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Whether you work with a digital marketing agency or an in-house marketing team, you’ve probably received reports that have a lot of information you don’t fully understand. 

In this blog, we’ll explore the key performance indicators (KPIs) you should pay attention to, regardless of your industry. We’ll also review how you can analyze your digital marketing performance metrics and explain what your spend is going towards. 

What Are Internet Marketing Metrics?

There are two buzzwords you’ll hear when talking about digital marketing: analytics and data.

Not sure what these terms mean in the context of Internet marketing? Simply put, analytics help us see the data that’s being processed to provide us with the valuable performance metrics we use to make informed business decisions. 

That raises yet another question: what are marketing metrics, and which ones should I be paying attention to? 

Marketing metrics are the measurable, quantifiable insights you or your agency use to measure the success of campaigns and projects. They’re the most important indicators you should pay attention to because they help you determine exactly where your money is going. 

We’ve established that you need data to make informed decisions. But which metrics should you pay attention to on your report? 

Digital Marketing KPIs: What They Are, Why They Matter, & How to Analyze Them

While there are hundreds of metrics to consider, we’re going to review the most important digital marketing KPIs for each marketing channel. Each of these metrics are important, but you can’t draw a single conclusion without looking at the bigger picture. 

Overall Digital Marketing KPIs

The KPIs below apply to every channel and are fairly universal across digital marketing.

Impressions

What It Is

Impressions are how many times your content is shown to a user.

Why It Matters

Impressions matter for many reasons. The most important reason is that they reveal how many people are seeing your content, whether it’s an ad in a PPC campaign or an Instagram post. 

How to Analyze It

For a brand exposure campaign, higher impressions are great. But for a lead generation campaign, impressions may not be as important as conversions. 

Clicks

What Is It

Clicks are how many people click on your content. 

Why It Matters

Clicks are when a user takes the action you want them to. This could be clicking on a sale link in an email, reading news from a social media post, or clicking on a video ad. 

How to Analyze It

You should analyze clicks for every campaign you run online. If you see low clicks, be sure to dive into the issue. It could be a simple spelling mistake on your ad copy, or it could mean you’re targeting the wrong audience. 

If you see an abundant amount of clicks on your content, make note of this and document exactly what you think is working. 

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

What It Is

Click-through rate is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. 

What It Means

You can use CTR to determine which campaigns are successful and which ones need improvement. For example, if you received 1,000 clicks on an ad that had 5,000 impressions, you would have a 20% CTR.

How to Analyze It

First things first: there is no “good” click-through rate. Every campaign, industry, and business has different benchmarks for CTRs. Google Ads campaigns have much lower click-through rates than Instagram ads, but this doesn’t mean one is working better than the other. 

If you see a dip or increase in your CTR, always question it within the bigger picture. Was there a change in the wording on a button? Was there an engaging picture? 

Engagement Rate

What It Is

According to Hootsuite, “engagement rate is a formula that measures the amount of interaction social content earns relative to reach or other audience figures. This can include reactions, likes, comments, shares, saves, direct messages, mentions, click-throughs, and more (depending on the social network).”

What It Means

Engagement rate shows the interest level your content generates among users. You should always keep track of the pieces of content with the highest engagement rates

How to Analyze It

Engagement rate can be a critical deciding factor when allocating more marketing spend. If you see that videos are driving traffic to your site and experiencing a long retention period, you should consider spending more on videos. The same goes for a low engagement rate. If you see that videos are not performing well, you may decide to reduce your video budget. 

Conversions 

Line graph of the number of conversions.

What It Is

Conversions are actions that users complete on your site. 

What It Means

If you’re a service-based company, one conversion is lead generation. On the other hand, an eCommerce website’s conversion could be purchasing a product. Simply put, a conversion is a final action a user completes on your site. 

How to Analyze It

In most cases, conversions mean nothing without a business goal. If you find you’re exceeding or underperforming your conversion goals, it may be time to:

  1.  Reevaluate your objectives. 
  2. Ask your marketing agency what they’re seeing on their end 

Conversion Rate

What It Is

Conversion rates are the percentage of website visitors that complete a conversion. This is calculated simply by taking the number of conversions divided by users, or impressions. 

What It Means

Conversion rate should be one of the first metrics you look at when checking your reports. This is because it’s a simple way to determine if your digital marketing is working or not. 

How to Analyze It

A high conversion rate can indicate a successful campaign, and a low conversion rate signals something isn’t quite working. 

Cost Per Conversion

What It Is

Cost per conversion is the total cost of the traffic (or impressions) by the number of conversions. 

What It Means

In other words, cost per conversion is the actual spend it took to obtain a customer. 

How to Analyze It

Cost per conversion is the easiest way for you to answer, “how much did it cost me in advertising to get my customer to do action X.”

You should use cost per conversion to evaluate your online advertising success. Don’t be alarmed if your cost per conversion is high when you first start digital marketing. It should decrease over time, and if it doesn’t, contact your marketing agency to solve this problem.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

What It Is

While cost per acquisition is often confused with cost per conversion, cost per acquisition is the total cost of a campaign divided by the number of conversions. 

What It Means

Just like cost per conversion, this is an easy way for you to examine the dollars and cents that went into your acquisitions. 

For example, if your total budget was $1,000 and you received 50 conversions, you paid $20 per acquisition. 

How to Analyze It

Like most KPIs, there is no “good” CPA. Every online business has different factors – such as margin and prices – that make up a “good” CPA. As you analyze your CPA, ask yourself, “is the cost of acquiring the new customer worth it?” 

Customer Lifetime Value

What It Is

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a metric you can use to determine the total revenue of a customer throughout their relationship with your business.

What It Means

You can use this metric to determine how much you can expect to make from one single customer. If you own a car dealership, you might see a high CLV, as a new car will need to be serviced often. If you own a service-based business that offers a one-time setup, you can expect a lower CLV.

How to Analyze It

Analyzing your CLV can be tough, as it may remain stagnant. However, this can be a valuable opportunity for you. If you can figure out ways to improve your CLV – such as loyalty programs and offering more services – you can greatly benefit from analyzing this metric. 

Email Marketing KPIs

List Growth Rate

A line chart of the list growth rate of an email list.

What It Is

List growth rate allows you to calculate whether your email list is growing. You can calculate the list growth rate by subtracting the number of unsubscribers from the number of new subscribers and dividing that by the number of email addresses in your list. 

What It Means

List growth rate is an easy way to determine if your email list is growing or declining.

How to Analyze It

You can use list growth rate to evaluate whether you should increase or cut back on your email marketing efforts. 

Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)

What It Is

Click-to-open rate, according to Active Campaign, is the percentage of people who open an email campaign and also click on a link within that campaign. 

What It Means

Looking at your CTOR is a great and simple way to measure your campaign’s effectiveness. 

How to Analyze It

Analyzing CTOR is often better than measuring your open rate on your email. Open rate calculates the amount of subscribers who opened your email while CTOR also looks at those subscribers who opened the email, which ones also clicked on the links. 

Looking at your click-to-open rate will give you a better idea of who is engaging with your emails the most and if they are not, should you segment that list to further hone the strategy. 

Unsubscribe Rate

What It Is

Unsubscribe rate is the opposite of list growth rate, as it shows you the percentage of users who opted out of your mailing list after a campaign. 

What It Means

Looking at your unsubscribe rate tells you which types of emails are working for you.

How to Analyze It

Analyzing your unsubscribe rate may be counterintuitive at first, as you may think, “my emails aren’t working” and move on. But a high unsubscribe rate may be a good thing. Everybody wants bigger email lists, but there is value in only sending emails to only the most willing and engaged recipients. 

On the other hand, your unsubscribe rate may be a bad metric to look at because it may mean your emails have no value and that people on your list want out. Or, it could be a signal that you’re sending too many emails.

SEO KPIs

Backlinks

What It Is

Backlinks are links from other websites directing users to your website. 

What It Means

The number of backlinks you have is important for a multitude of reasons. Essentially, backlinks act like votes for a search engine. The more backlinks your website has, the more a search engine sees you as a trustworthy site. 

How to Analyze It

When analyzing the number of backlinks you have, you should look at whether the number is increasing or decreasing when compared to another period. 

If your number of quality backlinks is increasing, you should continue to invest in SEO. If you see a low number of backlinks, you should probably still invest more in SEO to get “votes” for your site. 

Keywords

What It Is

Keywords are specific phrases, questions, or ideas that define what your content is about. 

What It Means

The number of keywords or “search queries” you have on your site is essential to a high-ranking website. The goal is to drive users to your site through your content, which should have keywords that users are searching for. The more keywords you have, the better chance you have of driving organic traffic to your website. 

For example, when you Google “what is the best coffee grinder for under $100?”, the keyword is “Best Coffee Grinder For Under $100”. 

How to Analyze It

When analyzing keyword queries on your report, take note of ones that are outperforming other queries on your site. This will give you a better understanding of your customers and how they got to your site.

For example, if you see an increase in traffic on your site for product X, it may be worth investing in more content explaining the benefits of that item. You could also create search ads around that product, as you know people are searching for it 

Visibility Percentage (%)

A line chart depicting the visibility of keywords in SEO.

What It Is

According to SEMrush, “visibility % is based on click-through rate (CTR) that shows a website’s progress in Google’s top 100 for keywords from the current tracking campaign.” In layman’s terms, visibility percentage is how often your website is found by users.

What It Means

You can use visibility percentage to determine whether your website is being shown to users. A higher visibility percentage means you have a better chance of bringing in new users through your site. 

How to Analyze It

You can use visibility percentage as a baseline metric to help you measure your overall SEO efforts. If you’re seeing a growth in visibility percentage, that means your SEO is generally performing better. On the other hand, a drop in visibility percentage may be caused by outside factors, such as algorithm changes. 

Indexed Pages

What It Is

Indexed pages are specific pages on your site that a search engine contains within its database. 

What It Means

It’s important to consider the number of indexed pages on your site that a search engine has in its database. Pages that have been successfully indexed can be found by users through keywords and relatable content. 

It’s also important to look at your non-indexed pages, which are pages you don’t want users to find via a search engine, but still have some sort of value to you. These could be thank you pages sent to eCommerce customers after they purchase an item. 

How to Analyze It

Looking at indexed pages is a quick and easy way to see if the content on your website can be found by potential customers. If you see your number of indexed pages increasing, you know more people can find your content, visit your page, and possibly convert.

Domain Authority

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What It Is

According to MOZ, “Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search engine result pages (SERPs). Domain Authority scores range from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to greater likelihood of ranking.”

What It Means

Domain authority is an SEO KPI, but it is not a Google ranking factor. Instead, it’s an AI-based ranking developed by MOZ to predict how well your site will rank compared to your competitors. 

