Social Marketing

Gaining more followers on Instagram is key to successfully scaling your marketing efforts on the platform. But how do you increase followers on Instagram, especially if you have fewer than a thousand? Gaining more followers on Instagram is key to successfully scaling your marketing efforts on the platform. But how do you increase followers on Instagram, especially if you have fewer than a thousand? It’s no secret that opportunities are continuing to grow on Instagram for Business. Approximately 90% of Instagram’s 1 billion active monthly users follow a business account on the platform, and there are more than 200 million business accounts. But here’s the deal: Unless you’re famous, it’s really hard to amass a huge following on Instagram without some hard work. It’s especially difficult if you’re a small business using Instagram marketing to gain more clients. How do you even get started? Luckily, you can do a few things right away to collect at least 1,000 quality followers for your personal or professional Instagram account. It’s all about knowing where to invest your time and effort. In this post, we’ll discuss a few strategies to help you gain those followers, from creating a follow-worthy Instagram profile to using contests and staying true to your brand. Before you think about optimizing your Instagram profile, it’s essential to gather the tools and resources you need to hit the ground running. To get more followers on Instagram, you’ll need to post consistently over time while using best practices. If you’re new to Instagram marketing, this can be challenging. For that reason, we’ll first cover some general tools to help you level up, then go into actionable tips once you’ve set up and optimized your account. Even if you’ve never tried your hand at Instagram marketing, and even if you don’t have a team of content creators, you can grow your Instagram account with the right tools. With that said, let’s jump right in. 1. Use a social media content calendar to plan your Instagram posts ahead of time. Download a Free Content Calendar to Grow Your Instagram Followers Most of the work of increasing your Instagram followers happens before you open the app. For one, you must plan to publish new Instagram posts consistently, and even though it’s tempting to post when inspiration strikes, it’s essential to find a rhythm that helps you capitalize on trends. Not to mention it will also help you nurture a community that will expect specific posts from you at a specific time. Consistently planning, writing, and publishing Instagram posts will require an exceptional level of organization. For that reason, we recommend using a social media content calendar to plan your posting schedule ahead of time. Here are some resources you can use to jumpstart your Instagram content creation process: What to Post on Instagram: Photo & Video Ideas to Spark Inspiration Best Instagram Captions: Good, Cool, Funny, & Cute How to Plan Your Instagram Posts [+ Free Instagram Planning Templates] 2. Use a social media

Open source AI platforms are helping humanity move toward a futuristic world faster than most anticipated.Open source AI platforms are helping humanity move toward a futuristic world faster than most anticipated. OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google have had an outrageous month in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, and this field keeps accelerating. What is open source AI? Defining this term requires understanding a few others. Open source is a software development term that means any programmer can jump in and work with it, the goal being to develop robust software in a shorter amount of time. This is a great way to leverage the novel ideas of the best minds to fuel progress in technology. Think of open source as a group project where humanity benefits from A+ work. Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science that develops programs and algorithms (step-by-step processes designed to solve a problem or answer a question) that help make various machines operate in more human-like ways. There are several subfields of this science, including: Natural language processing (NLP), which focuses on developing natural interactions between humans and computers. Specialized software helps machines process human language, create understandable words, and interact with humans through language. Machine learning (ML), which prioritizes a machine’s ability to analyze information and use it to make recommendations or decisions based on the data sets it has provided. Computer vision, which is all about creating machines that can understand and then interpret visual information. Robotics that can physically perform tasks without human micromanagement, including interaction with humans. Right now, companies verify we are human by having us choose photos from a set with one thing in common, such as cars or volcanoes. And if we were to see a car at the base of an active volcano, we can extrapolate that the car will be damaged. Machines are still developing these abilities. Open source AI, then, can be defined as software engineers collaborating on various artificial intelligence projects that are open to the public to develop. The goal is to better integrate computing with humanity. We need one last bonus keyword that helps us tie open source AI to marketing: Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 is the idea that advanced computing and AI have unlocked a new era in human productivity. The first industrial revolution was about creating machines to do work via steam or water power. The second industrial revolution was when we converted machines to electric power and embraced mass production. Products were built by human assembly lines, assisted by electric conveyor belts that brought the work to their hands. The third industrial revolution was when we plugged computers into the machinery to boost efficiency and automation. Car factories now have machines programmed to quickly and precisely build cars without human assembly lines. And now the fourth industrial revolution — dubbed Industry 4.0 — is about how the industry is changing now that humanity and computing are so closely interconnected. Business doesn’t just happen in boardrooms and on factory floors

These days, businesses across every industry are investing in social media marketing. But no matter how great your social media content is or how many people follow your accounts, you won’t be able to grow your audience, reach, and presence if you don’t understand the data behind it all.These days, businesses across every industry are investing in social media marketing. But no matter how great your social media content is or how many people follow your accounts, you won’t be able to grow your audience, reach, and presence if you don’t understand the data behind it all. In-depth knowledge about the status and success of your social media marketing will offer actionable insight into things like which strategies should remain in place and what you should change or experiment with in order to grow. Social media analytics tools are able to help you with just that. In this post, we cover the following: What is social media analytics? Why use social media analytics? How to track social media analytics Best social media analytics tools Social Media Analytics In this blog post, we’ll review the importance of social media analytics and some great options to help you measure your social media marketing success. Get certified in social media strategy with this free course. What is social media analytics? Social media analytics is the process of gathering, analyzing, and applying data, information, and reports related to the content shared on your social profiles and the social profiles themselves. Why use social media analytics? With social media analytics, you can: Understand the metrics that matter most to your team and business such as engagement, reposts, shares, clicks, impressions, and sessions. Identify effective ways to boost brand awareness and reach. Resonate with your audience. Boost traffic to your other content and website. Increase conversions. Improve customer loyalty. How to Track Social Media Analytics Here are the steps involved in tracking social media analytics Identify which social media platforms you’ll be measuring impact on (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram). Determine which metrics you’re doing to track (e.g. clicks, impressions, likes, shares). Choose a time period to analyze (e.g. last quarter, last month, last week, duration of your campaign). Determine which tools you’ll use to track and measure success (we’ll cover your options in the next section). Review and analyze your data (depending on your tool of choice, there may be internal features to help you understand and analyze your data — such as this one with HubSpot). Apply your findings and conclusions to improve growth in the future. 1. HubSpot Social Media Software Get started with HubSpot Social Media Analytics  HubSpot provides a deep look into the way social media impacts your bottom line and gives you the ability to report on social media ROI. View and compare performance across different platforms, campaigns, and publishing times — all from a single tool. Monitor your brand on social to understand how your target audience perceives your business and content. Additionally, YouTube Reports provide insight into how your

