Change is the only constant in the world of digital marketing–especially when it comes to social media trends.

Gone are the days of generic, one-size-fits-all content. The current expectation of users leans heavily towards authentic, community-driven campaigns.

As we navigate these shifting sands, understanding the latest social media trends is more important than ever. In this article, you’ll uncover the top social media trends of 2023, and arm yourself with strategies that can elevate your brand’s uniqueness, visibility, and bottom line.

1. “Edutainment”

Edutainment is a fusion of “education” and “entertainment”. It refers to content that educates its audience while simultaneously entertaining them.

On social media, this trend manifests as:

• Engaging videos
• Infographics
• Quizzes
• Interactive posts

The goal is to convey valuable information in a fun and captivating manner.

Why is it trending?

With the influx of information on social media, users often have short attention spans. They’re also looking for content that offers genuine value. Edutainment grabs and keeps users’ attention by making learning enjoyable, and shares knowledge in bite-sized, digestible formats.

Not to mention, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube reward engaging content with more visibility. Edutainment, being inherently engaging, often gets prioritized in your audience’s feed.

How can your brand take advantage of Edutainment?

1. Showcase expertise. Brands can use edutainment to demonstrate their industry knowledge, positioning themselves as thought leaders.
2. Engage your audience. Instead of traditional ads, create edutainment content that resonates with your audience, leading to higher engagement rates.
3. Tutorials and how-tos. Create entertaining tutorials showcasing how to use your products or services.
4. Interactive content. Quizzes, polls, and challenges related to your brand’s niche can educate users about your brand while keeping them engaged.
5. Storytelling. Narrating brand stories or customer testimonials in an entertaining manner can humanize your brand and foster a deeper connection with your audience.

2. Domination of Video Content

Social media platforms are seeing an increasing preference and consumption of video content, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

Image Source: Oberlo

From short-form videos on TikTok and Instagram Reels to long-form content on YouTube and Facebook Watch, video has become the most consumed form of content on social media.

Why is it trending?

Recent marketing statistics show that 86% of marketing professionals are already using video content as a marketing tool.

Videos are inherently more engaging and can convey emotions, stories, and information better than text or images alone. Because of this, social media platforms are prioritizing video content above all else.

This is great for brands because:

• Smartphones allow users to easily watch and share your videos anytime, anywhere.
• Videos cater to a wide range of content, like tutorials, reviews, entertainment and news, appealing to a wide audience.
• Videos tend to generate more likes, shares, and comments compared to other forms of content.

How can your brand take advantage of video content?

1. Product demonstrations. Showing products in action can help potential customers understand their value and functionality.
2. User-generated content. Encouraging users to create and share videos using your brand’s products can boost authenticity and trust.
3. Live streaming. Hosting live sessions on platforms like Instagram or Facebook allows real-time interaction with the audience, answering queries, and showcasing products or events.
4. Collaborations. Partnering with influencers or other brands for video content can help reach a broader audience and bring fresh perspectives.
5. Optimize for search. Just like written content, videos can be optimized for search on platforms like YouTube, ensuring they reach a wider audience.

3. Booming Creator Economy

The ecosystem of independent content creators is growing. Influencers and artists are monetizing their skills, passions, and followings on social media.

This economy is powered by platforms like YouTube, TikTok,  and Patreon, among others, where creators can earn directly from their content, collaborations, or fan contributions.

Why is it trending?

Platforms now offer creators various monetization tools, from ad revenue sharing and sponsored content to fan subscriptions and virtual gifts. This allows content creators to cater to specific niches, building loyal communities around specialized content areas while monetizing their skills.

How can your brand take advantage of the creator economy?

1. Sponsor content. Sponsor videos, articles, or podcasts, integrating your products or services into a creator’s content in an authentic way.
2. Affiliate partnerships. Offer creators affiliate deals, where they earn a commission for every sale made through their referral.
3. Engage in direct sales. Platforms like Instagram now allow for direct product sales. Collaborating with creators can drive their followers directly to purchase points.
4. Offer exclusive deals. Provide creators with exclusive discounts or early access to products, which they can then share with their audience.
5. Feedback loop. Engage with creators to gain valuable feedback on products or services, as creators are often closely in tune with consumer sentiments.

4. Employee Advocacy

More and more companies are asking their employees to promote the brand on their personal social media channels. Specifically, employees are sharing positive news, stories, and insights about their workplace, products, or services.

Image Source: Oktopost

Why is it trending?

Content shared by real employees is often perceived as more genuine than corporate messaging. Collectively, employees also have a much larger social reach than a brand’s official channels. Encouraging employee advocacy can boost morale and foster a sense of belonging and pride in the workplace.

Image Source: Peer To Peer Marketing

How can your brand take advantage of employee advocacy?

1. Training programs. Offer training sessions to employees on how to represent your brand online to ensure consistent messaging and brand safety.
2. Content creation tools. Provide employees with easy-to-use tools or platforms where they can create or customize content to share.
3. Incentive programs. Introduce rewards or recognition programs for employees who actively promote the brand.
4. Internal communication. Regularly update employees about company news, product launches, or success stories so they can share the latest happenings.

5. Social Media: A Shopping Platform

Recently, social media has transformed from a mere content-sharing space into an integrated online shopping experience. Global sales on social media platforms were estimated at 992 billion US dollars in 2022.

Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok have introduced features that allow users to discover, explore, and buy products directly within the app, making an effortless purchasing possible.

Why is it trending?

Users can go from discovering a product in a post to purchasing it without leaving the platform. Social media is also inherently visual, making it an ideal space for showcasing your brand’s products and creating personalized experiences through preferences and behavior.

How can your brand take advantage of social media as a shopping platform?

1. Shoppable posts. Use platform-specific features to tag products in posts, allowing users to shop directly.
2. Utilize stories & live features. Platforms like Instagram offer “swipe up to shop” features in stories and live broadcasts, providing an immediate call to action.
3. Engaging product demos. Use video content to demonstrate product use or benefits, making it more compelling for users to purchase.
4. Exclusive deals & offers. Launch platform-specific promotions or discounts to encourage users to shop from social media.
5. Feedback & reviews. Engage with users who comment or ask questions about products, and showcase positive reviews to build trust.

6. User-Generated Content (UGC)

User-Generated Content (UGC) refers to any content—be it videos, photos, reviews, testimonials, or blog posts—created by unpaid contributors, often fans or users of a brand, rather than by the brand itself. On social media, this usually takes the form of tagged photos, reviews, or content created by fans about a product or service.

Why is it trending?

UGC is perceived as more genuine and unbiased compared to brand-produced content. A recent survey shows that 84% of customers trust peer reviews and testimonials above all other forms of traditional advertising.

Image Source: Tintup

Unique and creative UGC is also more likely to go viral, significantly amplifying a brand’s reach and encouraging a sense of community and engagement around a brand. Not to mention, UGC cuts out high production costs.

How can your brand take advantage of UGC?

1. Encourage sharing. Create campaigns or contests that motivate users to share their experiences with your brand.
2. Feature UGC. Repost, retweet, or share user-generated content on your brand’s official channels, giving credit to the original creators.
3. Integrate into advertising. Use standout UGC as part of larger advertising campaigns, showcasing real user testimonials or experiences.
4. UGC platforms. Utilize platforms like GoPro’s user submission portal or Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke campaign to gather and showcase UGC.

Video Source: Campaign

7. The Rise of LinkedIn Creators

LinkedIn is seeing a growing number of professionals and thought leaders who are actively creating and sharing content. Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn’s focus is on professional networking, making it a hub for:

• Industry insights
• Career advice
• B2B content

With features like LinkedIn Articles, Newsletters, and native video, the platform is encouraging more users to become content creators.

Why is it trending?

LinkedIn provides access to a network of professionals, making it ideal for sharing industry insights and expertise. The platform alo offers an opportunity for individuals to establish themselves as thought leaders in their respective fields.

Since LinkedIn’s introduction of “Creator Mode”, over 9 million users have converted their profiles into a showcase of personal content. Not to mention, LinkedIn posts that provide value often see higher engagement rates compared to other platforms, making it a prime place for lead generation and networking.

How can your brand take advantage of LinkedIn content creation?

1. Encourage employee advocacy. Motivate employees to share company news, insights, and successes, amplifying your brand’s presence.
2. Host webinars and live sessions. Utilize LinkedIn Live to host webinars, Q&A sessions, or panel discussions, engaging with your audience in real-time.
3. Publish content consistently. Use LinkedIn Articles and Newsletters to share in-depth insights, case studies, or industry trends.
4. Showcase company culture. Share behind-the-scenes glimpses, employee stories, and company achievements to humanize your brand and attract potential talent.

8. Increasing Brand Connection and Personalization

With the recent shift from generic messaging to individualized interactions, brands are now focusing on building deeper, more meaningful connections with their audience.

By analyzing your audience’s individual preferences and needs, you can share content, products, and experiences that really resonate.

Why is it trending?

Modern consumers expect brands to understand their preferences and deliver personalized experiences.

Personalized content tends to resonate better, leading to higher engagement rates and more conversions. Personalized interactions also make consumers feel valued, fostering brand loyalty.

How can your brand take advantage of brand connection and personalization?

1. Data analysis. Use analytics tools to gather insights about your audience’s preferences, behaviors, and interactions.
2. Segmented marketing. Create audience segments based on demographics, behaviors, or interests and tailor content for each group.
3. Personalized recommendations. Use algorithms or AI to offer product recommendations based on past user interactions or purchases.
4. Tailored ads. Use targeted advertising to deliver specific messages to niche audience segments.

9. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Goes Mainstream

Artificial Intelligence has made its way into social media trends. From chatbots and content recommendations to image recognition and predictive analytics, AI is becoming an integral part of enhancing user experiences and optimizing brand strategies on social media.

Why is it trending?

AI-driven tools, like chatbots, provide instant responses to user queries, improving customer service and the overall user experience. AI can also predict future trends or user behaviors, allowing brands to be proactive in their strategies.

How can your brand take advantage of AI on social media?

1. Predictive analysis. Leverage AI to forecast trends, helping in proactive campaign planning and product launches.
2. Ad optimization. Utilize AI algorithms to optimize ad targeting, ensuring the right audience sees the most relevant ads.
3. Image and voice recognition. Engage users with AI-powered features like voice commands or visual searches.
4. Automated reporting. Implement AI tools that generate regular performance reports, highlighting key metrics and insights.
5. Content creation. Some AI tools can generate basic content or posts based on data inputs, aiding in consistent content delivery.

10. Gated Content

Gated content refers to online materials, like articles, videos, whitepapers, or webinars, that require users to provide some form of information (usually contact details) or take a specific action (like subscribing) before they can access the content.

On social media, this might appear as exclusive content available only to members of a private group or followers of a specific account.