How to Analyze It

Generally speaking, a higher Domain Authority score means your business will show up higher in search results than your competitors. Conversely, a lower Domain Authority often means you’ll be ranked lower than the competition. If you see that your DA is increasing, that means your investment in SEO is working.

How Customers Search For Your Business

What It Is

How Customers Search For Your Business is a local SEO metric found within Google My Business (GMB). This metric is actually a combination of three metrics: direct, discovery, and branded searches. 

Google defines these three metrics as:

  1. Direct. People who find your business profile by searching for your business name or address.
  2. Discovery. People who find your business profile by searching for a category, product, or service.
  3. Branded. Customers who find your listing by searching for a brand related to your business.

What It Means

Looking at this metric allows you to determine how people are finding your business profile on Google. If you know what users are searching for, you or your agency can optimize your content to match those trending metrics. 

How to Analyze It

When analyzing this metric, be sure to look at the three metrics included in How Customers Search For Your Business. If you see that your search is lacking direct traffic, you may want to optimize your web pages to include your brand name in the page titles.

Pay Per Click (PPC) KPIs (Google Ads & Facebook)

In this section, we’ll review PPC KPIs, which include both Google Ads and Facebook. Most people do not realize that Facebook ads are technically PPC, even though it’s a social media channel.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

What It Is

Return on ad spend measures the amount of revenue your business earns for each dollar you spend on PPC advertising. 

What It Means

At the most basic level, ROAS measures how effectively you’re spending your advertising dollars.

How to Analyze It

When looking at ROAS, it’s important to remember that the higher the number, the better. For example, let’s say your ROAS is 10:1. This means that for every dollar you’re spending, you’re making $10. 

Always consider the goal of your campaign when looking at ROAS. While a lower ROAS may be great for brand awareness, it may not be as effective for generating eCommerce sales. 

ROAS is often confused with ROI. However, ROAS looks specifically at the campaign level, while ROI looks at the overall investment.

Social Media Marketing KPIs

Likes/Followers

A line chart showing the increase of Facebook page followers.

What It Is

Likes and/or followers on a social media channel are the number of people who are following your page.

What It Means

Depending on the social media platform you’re tracking, likes and/or followers are an indication of how many people are using your channels. 

How to Analyze It

When looking at your follower count, you can analyze several things. Ask yourself questions like, “is it worth continuing to push our social media if we’re not seeing any engagement?,” “should I run a campaign to boost my followers?”, and “should I hire someone to optimize my campaign if I see value in it?” 

It’s important to think of your social media channels as another website for your business with the goal of being a 24/7 sales tool.

Top Posts

What It Is

Top posts on your social media channels are your top-performing posts during a given period of time.

What It Means

Looking at top posts helps you determine exactly what type of content is working for you. You should consider factors like the subject, content type (images, videos, and links), the time you posted, etc. 

How to Analyze It

When looking at top posts, you should be able to draw several conclusions and make decisions accordingly. If you see that all of your top posts in a given month were videos, you should probably invest more spend into videos.

How Metrics Can Be Used (and Misused)

Data-based decision-making is often at the core of digital marketing and what makes digital marketing so special. You can pinpoint where every cent you spend goes and whether it’s effective.

If you compare a traditional marketing campaign to a digital marketing one promoting the same product, there’s often ambiguity with the former. Do you know how many people saw your billboard on the side of the highway? You may have an estimate, but with digital marketing, you can measure exactly how many people saw it.  

Metrics Are Often Misused

While there’s often an emphasis on metric-based decisions, it’s important to remember that, in the end, they’re just numbers and percentages. It may be a tough pill to swallow, but you may be misusing your metrics. 

Let’s look at an example from two different points of view: Person A and Person B. 

Let’s say you are running a Google Ads campaign that’s spending $5,000 a month to drive traffic to a particular product. Your click-through rate and impressions are higher than normal, but your conversions are zero.

Person A stops the campaign completely because they spent all of that money and didn’t get a single sale.

Person B looks at the same campaign and sees an issue. The ads are working, but something on the actual product page may be broken. They determine that there’s no purchase button on the page, which led to zero conversions. 

This is a simple example of how metrics can be used or misinterpreted. Both people were looking at the same metric, but one saw it as an issue, while the other saw it as a signal that something else was wrong. 

Collecting and analyzing your digital marketing performance metrics is only valuable if you take the time to consider what they mean to your original investment. 

Common Ways That Metrics Are Misused

  • Collecting the wrong information. If you collect the wrong information, how can you make smart decisions based on that data? You can imagine the trickle-down effect this might have. 
  • Looking at vanity metrics. Vanity metrics are important, but they’re not necessarily the best figures to use when making decisions. Impressions are a great example of this. You may have a ton of impressions, but if they aren’t achieving the goals you’ve set, does it really matter? This is why looking at the bigger picture is so important. 
  • Never changing metrics. Business goals change all the time, and so should your metrics. How can you determine ROI if you’re measuring the wrong things? 
  • Having too many metrics. There are thousands of metrics you can collect and analyze, so picking the most important ones for your business may be difficult. Choosing the wrong metrics can lead you down the wrong path. 

Tips for Explaining Reports To Other Stakeholders

You’ve learned the various digital marketing performance metrics that make up each channel. Now, it’s time to learn how to explain your reports. Here are four tips to keep in mind when explaining your digital marketing reports to other people:

  1. Explain each metric in the simplest terms possible. The key to explaining your marketing report to anyone is to explain it in Layman’s terms. The best way to explain your ROI is to put it simply. Let’s say you spent $2,000 on a PPC campaign that earned 10 goal conversions on a product that costs $500. You may know this, but if you explain what this means to a five-year-old, you would say, “We spent $2,000 and got 10 people interested in our $500 product, meaning we potentially have $5,000 in sales. This means we’ve potentially made $3,000 on this campaign.”
  2. Avoid vanity metrics and focus primarily on data involving investments. The truth is that not every digital marketing performance metric carries the same weight. Does a social media follower increase mean more than the average CPC on your social media campaign? Probably not. At Tower, we only include the most important metrics that our clients care about, but not every agency will do this. You’ll see every single metric available, even though you may only need to pay attention to dollar amounts. We encourage you to sit down with your agency and figure out which metrics mean the most to you.
  1.  If you have older reports to draw on, compare the numbers. If you happen to keep all of your old reports, reference them. If you don’t have them, ask your agency to pull the numbers again. How can you know what’s working and what isn’t if you don’t compare last month’s reports to the previous month or the previous year? This is one of the best ways to explain whether your investment is or isn’t working.
  2. Look at everything together. This is ultimately what each report is for. While every digital marketing channel looks different, they’re all smaller pieces that make up the greater part of your business. Don’t just take one part of your report and look at it as a positive if there are negative aspects, too. Seeing the bigger picture is the best way to gauge the success of your digital marketing efforts.  

What’s Next?

Now that you’re an expert – or at least better informed – regarding your digital marketing report, you should be able to analyze your return on your digital marketing investment. 

Need help digging further into your digital marketing reporting? We do all the analysis for you so you can focus on what matters most. Work with our Internet marketing specialists to ensure you’re getting the most out of your online efforts.

We understand the aversion some businesses feel when they hear the phrase “social media marketing.” You may know that Facebook has a timeline, Pinterest has boards, and LinkedIn has connections, but apart from that, it all feels confusing.

In an effort to demystify all these channels, this blog is going to break down three popular social media platforms for paid marketing (Facebook, LinkedIn, & Pinterest) and analyze their strengths/drawbacks in ad targeting, reporting, and overall efficacy. The goal? We’ll help you learn more about three of the best social media platforms for marketing and how they can help your business.

Why Use Social Media Ads for Business?

Social media advertising allows a business to reach new audiences that would otherwise be unreachable due to the algorithms behind organic social media posting. Creating unpaid (also called “organic”) posts is great for interacting with your followers, but there’s little chance it will bring in new customers or lead to sales unlike the earlier days of social media.

Some other benefits of social media advertising include:

  • Increased brand awareness at a very cheap cost.
  • Better data on the demographics and interests of your target audience.
  • More traffic is driven to your site (which can potentially increase leads and revenue.)
  • Build relationships and give people a chance to engage with (not just see) your ad.

Figuring out how to use social media marketing to grow your business is challenging, but it can have a rewarding payoff. Below we’ll explore what you can do to get started and the unique ad offerings of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

How to Start with Social Media

Before jumping in, you first need to learn about the capabilities of each platform and then pick which one best aligns with your marketing goals. Your business type and industry will determine your B2B or B2C marketing strategies on social media.

Some helpful questions to ask yourself are:

  1. Who is my target audience?
  2. Which social platforms are they using?
  3. What kind of social content do they best respond to?

When starting to develop a social media advertising strategy, it’s important to make a plan based on research. But it’s also important to give yourself room for testing, so you can gather data and learn more about who your audience is or isn’t (especially if you can’t answer the questions above). As a part of that planning process, let’s take a closer look at the specifics of these three top platforms.

How to Use Facebook for Social Media Marketing

As the most popular social media platform in the world, Facebook is still one of the best social media platforms for marketing. The benefits of Facebook marketing include:

  • Very low-cost advertising options
  • Variety of ad formats to use (video, slideshow, image, etc.)
  • Great reach with local and global audiences

Let’s take a look below at some of the specific features you can use within their advertising tool.

Facebook Audience Demographics Options

Understanding demographic targeting is crucial to creating a social strategy. It helps you see who your social ads are resonating with and plan out future ad campaigns that are targeted towards the right people. 

Through Facebook you can choose:

  • Location (specific zip codes, counties, states, or countries)
  • Age (18-65)
  • Gender
  • Languages
  • Relationship status (single, married, divorced, etc.)
  • Education level (high school grad, some college, college grad, masters, etc.)
  • Income bracket (top 25%-50%, top 10%, etc.)
  • Life Events (just moved, engaged, new job, etc.)
  • Household role (parent, etc.)
  • Political affiliation (likely to engage in conservative politics, etc.)

The extensive range of specific targeting Facebook offers makes it a prime hub for testing. It also makes it one of the best social media platforms for marketing. 

Facebook Interest Targeting

Facebook allows you to further define your audience by allowing you to target users based on their interests, activities, and the pages they “like” related to:

  • Entertainment & art
  • Brands & publications 
  • Hobbies & activities
  • Fitness & wellness
  • Business 
  • Family & relationships 
  • Food & drink
  • Shopping & fashion
  • Sports & outdoors
  • Technology

Facebook Behavior Options for Targeting

This option factors into account data collected from users on their device usage, shopping behaviors, or their past intent while interacting on the platform. It allows you to target people with behaviors that fit the following buckets:

  • Digital tools used (operating systems, browsers, plugins, etc.)
  • Mobile device or browser details (iOS, Android, tablet, etc.)
  • Purchasing behavior (for cars, fashion, tech, etc.)
  • Media consumption (radio or TV)
  • Residential status (homeowner, renter, likely to move, etc.)
  • Seasonal events and interests
  • Travel profile (business travel, frequent traveler, commuter, on vacation, etc.)

