Yearly Archives: 2023

There’s nothing better than having people cheering for you on the sidelines and advocating for you in the rooms you’re not in, especially as a business owner.

That’s where a brand champion comes in as someone who promotes your business to others and helps organically grow your loyalty base.

Let’s dive into why you need brand champions, how to get them, and how to incorporate them into your marketing strategy.

Table of Contents

• What is a brand champion?
• The Benefits of Brand Champions
• Common Types of Brand Champions
• What You Need Before Creating Brand Champions

Brand champions can be business owners, brand ambassadors, chief brand officers, employees, and customers. Any one who advocates for your company can be a brand champion.

The Benefits of Brand Champions

Brand champions do wonders for your public image. They sing the praises of your brand in a way that doesn’t feel like an advertisement. Below are some of the top benefits of working with a brand champion.

1. Brand champions boost word-of-mouth marketing.

Few marketing channels are more impactful than word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM), when people organically spread the word about a brand or product. This type of marketing is a great way to gain the trust of people who aren’t already customers.

In fact, 88% of people trust recommendations from people they know more than any other channel, according to a survey by Nielsen.

Brand champions are the ones behind this traction and promotion, so take an opportunity to hone in on these individuals if you want to take advantage of WOMM.

2. Brand champions save time and resources.

Brand champions generate organic buzz around your business. That’s one less part of your marketing budget that you have to worry about. Sure, you may offer them a discount code or referral link, but that’s pennies in comparison to advertising spending.

3. Anyone can be a brand champion.

Depending on the size of your business, you may have one or several champions. Sometimes, that role is embedded in your staff’s responsibilities.

For instance, an employer brand specialist is responsible for promoting a company’s culture and benefits to outside candidates. That, in itself, is a type of brand champion, as their role is centered around campaigning for your brand.

In a small company, the business owner can be the brand champion, motivating employees internally and networking externally to gain more customers.

You can say the same for brand ambassadors who partner with businesses to promote them and generate leads. However, here there is a contractual obligation for ambassadors to promote your brand. Champions may be incentivized to do so, but they’re not required to celebrate your brand.

The key takeaway is that anyone can be a brand champion, and the more champions your brand has, the stronger it will be.

Common Types of Brand Champions

A brand champion isn’t someone you have to search for or recruit. Many times, your best brand champions already play another role in your business. Below, let’s go over the most common types of brand champions so you know who to look for.

Employees

Start looking for brand champions internally. Employees can be your brand’s biggest fans, but only if they’re happy and engaged.

Studies show that how businesses treat their employees plays a big role in how trustworthy they seem. Especially in times of crisis, consumers look at how brands treat their own.

To create brand champions out of your employees, start by focusing on employer branding. Employer branding is a form of marketing in which the target audience is candidates interested in joining your company.

While the primary focus is on talent recruitment, employer branding can create a very positive perception of your brand to consumers as a secondary result.

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We’ve mentioned how important employees are when building brand trust. If consumers think you mistreat your employees or place profit over people, this can tarnish your brand image.

Internally, your employer branding specialist develops the strategies to showcase your internal brand champions. They can highlight exceptional employees and pass them the mic so they can share their experience with potential candidates.

At HubSpot, we have @HubSpotLife on Instagram, where we post employee takeovers, our Culture Code, and more.

This channel is an opportunity for our employees to tell the world about why they love working at HubSpot and share their personal experiences.

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Customers

Your customers can be your brand’s greatest advocates. Think about it: Your customers already know what your brand stands for, what it offers, and how it treats its customers.

If they’ve had a positive experience with all of the above, then they’re more likely to champion your brand.

When customers organically advocate for your brand, this is a powerful form of word-of-mouth marketing. In fact, 55% of consumers learn about a product through word of mouth, which goes to show how a seemingly simple recommendation or testimonial can make an impact.

To help boost your brand’s WOMM, nurture your customer relationships to ensure they continue having a positive experience with your brand and will be more likely to spread the word.

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If you’re running a campaign and want to include testimonials, reach out to your top supporters and ask them to participate.

