Grace MacRae
Audience Growth and Social Strategist
Senior social and branded content leader sitting between commercial and creative. Owns performance across a 10M+ multi-platform audience, leads distributed teams across time zones, builds revenue-generating creator propositions, and turns platform data into direction that commercial and editorial teams can act on.
Worked with
Experience
Career highlights
Senior roles across social, audience, content and commercial strategy.
Head of Consumer Social
Newsweek
September 2025 – March 2026
Promoted to lead consumer social with a revenue-focused remit, owning monetisation, social traffic and engagement quality across a 10M+ audience.
- Delivered 250%+ earnings growth and scaled a new acquisition channel to 25%+ of site traffic
- Built a creator-led social video proposition that generated new paid partnership and sponsorship revenue
- Owned senior Meta and TikTok relationships, leading monetisation and subscription discussions
- Aligned social KPIs with executive leadership to support traffic and revenue diversification
Deputy Head of Social Media
Newsweek
September 2022 – September 2025
Directed multi-platform social strategy for an audience of 10M+ followers, driving growth, engagement and referral traffic across Meta, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn and WhatsApp.
- Grew Newsweek's flagship WhatsApp channel to 4.5M followers
- Conceived and led an early publisher Reddit strategy, increasing referral traffic 400% in three months
- Collaborated with U.S. industry experts to develop TikTok lifestyle content strategies
- Led performance reporting and analytics across social, video and editorial content
Social Media Editor
Reach PLC
February 2021 – August 2022
Helped set up and grow the social media team, working with senior leadership at Express.co.uk and Reach plc to define platform strategy across multiple national brands.
- Created high-performing content across Express.co.uk, OK!, Mirror Online and Daily Star
- Built micro-influencer relationships that drove organic Lifestyle page growth
- Applied a data-driven approach to source content that expanded reporter audiences
- Contributed to two award-winning Facebook Live series and led newsroom social training
Writer and Overnight News Editor
Express.co.uk
July 2019 – February 2021
Wrote and edited content for a national audience, building a foundation in editorial storytelling, SEO, audience behaviour and digital publishing while managing a team of 10 reporters.
- Managed and mentored a team of 10 reporters while exceeding targets and KPIs
- Used keyword research, search trends and analytics to inform editorial decisions
- Applied on-page SEO including headlines, metadata, internal linking and content structure
- Produced engaging, accurate content across fast-moving news cycles
Work
Selected campaigns
Recent standout campaigns.
Women's Global Impact Forum
Newsweek's flagship LinkedIn event series spotlighting women leaders — one of the brand's highest-performing posts on the platform.
TikTok & Reels
Creator-led vertical video
Creator-fronted short-form video built as a repeatable format with both audience and sponsorship value.
Community-first referral strategy
Early Reddit programme that grew referral traffic 400% in three months and was cited as industry-leading.
Flagship WhatsApp channel
Scaled to 4.5M followers, turning a messaging app into a core distribution channel.
YouTube
Newsmakers
Long-form interview series with leaders and newsmakers, built for YouTube audience growth.
YouTube
All In with Ashley Haas
Sports talk series fronted by Ashley Haas on Newsweek's YouTube channel — bold takes, all-star guests and insider access.
YouTube
The 1600
Political news and White House coverage from Newsweek's YouTube channel, developed during my tenure.
Coverage
In the press
Industry coverage of the strategies and platform work I led at Newsweek and Express.co.uk.
Digiday · March 2025
Traffic referrals from Threads surge for some publishers this year
Newsweek's highest social referral day on record.
Digiday · June 2025
Publishers refine Reddit strategies to tap into targeted referral traffic
Newsweek's Reddit programme from experiment to dedicated referral channel.
Adweek · 2025
Publishers boost presence on Reddit as platform gains search visibility
Industry recognition of publisher Reddit growth, including Newsweek.
Press Gazette · 2024
Newsweek traffic growth: secrets behind its audience expansion
Inside the audience strategy behind Newsweek's growth.
Adweek · 2025
How Newsweek engineered its unlikely turnaround
Newsweek's social and short-form video turnaround across TikTok and Meta.
Press Gazette · 2025
TikTok inspires vertical video strategy across news publishers
TikTok-native vertical video reshaping newsroom strategy, Newsweek included.
Digiday · July 2025
To beat the AI squeeze, Newsweek is building revenue beyond traffic
Newsweek's platform diversification and new revenue lines.
Press Gazette · December 2021
Future of video for publishers: How Reach quadrupled social video views
Reach, publishing the Mirror, Express and Star, quadrupled minutes viewed on its social video content through centralised video production.
FIPP · August 2021
How some of the UK's most successful newspapers use content to create value with customers
The Express's approach to building reader value and subscriptions through content, discussed alongside The Times.
Recognition
Industry recognition
Adweek
Cited Newsweek's Reddit strategy as industry-leading.
Award-winning live content
Contributed to two award-winning Facebook Live series at Reach plc.
Next
What's next
Working independently across audience growth, social, content and discovery strategy.
Interested in roles where growth, content, commercial strategy and innovation intersect — particularly outside traditional publishing.