When creating your first Facebook ad audience, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll use all of these targeting options at the same time. It’s best to start simple and tighten your targeting over time based on the data you collect showing who is interacting with your ads.

Facebook’s Reporting Capabilities

Depending on your marketing goals, you can customize Facebook’s ad report columns. However, by default, your Ads Manager table will most likely include:

  • Results. This shows the number of times people took action on your ad based on the objective you set it to have: link clicks, page likes, phone calls, leads, etc. 
  • Cost Per Result. This breaks down how much you spent on each of those results. (Total budget divided by the total amount of results.)
  • Reach. The number of unique users who saw your ad.
  • Impressions. The total number of times your ad was displayed on a screen (counting any time the same user refreshed your ad as well.)
  • Amount. The actual spend of your campaign’s budget within the allotted run time.
  • Bid Strategy. How you’re telling Facebook to bid in its auction to show your ad – you can use bid caps or target costs to ensure you don’t eat up your total budget too quickly.
  • Attribution Settings. The finite amount of time when conversions are credited to the ad and used to optimize who it shows to in upcoming run time.
  • Frequency. How many times a person in your audience is seeing the ad.

*Some of the terms above will be used again below. To avoid redundancy, please reference this list for an explanation of those terms.

Once a campaign finishes, Facebook allows you to download this data into a spreadsheet. You can even customize which metrics you want to include so you’re only looking at the ones that matter to your business. 

Looking at this data will help you understand how your audience is responding and adjust your ad targeting or ad creative as needed.

three people hold iPhones in their hands

How to Use LinkedIn for Social Media Marketing

If your business is geared towards professionals or companies, LinkedIn could be a great place to focus your businesses’ marketing efforts. You’ll find it has a lot of robust targeting options to help you reach your ideal audience online.

LinkedIn Audience Targeting Options

With LinkedIn Campaign Manager, you can build a precise audience with the following options:

  • Demographics (age, gender, location)
  • Education (fields of study, member schools, degrees)
  • Job experience (job function, job seniority, job title, years of experience)
  • Company (company connections, industry, size, or a business’ name, followers, and growth rate)
  • Interests and traits (member groups, member interests, member traits)

LinkedIn Forecasted Results

While building your LinkedIn audience, the platform provides an estimated results tool that shows if your targeting is too broad or narrow. This is especially helpful if you’re new to running LinkedIn ads and have no previous data to go off of.

Ongoing Optimization

One of the benefits of using LinkedIn for social media marketing is that it shows you which demographics are underperforming while your ad is running. Then you can exclude them during your ad campaign so you see a better performance and spend with your budget. Plus, you have a cleaner audience for future ads.

LinkedIn’s Reporting Capabilities

Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn offers a wide range of data to pull from at the end of a paid campaign. By default, you can access the following metrics:

  • Impressions
  • Number of clicks 
  • Click-through-rate percentage (CTR)
  • Average cost per click or result
  • Number of conversions
  • Cost per conversion
  • Number of leads
  • Cost per lead
  • Event registrations

Depending on the goal of your campaign (e.g. brand awareness, conversions, lead generation, etc.) you can customize your view to show the metrics that best indicate success. This data will help you figure out how you can best move forward with future ads. 

Want to learn more about LinkedIn advertising? View our guide on LinkedIn Ads which goes more in-depth about ad formats, audiences & more.

How to Use Pinterest for Social Media Marketing

Pinterest allows users to “pin” posts that interest them. This allows an ad’s pin to serve as its own remarketing campaign because users can see a businesses’ pin after the campaign’s initial run.

Businesses that benefit the most from Pinterest ads typically have a visually appealing product or service.  For example, the following industries can find a lot of success with Pinterest ads:

  • Outdoor builders & home remodelers
  • Home & lifestyle businesses
  • Retail and fashion companies
  • Art and design services

Since Pinterest is primarily used for finding and saving ideas, a kitchen design company is likely to gain more traction on Pinterest than an accounting agency.

Pinterest Targeting Options

Pinterest has a relatively simple targeting interface compared to other social platforms. Your targeting options for ads include:

  • Keywords & Interests (this is where an SEO specialist can help)
  • Demographics (gender, age, location, device type)
  • Placement (main feed browser or search)

Pinterest’s Keyword Targeting

One of Pinterest’s standout features is the ability to add and exclude keywords during your ad setup.  Part of this is that its users view Pinterest as a search engine. People log in to search topics like “bathroom remodel with vanity” or “large playset for backyard”.

Compared to LinkedIn and Facebook, Pinterest has a less detailed approach to who you’re targeting. But if you have an active audience there, it can end up being an extremely effective advertising tool.

Pinterest’s Reporting Capabilities

By default, Pinterest offers the following metrics to monitor the performance of an ad:

  • Spend
  • Impressions
  • Pin clicks (who clicked into the pin to view it)
  • Outbound clicks (who clicked the URL in your pin)
  • Cost per result
  • Click-through-rate (CTR)

While simple, all this data is good quality information that helps you understand how many people are visiting your website or landing page from Pinterest.

Is There a Winner?

So, which of the three covered is actually the best social media platform for marketing? Well, it really depends. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all allow you to build and target a relevant audience. They just offer very different types of targeting. Instead of picking which one you think is a winner, you should test which platform is your home run.

Need guidance to get the best value out of your social ads? Our team is here to help you navigate.

Sitting in front of your computer, staring at Facebook ads manager and feeling daunted? You’re not alone. Figuring out how to write effective Facebook ad copy for your business is a daunting task for first-time creators. However, considering that the average person spends at least 1.72 hours each day on social media, it’s an advertising outlet worth pursuing. That’s why we’ve put together these tips on Facebook ad copywriting and included best practices so you understand how to make a good Facebook ad that’s effective and produces the ROI you’re looking for. 

The Effects Of Good Ads

Facebook advertising is the most effective way to ensure your brand actually reaches new audiences on the platform. A few years ago, Facebook changed algorithms for organic reach, prioritizing personal posts over business content. As a result, businesses posting organic content have very low visibility in the Facebook news feed.

However, taking advantage of paid ad campaigns or boosting your posts allows you to override that limitation and regain visibility in users’ news feeds. In a Facebook study done by Wordstream, they noticed that businesses with active ad campaigns saw a 77% increase in followers compared to businesses not running any advertising. 

Followers should not be the most important metric you use to gauge your Facebook advertising’s success. (Although, earning more followers does show you’re increasing brand awareness and it provides an opportunity to drive more new traffic to your website.)

You may find social campaigns can help you meet additional goals, such as growing your lead list and increasing sales, gaining more email subscribers, boosting phone calls, and more.

Successful Facebook Ads Strategy

If you’re just starting to do ad campaigns, it’s important to set realistic goals. Too often, businesses get ahead of themselves and expect leads or conversions the moment they begin social advertising. However, most successful Facebook ads have one thing in common — they are the result of time and experimentation.  

Facebook advertising moves through four stages, which are adequately summarized in a digital marketing strategy known as “R.I.C.E.”

A graphic showing the four stages of R.I.C.E : reach, interact, convert, and engage.

Initially, your ad campaigns are working to build your reach among new audiences. However, it may take several months (or campaigns) to achieve this. You need to spend time using trial and error testing to find what content your intended audience responds to best on Facebook. 

Once your reach is established, then you can move into the interacting phase. The goal of your advertising here is to persuade your audience to take action and learn more. You want to direct them to your website and make sure you have content they’ll want to explore.

After you see your ads are consistently drawing new audiences who spend time on your website, it’s time to convert them. Now you can start writing Facebook ad copy that converts and sells. You’ve built up your reach and the value of your content on Facebook, which in turn gives you social credibility that appeals to people ready to make a purchase decision.

Once you’re seeing your advertising lead to conversions, you’re then left with the responsibility to continue engaging audiences with your advertising. In this stage, you’re focusing on using your ads to create brand loyalty and continue offering value to customers to encourage repeat business.

The key takeaway here is that you first need to build social equity on Facebook before you can sell. Now that we’ve covered the strategic stages you can use to advance your Facebook ads, it’s time to look at how to write effective Facebook ad copy.

Getting Started: How To Write Effective Facebook Ad Copy

If you’re wondering how to write effective Facebook ad copy, it all starts by putting a framework into place. Successful Facebook ads usually employ the following practices.

1. Start With Audience Targeting

Know who you’re trying to talk to and don’t guess based on your gut. Instead, look at your audience demographics from your website’s tracking. Consider who your sales team is talking to. Research the data your business has to find out more about your audience. Ask yourself:

  • What demographic is visiting my website currently?
  • Does my desired demographic use Facebook?
  • What is their job title?
  • Which hobbies or topics interest them?
  • Where is their geographic location?

After you’ve found the data to answer these questions, you can use Facebook ads manager to build a target audience for your ad campaign. But it’s important to do this step first so that you can make sure you write ad copy tailored to your actual audience.

2. Write Short & Simple Content

 Some advertisements can break this rule, but at the beginning of your advertising campaign, you should write content to fit the character limits so your text isn’t cut off and users can see it all at once. Facebook ad character limits are:

A Tower Facebook ad example showing the pieces of an ad.

This is where good writing comes into play. Follow the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Smartie) principle. Write simply and use language your audience understands. Don’t use big words or try to impress them with industry jargon.  Think about what pain points trigger your audience emotionally, lead with that, and present your brand as the solution. The headline is a great place to hook them, the link description shows the solution, and the main ad copy is where you do your persuading. 

3. Always Choose A Call To Action (CTA) To Match Your Strategy

You probably already have a CTA in mind as you’re writing, but it’s worth devoting a section talking about this. Since you’re just beginning Facebook advertising, you’re still in the reach or interest phase, so one of your better CTA options is to encourage people to “Learn More.” As you move further along in your social media strategy, then you can begin experimenting with other CTAs. 

4. Make Sure Your Copy Matches Your Visual

If your ad campaign doesn’t look cohesive, it’s a huge turn-off for Facebook users. Social platforms are heavily visual and people have come to expect clear, high-quality images. If your photo is distorted, blurry, or too posed, you won’t see good engagement from your ad campaign.  Thankfully you don’t have to be a design expert to figure out how to optimize the visual part of your ad. Facebook provides straightforward visual guidelines about what looks optimal in an ad. Plus if you’re pulling stock images from a provider like Shutterstock or Adobe, you can feel confident they’ll be good quality for social.