You could repurpose those same testimonials for your website, landing pages, and more.

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Another way to amplify your champions’ voices is by offering them custom referral codes.

When your champion refers someone to your brand, they and the recipient get a discount on their next purchase. And you gain a new customer — it’s a win-win-win.

Social Media Followers

Think of your social media followers as brand champions in training. They already like your brand — that’s why they’re following you.

The more you nurture your relationship with them and build a community, the more loyal they’ll become. Eventually, they’ll turn into brand champions.

Positive social media content around your brand provides act as helpful case studies. Social proof is a way to gain trust from consumers who are uncertain about your brand, whether they are considering a purchase or following you on Instagram.

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Pay attention to people who are advocating for your brand on social media and find ways to engage with them even further.

There are countless ways to engage your community on social media, including:

• Responding to comments.
• Creating private groups.
• Creating polls and surveys.
• Conducting Q&As.
• Going live with your followers.
• Reposting user-generated content.

What You Need Before Creating Brand Champions

There are a few prerequisites you need before you can start leveraging brand champions for your business. With these prerequisites in place, you’ll have an even greater chance of seeing success with your brand champion marketing.

Clear Vision, Mission, and Values

As with any marketing initiative, a deep understanding of your brand’s vision, mission, and values is critical.

These branding essentials will help guide everything you do, from selecting the right brand champions to relaying the messaging you want to be shared about your business.

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If you’re unclear about what your mission is or what values your brand stands for, then your customers or employees will be, too.

Sentiment Understanding

Whether you want your brand champions to be current employees or customers, you have to first understand how these individuals feel about your brand.

If you want to create brand champions internally, start by conducting regular employee net promoter score (eNPS) surveys. This will tell you how satisfied your employees are and let you know how you can better support them.

Once you identify opportunities for improvement, be sure to follow through with action to let your employees know their voices are heard and taken seriously.

You can do the same thing with customers. Choose a handful of customers who would make good brand champions and have them take a survey or participate in a focus group to collect feedback.

Having these insights into brand sentiment gives you a starting point when choosing the right brand champions and understanding how they can best advocate your brand.

Structure

Before you can have brand champions working toward success with you, you need to have the right systems in place. This can require a little more effort and structural implementations if you want your employees to become brand champions.

For example, you want to create an environment that creates happy employees, because happy employees make great champions who will boost your brand without you even asking.

It’s like when you love a product you’ve just bought. You’ll find any opportunity to tell people how much you love it — even if you don’t have a 10% referral discount code.

If your company is publicly traded, consider offering your employees restricted stock units (RSUs). RSUs are stocks given to employees as a form of compensation with a vesting schedule that can span anywhere from one to a few years after the employee’s start date.

Giving your employees an equity stake in your company can build their loyalty to your company and have them invested in its growth.

Other ways to turn your employees into brand champions include:

• Providing professional development opportunities.
• Investing in diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as employee resource groups (ERGs).
• Creating psychological safety.

The same ideas can be applied to customers that you want to be brand champions for your business. Have a structure or system in place before bringing on these brand champions. The system should make it easy for brand champions to advocate or share promos about your business.

For example, you could create a referral discount code for customers to share on social media.

Or, create a channel that helps communicate to brand champions when you have product launches or major announcements coming up that you want them to help you share.

Tap Into Your Brand Champions

When leveraged in the right ways, brand champions can be powerful advocates for your business.

These individuals — whether they’re employees or customers — create an organic channel that helps spread awareness about your brand and paints your business in a positive light.

When implementing your social media strategy, it’s easy to realize that manually posting on multiple different websites, multiple times a day, isn’t optimal for your busy schedule. But it’s not easy to tell from a baseline or pricing page which tools are not only the best for efficiency but best for your business.

Instead of spending hours of extra research combing through all of your options and sitting through countless demos and free trials, we’ve compiled a list of the best social media dashboards that fit your budget and brand.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is a social media dashboard
• What to include in your social media dashboard
• Best social media dashboards
• Free social media dashboards

What is a Social Media Dashboard

Keeping track of social media activity can be challenging if you don’t have the right tools. A social media dashboard is a tool that consolidates your social media accounts and activity in one place. With a social media dashboard, you will be able to create and schedule posts, execute advertising campaigns, and track performance.