Effective B2B marketing is difficult to get right. Between creative demands, budget limits, and channel decisions, marketers have a lot to juggle when developing their marketing strategy.Effective B2B marketing is difficult to get right. Between creative demands, budget limits, and channel decisions, marketers have a lot to juggle when developing their marketing strategy. The biggest determinant of effective marketing, however, is your audience. If you’re not properly targeting your buyer persona, your promotions and advertisements will likely fall on deaf ears. You might as well not be marketing at all. Where target audiences vary the most, though, is between individual consumers and businesses. Some companies serve individual shoppers, while others cater to companies and organizations. Marketing to businesses is very different from marketing to individual consumers. That’s why an entirely different marketing method — B2B marketing — exists, and that’s why we built this guide. By the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of B2B marketing, the most effective B2B marketing strategies, and how you can tap into and convert your business audience. Plus, the trends you can expect in the B2B space in 2023, according to new research plus expert tips. What is B2B? B2B stands for “business-to-business,” which refers to a business model where businesses sell products and services to other companies as opposed to consumers. If you’re a new marketer in the B2B space, or a small B2B business owner learning the ropes, B2B marketing can seem new and strange, but not to worry — you’ll soon learn it’s not so different from typical consumer marketing, and we’ll go over everything you need to know so you can create an effective B2B marketing strategy. The purpose of B2B marketing is to make other businesses familiar with your brand name, the value of your product or service, and convert them into customers. HubSpot is an example of a company that engages in B2B marketing. HubSpot’s customers are other businesses, not individual consumers. Therefore, all of our marketing efforts can be classified as B2B. B2B vs B2C Marketing B2B and B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing are very different. B2B and B2C marketing differ in their respective strategies and applications, as well as in their audiences and how they communicate with them. B2B marketing targets the needs, interests, and challenges of individuals who are making purchases on behalf of, or for, their organization (rather than for themselves), thus making the organization the customer. Here are a few examples of B2B companies: A coworking space that leases office spaces to remote teams and freelancers (like Spaces) An on-demand order fulfillment, warehousing, and screen printing service (like Printful) A marketing software company that sells social media management tools, lead generation software, and other marketing tools to businesses and organizations (like HubSpot!) B2C marketing targets the needs, interests, and challenges of individual consumers who are making purchases on behalf of, or for, themselves, thus making the individual the customer. Here are a few examples of B2C companies: An e-commerce company that sells

Shopping trends have drastically changed over the past few years. While most of us previously browsed retail stores on a Saturday to find great deals, we now turn to Instagram to find discounts offered by influencers.Shopping trends have drastically changed over the past few years. While most of us previously browsed retail stores on a Saturday to find great deals, we now turn to Instagram to find discounts offered by influencers. And rather than watching TV ads to find out about new products, nowadays, most of us stumble across ads in between YouTube videos. Here, we’ll explore the shopping trends of 2023, as discovered in our State of Consumer Trends Survey, to ensure you’re able to meet customers where and when they’d prefer to shop. Let’s dive in.  Table of Contents How Shopping Trends Changed in the Past 6 Months The Top Shopping Trends of 2023 The Shopping Trends to Expect in 2023 How Shopping Trends Changed in the Past 6 Months 1. Consumers prefer flexibility over subscription models. These days, consumers have a lot of flexibility in how they purchase products. They can make a one-time purchase or join a subscription service. They can also pay full-price or via installments thanks to popular platforms like Afterpay and Klarna. However, this flexibility may not be necessary. While 32% of consumers have purchased a subscription over the past three months, a staggering 69% of consumers still prefer purchasing products whenever the need arises.  On top of that, consumers prefer to purchase products at full price. Only 21% of consumers prefer purchasing a product with installments. 2. Baby Boomers are skeptical about shopping via social media, but they’re coming around. According to our report, a slim 6% of Baby Boomers feel comfortable making purchases directly on social media. What’s more, only 5% trust social media platforms with their credit card information. In short, Baby Boomers are skeptical about shopping via social media. However, things could be turning around. 24% of Baby Boomers have discovered a new product on social media in the past 3 months — up 41% from May 2022. On top of that, 6% of boomers have bought a product on social media in the past three months, a 50% jump from May 2022. While these stats are promising, it’s important to meet your consumers where they are right now. So, if you’re audience skews older, you might get more traction with other channels like TV ads and search. 3. Millennials and Gen Z’ers may hinge their purchasing decisions on a company’s stance on social issues. Increasingly, consumers want to support companies that share their values. For example, 66% of consumers want companies to reduce their environmental impact. This isn’t just talk: corporate responsibility is influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. Take a look at these stats: 39% of consumers are more likely to buy a product based on the brand’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, up 8% from May 2022. 61% of consumers believe companies should donate a portion of their