Need Some Inspiration? As you begin to draft a campaign, here’s a compilation of some great Facebook ad copy examples to get you started. There’s also a great breakdown for each one detailing what they did right in the ad copy and the visuals used. And while we recommend starting with image-based ads when you’re new, eventually you’ll want to look into exploring other types of Facebook ads (video, carousel, etc.) to see what resonates with your audience. 

Measuring Your Facebook Ad Results

It’s easy to fall into basing your assessment around vanity metrics, such as likes or comments, but those aren’t the best criteria to base your conclusions on. The way you measure success depends on the goal of your ad campaign. However, here are some metrics to keep in mind as you start your advertising.

A phone shows social notifications popping up.

Ad Frequency

Ad frequency shows how many times Facebook users saw your ad. If you’re trying to increase brand awareness, you likely want your frequency to be around 3-4 times. 

However, if you’re at the stage where you’re trying to convert users, it’s better to keep that frequency number low. Otherwise, you risk annoying users with a very direct ad they don’t have an interest in.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or Cost-Per-Result (CPR)

Facebook either charges you per impression or per click, depending on which option you choose. If you’re just starting out, cost-per-click is a more budget-friendly option. 

Just don’t be startled, as your CPC or CPR may initially be high. One way to gauge your ad’s success is if that dollar amount starts decreasing over its run time. Generally, you want your Facebook ad’s click-through rate to be $2 or under. If it’s not, you’ll want to try adjusting your campaign’s targeting, copy, or run time, depending on what you think is driving the high cost.

Reach & Results

When you’re starting social ads, this metric can show you how many different people are seeing your ad. Initially, you want to see a large reach to raise brand awareness. 

Over time, the goal is to eliminate any waste in your reach, such as people in the wrong location seeing your ads or demographics that aren’t a good fit. From there, you want to see your number of results increase compared to your previous campaigns. 

Your results will be different depending on what Facebook objective you use while setting up your ad. In the beginning stage of R.I.C.E., the traffic objective works well to see how many new users are visiting your website. 

Over time, you’ll also want to branch out from the metrics above. Always make sure you’re measuring the metrics that best indicate success according to the goal of your ad, which could be anything from brand awareness to webinar signups.

Create A Holistic Social Media Strategy

Above all else, make sure that your Facebook advertising fits into your goals for social media marketing, especially if you’re active on other platforms. It’s important to make sure your brand is consistent across all platforms.

Plus, you want to make sure your marketing efforts are achieving your business goals. Check out this blog for advice on how you can create your own social media strategy from scratch.

Still having trouble getting started with Facebook advertising? Talk with our team of social media experts to learn more about how to write effective Facebook ad copy and run effective campaigns.

If you’ve been asking yourself whether your B2B business should have an account on Pinterest, the truth is there is no clear cut answer. It all depends.

Pinterest was the fourth most used platform at the end of 2019 so there’s clearly a huge audience to reach through marketing. It’s also worth noting that:

There’s a lot of potential on this platform, but don’t rush to create a business account just yet. Start with research to gauge if you have any target audiences on the platform.

Navigating Pinterest marketing in regards to your business can be overwhelming, especially if you haven’t spent much time on it. Doing B2B marketing on Pinterest is definitely valuable for some businesses, but for others, it’s not an effective choice.

This blog will explore what a strong Pinterest marketing strategy looks like and show examples of successful B2B companies using Pinterest effectively. We’ll also provide you with a free, Pinterest SWOT resource that can help you start figuring out if and how you can leverage Pinterest to grow your business.

B2B Pinterest Marketing Strategy

Content is your business’ currency on any social media platform. Before you even start B2B marketing on Pinterest, you need to first make sure you have high-quality content. This is what makes your target audience want to follow and interact with you.

Why is this step important? Some people may use Pinterest to follow friends, but most use Pinterest to find the information they’re interested in. And that information can be anything returned from their search, from sponsored ads to organic pins promoting blogs, videos, and other content. Your audience’s search behavior is the key to your success on Pinterest.

You can’t reap the benefits of Pinterest marketing if you’re only ever pinning content made by others. Make something of your own that’s also worth sharing.

Organic Vs. Paid Distribution on Pinterest

After you have your content resources, it’s time to strategize how social media accounts, like Pinterest, can be used as a content marketing distribution channel. Pinterest B2B marketing is most effective with a plan that uses both organic (aka unpaid) and paid posting. Both are valuable methods for growing your followers and reaching new potential customers.

A woman browses Pinterest pins on her iPad.

Organic Pinterest Pins

Anyone creating a pin on Pinterest, including B2B companies, should first read through Pinterest’s guide to creating great pins. It’s full of great tips to help you understand how you can choose or create the best images for your pins. It also has tips for optimizing your text, incorporating your logo, and branding your posts. Pinterest also has extensive resources to help you learn the ins and outs of creating boards, pinning, and more on its platform. Like any social media account, your organic posting will get very little engagement in the beginning. Don’t be discouraged though, as with time and a willingness to experiment you will learn what tactics work to increase your followers.

Organic Pins & Search Engine Optimization

One way you can help your organic pins is to incorporate an SEO keyword strategy in the pin that you are writing directly on Pinterest or even on your account page. You don’t need to have any fancy SEO tools to do so (although they do make it easier). Start by searching to find keywords related to your B2B business, industry, or product. See what competitors are using in their pins if possible, and look at what Pinterest is suggesting in its search bar as you start typing. From there, gather a list and decide what phrases you want to use. Doing this makes your unpaid pins easier to find through search on the platform.

Paid Pinterest Pins

Once you’ve created an organic posting plan, it’s essential that you also set aside money and make use of paid advertising on Pinterest. By the end of 2019, Pinterest recorded having 320 million active users monthly, with 58% of those users saying they used it to make shopping decisions. The problem is that with algorithms and other factors, it’s difficult to target the users you want to reach solely by posting unpaid content. But with paid ads on Pinterest, you can expand your visibility much more quickly. By paying to boost a pin, you can choose specific targeting in regards to location, gender, age, interests, languages, keywords, and more. Because of that, your content is more likely to reach people who are interested in it. And one of the awesome benefits of Pinterest marketing is that users can save your paid pin just like they can save a regular pin. This is a great way to see what content your audience is finding valuable. Best of all, long after your paid post ends, the people who saved it can still go back and reference it. This gives your advertising a longer lifespan than it has on other popular platforms.

So, Does Pinterest Work for B2B Businesses?

The answer is both yes and no. The key to making Pinterest work for B2B marketing is to do your research and curate content to align with the data.
Find out what audiences are on Pinterest and how they intersect with your customer demographics. Then figure out what angle you need to take to interest those audiences and engage with them on Pinterest. Building that relationship, brand awareness, and authoritative voice is what can give you an advantage when they’re ready to buy.

There are plenty of blogs on best practices for creating a Pinterest business account and managing it. But when it comes to B2B marketing on Pinterest, it’s more valuable to look at real-life examples of companies who are and aren’t doing it successfully. That way if you decide to get on Pinterest, you have examples of strategies that are actually working for other B2B groups.

A marketer plans out his social plan on paper at his desk.

Examples of Poor Pinterest B2B Marketing

When it comes to finding B2B Pinterest examples of companies who aren’t successful, it’s actually quite difficult. Part of it is that no one wants to talk about when Pinterest marketing isn’t effective. The other issue is that their account is doing so poorly it’s hard to find through search. However, there are some valuable lessons that can be learned from studying their profiles and content. Below are two B2B companies that definitely have the potential to increase their business through Pinterest marketing, but currently aren’t doing a stellar job. I’ll dive into some main takeaways below for each, but check out the link to their accounts and have a look for yourself.

HubSpot Creative’s Pinterest

HubSpot is recognized as a leader in marketing, sales, and customer service software, so you may be surprised to see they’re on Pinterest. But a segment of their business, HubSpot Creative, actually has an account geared towards people interested in marketing and design. This should be a great fit given the visual, creative nature of Pinterest. The problem? They only have around 400+ followers. And for a company with such high brand recognition in its field, that’s not enough to make an impact. Let’s break down their account. What did they do well?

  • They create well-organized topic boards.
  • Their account uses high-quality images.
  • All pins are clearly and consistently branded.

Where do they struggle?

  • Their only in-house content is team updates.
  • Some of the content is great to view but offers nothing beyond the image.
  • The account leads to a Tumblr page instead of their main website, creating a credibility issue.

Staples NAD’s Pinterest

You also might be surprised to learn that Staples has an account geared towards its B2B customers. And while it’s not a bad account, it’s not performing like a competitor (Office Depot) that I’ll cover below. The account only has 64 monthly views, and after gauging their competition, that’s a low number for their level of name recognition. What did they do well?

  • Their account is verified, adding to its credibility.
  • Pins are being used to distribute their online Work Life Magazine.
  • Imagery is branded, attractive, and good quality.

Where do they struggle?

  • They only have one board with a handful of pins.
  • Pins are only their content, while it’s best to have a mix of your pins and external content.
  • They lack diverse content, as it’s all online articles.

There are some recurring lessons from both of these examples. Pitfalls you should avoid for B2B marketing on Pinterest include:

  • Only pinning your own content
  • Not having your own content
  • Not having enough boards
  • Not establishing your credibility either by verifying your account or linking to the right website

Examples of Successful B2B Companies on Pinterest

Starting to ask yourself again if effective Pinterest B2B marketing is actually possible? While we showed where it can fail above — the answer is still YES!
Below are two B2B companies doing a killer job – and some honorable mentions that didn’t make this list, including FireRock’s Pinterest and Survey Monkey’s Pinterest. If you have some free time, it’s worth studying their accounts to see how both are leveraging this platform well.

Office Depot’s Pinterest

So above we saw a competitor, Staples NAD, engaging around 60+ views monthly. However, Office Depot is tapping into 7 million monthly views. Businesses are familiar with both suppliers and both are well-recognized brands. And they’d be engaging similar audiences on Pinterest. So why is Office Depot doing so much better?

Here are some factors playing in their success:

  • Their account is verified, making it more credible.
  • Written content makes use of SEO keywords and hashtags so it can perform well in search.
  • The pins and content target Pinterest’s main audience demographic – women! (The majority of Pinterest users are women.)
  • Branding on their images is very well-done.
  • They mix up the use of images and short, eye-catching videos.
  • Their content includes blogs, videos, and product spotlights, all tastefully done and diverse.

It’s exciting to see how they’ve embraced the platform and earned a great ROI as a result. They’re actively engaging millions of users every month. It’s easy to think that pens and office supplies aren’t exciting and therefore they can’t get away with B2B marketing on Pinterest — but Office Depot is doing it.