Why is it trending?

Gated content is a powerful tool for collecting valuable user information, which can be used for future marketing campaigns to generate leads. Content that’s gated is also perceived as more valuable or exclusive, making users more willing to exchange their details for access.

Image Source: Wordstream

How can your brand take advantage of gated content?

1. Exclusive offers. Share special deals or discounts to users who sign up or provide their details.
2. Webinars and workshops. Offer in-depth training or informational sessions that require registration.
3. Ebooks and whitepapers. Share comprehensive guides or industry insights behind a gate to attract professionals and industry enthusiasts.
4. Content series. Release a series of content where the initial pieces are freely accessible, but subsequent pieces are gated, encouraging users to commit for the full experience.
5. Engage and nurture. Once you’ve gathered user information, engage them with personalized content, newsletters, or offers, turning leads into loyal customers.

11. Keyword Search & SEO

Keyword research and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) have traditionally been associated with improving website visibility on search engines like Google.

But, with the evolution of social media platforms, these practices are now being applied to optimize content on social media platforms. The goal is to make sure that content (be it a post, video, or image) appears when users search for specific terms or keywords on social media.

Why is it trending?

As social media platforms evolve, their search functionalities become more sophisticated, making it essential for your content to be optimized for search. With the volume of content on social media, brands need to stand out, and SEO practices help in achieving better visibility.

And, just like on search engines, users on social media platforms search with specific intent. Optimized content caters to this intent, leading to better engagement.

How can your brand take advantage of keyword search and SEO?

• Optimize profiles. Make sure that your brand’s profiles are complete, using relevant keywords in the bio, description, and even the username where applicable.
• Research platform-specific keywords. Use tools or platform-specific analytics to understand what terms your target audience searches for.
• Use keywords in content. Integrate relevant keywords naturally into post captions, video descriptions, and image tags.
• Engaging content. SEO isn’t just about keywords. High-quality, engaging content will always receive more engagement, boosting its visibility.
• Analyze & adjust. Regularly review the performance of your content. See what’s working in terms of SEO and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Conquer 2023’s Social Media Trends Today with MIG

When you stay on top of the latest social media trends, you can position your brand at the forefront of digital engagement.

Each trend offers unique opportunities to connect with audiences, enhance brand visibility, and drive business growth. By understanding and embracing these trends, brands can craft strategies that resonate with modern audiences, fostering lasting relationships and ensuring continued success.

Are you ready to get more traffic to your site with quality content published consistently? Check out our SEO Blog Writing Service or schedule a quick consultation to learn more about how Marketing Insider Group can help you earn more traffic and leads for your business.

Google, the world’s leading search engine, currently has over 85% of the search engine market. And, they’ve made it abundantly clear that their ranking preferences lean heavily towards websites that prioritize user experience.

This means they reward content that resonates with an audience, demonstrates expertise, and adds tangible value to the lives of readers.

As a B2B business, consistently sharing fresh content isn’t just a recommendation; it’s a necessity. But how exactly does fresh content impact your SEO? And more importantly, how can you streamline your content creation process to ensure a consistent flow of fresh content?

In this post, we’re exploring the role of fresh content in SEO, its impact on SEO marketing, and practical strategies you can implement to keep your content fresh and engaging.

Quick Takeaways

• According to Search Engine Journal, 49% of marketing professionals deemed organic search as their most profitable marketing channel.
• Fresh content improves search rankings, increases engagement, establishes trust, optimizes keywords, and earns backlinks.
• Updating and republishing outdated blog posts with new information and images can increase organic traffic by as much as 106%.
• Content marketing agencies have the expertise and resources to create high-quality content that aligns with your business’s goals.

The Role of Fresh Content in SEO

Just like how viewers expect to see new stories and updates on the news every day, your audience and search engines expect to see new information on your website regularly. This new information is what we call “fresh content”. This could be anything like:

• Brand-new blog posts
• Articles
• News updates
• Revised landing pages

According to Search Engine Journal, 49% of marketing professionals deemed organic search as their most profitable marketing channel. But in order to reap the benefits of organic search, first you need to rank on SERPs.

Image Source: Search Engine Journal

Adding fresh content to your website regularly is like telling your audience and the search engines, “Hey, we’re still here, and we’ve got new things to share!” As a result, it keeps your website relevant and improves your visibility on SERPs.

The Significance of Fresh Content

Search engines, like Google, have a preference for new and updated content.

When a website regularly publishes new articles, modifies existing ones, or adds new resources, it signals to search engines that the site is active and current.

Audience Engagement

Fresh and frequent content also plays a pivotal role in audience engagement.

Regular updates provide a continuous stream of new information for your audience, encouraging repeat visits and increased interaction.

This not only helps to establish your brand as a trusted authority in your field but also improves your search engine rankings.

The Importance of Frequency

The impact on SEO isn’t just about having fresh content; the consistency of updates is equally as important.

A recent study shows that companies publishing at least 4 blog posts per week saw 3.5 times the traffic compared to companies publishing only once per week.

Regularly updating your site indicates reliability, which search engines value highly.

Opportunities for Keyword Integration

Each new piece of content presents an opportunity to incorporate relevant keywords, which can improve your visibility for specific search queries.

Just keep in mind that the goal isn’t to overload your content with keywords, but rather to seamlessly integrate them into high-quality, engaging content.

The Effect of Fresh Content on SEO Marketing

For B2B brands specifically, consistently posting fresh content isn’t just a good practice; it’s a strategic move that can significantly enhance your SEO, increase your visibility, and ultimately drive more business through:

• Improved search engine rankings. Search engines favor websites that regularly update with fresh content. As a result, your site is more likely to achieve higher rankings in search engine results.
• Increased engagement. Fresh content keeps your audience engaged by providing them with new information, insights, and resources. This consistent engagement can lead to higher traffic, more time spent on your site, and more shares on social media.
• Authority and trust. Regularly publishing high-quality, fresh content helps establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. This can build trust with your audience and search engines alike, which can boost your search engine rankings.
• Keyword optimization. Each new piece of content is an opportunity to weave in relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for. This can help you rank higher for those specific search queries.
• Link building. Fresh content can attract more backlinks from other websites. These backlinks are a key factor that search engines consider when ranking websites. In fact, the #1 result on Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10. So, the more high-quality backlinks you have, the better your SEO.

How To Post Fresh Content Consistently

You’re probably wondering, “How am I going to find the time to crank out fresh content consistently?”

The truth is that posting fresh content consistently is manageable when you have the right tool and strategy in place. Here’s a few key strategies that can help keep your content fresh and improve your SEO, while minimizing your time commitment.

1. Update Old Content

Your content can become outdated or irrelevant over time, and search engines like Google reward content that is current and provides value to users.

Updating and republishing outdated blog posts with new information and images can increase organic traffic by as much as 106%. And according to Databox, 67% of marketing experts are updating old content.

Image Source: Databox

By updating old content, you’re not only improving its relevance, but also signaling to search engines that your site is active.

Here’s how you can get started:

1. Identify content for updates. Start by identifying which pieces of content could benefit from an update. These could be articles that are outdated, have declining traffic, or no longer align with your current business goals.
2. Add new information. Once you’ve identified the content, look for ways to add new information. This could be recent industry developments, updated data, or new insights that weren’t available when the content was first published.
3. Revise outdated information. Remove or revise any information that’s no longer accurate. This could be outdated statistics, old product information, or broken links.
4. Improve SEO. Take this opportunity to improve the content’s SEO. This could involve adding relevant keywords, improving meta descriptions, or optimizing images.
5. Republish. Once you’ve updated the content, don’t forget to republish it. This will bring it back to the top of your blog or news feed, giving it more visibility.

Not only does this process keep your content relevant and improve your SEO, but it’s also a lot quicker than creating fresh content from scratch.

2. Make a Content Calendar

A content calendar is a schedule that outlines when and what you’ll publish in the future. It’s a vital tool for planning your content strategy and making sure that you’re regularly publishing new content.

Creating a content calendar might seem daunting, but it streamlines the creation process, making your content more efficient and effective. In the simplest terms, all you need to do is:

1. Identify and understand your content needs
2. Plan your topics
3. Schedule your content
4. Assign responsibilities
5. Track your progress

To follow our step-by-step process for creating a content calendar, read our post on “How to Make a Content Calendar You’ll Actually Use.”

3. Collaborate with a Content Marketing Agency

Creating fresh, engaging content on a regular basis isn’t easy, especially if you have limited resources or expertise in-house.

Content marketing agencies have the expertise and resources your business needs to create high-quality content that aligns with your goals and resonates with your audience. Not to mention, it takes the “create new content” task off your to-do list, giving you more time to focus on other areas of your business.

When you collaborate with a content marketing agency, you can:

• Maintain a consistent flow of fresh content
• Leverage your agency’s expertise
• Boost SEO
• Reach your target audience
• Rely on professional writers

Image Source: Literal Humans

The perks of working with a content marketing agency don’t stop there. Read more in our “What Is a Content Marketing Agency and Why Do You Need One?” article.

4. Use Content Creation Tools

Content creation tools can simplify the process of creating fresh content. They can help you generate ideas, organize your content, optimize your SEO, and even automate the publishing process.

There are a ton of content creation tools out there, each with its own set of features. Here’s a few suggestions:

• Idea generation. BuzzSumo or AnswerThePublic can help you generate content ideas based on popular trends or commonly asked questions in your industry.
• Content organization. Trello or Asana can help you organize your content, track your progress, and manage your content calendar.
• SEO optimization. SEMrush or Yoast can help you optimize your content for SEO by suggesting keywords, analyzing your readability, and providing SEO recommendations.
• Content creation. Hemingway Editor or Grammarly can help in creating visually appealing graphics or ensuring your content is grammatically correct and well-written.
• Distribution. Buffer or Hootsuite can automate the process of publishing your content on various platforms at scheduled times.

Using content creation tools can save you time, improve the quality of your content, and make sure that you’re consistently publishing new content.

5. User-Generated Content

User-generated content refers to any content–text, videos, images, reviews, etc.–created by people, rather than brands.

UGC can be a powerful tool for B2B brands because it adds authenticity to your content and can help build trust with your audience. Plus, it provides a steady stream of fresh content without calling in all of your resources.

Video Source: Inbound Explained

Here’s a few ways B2B brands can leverage user-generated content:

• Encourage reviews and testimonials. Ask your clients to write reviews or testimonials about your products or services. You can feature these on your website or social media platforms.
• Host contests or giveaways. Encourage your audience to create content related to your brand by hosting contests or giveaways. For example, they could share a photo of your product or service in action.
• Feature client stories. Share stories or case studies from your clients. This not only provides fresh content, but also showcases the value of your products or services.
• Create a community. Build a community where your clients can share their experiences, ask questions, and provide advice. This can be a rich source of user-generated content.

