HubSpot
Think about the last time you flipped through a confusing instruction manual. Where does that piece go? How do these parts fit together? If the instructions are subpar, you get frustrated and wind up looking for an explainer video some random person posted online. If we can follow the storyline, we understand. If not, we get lost in the chaos. Information design aims to avoid confusion by presenting data in a way that’s easy to understand. As a marketer, information design makes it simpler to share complex ideas — whether you’re distributing an annual report or getting buy-in for a new campaign. In this post, we’ll walk through the basics of information design, how to put it to use, and the tools you need to start applying it to your work. Information design is integral to everyday life. For example, we follow a recipe to whip up a meal or navigate…
Time is one of the most valuable resources we have — that’s why efficiency is something so many people strive for. The good news is that there are a plethora of marketing tools available today with the power to help you boost productivity and streamline monotonous processes or tasks — ad management tools are among the many options. In this blog post, we’ll talk about what ad management is, outline high-quality ad management software, and explain why they’re beneficial for all businesses. What is advertising management? Advertising management is overseeing different marketing activities and responsible individuals to ensure that campaigns are running effectively and target marketings are being reached. Depending on your business needs, advertising management can focus on various metrics that contribute to campaign success, like ROI or conversions or media placements that make sense for where your target audiences are. As there is often a lot to keep…
Instagram marketing can be a hit or miss. Especially as you start implementing your social media strategy, it might take a while for your posts to start performing well. When it does, your first instinct is to figure out what worked well and replicate it in future posts – a great move. What you can also do is boost your post to double down on its performance with a broader audience. Find out how Instagram promotions work, how to set one up, and best practices to keep in mind when running one. How are Instagram promotions different from ads? Promotions give a second life to posts that have already been viewed and likely performed well. Ads, on the other hand, feature new content and are used as part of a campaign. With a promotion, the goal is to reach a broader audience for more brand awareness and engagement. Or perhaps…
When I talk with most marketers about how they generate leads and fill the top of their sales funnel, most say outbound marketing. However, a lot of innovative and successful businesses are actually embracing the art of inbound marketing. So, what’s the difference between inbound and outbound? This post will walk you through it along with the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy. From email blasts to outsourced telemarketing, I call these methods “outbound marketing” because marketers push their messages out far and wide hoping that it resonates with that needle in the haystack. I think outbound marketing techniques are getting less and less effective over time for two reasons. First, your average human today is inundated with at least 2,000 outbound marketing interruptions per day and is figuring out more and more creative ways to block them out, including ad blocker browser extensions, caller ID, email spam filtering, and…
My social media feeds are made up of 90% memes. They’re usually posted by people I follow but every once in a while, a brand will post a meme and add their own spin on it. When it’s done right, those are the brands whose content I engage with the most. What was once considered a trend reserved for Millennials and Gen Z has now evolved into an effective way for brands to engage with their audience. Let’s talk about what meme marketing is, how you can leverage it, and see examples of brands getting it right. A quick background on memes – they’re concepts, behaviors, or ideas that spread on the internet. A meme can be any type of media format, including a GIF, video, text-post, or basic image. The truly successful memes spread like wildfire. That’s exactly why marketers want to leverage these already viral pieces of…
“We have a 9 a.m. meeting? Hold on — let me scour the internet to find content for the morning tweet.” Sound familiar? Scrambling for social content is nothing new. We have meetings. We miss deadlines. Things come up. And it’s really hard to get any meaningful amount of work done when you have the next social media update looming over your head every 30, 60, or 90 minutes. Social media content moves so fast that you might occasionally feel thrown for a loop, which is why a pre-scheduled social media content calendar should be your new best friend. To make social media content easier for companies to plan and schedule across the accounts they manage, we created a social media content calendar template. And because this field moves so quickly, we’re always updating this template with the latest social platform features to help you share your content strategy at…
When people arrive at your Facebook Page, where do you think they’ll look first? I’ll give you a few hints. It’s a visual piece of content that sits at the top of your Page. Its dimensions are 820 pixels wide by 312 pixels tall. It takes up almost a quarter of the screen on most desktop browsers. That’s right — it’s your Facebook cover photo. A cover photo can transform your Facebook Business Page from a passive repository of your business’ activity to an inviting community. Whether you’re using Facebook to generate leads, close your next sale, or create a customer network, knowing how to create and optimize your Facebook cover photo will be essential to the success of your Page. In this post, you’ll learn Facebook cover photo best practices with real-world examples of each tip we recommend. To get started, let’s dive into Facebook cover photo dimensions. Sometimes…
What do cross-country road trips, wedding speeches, and social media marketing have in common? Planning. You could improvise all three, but it’s better to have a plan for what direction you’re heading — especially when developing your social media content strategy. By now, most marketers recognize that social media plays an integral role in an effective inbound marketing strategy. And with so many social networks available to us, it’s important to stay organized and have a plan for when and what you’re going to share on these platforms. Let’s dive into our list of top tools to stay organized and on top of your game. Social Media Content Calendar Tools to Plan Your Messaging 1. HubSpot’s Downloadable Template for Excel Content Calendar Price: Free Download This Template Marketers might already use Excel for different types of reports and data analysis in their roles, but this multifaceted tool is perfect for…
INBOUND 2021 — hosted with love by HubSpot — is a fully immersive, online experience that gives you access to transformative business trends, proactive conversations, and key actionable takeaways that future you will appreciate. INBOUND has been hosted by HubSpot for over ten years, and is one of the world’s largest marketing conferences, attracting more than 26,000 attendees from 110 countries. But this year, INBOUND is especially unique — as it’s built with remote work in-mind, so you can learn from anywhere with audio sessions, meetups, and on-demand content. Additionally, you’ll hear from Oprah Winfrey, Spike Lee, David Chang, and more. Here, let’s explore five reasons you’ll want to attend INBOUND 2021, according to HubSpot’s Global Events team. 1. BLACK@INBOUND Black@INBOUND is a global community that gathers Black professionals across industries to grow and network. HubSpot customer Devyn Bellamy first founded Black@INBOUND at INBOUND to find and connect with other Black…
Even though LinkedIn has been around since 2003, the platform didn’t allow the use of clickable hashtags until 2016. Social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram have encouraged hashtag use for years as a way for users to connect with their communities. They even offer analytics, allowing content creators and influencers to gauge their impact. Now that LinkedIn has fully embraced the use of hashtags, brands can too. Let’s get into the basics of using hashtags on the platform and dive into how to find the top trending ones in your industry. How To Use Hashtags on Your LinkedIn Status Update There are a few ways to add hashtags to your status update. As the GIF illustrates, you can add a hashtag by: Typing out the pound sign followed by the word or phrase. As you type out your hashtag, LinkedIn will auto-generate hashtag suggestions based on what’s trending and…