Ultimately, they realized the opportunity on Pinterest and angled their approach accordingly. They pivoted from just “selling businesses supplies” to designing a narrative. Their popular messaging includes designing your dream office and creating a picture-perfect business space to work in, which they subtly suggest starts with their supplies.

IBM’s Pinterest

So maybe you think office supplies are fun, and it makes sense to you that they can market on Pinterest. But business technology giant IBM is doing it, too. Their account has over 129,500 views monthly. So how is this B2B company performing so well?

Here are a few details worth calling attention to:

  • Their account is verified, giving it that sense of credibility.
  • They have diverse boards with different targeted interests like cooking, geeky tech gifts, tech in sports, tech in fashion, and much more.
  • They do a great job creating a lot of women-focused content to tap into that specific audience. (Over 5,000 users follow their women in tech board.)
  • The content is diverse, including blogs, old IBM photos, infographics, and cross-promoting other people’s content.
  • All branding is clear and consistent.

What’s interesting here is just how good IBM is at targeting not just their audience, but who they think is on Pinterest that could potentially be their B2B client. They target tech people who love history using iconic IBM photos. They target a niche community interested in fun technology incorporated in gifts, sports, and fashion. And their targeting of professional women is also a smart move.

Encouraging women in STEM fields is a social push — but IBM has recognized it’s also a rising audience. This group is highly active on social media, so IBM has curated content around that topic. This is a smart move because it will tap into women in the field now, and the next generation of women in tech who are vocal online.

A neon sign that says do something great.

The Advantages of Pinterest Over Facebook or Instagram

It’s a no brainer for businesses to be active on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. But when it comes to Pinterest, it’s often a question mark for B2B companies. Here’s an overview of Pinterest user facts to persuade you that it holds value:

  • The majority of Pinterest users are between ages 30 – 49.
  • Around ⅓ of users admitted to using Pinterest to follow brands.
  • About 6 out of 10 Millennials use it specifically to discover products.
  • Only 28% of marketers worldwide use it for marketing.

As millennials in the workforce are aging, they’re gaining more responsibility, including purchasing power within their job. It’s interesting to note that they are the majority of Pinterest users and that many of them will use it for product discovery. And, we know from data that users on Pinterest are more willing to buy products compared to users of other social media platforms. That paired with the fact that only around a quarter of marketers use the platform shows a HUGE opportunity. If you find that your B2B company’s products or services can align with audiences on Pinterest, it opens the window to reach audiences that aren’t inundated with marketing. The key is taking advantage of organic and paid posts, while also figuring out the best way to present content. Native advertising is certainly a part of how B2B companies find success on the platform.

How B2B Marketing on Pinterest Can Grow Your Business

Now that you’ve seen the good and the bad, it’s time to figure out if Pinterest can actually grow your business. We’ve put together a Pinterest SWOT exercise you can use to ask some key questions to lead you to either create an account or disregard the platform.

Mountain the clouds

Download & Print the Pinterest SWOT Template

It’s possible to use B2B marketing on Pinterest to grow your business, but you need to make sure it fits into your social media plan. And if you don’t have one, then it’s wise to start first by creating a social media strategy for your business.

At the end of the day, your success on Pinterest will be contingent on your willingness to put time into creating and sharing good content, analyzing data, and being flexible enough to adjust your strategy to find what tactics work.

Feel like you still need help getting started on Pinterest? Looking to improve your presence on your social media accounts? Learn how our team can help bring you better engagement online through our social media services.

In the fall of 2019, we had a local children’s author, Hillary Daecher, reach out to us seeking help in developing a social media marketing strategy. Hillary had no prior experience of any kind with any social media platforms so we dug in to create a social media strategy from scratch.

This project was Hillary’s first step into the social media world. While I had more experience with social media in general, this was my first time creating a social media strategy. Throughout this process I had to determine what to include in the plan, who to target, which platforms to use, and how to organize it all into simple, actionable steps.

Getting Started With Social Media Strategy

Maybe you are in a similar situation. There are a million different ways you can set up a social media plan and it can seem overwhelming if you’re new to the game. But it’s not as difficult as it seems. As you follow the steps I’ve outlined, you will narrow your focus down to just the essentials. And, you’ll end up with a manageable plan centered around only the most important, relevant information. 

Are you looking to create a social media strategy for someone else or for your business? Or maybe you’re a freelancer / one-man team. If you’re a beginner when it comes to creating social media strategies like I was, then this blog is for you. Trust me, you can do this, too! No prior experience necessary!

What is a Social Media Strategy?

A social media strategy is a marketing plan that is created to successfully utilize relevant social media platforms to reach your goals. Strategies and plans will vary greatly depending on a number of factors:

  • Audience
  • Product / service
  • Industry
  • Budget
  • Competition

Think of social media strategy as a road map. The purpose of the plan is to help you reach your goals (the end-point). The process of creating the strategy is like routing the best path from where you are to where you want to be. It will vary greatly depending on your specific start and end points.

One audience/platform may be right for someone else but not for you. Creating a plan will determine what roads you should take. Just like traveling from point A to point B, it is a linear process. You can’t skip ahead when traveling (unless you’ve figured out teleportation, in which case please fill me in), just like you can’t engage an audience before you build one.

How Do you Create & Implement a Social Media Strategy

There is no one-size-fits-all social media marketing plan. Everyone has a different point A and B. Luckily, there is an abundance of platforms and tools to choose from, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. There are best practices that everyone can follow, but the intricacies of a plan will depend largely on the factors above. I will run through the process we completed for our client as an example of how to create a fully customized social media plan.

Why Create a Social Media Strategy?

Social media marketing has become a necessity to individuals and businesses looking to grow. Social media platforms enable people to connect with massive audiences they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Social media platforms are tools for businesses, enabling them to reach their goals by targeting their audience by demographics, geography, interests, and more.

Why not create a social media strategy? Social media platforms are largely free! These massive platforms allow you to connect with your audience on a very personal level, in a way you traditionally can’t through other mediums such as: email, organic search, website traffic, or referrals. These mediums are tremendously important, but social media taps into a different type of connection with your audience to complement your overall marketing strategy.

There are a vast amount of platforms to choose from, so there is something for everyone. Seriously! Here are the top 75 social media platforms to know for 2020. There are also many goals that can be accomplished through the use of social media, including:

  • Brand awareness
  • Visibility
  • Website traffic
  • Lead generation
  • Signups
  • Sales
  • Engagement
  • Building a community
  • Promotion of events

First Step: Define Goals

Goals can vary greatly depending on the business / individual. Take some time to write down and solidify your goals as a first step. Gather information, determine what your current position is, where you want to go, what you have to offer, and who you want to serve.

In this case our client desired to:

  • Build brand recognition
  • Increase visibility
  • Build connections
  • Engage her audience
  • Promote visits & book readings
  • Sell books

Who Will Your Social Media Plan Be Focused On?

Once you have your goals clearly defined, you will need to determine who you will be connecting with. Who is your customer? Who are your biggest fans? Who does your product / service serve? If you are unsure, you can start broad and narrow down as you go, adjusting your strategy to the metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators) discussed later in this post.

Second Step: Define Your Audience

Hillary’s soon-to-be published children’s book is about overcoming fears and obstacles. In this case, the audience was:

  • Parents with young children (Pre-K to 2nd grade)
  • Child counselors
  • Child therapists
  • Children’s book authors
  • Independent authors
  • Booksellers
  • Librarians / libraries
  • Child care facilitators / facilities
  • Hummingbird groups / festivals

I determined this audience through an interview my co-workers conducted with Hillary. If you’re developing a plan for someone else, talk to them about who their audience is. Do research. If possible, get the decision-maker involved! Ask them questions. Ask who they serve, who is the product/service made for? Here is a list of questions to ask your client or yourself to define your audience!

Data Sources for Defining Your Audience

Other tools to gather data about your audience include Google Analytics and the Census (if you’re in the United States). Using these resources will help you gather demographic and geographic data, and learn about interests and behaviors. Here is a useful guide to using Google Analytics audience data. Don’t guess who your audience is, use the data available to you.

Once you have your target audience narrowed down, use your gathered information to create a persona. A persona is a fictional character you create to represent your target audience. Learn how to create a persona here. Next, you will determine where your audience is!

What Social Media Platforms to Use?

Third Step: Choose Your Platforms

There are a vast number of different social media platforms to choose from, so it’s important to determine which platforms are the most relevant to your business, and focus on them first. Ideally you only start with a few to avoid becoming overwhelmed, unless you hire a social media marketing team to manage the workload.

Some of the largest social media platforms include:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Do industry-specific research to find any other smaller, niche social media platforms relevant to your business. In Hillary’s case, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads were determined to be the most important platforms to begin with:

  • Facebook has the largest user platform and is one of the most widely-used platforms in terms of demographics. This would be used for information-based content.
  • Instagram was chosen to use as a visual / moment-based platform, focusing more on photos and videos regarding Hillary’s book and process.
  • Goodreads was chosen to reach her niche audience. Goodreads is a great social media platform for authors to network with readers and book lovers.

Do some research on your industry and the different types of platforms out there to determine what social media platform to use. Hootsuite does a great job categorizing channels into 10 different types of social media platforms.

If you want to learn more about LinkedIn advertising, our guide to LinkedIn ads goes over everything you need to run a successful campaign.

When Should You Be Active on Social Media?

Social media marketing is an ongoing process that requires frequent posts and engagement. This can vary by industry but a general rule of thumb is to post at least once a day. Inactivity has been shown to decrease visibility, leading to less engagement, which leads to even less visibility.

While posts should be frequent, it is important that it’s not a bombardment of posts trying to sell people on things. People are not on social media to be sold to. People trust people, not businesses. As a business, you’ll want to be personable, interact with people, and focus on building relationships and community.

The number of posts should be frequent regardless of industry, but how frequent can be determined by some basic competitor research. The audience for certain industries is more / less active than other audiences. Take some time to look into the activity of the industry leaders and the community and match the activity levels.

Implementation

There are certain best practices we will recommend in implementing your plan, like useful tools that can schedule posts if you have windows of time to work on your strategy. Another option is hiring social media specialists to manage your accounts. The time of day matters for posts as well. Experiment and see what works best for your audience, but here is some data on the best times to post on social media.

Scheduling

There are scheduling features built into some platforms (e.g: Facebook) but others may not have these capabilities. You likely don’t have the time to constantly be working on the social media strategy, so scheduling can help you make the best use of the time you have available.

Set aside a few hours and create a social media calendar. Decide what useful, helpful, relevant content you’re going to create and share, and plan when it will be shared. Third-party tools like Hootsuite, SocialOomph, and SEMrush can help you automate deployment. Here is a list of some more of the top social media scheduling tools.