Not only does user-generated content provide a unique perspective, but it also builds trust with your audience and keeps your content authentic and engaging.

Keep Your Content Fresh with Marketing Insider Group

Remember, fresh content is non-negotiable if you want to boost your brand’s SEO. It not only keeps your website relevant and interesting, but also improves your visibility on search engines, ultimately driving more traffic and conversions.

Ready to start posting fresh content consistently? Marketing Insider Group can help. Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!

The digital landscape is a place where change is the only constant, where today’s winning strategy might be tomorrow’s old news. Not only does this make it hard to keep up as a user, but it’s especially challenging when you’re trying to master the art of social media marketing.

But, you’ve come to the right place. Armed with the latest insights, the most effective strategies, and a deep understanding of the digital landscape, we’re sharing our knowledge and expertise with you in this comprehensive guide.

By the end of this post, you’ll understand how to adapt to changes, anticipate trends, and turn challenges into opportunities. And, with the right tools and techniques, you can navigate this dynamic digital world of social media marketing like a pro.

Quick Takeaways

• The 5 fundamentals of social media marketing include: Profile Optimization, Posting, Engaging, Advertising, and Measuring  

• 93% of B2B marketers already have a content marketing strategy, or plan to have one within the next 12 months 

• Defining SMART Goals will help make sure your social media marketing goals and objectives are clear and reachable

• Tracking your performance, analyzing the data, and using those insights to refine your strategy is key to establishing a social media strategy that works

What Is Social Media Marketing?

In the simplest terms, social media marketing is about using social media platforms to connect with your audience.

But it’s not just about bombarding your followers with promotional messages–it’s much more than that. Great social media marketing starts conversations, builds relationships, and creates a community around your brand through:

• Profile Optimization. Making sure your social media profiles are complete, professional, and engaging.
• Posting. Sharing high quality content like blog posts, product updates, promotional videos, and user-generated content.
• Engaging. Interacting with your audience and building relationships by responding to comments, participating in conversations, and hosting live Q&A sessions.
• Advertising. Targeting ads based on demographics, interests, behavior, and more.
• Measuring. Tracking and analyzing your social media performance to understand what’s working and what’s not.

Image Source: WordStream

When used effectively, social media marketing has the potential to help your business reach new heights.

Your Social Media Marketing Goals

Social media marketing is a strategic effort aimed at achieving specific goals and objectives. Here are 5 key goals that businesses can work towards through effective social media marketing:

1. Brand Awareness

One of the primary goals of social media marketing is to increase brand awareness. By consistently posting engaging content and participating in conversations on various platforms, you can reach a wider audience and make more people aware of your brand.

2. Lead Generation

Social media platforms offer plenty of opportunities for lead generation. Whether it’s through organic posts, paid ads, or direct messages, you can use social media to attract potential customers and guide them through the sales funnel.

Image Source: Sprout Social

3. Customer Engagement

Social media is a two-way street that allows businesses to interact directly with their audience. Businesses can foster a sense of community and build stronger relationships with their audience by engaging with customers through:

• Comments
• Likes
• Shares
• Direct messages

4. Customer Service

More and more customers are turning to social media for customer service. Businesses can use social media platforms to:

• Respond to customer inquiries
• Address concerns
• Resolve issues in a timely manner

This not only improves customer satisfaction, but also demonstrates your business’s commitment to top-tier customer service.

5. Sales and Conversions

Ultimately, the goal of any marketing effort is to drive sales. Social media marketing can help businesses achieve this by promoting products or services, offering special deals, and directing traffic to their website or online store.

Building A Social Media Marketing Strategy

The benefits of building an effective social media marketing strategy speak for themselves.

Image Source: WordStream

Here’s how you can build an effective strategy in 5 easy steps:

1. Identifying Your Target Audience

You might be thinking, “I know who my audience is, they’re the people who buy my products or services!” Well, yes, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Identifying your target audience means understanding who they are on a deeper level. It’s about knowing their:

• Likes
• Dislikes
• Needs
• Wants
• Pain points

So, how do you go about doing this? Here are a few steps:

1. Demographics. What’s the age range of your audience? Are they predominantly male or female? Where are they located? What’s their occupation? These are just a few questions that can help you paint a picture of your audience.
2. Psychographics. This is where you start to understand the mindset of your audience. What are their interests? What are their values? What motivates them? Understanding these aspects can help you create content that resonates with your audience.
3. Behavioral characteristics. How does your audience behave online? What social media platforms do they use? When are they most active? What type of content do they engage with? These insights will help you tailor your social media strategy to match your audience’s behavior.

Image Source: Conversific

Understanding your audience is the foundation of effective social media marketing. It helps you create relevant content, choose the right platforms, and engage with your audience in a meaningful way.

2. Choosing the Right Platforms

From Facebook to TikTok, LinkedIn to Instagram, the options for social media platforms can seem endless. But here’s the thing–you don’t need to be on every single platform. In fact, it’s better to focus on a few platforms where your audience is most active and engaged.

So, how do you choose the right platforms? Here are a few tips:

• Go where your audience is. If your audience is predominantly professionals, LinkedIn might be your best bet. If they’re younger and more visually oriented, Instagram or TikTok might be the way to go.
• Consider your content. If you’re planning on sharing a lot of video content, platforms like YouTube or TikTok might be a good fit. If you’re more focused on industry news and thought leadership, LinkedIn or Twitter might be more suitable.
• Think about your goals. If you’re looking to drive traffic to your website, platforms with strong link-sharing capabilities like Facebook or Twitter might be beneficial. If brand awareness is your goal, visually engaging platforms like Instagram could be a good choice.

Choosing the right platforms is a key step in your social media marketing journey. It will help ensure that your content reaches the right people, at the right time, in the right place.

3. Creating A Content Strategy

Think of your content strategy as a roadmap. It outlines what you post, when you post it, and how it aligns with your overall social media goals. And, it’s so important that 93% of B2B marketers either already have one, or plan to have one within the next 12 months.

Image Source: Content Marketing Institute

There are 3 main components to consider when it comes to creating a content strategy:

1. Brainstorm content ideas. Your content should be relevant and valuable to your audience. Think about their pain points, interests, and the type of content they engage with. This could be anything from how-to guides and industry news, to behind-the-scenes peeks and user-generated content.
2. Create a content calendar. This is a schedule that outlines what content will be posted, where it will be shared, and when it will go live. A content calendar helps ensure you have a steady stream of content and can help you plan for key dates or events.
3. Decide on content types. Different types of content work better on different platforms. For example, infographics might perform well on Pinterest, while short videos might get more engagement on TikTok. Consider the platforms you’re using and the preferences of your audience when deciding on content types.

Creating a content strategy might seem like a lot of work, but it’s worth the time and effort. It will help you stay organized, ensure you’re consistently posting engaging content, and make your social media marketing efforts more effective.

To learn more about creating your own content marketing strategy, read our post on “How To Develop a Content Strategy.”

4. Setting Up Goals and Objectives

Goals and objectives give your social media marketing strategy direction. They help you understand if you’re on the right track and whether your efforts are paying off.

So, how do you set up effective goals and objectives? Let’s break it down:

• Understand the difference. Goals are broad and define what you want to achieve in general terms, like increasing brand awareness or driving website traffic. Objectives, on the other hand, are specific, measurable actions that help you reach your goals. For example, increasing website traffic from social media by 20% in the next quarter.
• Align with business goals. Your social media goals and objectives should align with your overall business goals. If one of your business goals is to increase sales, a relevant social media goal could be to increase leads generated from social media.
• Make them SMART. You’ve probably heard of SMART goals before: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework ensures your goals and objectives are clear and reachable. For example, instead of saying “I want to increase followers,” a SMART goal would be “I want to increase followers on our LinkedIn page by 15% over the next six months.”

Video Source: FlikliTV

Setting up goals and objectives gives your efforts purpose and provides a benchmark to measure your success. And remember, your goals and objectives can evolve over time, so don’t be afraid to revisit and revise them as needed.

5. Measuring Success

Measuring success in social media marketing is about understanding whether your efforts are paying off. It means tracking your performance, analyzing the data, and using those insights to refine your strategy.

Here’s the 3 most important steps to measuring your success:

1. Understand key metrics. Focus on the key metrics that align with your objectives. This could be engagement rate, reach, impressions, clicks, conversions, or follower growth, to name a few.
2. Use analytics tools. Most social media platforms have built-in analytics tools that provide a wealth of data. These tools can give you insights into your audience’s demographics, how they interact with your content, and which posts drive the most engagement.
3. Analyze and refine. Measuring success isn’t just about collecting data, it’s about understanding what that data is telling you. Take the time to analyze your performance, identify what’s working and what’s not, and refine your strategy accordingly. Remember, social media marketing is a dynamic process that requires constant tweaking and optimization.

Measuring success is crucial to validate your efforts, make data-driven decisions, and ultimately, achieve your goals.

To learn more about measuring your success, read our post on “How To Measure Your Small Business’s Marketing Success.”

Ramp Up Your Social Media Marketing Content Today

The world of social media marketing is dynamic and ever-changing. What works today might not work tomorrow. So, stay flexible, keep learning, and don’t be afraid to refine your strategy.

Ready to start sharing top-tier social media marketing content? Marketing Insider Group can help. Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!

Ever feel like your social media metrics are whispering secrets to you? Like they’re trying to tell a story about your audience, your brand, and your online performance? Well, you’re not far off.

Social media metrics are constantly gathering intel, ready to report back with crucial insights about how much your audience is digging your content, how loyal they are to your brand, and much more.

Each metric holds a piece of the puzzle, showing you what’s working, what’s not, and where there’s room for improvement. It’s your job to put the puzzle pieces together.

That’s why today, we’re sharing 14 key social media metrics and their meaning to help you decode the hidden truths that lie in your data.

1. Average Engagement Rate (AER)

The Average Engagement Rate (AER) helps businesses understand how well their content is resonating with their audience. It’s a measure of the level of engagement that a piece of content sees from its audience.

Simply put, AER tells you how much your audience is interacting with your content. This could be in the form of:

• Likes
• Shares
• Comments
• Any other form of engagement that a social media platform allows

AER will give you a clear picture of how your content is performing. If it’s high, it means your audience finds value in your content. On the other hand, a low AER could indicate that your content isn’t hitting the mark and needs some adjustments.

2. Conversion Rate

Think of your Conversion Rate as the finish line in a race. It’s the point where your audience does what you want them to do. This could be anything from signing up for a newsletter, downloading a whitepaper, or making a purchase.

For B2B companies, the Conversion Rate is key. It’s not just about getting likes and shares, it’s about turning those social media users into leads or customers. It’s the metric that shows if your social media efforts are contributing to your bottom line.