What to Include in Your Social Media Dashboard

There are some key features to look for in a social media dashboard. They include:

• Scheduling: Plan and queue future posts for multiple social platforms.
• Trends analysis: Stay on top of the latest trends by monitoring keywords and hashtags.
• Competitive analysis: Monitor brand and competitor mentions.
• Messaging: Audience engagement is key for any business. A social media dashboard enables you to quickly reply to messages from one place.
• Reporting: Reporting features like customizable dashboards let you share insights with your team and stakeholders.

These social media dashboards are optimized for every type of SMB; whether you’re a social media team or a party of one, these apps will help you accomplish your goals in a streamlined, efficient way.

1. HubSpot

Price: Included in Professional version ($800/mo) or Enterprise version ($3,200/mo)

Why it’s great: All-in-one social media software

With HubSpot’s social media management tool, you get an all-inclusive package. Connect up to 300 accounts and schedule up to 10,000 posts a month. Plus, for super in-depth planners, you can schedule posts up to 3 years in advance.

Get started with the HubSpot Social Media Dashboard.

HubSpot’s social media management features include monitoring mentions and engagement, and provides full analytic reports. You’re able to schedule posts all in one place without leaving the system.

Features:

• Schedule posts
• Monitor mentions and engagement
• Report on metrics

2. Later

Price: $9, $19, $29, $49 per month, and enterprise pricing

Why it’s great: Instagram scheduling

While you can connect Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest profiles, Later is best for Instagram scheduling. This is because of its image-based content calendar scheduling, so you can see a bird’s eye view of your brand in a monthly, visual format.

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Later is also an Instagram partner, which means it integrates with Instagram’s API. This partnership means your account information will stay completely safe, which is important for Instagram Business accounts that have Shopping set up.

Features:

• Feed preview before posting
• Discover optimal posting times
• Hashtag recommendations

3. Sendible

Price: $29 up to $299 per month

Why it’s great: Agency-based management

Are you a social media or marketing agency? Sendible may be the answer to unkempt management: it’s a tool fit for an agency with clients. It helps you streamline how you manage brands and offers a couple unique features that help you succeed.

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Sendible has a royalty-free image search tool and a Canva integration. Sendible also has social listening tools, a Reports function, scheduling, and post previews. To put it simply: this is a full dashboard and suite of tools to put your client accounts all in one place.

Features:

• Respond to messages, comments, and mentions from one place
• Automated reports
• Content suggestions

4. Tailwind

Price: $9.99 up to $799.99 per month, or enterprise pricing

Why it’s great: Pinterest and Instagram management

Tailwind is a very unique program, providing services for two apps normally not paired with each other: Pinterest and Instagram. It makes sense, however, considering both apps focus on visual multimedia. Offering a full media dashboard with scheduling, social listening, and analytics tools, Tailwind also has a few interesting program-specific services.

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First, it gives suggestions about how to improve Instagram and Pinterest performance. It also comes with a way to promote Pinterest content and manage Instagram user-generated content. If your brand is heavily focused on visuals, Tailwind may be right for you.

Features:

• Create social posts, including images
• Hashtag finder

5. Sprout Social

Price: $99 up to $249 per user per month

Why it’s great: Team-based management

Sprout Social is a dashboard platform that’s focused entirely on social media teams. What you get for your money is a full suite of tools, including options that allow you to create and schedule posts, social listening tools, and most of all: analytic data.

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The analytic tools are the shining star of Sprout Social. Expansive, in-depth reporting is available. If that’s a focus for your brand, consider Sprout. They make the reports so professional and easy to read, there’s no editing required.

Features:

• Identify industry trends and influencers
• Discover best send times

6. MeetEdgar

Price: $49/month

Why it’s great: 100% automated scheduling

MeetEdgar is an app with a different approach to social media management, is. All users do is upload categorically-based content into their account and create time slots for when they want their account to post said content.