Combine your research on the industry, your competitors, your audience, and the best times to post. Then set up a strategic schedule using these resources!

How to Organize Your Social Media Plan

Fourth Step: Organize Your Plan

As you do your research to determine your goals, audience, and platforms, write everything down! Write out all your thoughts and potential plans. It’s okay to be messy at first. We can clean it up later! I recommend creating a mind map.

Early notes from Hillary's social strategy.

This is the first draft of the mind map I made for Hillary.

Start from the center, and branch out with the goals you determined. Match potential platforms with the goals they can serve, and then extend the audience you can serve from those platforms. This practice can help visualize how things will work together, and how the system operates as a whole.

Once you start to narrow things down, you can organize your data using the mind mapping tool, Mindmeister. Here you can see I broke down the plan into five goals, and six potential platforms with ideas of what purposes they can serve.

First draft of Hillary's social plan

But six platforms is a lot to handle, especially for one person! So we took this information and narrowed it down even further. We selected the three most vital platforms for her to get off the ground. Once we had our goals, audience, and platforms defined, it was time to break down our goals into steps and phases.

A later version of the social media plan.

Each goal is now numbered in succession. Think about the logical process that needs to occur in order for your goals to work. Each phase is an ongoing process and will take time to develop.

Phase One

Since our client was starting from scratch first we needed to increase her visibility and her brand. This became phase one. We can not create connections, engage, acquire visit opportunities, or sell books without having visibility. This phase included reaching out to groups, inviting contacts to like her pages, creating content, and building out her platforms.

Phase Two

Once we increase visibility and brand awareness, we will be able to create connections. This includes cultivating relationships in groups, posting in discussions, leaving reviews, participating in Q & As, and connecting with new people within Hillary’s circles. This must be done before focusing on engagement.

Phase Three

Once visibility has grown, and connections have been established, the next goal is to engage with your community! Just like any social act, you are looking to cultivate these relationships. Post relevant content that your community will be interested in. Share content, ask questions, and have conversations!

Phase Four

The fourth phase is based around finding and promoting book readings and visits down the road. Having built connections with her audience, she may be able to find new opportunities for events and increase attendance to scheduled events.

Phase Five

The fifth and final phase is based around selling her books. A lot of people make the mistake of trying to set up shop on social media solely to sell things. This misses the point completely. Social media is about community and connection with others, not, “look at me! Buy my stuff.”

Obviously, as a business, you will have a service / product you would like to sell, but the main purpose is to cultivate relationships. If you build successful relationships, you will be able to provide a product / service that aligns with your customers needs and wants, and they will happily support you.

Basic Principles for ANY Person on ANY Platform

  • SOCIAL media is a SOCIAL act. Engage with your community!
  • Post high-quality content.
  • Post frequently.
  • Engage with followers.
  • Be authentic.
  • Ask questions.
  • Include visuals when possible.
  • Know your audience and write to them.

How to Know If It’s Successful

Track it to hack it! Fortunately, most platforms provide a lot of data regarding the performance of your account. The specific metrics you will want to focus on will vary depending on your goals, but there are plenty of commonly tracked metrics across industries/goals.

Some metrics to track for organic (non-paid) efforts:

  • Engagement
  • Reach
  • Impressions
  • Referral traffic to your website
  • Likes / followers
  • Comments
  • Ratings / reviews

For example, the Facebook Insights tab hosts the majority of these metrics all in one place! Keep an eye on the metrics listed above. Experiment. Make notes of what changes you make and see what affects these metrics for the better or worse.

facebook insights example 1 How to Create a Social Media Strategy From Scratch

Some metrics to track for ads / paid efforts:

  • Click-through-rate (CTR)
  • Cost-per-click (CPC)
  • Cost-per-action (CPA)
  • Conversions
  • Ad frequency

Facebook provides all of this data and more. The most important thing to do is to use the data you have available to you. Watch for changes in these metrics and take advantage of these insights!

Data from social advertising

Social advertising is a beast in itself, but can be a very effective and cost-efficient way to increase your reach and leads.

Resources

Different platforms work best with different image sizes. Use this always-up-to-date guide to social media image sizes to ensure your content is optimized for the selected channel.

If you need content ideas, browse Google Trends or Exploding Topics.

Another way to utilize social media is by optimizing your website for social media.

Some of the software we use to run and create social media strategies includes Google Analytics, SEMrush, and Facebook Ads. Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful tool for determining who your audience is. Here is a guide on how to use Google Analytics to evaluate your audience.

So What’s Next?

Building out this social media strategy, I learned a lot of valuable information and found the whole process rewarding. Hillary followed the plan and has seen a lot of success come from it, and I couldn’t have been happier to hear that. Creating this strategy and this road map kept us accountable and on track, and served as an actionable guide to reach the goals we set.

I know this can be difficult and I know it’s a lot! But I promise you it’s worth the effort. Time to create your social media strategy. Please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn and ask for help or to share your story. I’d love to hear from you! Building and implementing a social media strategy can be time-consuming but it can also be very rewarding. Human beings are social creatures, we thrive on communicating with others and that is how social media has become such a huge part of our lives.

If you’re looking to build your brand, engage your audience, and reach potential customers, it’s time to embrace the tools available to you. Our specialists can help you get more out of your social media efforts.

You’ve just uploaded your content and it looks beautiful—the headlines are sharp, the images practically jump off the page, and the SEO is on point. Your team spent hours creating and proofing it, and now it’s finally published.

But is good writing enough to make you stand out online? Or does the real power lie in how you use content marketing distribution channels to get your message directly in front of your audience?

According to cloud service DOMO, here’s an average of what’s being created and shared in just one minute online

  • Instagram users are sharing 46,740 photos
  • Twitter users are producing 456,000 tweets
  • YouTube users are watching 4,146,600 videos
  • Internet users are conducting 3,607,080 Google searches

And that’s only a snapshot of a few platforms.  If you don’t understand and use content distribution channels, and only ever worry about publishing it online, there’s a risk the very people you put together content for will never read it amidst all the noise of online platforms.

What Are Content Marketing Channels

Content distribution channels are the places your audiences go to when searching for information, and therefore the places you should be promoting your content. There are four content distribution channels you can use to increase your reach:

media structure 01 scaled Do Content Marketing Distribution Channels Actually Matter?

Paid Media

Paid media is a method where businesses pay a channel to promote their content.

Examples: paid Facebook ads, Pinterest ads, Google ads, Podcast ads, Sponsored Instagram content, or Sponsored videos.

Advantages: Speeds up the process of acquiring audience attention you haven’t been able to reach organically.

Disadvantages: This option can become very expensive and sometimes have little ROI if you’re not targeting the right audiences.

Earned Media

Earned media is a method where third parties with influence promote or share your content by their own will.

Examples: A popular blogger links to your piece, an Instagram influencer shares your content in a story, or a news outlet promotes your content.

Advantages: Your content gains exposure to new audiences at no cost.

Disadvantages: You can’t control who promotes or shares content, which can be a problem if the person sharing it is controversial.

Shared Media

Shared media is a method where you place content on platforms, like social networking sites, and then users themselves continue distributing it. It also includes user-generated feedback. Social media optimization is continuing to be a major factor in helping businesses be found online.

Examples: Users share a Facebook post, Instagram users tag someone on your post, or someone leaves a review on Google to share with others.

Advantages: This option is either free or at a low-cost to you and since users distribute or generate content about your piece, it can build trust in your brand.

Disadvantages: You can’t control the spread of shared media that’s tied to negative user feedback. The best you can do is be vigilant for any negative shared media and then respond appropriately.

Owned Media

Owned media is a method where you are in full control of the content and you’re handling the publishing and distributing yourself.

Examples: Publishing a blog on your website, creating a landing page for an event, publishing a whitepaper in your resources, or producing your weekly podcast.

If you interested in learning to start your own podcast, our B2B podcasting guide covers everything you need to know before you take the deep dive into podcasting.

Advantages: This option is either free or at a low-cost to you (if you’re paying someone to manage your owned media channels). You also have full control over this channel and how content is distributed.

Disadvantages: Distribution is limited. Only audiences who are visiting that site or know about the content are finding it. It’s limited to the people who already know about your content or happen to find it while searching online.

The best distribution plan isn’t limited to one of these channels. Instead, it takes a multi-channel content marketing approach and combines the channels. Just using one channel will limit your reach, but by combining the channels you can continue driving traffic to a piece of content long after it’s published.

The Importance of Content Distribution

Envision this. Your team has spent hours working on a video. You got the staff together to make it, coached them during filming, and then spent time editing it to create an informative piece of content. 

Now imagine what happens if you just publish it on your website and make one Facebook post announcing it. Ultimately, you’ll see the video’s traffic spike. That’s great right? 

Except when you go to check on it days or weeks later, you’ll likely find traffic has dropped. And if you check that video maybe even a year later, it might not even have any traffic. 

Too many businesses think it’s enough to post content on their site and then promote it in one post on their social media account. When you spent all that time, money, and effort creating content, did you really want it to only be viewed for just a few days after it’s posted?

Now Imagine you did the following instead with your video:

  • You publish the video on your website highlighting a service.
  • You post on Facebook to draw attention to its release.
  • Your followers respond to it, some comment, and a few share it.
  • You decide to use it in a targeted ad and it reaches a new audience.
  • After the ad runs, data shows an increase in traffic for that service.
  • You work it into an email campaign.
  • You later see an influential person in your industry shares the video on their own will.
  • After that figure shares it you see your traffic increase again.
  • Later you’re answering a question on Quora and link to the video to help explain.
  • After linking your content on Quora you notice traffic again rises upward.

Because you used a multi-channel content distribution strategy your work engaged current clients, reached potential audiences, and earned the attention of an industry influencer and his or her followers.

The importance of content marketing distribution channels shouldn’t be overlooked, because by using them you ensure audiences actually see what you create. Why create something if no one is seeing it? If you simply post content on your site and move on to the next piece, your current and potential audiences won’t know it exists.

The old way of thinking says “content is king”, but marketer Ross Simmonds has coined a more accurate mantra for content creation. He pushes creators to abide by “D.R.E.A.M – distribution rules everything around me.”

A man sits by a wall thinking with a lightbulb drawn above him.

What Type of Content Should You Be Creating?

Distribution aside, you still need to be creating good content that’s worthy of sharing. If what you’re sharing isn’t put together well, a diverse strategy across content marketing distribution channels won’t fix the fact that what you created doesn’t add value to the conversation. There are two strategies you should use to create valuable content.