To measure your Conversion Rate, you need to know two things:

1. The number of people who did what you wanted them to do (conversions)
2. The total number of people who had the opportunity to do so

So, if 100 people visited your landing page and 10 of them downloaded your whitepaper, your Conversion Rate would be (10/100)*100 = 10%.

Image Source: Hootsuite 

Improving your Conversion Rate is all about making it easy and attractive for your audience to take action. This could mean:

• Creating a killer call-to-action
• Making your landing page more user-friendly
• Offering something so valuable that your audience can’t resist

For B2B companies, it could also mean understanding your audience’s pain points and showing how your product or service can solve them.

3. Brand Awareness

You already know how important Brand Awareness is, especially for B2B companies. It’s the first step in the customer journey. Before people can buy from you, they need to know who you are. And not just know you, but like you and trust you too.

A high level of Brand Awareness means more people are likely to think of your brand when they need the products or services you offer, but measuring Brand Awareness can be a bit tricky. It’s not as straightforward as counting likes or shares. It often involves surveys and interviews to find out how many people know your brand and what they think about it.

You can also look at metrics like:

• Website traffic
• Social media followers
• The reach of your posts

Improving Brand Awareness is all about getting your name out there and making a good impression. This could mean:

• Creating engaging content
• Being active on social media
• Partnering with other brands to reach a wider audience
• Attending industry events
• Publishing thought leadership articles
• Offering webinars or workshops

The goal is to show your expertise and build trust with your audience.

4. Cost-Per-Click

Cost-Per-Click (CPC) helps you keep track of your ad spend. You want to make sure your ads are cost-effective and deliver a good return on investment.

Measuring CPC is as easy as pie. You just divide the total cost of your clicks by the number of clicks. So, if you spent $100 on an ad and got 200 clicks, your CPC would be $100/200 = $0.50. That means you’re paying 50 cents for each visitor to your site from that ad.

Image Source: Social Pilot

Improving your CPC is all about getting more clicks for less money. This could mean tweaking your ad copy to make it more enticing, targeting your ads more effectively, or testing different types of ads to see what works best.

For B2B companies, it could also mean focusing on long-tail keywords that are less competitive but highly relevant to your audience. These can often deliver lower CPCs and higher quality traffic.

5. Impressions

Impressions are like the first hello in a conversation. They’re the starting point of any interaction on social media. If your post doesn’t make an impression, it’s like it’s invisible.

Measuring impressions is pretty straightforward. Every time your post appears on someone’s screen, that’s counted as one impression. So, if your post shows up on 500 screens, you’ve got 500 impressions. But remember, impressions don’t tell you if someone interacted with your post or even if they really looked at it. They just tell you that your post was there, waving hello.

Boosting impressions is all about increasing your visibility. You want your posts to show up on as many screens as possible. This could mean posting at times when your audience is most active or using relevant hashtags to get your content in front of more eyes.

For B2B companies, it could also mean creating content that’s super relevant to your industry. The more relevant your content, the more likely it is to show up in feeds and searches.

6. Click-through Rate

Click-through Rate (CTR) tells us if our content is hitting the mark. If people are clicking, it means they’re interested and want to know more. It’s like a thumbs up from your audience.

For B2B companies, a good CTR is a sign that your message is resonating with other businesses. It means you’re speaking their language and offering something they find valuable.

Measuring CTR is simple. Divide the number of clicks your content gets by the number of times it was seen (impressions). So, if your ad was seen 1000 times and got 50 clicks, your CTR would be (50/1000)*100 = 5%.

Image Source: Wordstream

Improving your CTR is all about making your content more click-worthy. This could mean writing more engaging headlines, using eye-catching images, or making a compelling offer. It could also mean understanding what your business audience cares about and tailoring your message to their needs and interests.

7. Virality Rate

Your virality Rate lets you know how much your content is resonating with your audience. If people are sharing your content, it means they find it valuable and think others will too. And, a high Virality Rate can help spread the word about your brand, products, or services to a wider audience.

Measuring Virality Rate is pretty straightforward. You just divide the number of shares your content gets by the number of views, and then multiply by 100 to get a percentage. So, if your post gets 100 views and 10 shares, your Virality Rate is (10/100)*100 = 10%.

Image Source: AdEspresso

To improve your Virality Rate, you need to create share-worthy content. Focus on creating content that’s entertaining, informative, or inspiring. It should also help your audience solve a problem, improve their skills, or understand a complex issue. The more value you provide, the more likely your audience is to share your content.

8. Cost-Per-Mile

Cost-Per-Mile, or CPM, refers to how much you’re paying to reach 1000 people with your ad. It’s like buying a billboard on a busy highway and counting the number of cars that pass by. It’s important because it helps you understand the cost of getting your message to your audience.

To measure CPM, divide the total cost of your ad campaign by the number of impressions (the number of times your ad was shown), and then multiply by 1000. So, if you spent $100 on an ad campaign that got 10,000 impressions, your CPM would be ($100/10,000)*1000 = $10.

Image Source: ironSource

Improving your CPM is all about getting more impressions for less money. This could mean:

• Optimizing your ad to make it more appealing
• Targeting your ad to a more specific audience
• Testing different ad placements to see where you get the best results
• Creating high quality content that attracts and engages your target audience

The better your content, the more likely it is to get seen and shared, which can help lower your CPM.

9. Bounce Rate

Bounce Rate lets you know how engaging (or not) your website is. If people are bouncing off quickly, it might mean they didn’t find what they were looking for, or maybe your website wasn’t as user-friendly as it could be.

A high Bounce Rate could mean you’re missing out on potential leads or customers. You want people to stick around, learn more about your business, and hopefully take the next step, like making a purchase or contacting you for more info.

Your Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing just one page. So, if 100 people visit your website and 50 of them leave without clicking on anything else, your Bounce Rate is 50%.

Image Source: AB Tasty

To improve your Bounce Rate, make your website more engaging and user-friendly by:

• Improving your website design
• Making your content more interesting
• Ensuring your website loads quickly

For B2B companies, it could also mean making sure your website clearly communicates what you do and the value you offer. You want to grab your visitors’ attention and give them a reason to stick around.

10. Social Share of Voice (SSOV)

Social Share of Voice (SSOV) tells you how much buzz your brand is creating. For B2B companies, a high SOV means you’re leading the conversation in the industry. You’re the thought leader, the trendsetter, the one everyone else is listening to.

To measure SSOV, you need to know how many social media mentions your brand has compared to your competitors. So, if your brand has 100 mentions and your competitors have 900 combined, your SSOV would be (100/1000)*100 = 10%.

Image Source: Augurian

Improving your SSOV means getting more people to talk about your brand with more engaging content, the launch of exciting new products, or exceptional customer service.

If you’re a B2B company, share valuable insights, participate in industry discussions, or partner with influencers in your field.

11. Follower Count and Growth

Follower Count and Growth is exactly what it sounds like–it gives you an idea of the size of your audience. A large and growing follower count means you have a wide audience for your message and more potential customers interested in what you have to say.

To measure your Follower Count and Growth, simply check your social media profiles. Your follower count is the number of people following your account, and your growth rate is how fast that number is increasing. If you start the month with 100 followers and end with 150, your growth rate for that month is (150-100)/100*100 = 50%.

To improve your Follower Count and Growth, you need to attract and retain new followers by:

• Posting engaging content
• Interacting with your followers
• Running social media campaigns
• Sharing valuable industry insights
• Showcasing your products or services
• Highlight customer testimonials

12. Amplification Rate

Amplification Rate is the echo of your social media voice. It tells you how much your audience is helping to spread your message.

For B2B companies, a high Amplification Rate means your message is being spread far and wide by your audience. It means your content is resonating with people and they’re helping to amplify your voice.

To measure your Amplification Rate, divide the number of shares your content gets by the number of overall followers (or impressions), and then multiply by 100 to get a percentage. So, if your post gets 50 shares and you have 1000 followers, your Amplification Rate is (50/1000)*100 = 5%.

Image Source: Shnoco

Improving your Amplification Rate is all about creating share-worthy content. For B2B companies, it could also mean understanding what your audience wants to see and tailoring your content accordingly.

13. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

Your Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) gives you a direct line to how your customers are feeling. A high CSAT means you’re doing a great job meeting your customers’ needs.

Measuring CSAT is as easy as asking your customers how satisfied they are. This is usually done through a survey where customers rate their satisfaction on a scale, like 1 to 5 or 1 to 10.

So, if you have 100 customers and their ratings add up to 450 on a 1-5 scale, your CSAT would be (450/ (100*5))*100 = 90%.

Image Source: Dialpad

Improving your CSAT is all about making your customers happier. This could mean:

• Improving your product
• Offering better customer service
• Listening to your customers and taking their feedback to heart

The most important thing is to understand your customers’ needs and find ways to help them succeed.

14. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is the word-of-mouth reputation of your business. It’s how likely your customers are to recommend you to others, and it’s important because it gives you a sense of your customers’ loyalty.

To measure your NPS, ask your customers one question: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?”

Then, subtract the percentage of detractors (those who respond with a score of 6 or lower) from the percentage of promoters (those who respond with a score of 9 or 10). So, if 70% of respondents are promoters and 10% are detractors, your NPS is 70-10 = 60.

Image Source: Qualtrics

The best thing you can do to improve your NPS is to go the extra mile to make your customers feel valued. Understand your audience’s challenges, help them overcome them, and offer exceptional customer service along the way.

Maximize Your Metrics Today with Marketing Insider Group

Keeping track of the right social media metrics can make all the difference. From understanding how well your content resonates with your audience to knowing how likely your customers are to recommend you to others, each metric offers valuable insights that can help you refine your strategy and achieve your goals.

It’s not just about collecting data, but rather understanding what that data is telling you. Are your customers happy? Are your posts reaching the right people? Are your ads cost-effective? The answers to these questions and more lie in your social media metrics.

Ready to maximize your results with social media metrics? Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!

Google’s tech gurus have been busy working on understanding language and how words connect on a webpage. They’ve come up with tools like ‘neural matching’ and ‘BERT’, and with every Google update, the search engine is becoming more and more sophisticated.

But just because Google’s getting smarter, doesn’t mean businesses are keeping up. A lot of website owners are still stuck using outdated tactics, optimizing their websites with just a handful of keywords. That’s old school SEO, especially when we know our web pages end up ranking for a ton of keywords anyway.

For those of us who’ve been around since Google was just a baby, this feels like a whole new game for on-page SEO. As Google’s language skills get better, our on-page SEO game needs to step up too. That’s where keyword clustering comes in.