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Then, according to the time slots and categories, the app will schedule and upload content. If you want your Twitter account to post a meme at 11 AM on a Thursday, MeetEdgar would search through the “Meme” category of content you’ve already uploaded, schedule, and post it.

Managers might like this option, if they don’t have enough time to constantly schedule and upload content. They can plug in their entire content calendar at the start of the month and remove the heavy lifting for the next few weeks.

Features:

• A/B test posts
• Content library to save and store posts

Post-enhancing dashboards such as these can take care of your social strategy without losing any of quality.

1. TweetDeck

Price: Free
Why it’s great: Twitter dash management

TweetDeck is amazing if you’re tired of flipping back and forth through the different tabs on Twitter. It’s a free extension of twitter (no download required) that automatically gives you your account’s Home, Notifications, Trending, and Messages in a dashboard view.

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This app is especially handy for posting quickly. You can engage with your Twitter in-app, and it feels like a much faster method of running your account than the in-browser functionality . Plus, TweetDeck automatically updates with any new notifications.

Features:

• Single dashboard view
• Instantly view updates

2. TubeBuddy

Price: Free plan, or $9 up to $49 per month
Why it’s great: YouTube management

If you have a large YouTube presence, consider TubeBuddy. TubeBuddy offers a hefty suite of perks to present a full dashboard. Categories include video dashboard, video SEO, bulk processing, promotion, data & research, and productivity.

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The screenshot above features one of TubeBuddy’s card template features. Card templates streamline the process of uploading and finalizing YouTube videos, making it easier to sort videos into a playlist on your channel.

You can install the program for free on Chrome, working sort of like an extension. The free plan gives you access to analytics, productivity, and SEO tools to get started. TubeBuddy is also a YouTube Partner and integrates with Alexa.

Features:

• Brand alerts
• A/B testing
• AI Title Generator

3. MavSocial

Price: Free plan, or $19 up to $499 per month
Why it’s great: Visual-based streamlined management

This is a great post-enhancing tool. MavSocial has a focus on visual-based management, and as such, offers unique perks, like editing multimedia content and a stock photo digital library. With the editing tools, you can add filters to your photos, crop, and search for royalty-free images.

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On top of all of this, MavSocial has a full dashboard suite, meaning you can schedule content and engage with followers. MavSocial supports YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The app is also an Instagram Partner.

Features:

• Create campaigns
• Automate evergreen content

4. Hootsuite

Price: Free plan, or $29 up to $599 per month
Why it’s great: All-in-one social media management

Hootsuite is a popular social media tool and boasts over 15 million users. The free plan lets you add three social accounts from different platforms on one screen and has a limit on how many posts are available to make.

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While user-friendly, Hootsuite is an expansive app. You can create ads, running an ROI report on those ads, and also has options to schedule and create posts. Note that you can only post on your Instagram using the scheduler, if you have an Instagram Business account.

Features:

• Publish and schedule posts
• Canva templates
• Hashtag suggestions

Every business is unique, and so is every social media dashboard. Because of that, finding the best fit can be daunting. Covering all your bases can be simplified with a social media dashboard, as well as building a community and social presence.

If you want to take a crack at building your own content calendar that’ll help you plan your social media posts, check out our article here.

A majority of businesses use marketing automation tools nowadays — in fact, studies cite around 56% of businesses currently use the technology, and that number continues to grow.

While marketing automation software can help companies increase efficiency by streamlining their workflows, there are so many options to choose from, full of different solutions with various features and use cases.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• What are marketing automation tools?
• How to Choose the Best Marketing Automation Software
• Marketing Automation Software Options to Consider

What are marketing automation tools?

Marketing automation tools use software to automate repetitive marketing tasks. Some platforms only offer email actions, drip sequences, and CRM updates. Others may help with lead scoring, sales lead rotation, SMS, and more.

Automating your marketing tasks can benefit your business by increasing overall efficiency and allowing you more time to work on high-level projects. For example, you can use marketing automation tools to collect valuable data that can be used to create more personalized marketing campaigns and increase conversion rates.