First, create content that aligns with the awareness stage of a buyer’s journey. There are a lot of nuances to that journey, but clients typically move through four phases:

  1. Awareness Stage
  2. Consideration Stage
  3. Decision Stage
  4. Post-decision Stage

When you set out to make content, think about what phase your client is at when they’re looking for information on that topic. Then create and answer the questions you think they’d have at that stage.

Second, use the “Skyscraper Strategy” to create content that will perform well. A simple Google search will show you the top-performing content. Especially when writing, the skyscraper technique primarily helps you see what those articles at the top of google cover.

After reading through some of those pieces, write something better! You can see what they’ve done well and what basic information you should cover. But what do those resources miss? Now is your chance to include that information, go more into detail, and as a result become the new authoritative resource.

Pros and Cons of Different Content

So what content should you be creating to share in the first place? That looks different for every business, so you really need to pick and choose based on the resources you have and your audience.

We’ve broken out popular types of content and what you should consider before creating them, so you can decide what works best for your business:

Blogs

Pros: Good way to share educational information about your industry, easy to create and distribute, a good way to be seen as an expert source

Cons: Lots of competition online, time-consuming, requires writing skills

Videos

Pros: Visual, engaging, higher conversion rates on certain platforms (like social media)

Cons: Need special equipment, editing footage can take time, requires visual & auditory skills

Podcasts

Pros: Engages with a fixed audience, no ad competition, builds intimacy with listeners

Cons: Need special equipment, editing sound can take time, requires auditory skills

Ads

Pros: Extends your reach, allows for specific targeting, quickly increases brand awareness

Cons: Can be costly, requires the right messaging

Infographics

Pros: Engages people visually, captures attention

Cons: Take time to create, requires design and editing skills

Where to Distribute Digital Content

Once you’ve created content that aligns with your business’ ability and the needs of your audience, it’s time to get down to actually distributing it. You understand the content marketing distribution channels and have created your distribution strategy, but what are the actual platforms you can use?

There are plenty of options, and new platforms are created every year that rise to popularity. Here are some ideas of a few you can get started with to distribute your content. Remember to always look out for emerging platforms that’d be appropriate for reaching your audience.

Blogs

The best platforms you can use to distribute your blog content include:

Videos

The best platforms you can use to distribute your videos include:

  • Your own website
  • Youtube (offers paid and organic posting)
  • Vimeo
  • Facebook
  • Instagram (for short content)
  • TikTok
  • Snapchat

Podcasts

The best platforms you can use to distribute your podcasts include:

  • Apple podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Google Play Music
  • Overcast
  • Stitcher

Ads

The best platforms you can use to distribute your ads include:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Google Ads
  • Bing Ads
  • Quora
  • Answer.com
  • Reddit
  • Twitter

Infographics

The best platforms you can use to distribute your infographics include:

  • Your website
  • Slideshare
  • Quora
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram

Paid vs. Free Content Distribution

Every business is different, so there’s no exact rule on how much of each to use. The best advice is to just make sure you use both methods. Over time collect data and see what content does better for paid vs. free content distribution. Then plan and continue experimenting to find what works.

By organically distributing content for free, you can connect with loyal followers and build relationships with influential people. It’s important to gain an understanding of this type of distribution since it will save your business money.

However, paid distribution is worth it if your budget allows for it. It offers a way to take those start pieces of content and place them into potential audiences you haven’t been able to reach organically. And it helps you grow your followers more quickly.

A woman runs up imaginary steps on a wall.

Automated Content Distribution

Content distribution can become a chore in itself. If you’re finding that it’s hard to devote enough time to distributing, consider ways that you can automate the process. Take advantage of tools that will let you schedule distribution ahead of time, so you can plan it for weeks at a time. 

First, assess what task you’d like to save time doing. Then research to see if there are automated platforms you’d trust to handle that type of distribution.

For example, on Facebook you can use the publishing tools to schedule posts promoting content. You can choose everything down to the date and time of distribution. That way you can frontload your work and not have to constantly devote time to going in and posting every week.Platforms like Hootsuite will even allow you to manage scheduling posts on different social media platforms from the same place. Other pieces of content, like email marketing, can also be automated with a third-party service, like Active Campaign.

Yes, Content Marketing Distribution Channels Matter

Look at it this way – are you creating content you want people to see? Chances are you answered yes and that’s why publishing should never be the last step when you’re creating a content marketing strategy. If you don’t have a multi-channel distribution process, you’re just wasting a lot of effort creating work that no one will engage with. There’s a risk they won’t even know it exists.

However, if you do have a distribution plan it’s likely that you won’t just get engagement from your current audiences, but that you’ll also find new ones! Your content is a valuable resource for growing your audience base — that’s why you should prioritize distributing it.

If you find your team is lacking the time and manpower to manage distribution, consider if hiring a digital marketing agency is right for you. By doing so, you have a team of experts handling the details of creating relevant content and distributing it effectively.

By relying on an agency, you can free your team to focus on product and service development instead. Your content ultimately wins too because you have experienced professionals using their industry knowledge and strategies to boost engagement and ensure it is actually reaching your audience. Remember, content is only worth it if it’s actually being seen.

Need help distributing your content? Talk with our team of experts to learn more about how you can increase your work’s visibility online for your audience.

Are you familiar with network marketing? Let me ask you this instead — are you familiar with a distant cousin, an old co-worker, or that girl from high school who you haven’t spoken to in 20 years flooding your social media feeds with sales pitches for weight loss programs, chemical-free cleaning products, or essential oils?  Does the phrase “Ask me how!” haunt your dreams? If so, you’re more familiar with network marketing than you thought.

What is Network Marketing?

Network marketing is also referred to as multi-level marketing (MLM) and it describes a business model where growth depends on a network of independent business owners who sell products while also recruiting other participants. Independent business owners sell products through in-home or “online” shows hosted by friends and family, or by using social media to spread their message and drive sales to a much wider audience.

To become an independent business owner, there is often an upfront cost, sometimes thousands of dollars, to buy product samples or build product inventory that can be used in the sales process. Business owners earn money through a percentage of their sales and bonuses from reaching monthly goals. They receive additional incentives for recruiting other business owners and then earn a percentage of their recruits’ sales (and the sales of every recruit that fall under them).

Examples of Network Marketing Companies

Network marketing companies have been around for decades. They sell everything from vitamins, household cleaning products, food and cooking tools, clothing, skincare regimes, and weight loss programs.

Some of the oldest names you might recognize include:

  • Avon
  • Mary Kay
  • Tupperware
  • Amway
  • Pampered Chef
  • Longaberger
  • Tastefully Simple

But new multi-level marketing companies are still debuting. More currently, you may have started to notice some of these names:

  • Beachbody
  • LuLaRoe
  • Arbonne
  • doTerra
  • Plexus
  • Monat

The very latest MLM companies are now entering the world of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Working with these companies, independent business owners sell a variety of digital products and then their commission is paid to them in bitcoin.

Network Marketing’s Bad Reputation

Now perhaps, you’ve been reading along and you’re thinking “oh, right, pyramid schemes!”  Well, yes, and no. Network marketing companies earned the bad reputation of being tied to pyramid schemes and sometimes they are, but not always.

These multi-level tactics are a legitimate business practice when products are sold to end-users outside of the company.  Money is exchanged for goods or a service, and all is on the up-and-up.

Problems arise when the business model puts more emphasis on recruiting new members, and most revenue is made from selling starter packs and goods to “owners” within the company. The fact that business owners earn money based on the sales of their recruits and everyone beneath them can be seen as controversial.

What You Can Learn from Network Marketing

While network marketing’s bad reputation is well-earned, there are some things they do well and marketing tactics that we can learn from them — and improve upon!

Social Media Marketing

As network marketing reaches a new generation, business owners are using new tools to grow sales and recruitment. More specifically, they have harnessed the power of social media to widen their audience. But while MLM participants bombard their entire list of (unsuspecting) social media followers with repetitive sales pitches, social media marketing is much more finessed.

Doing social media marketing for your company is a great way to connect with users and create a two-way conversation (this is the part that most network marketing agents miss). Your first step is to build a targeted audience of followers who fit the persona of your company and show a genuine interest in the products and lifestyle that your brand serves.

From there, don’t cram products and discount codes in their face day after day. Social media is a platform where you should be informing, entertaining, and engaging, not only selling. Follow an 80/20 rule with social media posts — 80% on sharing content and 20% on selling your product.

Influencer Marketing

Many network marketing companies employ celebrity endorsers to promote their products. A famous face can make their products appear more well-respected and allow them to reach a wider audience among celebrities’ followers. MLM celebrity endorsers include Warren Buffet, Sir Richard Branson, Dr. Oz, Madeline Albright, Cristiano Ronaldo, Chuck Norris, and Hulk Hogan.

Influencers can play a big role in carrying your brand message to a new audience, but you need to approach influencer marketing wisely. It might be tempting to approach a big name celebrity with hundreds of thousands of followers, but you need to look beyond the number. Nevermind the fact that social media followers can easily be purchased, you want to be sure the influencer and his/her audience are a natural fit to your brand or the message may be wasted. For example, you’d partner with a survival expert if you sell camping backpacks, but you wouldn’t partner with a fashion blogger if you sell lawn fertilizers.

Affiliate Marketing

There is often some confusion between influencer marketing and affiliate marketing.  Here’s a quick breakdown: influencers are paid an upfront fee to promote a product, while affiliates are paid a percentage of the sales that come in from a link they share with their followers.  Influencer marketing is very similar to how network marketing business owners make a portion of their income.

With an affiliate marketing campaign, you’ll have a team of people selling for you.  Typically, you share your product or service with popular bloggers or social media influencers free of charge. In return, they create content about their experience with your brand, whether it’s a blog post, Instagram story, or social media post. They then provide a link for their followers to your website. The affiliate would earn a percentage of any sales made through their affiliate link. Affiliate marketing is a great way to circulate user testimonials and user-generated content about your brand to a wide audience.

Are you ready to use social media advertising the right way? We’ll happily build your audience reach and engagement using social media best practices.

It’s that time of year again! The holidays are right around the corner, which means eCommerce businesses should be gearing up for one of their biggest online shopping days of the year: Cyber Monday. If you’re wondering whether or not you should focus on marketing for Cyber Monday, take a look at how last year’s Cyber Monday performed, the predictions for this year, and tips on creating Cyber Monday marketing strategies that will boost your profits!