Quick Takeaways

• Keyword clustering makes a webpage seem more relevant to search engines, increasing the webpage’s traffic and engagement 
• There are 3 main methods of keyword clustering, each having their own advantages and requiring different levels of effort and expertise
• Almost 95% of keywords get 10 monthly searches or less
• Keyword clustering requires website owners to think more broadly about content to help their web pages rank for the long term

Keyword clustering helps us optimize our content in a way that matches Google’s language understanding. By using keyword clustering, we can make sure our content ranks high across a bunch of relevant keywords, giving us more visibility in search results.

What Is Keyword Clustering?

Keyword clustering involves grouping related keywords together based on things like:

• What they’re about (topic)
• What they’re trying to do (search intent)
• Other connections (semantic relationships)

The goal of keyword clustering is to get a webpage to rank for a group of related keywords, instead of just one or two. This way, your page has a better chance of increasing traffic and engagement.

Keyword clustering also helps search engines, like Google, better understand your webpage. By grouping related keywords together, you make your page seem more relevant and raise your chances of climbing up the ranking ladder.

How To Do Keyword Clustering

Keyword clustering isn’t as fancy as it sounds. It’s really just a simple series of steps that can help you organize your SEO strategy.

1. Build a Keyword List

First, you need to know what you’re working with. Start by building a list of keywords that are relevant to your business by:

• Using keyword research tool
• Hosting brainstorming sessions
• Analyzing competitors’ keywords

The goal here is to compile a hefty list of words and phrases that your potential customers might search to find businesses like yours.

2. Categorize Your Keywords

Now that you’ve got your list, it’s time to get organized. Group your keywords into categories based on their similarities.

Image Source: Quattr

Maybe they’re related to the same topic, have the same search intent, or are just semantically related. The idea is to create clusters of keywords that can be targeted with the same page on your website.

3. Plan Your Keyword Strategy

With your keywords neatly categorized, you can start to plan your keyword strategy. This involves deciding which pages of your website will target which keyword clusters.

Image Source: Moz

Remember, the goal here is to get each page to rank for a whole bunch of closely related keywords. Be sure to prioritize your keywords according to search volume and your business’s goals. According to Ahrefs, almost 95% of keywords get 10 monthly searches or less, so targeting easy-to-rank-for keywords in the beginning can start you off on the right foot.

4. Optimize Your Content

Next up, it’s time to make your content the best it can be. Whether you’re working with existing content or creating something new, you’ll want to make sure it’s optimized for your keyword clusters.

This means naturally incorporating your target keywords into your content, making sure it’s high-quality and valuable to your readers. You also need to stay on top of your other SEO tactics, like using meta tags and alt-text.

5. Track Your Keyword Rankings

Last but not least, you need to keep an eye on your progress. Use an SEO tool (we like to use Semrush) to track how your pages are ranking for their target keywords.

This step will help you see if your keyword clusters are paying off, and where you may need to make some adjustments.

3 Keyword Clustering Methods

When it comes to effective keyword clustering, there’s a few different methods you can use. Let’s take a look:

1. Manual Clustering

This is the old-school, hands-on approach. With manual clustering, you’re:

1. Going through your keyword list
2. Grouping related keywords together yourself
3. Looking for common rankings for your keywords among SERPs

Image Source: Ahrefs

It can be time-consuming, and you might end up with a keyword that doesn’t quite fit anywhere, but manual clustering gives you total control over the process.

2. Parent Topic Clustering

Parent topic clustering is a bit more high-tech. This method uses SEO tools to identify the “parent topic” for each keyword, or the keyword that sends the most traffic to the top-ranking page for a given keyword.

Image Source: Ahrefs

By grouping keywords with the same parent topic together, you can create clusters that are likely to perform well in search results.

3. SERP Similarity Clustering

And then there’s SERP similarity clustering. This method involves comparing the search engine results pages (SERPs) for different keywords, and grouping them based on how similar the results are.

Image Source: Keyword Insights

If the same pages rank highly for two different keywords, those keywords are probably related. This method can be done manually for a few keywords, but for larger keyword lists, you’ll probably want to use a dedicated keyword clustering tool.

Tools for Keyword Clustering

You’re ready to start keyword clustering and looking for some tools to get the job done. Let’s take a look at some of the most useful tools, in our opinion, to make your life a lot easier.

1. Semrush. This is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers a range of features, like keyword research, competitor analysis, and of course, keyword clustering. Their Keyword Magic Tool is great for finding related keywords and grouping them into clusters.

Image Source: Semrush

2. Ahrefs. Another all-in-one SEO tool, Ahrefs offers a keyword explorer feature that can help you find related keywords. While it doesn’t offer keyword clustering per se, you can use the data it provides to create your own clusters.

3. Keyword Cupid. This tool is dedicated to keyword clustering. It uses machine learning algorithms to analyze SERP data and group related keywords together. It’s a bit more advanced, but if you’re serious about keyword clustering, it’s worth checking out.

4. Google Keyword Planner. While not a keyword clustering tool in the traditional sense, Google Keyword Planner is a great place to start your keyword research. You can find related keywords and their search volumes, which you can then group into clusters manually.

Video Source: Metrics Media X

5. Moz Keyword Explorer. Moz’s tool offers keyword suggestions, SERP analysis, and search volume data. Like Ahrefs, it doesn’t offer keyword clustering, but the data it provides can be used to create your own clusters.

The best tool for your business will always depend on your needs, resources, and how deep you want to dive into keyword clustering (or how much time you have to dedicate).

Start Creating Content With Keyword Clusters Today

When you get into keyword clustering, you’re showing Google that your website is a big deal in your industry and that you have top-notch content to offer. You’re also feeding Google’s content signals the clusters of content they’re trained to spot and boost in search results.

Keyword clustering means thinking bigger about your content. If you want your web pages to keep ranking well in the long run, it’s time to get your on-page strategy up to speed with Google.

Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!

Storytelling is the art of drawing out empathy from your audience. As I said in Mean People Suck, we can use the power of storytelling to truly get what we want in life and in business.

Storytelling has played a major role in human communication since the beginning of time. We use stories to share ideas, connect with strangers, and create meaning in our lives. It’s no surprise that storytelling has become an essential tool for marketers who want to build meaningful relationships with their audience members.

From the mouth of American author and expert business executive, Seth Godin, himself – “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make but about the stories you tell.”

Not convinced? A recent survey shows that 92% of consumers want brands to make ads that feel like a story. And according to Edelman, 63% of consumers said they remembered a brand story when making a purchase decision.

Storytelling isn’t just about pushing a product or service. It’s about crafting an aura around your brand that grabs your customers, stirs up their feelings, and gets them to take action.

But it’s even more than that. It’s about making an experience they won’t forget, one that hits home with your audience and builds connections that go way deeper. Through stories, the marketer builds an emotion-bridge from brand to customer that is far stronger and more compelling than traditional motivators such as price, extra features, or loyalty programs.

Image Source: Smartsheet

Let’s take a closer look at why storytelling is so important and how you can elevate your brand with tips for great story-driven marketing.

Quick Takeaways:

• Storytelling is one of the most powerful methods available for getting results.
• Because of its ability to resonate deeply, you should incorporate storytelling into your content marketing.
• The story should not be about your brand or product. It should be about the customer.

Marketing with stories makes your brand more relatable, creates an emotional connection, and gets your audience to act.

The Power of Storytelling in Action

There’s a little story about a research project I want to share with you to demonstrate the impact storytelling can have on marketing and product value perception. It’s called the “Significant Objects Project.”

When I learned about the project, I was floored. The results of it really shifted the way I viewed marketing. Michele Miller is a true content thought leader and chief storyteller at Magento. She shared this story with me a couple of years ago when we met over coffee.

So when I started writing Mean People Suck, I knew I wanted to include it. (Her husband Brian is also the amazing photographer behind my profile photo.) Here’s the story Michele shared:

Back in 2009, two reporters – Rob Walker of The Washington Post and Joshua Glenn from The New York Times – created the Significant Objects Project with the belief that “stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object’s subjective value can actually be measured objectively.”

For the project, they purchased 100 insignificant objects like those you see here. Then, they asked other writers, including journalists, mommy bloggers, and bestselling authors, to create backstories for each of their valueless Significant Objects.

Here’s what happened:

1. Rob and Joshua spent a total of $129 on 100 items.
2. They added fictional stories to each item and sold the products online.
3. They sold the items for a total of $3,613.
4. Their final average markup value for their sample set was 2,700%.

Although the items held no intrinsic value – they were useless trinkets from thrift stores and garage sales – the stories proved their worth 2,700-fold.

For the buyers, they were paying more because of the story than for an actual physical object. That’s how much storytelling truly means to people.

Here’s the thing, storytelling isn’t just another useful tool in any content marketer’s toolkit. It’s a method that should underlie every facet of your content marketing. The truth is, nothing moves people like a good story.

Storytelling Makes Your Brand More Relatable

Oftentimes, marketers throw facts, figures, features, and brand attributes at their target audience, trying to appeal to a customer’s rational side. While these elements can be important, they can also overwhelm the consumer.

What’s more effective is creating stories and a relatable connection with your audience. People connect with stories because they provide context, emotion, and empathy. It humanizes your brand. Learning how to tell a brand story is possibly one of the most important skills marketers can have today.

For example, think about the success of Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign. By putting customers’ names on their products, Coca-Cola created a personal connection with its audience and made its brand more relatable.

Video Source: Talia Feldman

The campaign was a huge success, with more than 150 million personalized bottles sold. And, in the United States, the campaign was credited with increasing sales by more than 2%, reversing more than 10 years of decline in Coke consumption.

Our brains are hardwired to accept information when told engagingly, rather than spewing cold, hard facts.

According to Fast Company, “When reading straight data, only the language parts of our brains work to decode the meaning. But when we read a story, not only do the language parts of our brains light up, but any other part of the brain that we would use if we were actually experiencing what we’re reading about becomes activated as well.”

Bottom line: Consumers don’t want to be sold or overwhelmed by facts about your brand – they want a true, meaningful connection.

Storytelling Evokes Emotion

Brand powerhouses like Google, Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola share something in common – they all rely on emotional advertising to strengthen their brand presence.

Emotion is a powerful motivator in marketing. When you effectively tap into your customer’s emotions, you can inspire them to take action. Successful storytelling can elicit positive emotions about your brand because it allows you to create a narrative that resonates with your audience.

Nike, arguably one of the best storytelling brands, elicits emotions in almost every ad campaign. For example, Nike’s “You Can’t Stop Us” campaign, which features a split-screen video of athletes from different sports and backgrounds, highlights the similarities between athletes and how they all face similar challenges and struggles.

Video Source: Marketing The Rainbow

Another Nike ad campaign called “What are girls made of?” encourages people to chase their dreams and become the best versions of themselves.