How to Choose the Best Marketing Automation Software

A more niche marketing automation product may be better for SMB and B2C environments, but B2B and enterprise companies may need a platform with wider capability. Here are some key areas to consider as you evaluate marketing automation software products to choose the one that’s right for you:

1. Determine Your Budget and Business Needs

If automation’s benefit can be summed up with one statement, it’s this: It will make you more efficient so you can focus on the tasks you enjoy and that have the highest return. With that in mind, you’ll want to evaluate price as you consider capability.

For SMBs and B2C organizations focusing primarily on email, a scaled-down system might be sufficient. However, with more advanced needs, enterprise (and thus higher ticket) software is more cost-efficient in the long run.

Be sure to choose a provider that’s reasonably priced but can also grow with you as your needs change. After all, reducing bloated operations is critical to scaling effectively.

2. Evaluate the Software’s Ease of Use

Automation isn’t a simple thing to implement, so make sure the interface of the software will work with you, not against you. See if you can find screenshots of the UX so you can determine if it looks simple and easy to navigate.

Automation can be technical, so look for providers that have robust knowledge bases, tutorials, and other customer support options.

3. Explore Analytics and Reporting Options

You’ll want to be able to measure the success of any drip campaigns you have running, so make sure your automation software will keep track of the metrics that matter most to you.

In B2B and enterprise environments with many stakeholders, you may also need advanced reporting abilities such as personalized dashboards or automatic reporting via email.

4. Research Integrations

How well does the marketing automation software play with your existing stack? Integrations allow you to manage data and get more from your tools.

Pro-tip: You can find our essential apps for marketers in HubSpot’s App Marketplace.

5. Consider Potential Limitations

Some automation software platforms may limit the number of actions in a month or the database size you’re allowed.

Going into any evaluation, know how many contacts you have, how many emails you send on average, and what you want the software to accomplish. This will prevent you from underestimating the cost of your automation software.

6. Request a Demo

Before making a final decision, consider reaching out to each provider’s sales team to request a demo or sign up for free trial offers. Trying out a marketing automation tool before you buy it can help you determine which features best serve your needs.

Here, we’ve cultivated a list of marketing automation tools examples to help you sort through your options and feel confident choosing the best solution for you and your team.

1. HubSpot Marketing Automation

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HubSpot’s marketing automation functionality is one of the most powerful tools on this list in terms of features. It’s also one of the most popular in terms of customer sentiment, according to the G2 Grid for Marketing Automation.

Of course, HubSpot has a full growth suite that includes sales software, marketing software, and support software, which all integrate automatically with HubSpot’s CRM.

The combined effect of having all of your data and growth activity in one place can unleash tons of creative automation possibilities that would be difficult or impossible if you use separate tools.

As a standalone, HubSpot’s marketing automation functionality includes an easy-to-use visual board where you can craft simple or highly sophisticated conditional workflows.

It can take time to master the tool (you’ll scale up more quickly with the help of HubSpot Academy), but once you get a grasp on it, the creative possibilities are endless.

You can set up simple email list autoresponders, or build a smart and complex network of rules designed to target specific users with the exact right email, live chat, website experience, and more.

Basically, HubSpot’s automation tools go far beyond email, so you can scale your growth and spend less time on repetitive tasks.

Price: HubSpot’s email and form marketing automation tools are free. Increased access and features are available in paid versions of Marketing Hub, which start at $45 per month.

2. ManyChat

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Marketing automation isn’t just about email. Imagine automating some of the most repetitive conversations you have with customers on other platforms. ManyChat functions as a chatbot that can do just that on Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct Messages, WhatsApp, and SMS.

A bot can be built in minutes with ManyChat’s templates and easy-to-use interface. In addition, the information you learn about your users can be synced to your CRM and other tools.

Price: ManyChat offers a free monthly plan that allows engagement with up to 1,000 contacts via Instagram Direct Messages, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. Additional access and features are available through ManyChat’s paid plans, which start at $15 per month.

3. SendPulse

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Having started out as an email marketing service, SendPulse gradually evolved into a full-scale marketing automation platform with a variety of channels to reach existing and potential customers. 