Cyber Monday Statistics & Predictions

How Cyber Monday Performed in 2017

Over the past few years, Cyber Monday has become one of the largest sources of revenue for businesses. Here are a few of the statistics that were generated based on last year’s data:

Predictions for Cyber Monday 2018

Now that you have seen how successful last year’s Cyber Monday truly was, it’s time to look at the possibilities for this year! Marketing experts in the field have predicted the following based on data and trends from previous Cyber Mondays:

  • Businesses will be providing a wealth of exclusive promo codes for site-wide discounts and free shipping on their products.
  • Product sales will be announced right before the holiday or incrementally throughout the day on Cyber Monday, helping to provoke a sense of urgency from customers.
  • Cyber Monday will generate more revenue than its in-store competitor holiday, Black Friday.
  • Some online eCommerce businesses may begin their Cyber Monday sales on Saturday or Sunday to help increase sales under the guise of “Cyber Weekend” or “Cyber Sunday.”
  • Voice-driven shopping with digital home assistants like the Amazon Alexa or Google Home will make a presence this year, though it will be a small sliver of online shopping.

Cyber Monday Marketing Strategies

So, are you ready to get going on your Cyber Monday marketing strategy? We’ve compiled a full list of ideas to help you make the most of the eCommerce holiday.

Step Up Your Social Game

Consumers will be bombarded with deals around the holiday, so it’s important to stay on top of your social posting to make sure your target audience doesn’t miss out or forget about your sales. Here are a few ways you can engage with your consumers:

  • Offer a Giveaway — Who doesn’t love free products or gift cards? Entice your users and reward them for posting about your brand or products or using a specific hashtag associated with your Cyber Monday campaign.
  • Collaborate with Other Businesses & Organizations — Extend your business’s reach while supporting other local, small businesses and organizations by working together to promote one another. Not only does this help to establish a sense of community, but you may also be able to pull in an audience that wouldn’t have heard about your brand otherwise.
  • Use Influencer Marketing — Putting a face to your social media channels can drive engagement, foster authenticity, and broaden your network. Have a micro-influencer takeover your account for a day or throughout your campaign to showcase your new products or items that are currently on sale.

Check out a few examples of how businesses can use social to garner engagement during Cyber Monday:

high street market cyber monday instagram giveaway
the blue willow boutique cyber monday instagram giveaway
salt and shore cyber monday instagram giveaway

Enhance Your Cyber Monday Email Marketing

Email marketing sees some of the greatest conversion rates for Cyber Monday deals. In fact, 24% of traffic directed to eCommerce sites on Cyber Monday in 2017 came from marketing emails. Here are a few tactics you could try:

  • Provide Exclusive Deals to Current Customers — Reward your current customer base for being loyal to your brand! Send them promotions or coupon codes before your Cyber Monday sales begin to instill a sense of excitement.
  • Target Your Highest-Converting Audience — Take some time to look into your website’s analytics. To gain the most conversions to your site with your Cyber Monday email marketing strategy, cater your messages to them.
  • Create a Gift Guide — Give your email subscribers the inside scoop by letting them know about some of the deals you’ll be offering during the sale. Show them how some of your products would make great gifts.
  • Set Up Exclusive, Email-Only Deals — Provide your subscribers a real, VIP treatment by offering them coupons and promo codes that only email subscribers will receive.

Offer More Than Free Shipping

Since a majority of online retailers offer free shipping, you’ll want to set your business apart by providing your customers with something more. You can still entice new customers with free shipping, but you can also one-up your competition by offering a bonus gift with orders or letting customers know that you’ll be donating a portion of your Cyber Monday sales to charity.

If your business isn’t able to offer more than free shipping, it’s important to guarantee your shipment and delivery times. Reassure your customers that their order will be delivered in a timely manner and that they’ll receive it well before Christmas. This is especially vital for customers who are solely shopping on Cyber Monday for gifts for their loved ones.

Extend Your Cyber Sales

One other Cyber Monday marketing strategy is to extend your sales an entire week. This gives your customers more time to shop your online store and find all of the items they want. You can incorporate flash sales to motivate buyers to make purchasing decisions throughout the entire week, helping to promote even more sales.

Need help preparing and creating your holiday marketing strategies? Our expert marketing consultants have you covered.

It’s here. The day has come, the plot has been dug out, and net neutrality has been laid to rest. That’s right — net neutrality is officially a thing of the past. On June 11, 2018, net neutrality rules were repealed despite the fact that 83% of Americans didn’t approve of it.

So…now what? What is net neutrality and why did we have it in the first place? What makes it so important and how does the end of net neutrality affect the general population and the world of digital marketing? We’re taking a deep dive into net neutrality to get a better picture of what this big change means for our future.

What is Net Neutrality?

Also known as “open internet,” net neutrality is the standard that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) follow by providing consumers with access and free range to all content, apps, and websites on the internet. Net neutrality prohibits the favoring and/or blocking of one website or product over another.

There’s no denying that technology rules a majority of our lives. Have a question? Google it. Want to buy a product? Ask Siri or Alexa to search for it for you and add it to your shopping cart. The internet has been free for all to use. All websites were accessible and you could easily look up or navigate to any page. But now? Net neutrality is dead and the internet will have more regulations.

Why is Net Neutrality Dead?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been against net neutrality for some time now. Despite reluctance from many politicians and the general public, the FCC repealed net neutrality in order to get rid of “unnecessary regulations” that were previously set in the Open Internet Order of 2015 Act during the Obama-era. In its place, the Restoring Internet Freedom Order was initiated.

The Restoring Internet Freedom Order was designed by the FCC to protect the open internet while promoting a better, faster, and cheaper internet for consumers. However, contrary to its name, the order has ended public utility regulation and handed it over to large, money-driven corporations.

Net Neutrality vs. Non-Neutrality

Let’s get into the thick of it, shall we? Every story has two sides and we wouldn’t be giving this subject justice if we didn’t map out what net neutrality has done for us up until now, and what will be different without it.

With Net Neutrality

Versions of net neutrality have existed since the conception of the internet. Looking back, we can identify how net neutrality has affected the way our country works.

  • High Competition — Internet neutrality created competition between all types of businesses, both big and small.
  • Business Equality — Net neutrality promoted an equal marketplace so small businesses had a fighting chance against bigger businesses.
  • More Innovation —There was always the urge to produce the next best thing, so companies of all sizes and types worked as hard as they could, helping to amplify innovation and growth.
  • Minimal Start-Up Costs — Neutrality helped to keep prices low for both start-up businesses and consumers. If you were a new business owner looking to create an online store, you didn’t have much standing in your way.
  • Low Consumer Pricing — Customers reaped the benefit of companies competing for business since each company would try to provide the lowest prices for products or services. Some companies would even offer free information, resources, and items to generate traffic and pull in leads.

Without Net Neutrality

We aren’t psychics and we can’t predict exactly what will happen now that net neutrality is gone. However, we can speculate on some of the situations that may arise now that the internet is more regulated.

blocked webpage due to non-neutrality internet regulations
  • Required Payments— ISPs will be able to take control over the internet by requiring a payment from website owners and users looking to receive high internet speeds.
  • Bandwidth Throttling — ISPs will be able to throttle bandwidth (purposely slow down and speed up internet services) and favor large companies that pay high premiums over smaller, competitive companies with small budgets. The high speeds, also called “fast lanes,” will allow certain websites to load faster than others. That’s extremely important since it’s been reported that just about half of consumers expect pages to load within 2 seconds, and 40% will leave a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
  • Website Blocking — ISPs may begin blocking smaller or competitive sites from users just because they favor one over the other.
  • Less Competition — With net neutrality no longer helping to push for competitive pricing, the cost of goods and services will increase. If websites are being required to pay high premiums to have their site found, they will need to gain that revenue from another source, such as their profits from selling to consumers.
  • High Consumer Pricing — ISPs may require the general public to pay for higher-quality apps, large data plans, and fast streaming speeds. And don’t forget about pesky fees and taxes! They’ll increase as well.

How Non-Neutrality Will Change the Marketing Game

So, what does the end of net neutrality mean for marketers? Originally, net neutrality created a high demand for internet marketing services because they focused on increasing organic traffic. Without net neutrality, competition between businesses may be uneven. This means the use of high-quality digital marketing services will be more important than ever before.

If ISPs favor large companies that pay high premiums and the internet is flooded with those websites, superior internet marketing efforts will be necessary to keep other business websites relevant. Marketers will need to invest more time, energy, and money into the channels they can control or manipulate. In addition, marketing companies might have to charge more for their services if they want to guarantee that clients will be placed in the fast lane.

With all of that said, non-neutrality will not change how search engines such as Google or Bing display results. For example, if someone is searching for a burger joint, Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) will still show smaller restaurants that serve burgers first because they’re local.

Non-Neutrality & Content Marketing

Content marketers will have a harder time getting their content seen by their targeted audience. Unfortunately, if a website isn’t paying premium fees, it may be subject to slower load times and page blocking, which would keep users from visiting the site.

With that in mind, creating good, helpful, and insightful content will be vital for websites to be successful. If you want a shot at bringing in customers and keeping them coming back, you need to grab them from the get-go. Entice them with your content and make sure they know that your website is one they’ll want to keep coming back to for information.

Non-Neutrality & SEO

Net neutrality allowed websites to be ranked by content, keywords, and effective use of linking. With non-neutrality, SEO will be affected by content marketing struggles. Traffic may be limited at times due to ISPs blocking specific sites from potential users. Website blocking could also affect external linking since some of your users may not be able to access external websites.

The more satisfied users that visit your site, the higher your search ranking will be. Site speed, design, and ease of navigation also play a significant role in overall success. With the help of SEO tactics and strategies, you can ensure your website is found by more users despite any difficulties that may arise due to non-neutrality.

Non-Neutrality & Social Media

While most social platforms don’t currently charge you to use their services, ISPs may charge you to access them on devices or restrict the use of competitive apps. For instance, in Portugal, a country without net neutrality, users have to buy packages in order to access social media platforms.

Since users may be charged to view their own social accounts, some may stray away from social media altogether. Account followings could shrink and the cost to advertise on social media platforms would increase. However, with the aid of social media experts, your social media accounts can stay afloat and relevant to users that do stick with social platforms.

What Will Happen Now?

It will take a bit of time for the effects of non-neutrality to be felt across the U.S. However, the fight for net neutrality is far from over. Many Americans are still outraged by the prospect of being stripped of their internet freedom. In hopes of changing the final outcome, individuals opposed to non-neutrality are encouraged to make their voice heard by visiting Battle For The Net’s web page. There, you can easily write to Congress and find other resources to help in the fight to save net neutrality.

Do I Still Need Digital Marketing?

Yes! Actually, you need it more now than you did when net neutrality was alive. Impeccable content marketing, SEO, and social media skills will be necessary to ensure your website is the best it can possibly be. Digital marketing will push your business to the top, making your website the one users want to click on and navigate to. Become as successful as possible by placing content marketing, SEO, and social media specialists in the driver’s seat when it comes to your online presence.

What’s your take on net neutrality and the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order? Let us know your thoughts.