Overall, Nike’s storytelling is centered around pushing boundaries, overcoming obstacles, and achieving success, resulting in creating a brand that inspires and motivates its customers on a deeper level.

Bottom line: Evoking emotion, whether positively or negatively, can create deep connections with your audience and make you more memorable.

Storytelling Builds Trust

Authenticity and trust are essential components in marketing. When customers trust your brand, they’re more likely to do business with you and recommend your products or services to others, and it can build brand loyalty over time.

Patagonia is a great example of a brand that successfully uses storytelling. They have clearly defined their brand’s mission, values, and expertise, which is clearly communicated through their showcase and commitment to environmental sustainability and ethical business practices.

Video Source: Patagonia

As a result, Patagonia has built a loyal following of customers who trust its brand and support its mission.

The key to building trust with your target audience is ensuring the message is authentic. Your brand story should be true to who you are as a brand, not fabricated or exaggerated. Transparency and authenticity show that the brand is honest and open about its operations, which can help customers feel more confident in their relationship with the brand.

Bottom line: Successful storytelling can help you build trust with your target audience as consumers relate to the brand’s value and mission.

Storytelling Delivers ROI

Because storytelling taps into the power of human emotion, it makes your brand more relatable and trustworthy. We buy from brands we know, like and trust. And so, brand storytelling delivers better ROI.

Stories make your customers the heroes and not your product. Your customers love seeing themselves as heroes. This makes them much more likely to buy from you than from brands that shamelessly promote themselves.

What This Means for Content

If a good story can create perceived value out of thin air for a valueless product, imagine the power of storytelling when applied to products and services that do already offer value.

Infusing storytelling into your content marketing is the way to create effective content that resonates with your buyers. Some of the most successful brands are already using storytelling to connect with their customers on a deeper level.

Take Nike for example. Why do people pay nearly $200 dollars for Air Jordans, a pair of sneakers that cost about $25 to produce?

The story of what Nike says about the sneaker wearer.

Land Rover, Warby Parker, Zendesk, Lego, and Johnnie Walker are all great examples of brand storytelling.

When you use storytelling instead of simply throwing facts, data, or the same old feature and benefits lists at your customers, you connect with people on a feeling level rather than through logic. And, as science will attest to, we are able to remember stories that make us feel something far longer than facts.

Think about it. Can you recall a story you’ve read – 10, even 20 years ago – that featured a character you felt empathy for?

I know I can, and quite vividly. But, I have no idea what happened in my high school calculus class. Not one iota. Or is it one fractal? But I digress!

The point is: I’d have to jog my memory to recall the facts where my mind can always tap into stories that have moved me.

9 Tips for Great Story-Driven Marketing

A recent study shows that 65% of people feel an emotional connection to a brand after hearing their story. Here are five things to consider when trying to craft your own engaging brand story:

Image Source: Unspun

1. Create a strong narrative

If you’re unsure where to begin, try starting with the basics of brand building. Identify your brand story by defining who your brand is, what it stands for, and why it exists. The story you craft should be authentic, compelling, and easy to understand.

2. Know your audience

This is marketing 101. You’ve got to know who you’re talking to.

What do they like? What are their pain points? The better you know your audience, the better your stories will resonate.

3. View your consumers as the heroes

So often, marketers try to make their brand their hero, but this can come across as too sales-y, and we know that consumers don’t want to be sold.

Put your consumers and the problems they need to have solved at the center of your narrative, then define their challenges and motivations. This will help you craft a compelling story that resonates with your target audience.

4. Be authentic

Nobody likes a phony. Be real, be you.

Authenticity creates trust and people love brands they can trust. Share your brand’s journey, its ups and downs, and its victories. Authenticity is about being human and relatable.

5. Make it emotional

The best stories tug at the heartstrings.

Remember, if you can make your audience feel something, they’re more likely to remember your brand.

Image Source: StorySoft

Tap into emotions like happiness, excitement, or even nostalgia to create a strong connection with your audience.

6. Clearly define your marketing channels

To be effective, your brand story needs to be communicated across multiple channels. While some channels may be better suited for long-form content, like websites and videos, short-form content is better suited for social media platforms, email marketing, and advertising.

7. Consistency is key

To reinforce your brand story, keep the message consistent across all channels and touch points. Not only will this create a unified brand message, but it will help build brand recognition.

8. Make it visual

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Consumers love a strong visual. Pull them into your story using engaging and compelling creativity to support your overall narrative and reinforce your message.

9. Show, don’t tell

This is a golden rule in storytelling. Don’t just tell your audience about your brand’s values or mission – show them through stories. Use real-life examples, case studies, and testimonials to illustrate your points.

How to Use Storytelling in Your Content Marketing

As Michele talks about in her slideshow, The Art of Effective Storytelling, we tend to purchase what we identify with. Through
story, you can reach out to your target audience in a way that conveys why they need your product or service and how it’s meaningful for them, without you ever having to come out and say it.

In order to incorporate storytelling into your content marketing, it’s important to shift away from talking about your brand and to focus on the customer.

This goes beyond just customer needs and pain points. You have to be able to convey your messaging in a way that articulates the mindset of your prospects and existing customers.

• Spend more time getting to know your audience. Make understanding your buyers an ongoing process as your audience’s needs, wants, and preferences will change over time.
• Focus on what your product can do for your customers, not what it can do in general. What problem does it solve?
• Make it meaningful by staying true to your brand values. Authentic storytelling will have a much greater impact than a narrative that doesn’t work well with your brand’s actions, mission, and history.
• Create a narrative around your brand and ensure your marketing visuals, from images to website colors and graphics, align with this narrative.
• Use data to help inform the response to your narrative to help you understand exactly what resonates and what doesn’t.

Storytelling is too powerful to ignore. Take the time to better understand who the story is for and use a narrative to invite your buyers to become a part of it. Here are some more brand storytelling examples to inspire you.

Perfect Story-Driven Marketing Today

When storytelling is done right and authentic stories are shared across multiple channels, it can be an effective tool for building long-term relationships with your audience.

By making your brand more relatable, evoking emotion, creating a memorable experience, and building trust, you can use storytelling to create a powerful narrative that resonates with your audience and inspires action.

Want to learn more ways to build trust with your audience? The first step is creating high quality content consistently. Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!

Gone are the days when Google reigned supreme, because social media search is on the rise.

More and more users are asking TikTok and Instagram to answer their questions. Are social media’s conversational, personalized responses leaving Google’s SERPs in the dust?

TikTok alone has ended Google’s 15-year streak as the world’s most popular search engine. I guess Google’s 5.7 million searches per minute just aren’t enough to keep them on top…

As marketers, we’re faced with a dilemma. For many of us, we can’t fathom the idea of saying goodbye to our beloved SEO strategies. For others, they’ve already jumped ship to conquer their new and improved social media search strategies.

But let’s just hold our horses so we can get to the bottom of this –

Is it time for marketers to move on from SEO and put all of our energy into social media search? Or is this just another trend we should wait out so Google can reclaim its glory?

Quick Takeaways

• A recent study shows that 40% of Gen-Z users prefer searching for information on TikTok and Instagram rather than Google 
• Social media platforms offer a more personalized, engaging, and interactive search experience 
• Brands are finding it harder to compete with the power of personal networks, making social media an important tool for reaching audiences 
• Social media search may be a valuable tool, but it’s not a standalone solution 

Is social media search the new Google? Here’s how to adapt your content marketing strategy for maximum impact.

What Is SEO?

Let’s start with the basics of SEO.

A search engine ranks for content relevance with traits like:

• Comprehensiveness
• Freshness
• Ease of use

Image Source: WordStream

It then serves up content based on a digital algorithm that is tested and refined by user interaction. However, in most cases, basic search is only a crude indicator of intent. It’s designed by the masses, and therefore it’s often wrong.

What Is Social Media Search?

Enter the new wave of intent modeling. This generation of search is informed by social—sometimes referred to as social media search.

In other words, search engines will increasingly be driven by personal interactions like:

• Voting
• Ranking
• Commenting
• Views

This helps search engines to better understand the intent of the reader (or viewer). This social layer adds a new, personalized dimension to search results.

How Is Social Media Changing Search?

Social media search is amplified by the fact that social content is on the rise. People are creating content as fast as they are consuming it.

I first noticed this phenomenon a few years back while shopping for a Halloween costume. The leading organic search result was a Pinterest page. “Wow,” I thought, “How have brands missed this opportunity? Why didn’t Target or the Halloween Store do a better job finding the algorithm to pop into my reader?”

The fact is, it’s getting harder and harder for brands to compete with the power of the personal network. According to Search Marketing Land, a significant ratio of the top 100 results for more queries is consumer-generated media such as blogs and social networks.

This is why social media is so important to brands. If you’re still focusing on outbound communications and SEO without building an arsenal of social media content, you’re likely losing in the war for online eyeballs.

The TikTok Takeover

But Google is still the unrivaled king of search queries, right? Not anymore. Now Google is sharing its throne with social media platforms.

A recent study shows that 40% of Gen-Z users prefer searching for information on TikTok and Instagram rather than Google.

Image Source: ScreenRant

With TikTok’s shiny interface and never-ending stream of bite-sized videos, it has quickly become the new ‘it’ place for Gen-Z to search for information.

And why not? Social media platforms offer a search experience that’s:

• Personalized
• Engaging
• Interactive

They allow users to not only find information but also interact with it, share it, and discuss it with friends. This social aspect of search is something that traditional search engines lack.

And let’s not forget about the algorithms, which choose content based on what you like and do, making them a strong tool for personalized search. Users are more likely to find content that matches their interests and tastes, making the entire search experience more enjoyable and rewarding.

Is Social Media The New Marketing Strategy?

So if Gen-Z is giving up on Google search, does that mean your marketing strategy should too?

TikTok may be the new social media search hub, but it’s not going to do all the heavy lifting for you. The key to success is (still) understanding your customers and creating high content that aligns with their needs and interests. And covering all your bases.

Sure, this can come in the form of TikTok videos, Instagram reels, and LinkedIn posts, but we can’t forget about:

• Blog posts
• Podcasts
• Infographics
• Case studies

Any kind of content that represents both your brand and audience’s interests will drive better traffic and engagement.

Use strong marketing tactics, like tagging and SEO, to curate a content marketing strategy that’s optimized for both Google and social media search. This will not only help your content appear on SERPs and social media searches, but also AI queries, like ChatGPT.

So, while TikTok and other social media channels are a great tool to have in your kit, they’re just one part of a larger, well-rounded digital strategy. The key is to build content density so the digital space recognizes your brand as reputable.

Hungry for more? Carrie Rose shares some seriously great insight in the video below.

Video Source: Carrie Rose

Now What?

Add social media search to your kit of SEO and paid search. After all, organic search still ranks as the digital marketing channel that generates the most ROI.