Established brands and small businesses alike can build highly personalized message flows that combine emails, chatbots, and SMS notifications. The visual chatbot builder itself is very versatile as it allows users to create chatbots for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Viber. It also supports ChatGPT integration, which will make the chatbot even more human-like.

Price: SendPulse provides a monthly free plan. Paid plans start at around $10 per month.

4. Moosend

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Moosend is an email marketing automation platform that caters to various industries, including ecommerce and SaaS.

The automation feature uses advanced website tracking and triggers that allow you to send the right email campaign to those in your contacts who are interested in a specific product or service. For example, you can set up a cart abandonment series to target potential customers who left their shopping carts without making a purchase.

Collecting and managing customer data can also come in handy as you can use them to craft product recommendation campaigns based on product views. This data also allows you to create detailed reports of the campaign’s progress and the users’ activity so you can optimize the effectiveness of your promotional messages

Price: Moosend offers a 30-day free trial so you can try before you buy. After that, Pro plans start at $9 per month.

5. Snov.io

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Snov.io is a must-have for businesses and sales teams looking to streamline their lead generation and cold outreach efforts. It’s an all-in-one toolset designed for small businesses and solopreneurs to find, verify, and reach out to leads, with a range of features, including Email Finder, Email Verifier, Email Warm-Up, free CRM, and more.

One of the standout features of Snov.io is its email automation tool, Email Drip Campaigns. You can create highly personalized email campaigns to engage your audience. It also comes with a robust reporting and analytics suite, enabling you to track the performance of your campaigns and optimize your outreach efforts for maximum impact.

Price: Snov.io offers both forever-free and premium plans. The premium plans start at $39 per month.

6. Omnisend

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Omnisend is an omnichannel marketing automation platform built for ecommerce. Offering powerful automation workflows, you can get started quickly with pre-built templates that keep online merchants in mind.

With Omnisend, you can add several channels within the same automation workflow: email, SMS, Facebook Messenger, push notifications, and more. Omnisend also uses a user-friendly visual builder and templates which make creating workflows, forms, landing pages, pop ups, and emails quick and easy.

Price: Omnisend offers a free plan with basic email marketing automation that is best suited for small businesses just starting out. Medium to larger-sized businesses will most likely benefit from Omnisend’s paid plans, which start at $16 per month.

7. EngageBay

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EngageBay is another marketing automation platform designed specifically for small to medium-sized businesses.

This software comes with a wide range of features including email marketing, social media management, and website chat.

Other commendable features include drag-and-drop builders for landing pages and emails, A/B testing, SMS marketing, push notifications, abandoned cart retrieval and reminders, autoresponders, canned responses, and more.

Price: EngageBay offers a free plan for small businesses, as well as three advanced paid plans that scale with your business needs, starting at $10.39 per user per month.

8. Ontraport

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Unlike other marketing automation tools, Ontraport is a business automation software specifically designed for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and small businesses.

While it has a CRM and marketing automation functionality, it also has several other features to run and grow a small business, including but not limited to email marketing, landing pages, reporting, and ecommerce.

One of the most valuable things Ontraport offers is its focus on reporting and insights. While some tools can be a bit of a black box, Ontraport gives you a clear look at the performance of your campaigns.

Price: Though Ontraport does not have a free plan, it does offer a free 14-day trial with each of its four paid plans. Pricing for Ontraport’s basic plan starts at $29 per month, which includes unlimited email sending and drag-and-drop marketing automation.

9. SendinBlue

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SendinBlue is a digital marketing platform that features well-liked automation software suited for both beginner and advanced marketers.

With SendinBlue, you can design mobile-friendly email campaigns either from scratch or through customizable templates. You can also run SMS campaigns from SendInBlue. Advanced features include reporting and lead scoring.

Price: SendinBlue offers a pretty impressive free plan, which includes basic marketing automation functionality, unlimited contacts, and up to 300 emails per day. Paid plans start at $25 per month.

10. ActiveCampaign

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ActiveCampaign is an integrated email marketing, marketing automation, and small business CRM.

