute block you’ll study creators (step #3).

Easy? Yes. Simple? Yes.

But as social media professionals, it’s imperative to study and analyze content without getting burnt out. And to do so…efficiently.

I hope you found this helpful!

Our time is valuable as social media professionals. We wear multiple hats, we are briefing content, creating content, writing post copy, creating strategy decks, and so much more…

But we are always seeking development and want to become a better social media professional. If you are looking for a newsletter, and a resource that helps you become a better social media pro in 5 minutes per week (like no, I’m serious). Then check out Social Studies.

A good friend of mine, Jacob runs this newsletter and I highly recommend it. Make sure to go subscribe and check it out!

Before you go…here are a few quick hitters for you! We’ve got a new Instagram update and a few reminders.

😲 I started a new role! I recently started my new role as Head of Social Media at Cadence. Cadence is destined for massive growth in 2026 as a leading electrolyte and hydration brand. Make sure to go give us a follow!

📱 Interested in learning more about creating shareable content? Check out last weeks issue to catch up here.

🗣 Amplify the voices of social media professionals. Have you recently scrolled across a highly valuable and educational social media post on Linkedin that deserves more attention? You can submit it here for a chance to be featured in the next social pro shoutout. You can submit yourself to be honest…I wouldn’t even know.

✍️ View the archive today. Catch up on previous issues here

Thanks for reading and hope you have a great week!

Follow me on LinkedIn here
If this newsletter was forwarded to you,subscribe here!