Image Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

Building influencers, online communities, and social at scale is the new search. Forward thinking marketers are using social media search to understand the social behavior of their clients and act on it.

If social media search is discovery, traditional search is the validation of that discovery. Brands are using social data to understand consumer intent and pushing out relevant data to consumers—before they even know they’re interested—by using sophisticated purchase intent models.

Build Your Content Arsenal Today!

SEO may be sharing the spotlight with social media search, but that doesn’t mean you need to revamp your entire content marketing strategy. To really amp up your digital presence, you need a whole lot of high quality content that hits the right notes with your audience.

Mix social media search into your strategy and consistently create content that keeps your audience engaged. Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!

Gone are the days when traditional SEO tactics, like keyword stuffing and link building, ruled the digital space. Now, it’s all about mastering the art of capturing attention on social media platforms, where cat videos and viral challenges can make or break your online presence.

But that’s not all. Did you know that AI is taking over the internet? Now that robots are answering users’ burning questions, we need to cover all of our bases – and that means prioritizing social media SEO.

So, whether you’re a self-proclaimed influencer or a small business owner, it’s important to understand why social media SEO is the hottest thing since sliced bread. In this article, we’re exploring the ins and outs of social media SEO, why it’s so important in 2023, and how to optimize your social media channels to perform.

Quick Takeaways

• With AI taking a bigger role in search and the need to educate AI language models, prioritizing social media SEO is more important than ever
• Sharing high-quality content on social media has a direct impact on factors that influence search rankings 
• When your audience reads and shares your content, it increases your visibility, improves traffic, and generates backlinks, sending positive signals to search engines
• Optimize your profile with keywords, include hashtags, use alt-text, feature relevant keywords descriptions, and leverage location features boost social media SEO 

Social media SEO is key to navigating the digital landscape and reaping the rewards of increased visibility and organic traffic.

What Exactly Is Social Media SEO?

It’s no secret that social media is one of the best places to reach your target audience. But how can marketers effectively find and communicate with their audience members via content? The answer: social media SEO.

Image Source: Gather Content

Social media SEO is all about optimizing your social media profiles and content to increase your visibility and drive organic traffic.

Simple, right? Not necessarily! With social media’s ever-changing algorithms and elusive engagement metrics, perfecting your social media SEO strategy can feel like a game of cat and mouse.

But, once you nail down a successful strategy, you’ll see:

• Increased in website traffic
• Enhanced online presence
• Better brand reputation
• More engagement
• Meaningful relationships with your audience

So, while the tangible benefits of social media SEO can take a bit of effort to achieve, all your hard work will pay off in the long run. Not to mention, you don’t really have a choice anymore. Here’s why:

Why Social Media SEO Is More Important Than Ever

AI is taking over the world. Just kidding, it’s not – but it is changing search as we know it. Instead of creating content that educates just our audiences and SERPs, now we need to educate AI language models, too.

The most effective way to do this is by building something called “content mass”. By building your brand’s content mass with a dense arsenal of ungated web content, AI bots will know your brand and recommend you to users.

Since 90% of Americans use social media, we recommend you take advantage of social media SEO to keep your brand in front of its audience. Fine-tune your content marketing strategy and create content that performs well on every marketing channel to stay relevant.

How Social Media Supports SEO

Your brand’s social media has a direct impact on the factors that influence search rankings, making it an important player in driving quality traffic to your website.

When you publish high-quality content that resonates with your target audience, they become advocates for your brand. And naturally, your audience reads and shares your articles with their friends and followers.

The content you share on social media can take various forms, as long as it captivates your readers. Some of our favorite examples of traffic and social share-driving content are:

• Blog posts
• Videos
• Infographics
• Podcasts

Although, if you don’t distribute your high-quality content effectively, your content won’t have the impact you need it to.

That’s where social media comes in. When you share your posts, your audience amplifies your content by further sharing it, ultimately:

• Increases your visibility
• Improving traffic
• Generating backlinks

These social signals let Google know that your site’s content is top notch. In turn, these signals can indirectly enhance your search rankings.

Image Source: Life Marketing

Moral of the story: sharing content on social media is essential to regularly capturing your audience’s attention, boosting social shares, and supporting SEO.

Social Media SEO Tips For Every Channel

Here’s the inside scoop on making your presence known in the world of social media SEO.

Instagram

1. Optimize your profile with keywords. Sprinkle keywords into your name, handle, bio, and location (if relevant), too.
2. Feature keywords and hashtags into your captions. No need to hide them in the comments anymore. Including keywords and hashtags in your captions will boost your content’s visibility on search pages.
3. Include alt-text! Not only does alt-text make your visual content more accessible, but it also helps Instagram understand exactly what your content is all about. This means your posts can show up when people search for relevant topics. Double win!
4. Don’t forget subtitles. While Instagram has auto-generated captions for accessibility, adding subtitles means your target keyword gets some onscreen spotlight.
5. Tag your location. By tagging your location, your content can be featured on Instagram Maps, which serves as a local business search.

Image Source: Twitter

YouTube

1. Get savvy with your video file name. Use your primary keyword phrase as the file name. For instance, let’s say your keyword is “DIY potholder,” you can name your video file “DIY-potholder.mov”
2. Craft a captivating title. Incorporate your primary keyword phrase into the title, but make it a more descriptive version that people are likely to type into the YouTube search bar. For example, “How to Crochet a DIY Potholder.” This way, your title aligns with search intent.
3. Description domination with keywords. Utilize keywords in the video description, especially within the first two lines that are visible without clicking the “more” option. Make sure to include your primary keyword and, if possible, sprinkle in a secondary keyword or two, without going overboard and sounding like a keyword stuffing enthusiast.
4. Speak it out loud and caption it. Say your keywords in the video itself, making sure they are spoken at some point. Additionally, turn on captions in YouTube Studio. This way, your keywords appear both audibly and visually, optimizing accessibility and SEO.
5. Embrace the power of how-to videos. If you want to attract search-driven views, focus on creating how-to videos. These types of videos tend to perform exceptionally well in search results. Other video types typically gain more views from the home page, suggested videos, or playlists.
6. Tags? Not a big deal. According to YouTube, tags don’t hold significant weight in search rankings. They are primarily used to address common misspellings or variations, such as “DIY” vs. “DYI.” So, don’t stress too much about tags.

TikTok

1. Level up your profile with keywords. Add relevant keywords to your TikTok user profile to boost the SEO power of your entire account.
2. Double the impact with your main keyword. Make your TikTok a sensation by not only including keywords in your video’s in-text overlay, but also by saying it out loud. This means your keyword gets a triple dose of exposure—it’s included in the in-text overlay, spoken in the video, and captured in the automatically generated closed captions.
3. Feature keywords and hashtags in your video description. Be sure to include relevant keywords and hashtags in your video’s description (or caption). Focus more on relevant keywords for improved TikTok SEO to help your content get discovered.

Video Source: Hootsuite Labs

Facebook

1. Use keywords on your Facebook page. Incorporate your main keyword into your Page title and vanity URL, About section, and description.
2. Feature your business address. If it’s relevant to your business, add your address to your profile. This inclusion enables your Page to be included in local search results, boosting its visibility among local audiences.
3. Expand with location pages. If you have multiple physical locations, create dedicated location pages for each one. This strategy increases the chances of all your locations appearing in local search results, maximizing your reach.
4. Post with keywords. When crafting posts and photo captions, weave in relevant keywords naturally. By using language that flows, you can include the most important keyword in each post, enhancing its SEO impact.
5. Don’t forget alt-text! Include specific and descriptive alt-text for all of your images. This helps Facebook understand the content of your posts, improving their relevance and visibility.

Twitter

1. Unleash the power of keywords. Incorporate your main keyword in your Twitter name, handle, and bio. This strategic placement ensures that your profile aligns with relevant searches and grabs the attention of your target audience.
2. Craft tweets that pack a punch. Make the most of Twitter’s limited character count by including relevant keywords and hashtags in your tweets. Use them wisely and organically to maintain value and readability for your readers.
3. Alt-text for extra SEO. When sharing images in your tweets, go the extra mile and alt-text that includes your relevant keywords (if applicable to the image). This alt-text not only enhances accessibility for visually impaired users, but also signals to search engines the content of your image.

Boost Your SEO Today

Social media SEO is a powerful tool for enhancing your online presence, driving organic traffic, and building meaningful relationships with your audience. While navigating social media’s algorithms and engagement metrics can be a challenge, the benefits of a successful social media SEO strategy are well worth your effort!

Ready to take your content’s performance to the next level? Start creating content that’s guaranteed to satisfy your target audience and SERPs. Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!

Odds are you already know how important it is to attract and retain customers. But do you know how direct the relationship is between understanding your customers’ needs and maximizing the results of your marketing efforts?

Luckily, with the right customer journey mapping tools, you can create a specialized experience for your audience that not only improves satisfaction, but also creates opportunities for growth.

Customer journey mapping tools can range anywhere from cloud-based platforms to collaborative design tools, but they all have the potential to help you better understand your customers, improve your marketing efforts, and drive more sales.

Today, we’re sharing 11 customer journey mapping tools you can start using to make the mapping process more manageable and effective.

Quick Takeaways

• Customer journey mapping tools will help you understand your customers’ behavior, needs, and pain points at every stage of their interaction with your business
• More than 50% of marketers adjust their marketing strategies according to consumer behavior, interactions, and feedback
• The customer journey can be broken down into four main stages: Awareness, Consideration, Decision, and Loyalty
• Using customer journey mapping tools can help create a specialized experience for customers, identify gaps, and create opportunities for improvement

With the right customer journey mapping tools, you can better understand your customers’ needs and create more opportunities for growth.

Why Use Customer Journey Mapping Tools?

Mapping the customer journey is essential if you want to understand your customers’ behavior, needs, and pain points at every stage of their interaction with your business.

This allows you to identify gaps in the customer experience and opportunities for improvement, as well as develop targeted marketing strategies that resonate with your audience. In fact, more than 50% of marketers adapt their strategies according to customer data.

So, how do you map the customer journey? Well, it starts with understanding the 4 stages of the customer journey:

• Awareness. This is when customers first become aware of their problem and start searching for information that will help them better understand it. During this stage, it’s important to create content that educates and informs your audience, like blog posts.
• Consideration. During the consideration, your customer has a clear understanding of their problem and is starting to consider possible solutions. This is when you should start creating content, like whitepapers or webinars, that positions your products or services as a viable solution.
• Decision. The customer has narrowed down their opinions and is ready to make a purchase decision. Focus on creating content that reinforces the benefits of your solution, like explainer videos, free trials, and customer testimonials.
• Loyalty. Now that your customer has made a purchase, it’s time to build a long-term relationship with them by providing excellent customer service, ongoing support, and opportunities for upselling. You should also encourage them to share their positive experience through testimonials, referrals, or online reviews to build brand awareness.