The strongest point of ActiveCampaign is its powerful and flexible marketing automation functionality. It’s one of the most comprehensive solutions on the market. Its deliverability is rated as one of the best in the market, as well.

This probably isn’t a good tool for beginners or those with low technical capabilities. It takes a bit more time and effort to learn — but when you do learn the platform, it’s pretty powerful.

Price: Though ActiveCampaign does not have a free plan or trial, it does offer a variety of paid plans that can be suited for B2B, B2C, or ecommerce businesses starting at $29 per month.

11. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

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Formerly known as Pardot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement is a cloud automation solution that mostly serves enterprise clients that have the technical resources and time to learn the platform.

It has a ton of features that automate communication to existing contacts, from CRM integration to email marketing, lead nurturing, and an ROI reporting functionality to make sure your campaigns are working.

You can track all interactions on your website and build predictive lead scoring based on the parameters you set. All of this helps improve marketing efficiency and remove wasted time and effort from your sales team.

It’s important to note that while it is incredibly powerful, this software may not be as accessible or affordable for smaller businesses or entrepreneurs as there is not a free plan or trial.

Price: Plans for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement start at $1,250 per month.

12. Keap

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Keap (formerly known as Infusionsoft) has been around since 2001 and has helped thousands of marketers deliver on leads, revenue, and customer acquisition targets.

Keap really flourishes in the small business and solopreneur crowd, and in my experience, I’ve noticed it has a pretty sophisticated user base.

You can set up relatively complex decision trees depending on which lead magnet someone signs up for, how many (and which) emails they open and click, or other contact property data.

As Keap’s features continue to evolve, long-time customers may prefer Keap’s Max Classic plan since it is most similar to Infusionsoft’s original platform.

Price: Keap offers a free 14-day trial and three different paid plans based on customer needs, starting as low as $129 per month.

13. Ortto

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Originally known as Autopilot, Ortto is one of the most visually appealing marketing automation solutions on the market.

Ortto’s automation software allows you to create emails with its easy-to-use, visual campaign builder. Other features include audience segmentation, comprehensive data analytics, and activity tracking.

Of course, this platform is typically used for more sophisticated messaging and targeting, but you can also create a simple autoresponder based on a time sequence.

Price: Ortto offers a free plan for those who are new to marketing automation. It also offers free 14-day trials for all of its paid plans, which start at $29 per month.

14. Marketo

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Marketo was founded in 2006 as a marketing automation software company. It was later acquired by Adobe and incorporated into its enterprise marketing cloud.

The Adobe integration means that, if you use Adobe Analytics for data measurement and Adobe Target for experimentation and personalization, you’ll have a powerful enterprise marketing automation and optimization suite.

The tool is typically geared toward enterprise customers — it’s a bit out of range for most small business owners.

Price: Adobe does not offer a free trial or plan for Marketo. Since Marketo’s plan prices are determined by your database size, you will need to reach out to the sales department for a quote.

15. GetResponse

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GetResponse is a marketing automation software that has many different layers and features. Its affordable Email Marketing plan includes basic autoresponders, templates, and a list size of 1,000 contacts.

GetReponse’s more premium plans include powerful features like drip campaigns, contact scoring, event-based automation, ecommerce tracking, and more.

In general, this software is easy-to-use. You’ll typically find good results from the tool, although it works best with the simpler features, like email newsletters. It can become trickier to work with the platform if you plan on implementing complicated conditional logic and marketing automation.

Price: GetResponse offers a free plan that’s great for sending out newsletters. However, GetResponse’s marketing automation features are only included in its paid plans, which start at $13.30 per month.

16. Drip

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Drip is one of the few marketing automation tools in this list that is primarily focused on ecommerce marketing automation. It provides one of the more “open” platforms, claiming that it plays well with “pretty much any marketing strategy you want to put in motion.”

Additionally, email is one of its strengths. Some email marketing and automation features include unlimited email sends, pre-built workflows, and multi-channel marketing.

It also excels in personalization and analytics. Overall, Drip is a powerful tool for ecommerce marketing automation.

