Imagine this: You open your inbox, and there sit a dozen new articles that you’d be thrilled to share to social media. Simple as that!
Welcome to the world of email newsletters, where experts from a wide spectrum of topics are finding and sharing the best content they discover—perfect for you to read, to buffer, and to share with your social media audience.
There are a ton of great newsletters to choose from … almost too many. Every so often, I spend time decluttering and re-establishing what content I should be subscribing to, reading, and using as a resource for links to build out my social media calendar – both personal and professional.
Having seen a ton of great newsletters pass my way, I’d love to share a short list of the best newsletters out there (many of which have become personal favorites).
Check out the list below. And hope you find some great new content!
For even more great content to share …
Newsletters are one of the many places to find inspiration for adding fresh content to social media. Here are a couple of other resources from the Buffer blog to give you even more ideas:
13 of the Best Newsletters in 2020
1. Robinhood Snacks
I read the Robinhood Snacks newsletter daily, no matter what. While this list is in no particular order, this one is intentionally first. It’s likely the newsletter that got me hooked on newsletters in the first place.
Their content helps me stay constantly on top of financial business news in a non-boring, non-dry, and super simple way. I’ve always struggled with staying afloat of financial news because of the language, but Robinhood’s easy explanations and punny flavor of writing makes it not only comprehensible, but enjoyable.
2. Morning Brew
The Morning Brew collects interesting stories in business in general (not just financially-focused). It’s also a great source of links across different topics to use for social media publishing.
3. Below the Fold
Now while most newsletters help you understand the major headlines of the day, Below the Fold serves a different purpose. The content is what you would have found if you still had a physical newspaper and were flipping to page two, covering important stories not making headlines and, as a result, easy to miss.
Bias alert! My amazing team at Acciyo puts this weekly newsletter together, but we work hard to dig up stories you’re not hearing anywhere else but still impact your world.
4. Buffer’s social media newsletter
Yes, this is the newsletter for the very blog you’re reading right now. The weekly newsletter is short and sweet — full of all the latest social media news from Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and more, plus the newest tools and trends.
5. Vox Sentences
While Vox has an extensive offering of newsletters, Vox Sentences takes the cake as my favorite. With all the lengthy newsletters already in existence, Vox Sentences is a daily that truly puts the “brief” in “news briefing.” They excel at covering major new stories into concise bullet points.
6. NextDraft
For a different flavor of content in your mix, turn to NextDraft, a carefully curated list of the ten most interesting things within “that swirling nightmare of information quicksand” we call the internet. Brought to you by Dave Pell, a life-long news junkie with an affinity for great puns, this daily newsletter is loved by many — including Rainn Wilson from The Office!
7. NPR’s Pop-Culture Happy Hour
Continuing on the different flavors path … NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour is an absolutely delightful newsletter that offers insightful opinions about the latest hit TV show or movie. The tone is fun, casual, but still very mature/insightful. Want to impress your co-workers with thoughtful analysis about Succession? PCHH is the perfect source!
8. Non-Obvious Insights
Non-Obvious Insights follows the same theme as Below the Fold, mentioned above, but specifically for marketing content. The newsletter highlights articles within the marketing world that have not been widely covered, all in a clean and simple design without leaving you overwhelmed with text.
9. NPR’s Life Kit
Another treat from NPR, Life Kit is a periodical newsletter that covers a wide range of topics including personal finance, health, parenting, education, journalism, and art. Chances are, Life Kit has covered a topic that’s relevant for your social media content.
10. NYTimes Morning Briefing
One of their many valuable content efforts, The New York Times’ Morning Briefing is efficiently summarizes the top news stories of the day and offers a long list of feature stories that are worth a 20-minute read. A great place to look when you have that extra time and want to dig deeper.
11. Moz Top Ten
We all know and love Moz’s content, but their Top Ten newsletter specifically delivers fascinating insights about the latest news in SEO and digital marketing as a whole. Their approach is unique in that they send a semimonthly email with 10 articles that go deep in information you don’t have the time to hunt down yourself.
12. The Professional Freelancer
As marketers, we’re either hiring freelancers or sometimes freelancers ourselves — whether full time or as a side hustle to our day job. The Freelance Feels newsletter offers practical advice for how to succeed as a freelancer writer without succumbing to stress and anxiety. It’s delivered weekly on Friday.
13. The Daily Pitch
Working in tech, I love to know how the tides are changing. Whether it’s movement on investing in female founders, which companies are IPO-ing, or any other insights on the ever changing world of VC, PE, and M&A … The Daily Pitch from Pitchbook makes it easy to stay constantly informed. It’s fun to see the drama that emerges from time to time, too.
Which newsletters are your favorites?
I hope I’ve hit on a few of your favorites in the list here, as well as given you some good ideas on possible new ones to grab!
Which newsletters do you subscribe to? Which are your favorites? Which ones have you found to be most helpful with finding content to read and share?
I’d love to hear all about it in the comments!
Image sources: IconFinder, Blurgrounds, Unsplash
This article was originally published in February 2015. We refreshed it and updated it in January 2020.