Image Source: Price Spider

When you map the customer journey according to each stage, you can create a tailored content experience that nurtures customers and leads them closer to conversion. This will ultimately help you better understand your customers, improve your marketing efforts, and drive more sales.

11 Customer Journey Mapping Tools

Using customer journey mapping tools can help create a specialized experience for customers, ultimately increasing conversions and opportunities for growth. Here’s 11 tools you can use to help identify each touchpoint with your audience, and ultimately create a satisfying experience.

1. InMoment

Image Source: InMoment

InMoment is a cloud-based platform that businesses use to gather and analyze customer feedback from:

• Surveys
• Social media
• Review sites

It’s basically a one-stop-shop for all your customer experience optimization needs. Use it when you want to better understand your customers, improve satisfaction, and make data-driven decisions.

2. Gliffy

Gliffy is a web-based diagramming and collaboration tool that allows users to create and share diagrams, flowcharts, and other visual representations of data.

With Gliffy, you can build digital diagrams by simply dragging and dropping shapes, lines, and other elements onto the canvas. You can also import existing diagrams or collaborate with others in real-time to create a shared diagram.

Use this customer journey mapping tool when you need to get your ideas on “paper”!

3. Smaply

Image Source: Smaply

Smaply is a user-friendly platform that allows you to create an archive of customer insights, complete with:

• Images
• PDF files
• Audio recordings

Smaply allows you to link everything together to get a full overview of the customer journey and identify areas for improvement. If your customer journey is complex and you need to keep everything in one place, Smaply is an option that’s easy to navigate.

4. UXPressia

If you’re tired of using that dusty old whiteboard and want something that’s consistently good-looking, then UXPressia is the tool for you!

With UXPressia, you can create intuitive customer journey maps and customize them to each of your brand’s customer touchpoints. You can also collaborate with multiple team members across different departments in real-time, and use one of UXPressia’s many template options to get you started.

5. Miro

Image Source: Miro

Miro offers a variety of features for mapping the customer journey, allowing marketers to create visuals of their customers’ interactions and gain a better understanding. With Miro, you can manage customer experience activities by:

• Creating a repository for journey maps
• Connecting maps in hierarchies
• Assigning responsible team members
• Creating data hubs

Plus, Miro also integrates with other customer journey mapping tools, like Jira, to centralize and manage all customer experience projects in one place.

6. Lucidspark

Lucidspark is a customer journey mapping tool that allows users to create multiple journey maps depending on goals and buyer personas, and identify communication gaps, pain points, and friction in the customer experience.

It also provides a flexible digital canvas for brainstorming and real-time collaboration. And since it’s developed by Lucid, a trusted partner of 99% of the Fortune 500 companies, you know it’s a tool you can count on.

7. Qualtrics

Image Source: Qualtrics

Qualtrics is an experience management platform that allows businesses to collect, analyze, and act on customer feedback and data.

With Qualtrics, B2B marketers can gather customer insights and feedback by creating:

• Surveys
• Online reviews
• Feedback forms

Qualtrics also allows users to segment customers according to demographics, behaviors, and preferences, making it easier to design targeted marketing campaigns and personalized experiences.

8. SuiteCX

SuiteCX is a customer experience platform that helps businesses design, visualize, and deliver optimal customer experiences that engage customers. It’s a fully customizable and secure platform that features robust customer journey mapping abilities, as well as:

• Integrated survey data
• Persona development
• Improvement planning
• Contact strategy creation

With SuiteCX, you can visualize persona-based customer journeys, identify customer pain points, and turn insights from customer journey maps into real-world execution. And if you need a little extra help, SuiteCX also offers training, coaching, workshops, and CX consulting services to ensure you succeed!

9. Microsoft Visio

Image Source: Microsoft Visio

Visio is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, and grants subscribers access to a variety of templates, shapes, and stencils to make it easy to create visuals like:

• Flowcharts
• Org charts
• Network diagrams

Not only that, but Visio can create diagrams for various business processes, such as decision-making, data visualization, and process execution. Plus, Visio’s enterprise-grade security and privacy features will ensure that your customer journey maps are protected during collaboration.

10. Figma

Figma is a collaborative design tool that allows marketing teams to create, share, and iterate on design projects in real-time.

With Figma, B2B marketers can create wireframes, prototypes, and other design elements that illustrate the customer journey. This customer journey mapping tool allows for easy collaboration and feedback from team members and stakeholders, and also offers a variety of features like:

• Design templates
• Vector networks
• Animation tools

Figma also integrates with other tools, like Slack and Jira, allowing for seamless collaboration and project management. This can be helpful for tracking progress on customer journey projects and ensuring that deadlines are met.

11. Canvanizer

Image Source: Canvanizer

Canvanizer is ideal for brainstorming and collaboration between team members. With Canvanizer, B2B marketers can create their own canvases, post ideas, move notes, and share their creations with other team members for synced updates.

If that’s not enough, you can upgrade this customer journey mapping tool to Canvanizer 2.0, which offers 40+ templates, custom segment titles, and mobile editing features.

Curate Your Customers’ Journey Today

Customer journey mapping tools can make a huge difference when it comes to creating target marketing strategies that resonate with your audience. With a better understanding of your audience’s needs and behavior, you can deliver optimal experiences, improve satisfaction, and make data-driven decisions.

Ready to take your customer experience to the next level? Start creating high quality content consistently to capture the hearts of your customers. Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!

For the last 25 years, Google has ruled the digital space, guiding our searches and shaping our online experiences.

So, we can only imagine how shocked Google employees were when they learned that Samsung, a powerhouse of consumer electronics, considered swapping Google as their devices’ default search engine for Microsoft’s Bing.

Bing, once considered a smaller player in the search engine game, has been quietly integrating advanced AI technology into its platform. Their recent upgrades have intrigued industry insiders and prompted them to take a closer look at Bing’s capabilities.

According to the New York Times, Google responded to Samsung’s threat in a panic. The potential loss of an estimated $3 billion from the Samsung contract put Google on edge, not to mention the $20 billion tied to a potential contract renewal with Apple.

Image Source: Giphy

Now, Google is racing against the clock to develop their own AI-powered search engine and upgrade their existing platform with new AI features.

This begs us to ask the question: What does this mean for search and marketers? Is this the end of the organic search world as we know it?

Quick Takeaways

• Google’s “Project Magi” ​​aims to provide users with a more personalized and conversational search experience and predict user requirements
• Google is using AI to respond to user questions instead of websites, so businesses need to optimize their content to appear in AI-generated responses
• Create interactive content, improve website design and usability, and provide personalized experiences to compete with AI-powered search engines
• Conversational search is on the rise, and optimizing your content for voice search is crucial if you want to be a part of the conversation

Google Magi may impact your marketing strategy, but you can still stand out in search by creating personalized, conversational content to engage your audience.

Google Magi: What Is It?

Google has been using large language models to improve the quality of its search results for years, but avoided fully integrated AI because of its likelihood to generate biased or incorrect information.

But now that that the competition has reached an all time high, Google is developing their own AI-powered search engine, and they’re calling it “Project Magi”.

Image Source: Analytics Vidhya

Although this project is still in the early stages of development, we know that Google is starting by adding new features to their existing search engine:

• GIFI is going to create AI-generated images in Google Image results.
• Tivoli Tutor will teach users a new language through AI-text conversations.
• Searchalong will allow users to ask an AI-chatbot questions while searching through Google’s Chrome browser.
• Google Earth Mapping Technology may start using AI.
• Search for music by having a conversation with an AI-chatbot.

Google is also going to help facilitate transactions. Instead of buying those new shoes through your favorite brand’s website, Google is going to let you buy them with the simple click of a button.

Why?

The goal of Google Magi is to provide users with a more personalized search experience by predicting their requirements. The more you use the AI search engine, the more it will get to know your personal preferences and deliver an online experience catered to your needs.

Magi is also going to be much more conversational than Google’s current search, and may even know how to debug and write code.

Want to learn more? Here’s a video that further explains Google Magi and how it fits into recent advancements in AI.

Video Source: TheAIGRID

What Do Marketers Need to Know?

Google Magi isn’t going to kill our SEO strategies, but it may force us to rethink search. If you still want to generate organic traffic after Google’s new developments, here’s what you need to know:

A Shift In Strategy

Instead of relying on websites for answers, Google is leaning on AI to answer user questions. This means that it’s time to get creative with your marketing strategy so your content appears in AI-generated responses.

Marketers can start by optimizing their content for AI responses, and even collaborating with AI to provide more accurate answers.

Personalization is Key

With the implementation of AI, the search experience is becoming even more personalized. So naturally, your content should do the same.

Make sure your content caters to the unique preferences and needs of your users. Although this may call for an in-depth user analysis and segmentation, it will allow you to create tailored content that resonates with your audience members, ultimately making sure they come back to learn more.

Conversational Content

As we enter the era of conversational search, people are talking to their devices like they’re chatting with a friend. Optimizing your content for voice search and natural language queries is going to be key to success.

Image Source: SEO.ai

If you haven’t already, start creating content that answers your audience’s burning questions, and optimize your content so AI can easily understand it. This way, your content can be a part of the conversation.

Stiff Competition

Now that Google is facilitating transactions, your website is facing some stiff competition. This means readjusting your marketing strategy to stand out and attract more visitors to your site.

This could mean focusing on:

• Improving the user experience
• Offering unique content or value propositions
• Taking advantage of other marketing channels

Think outside the box and start considering new ways to reach your target audience with high quality content.

New Metrics

Since search is changing, so are our SEO metrics and ranking factors.

For example, marketers will need to start looking at “User Intent Satisfaction”. Since AI algorithms can understand user queries and interpet search intent, they will also be able to measure how well a webpage satisfies a user’s intent by looking at factors like:

• Relevance of content
• Quality of answers provided
• Overall user experience on a website

To maintain your site’s visibility and relevance, it’s important to stay one step ahead of new metrics and adapt your strategies as needed.

User Engagement and Retention

With the rise of AI-generated responses, we need to up our game when it comes to user engagement and retention. This could mean:

• Creating more interactive content, like quizzes, polls, and videos
• Improving your website’s design and usability
• Providing personalized experiences with recommendations and tailored content

Pretty much, we need to roll out the red carpet and turn our websites into go-to destinations for the ultimate user experience.

Need Help Creating The Ultimate User Experience?

Google Magi and other AI-powered search engines are reshaping the future of search and posing new challenges for marketers. But, rather than signaling the end of the organic search world, these new developments call for a shift in strategy.

Need help reshaping your current marketing strategy? Start creating content that resonates with both your audience and AI-powered search engines. Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!