Price: Though Drip does not have a free plan, it does offer a free 14-day trial. Paid plans are based on your number of email contacts and start at $39 per month.

17. Mautic

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Mautic is the only open-source marketing automation platform on this list. It’s also a relatively new player, only founded in 2014. Mautic has grown quickly, though, and is seemingly picking up steam with high-tech companies.

Currently, over 200,000 organizations use Mautic and it is available in over 35 languages.

Price: Free.

Getting Started with Marketing Automation

There are tons of options for marketing automation software. It’s all about choosing the right one for your business purposes, budget, and technical expertise.

Want something incredibly powerful and limitless? It may end up costing more and taking time and effort to learn. The cheaper options, by comparison, might have too limited a scale. Ultimately, it’s a trade-off.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Finding a good Instagram caption is a challenge, especially if you run the Instagram profile of a business. Why? Because if you want to build a consistent brand on Instagram, it’s important to maintain a distinctive voice on every post, video, or reel. That’s harder than it sounds.

If you’re tired of writing captions from scratch, there’s no need to keep searching. We’ve compiled the best Instagram captions for every type of brand and for every type of post.

Whether you want to sound cool, make a funny quip, or come across as cute, you can incorporate many of these captions into an Instagram business strategy. Just make sure your audience would find your caption funny, clever, or the right amount of sassy.

Click one of the following links to jump through some of our best IG captions:

• Instagram Captions for Business
• Personal Instagram Captions

Next time you’re contemplating a witty line of text to go with your Instagram photo, take a look at our complete list of captions that suit any mood or occasion you’ll be sharing with the world. You can also customize these captions to make them perfect for your feed. First, we recommend saving some time by downloading our kit of additional IG caption examples, which you can use to inspire your caption creation process.

Instagram Captions for Business

Your Instagram business account is one of the best places to showcase your brand personality while still delivering business updates in an engaging way. You can use the captions below for most social media content ideas, but feel free to customize them depending on your specific post.

Skip to the list of Instagram captions you’re most interested in:

• Business Instagram Captions
• Small Business Captions
• Coming Soon Captions for Instagram
• Catchy Instagram Captions for Business
• Business Meeting Captions for Instagram
• Quote Instagram Captions

Business Instagram Captions

If you’re running a business account, you should use your captioning to humanize your business more than your average paid ad.

Your business Instagram captions are an opportunity to give your brand some personality while getting the word out about your product or service offering. Here are some of our go-to captions that prospects and customers will love.

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1. Good evening, [city]! We’re in town for [event] at Booth [#]. Stop by and say hi!

2. “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.” -Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook

3. Our [#]-person squad completed the [road race name]! And we did it all for the post-run sneaker selfie. 👟

4. We got product in the pipeline … check back for an exciting announcement on [date]!

5. Diversity isn’t a recruitment metric — it’s an ingredient for success. At [company], we thrive on the unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of our people.

6. Spot the CEO. 😉

7. Keep going.

8. At [company name], our best asset is our people.

9. We had a great time with our customers at [meeting/event]! @[client/partner], you guys rock.

10. Thrilled to have [customer] at our office today! Come back any time. 😊

11. [Company name] is off for [holiday]! We hope you all have a safe long weekend.

12. Big things have small beginnings. [Company]’s HQ began right here.

13. “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” –Herman Melville

14. How many [company name] employees does it take to spell “TEAM”?

15. Want to work with these awesome people, working on a lot of awesome things? We’re hiring! Click the link in our bio to see our current openings.

16. Check, check, one, two … is this thing on? [Company name] is now on Instagram! Follow us to learn about our culture, product, and (awesome) people.

17. Tired of [customer pain point]? We’ve got good news. Click the link in our bio to learn about [product]’s latest feature.

18. [Company] presents our latest product — made with love just for you. ❤️ Link in bio to learn more.

19. Stop wasting time with [customer pain point]. Our [product] will help you achieve [X] more efficiently — just ask our current customers. Check out our latest case study here: [Link]

20. Handmade in [location] and delivered to your door. That’s the [Company] promise.

21. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When [company name] gives you [type of product], you make money.

Small Business Captions

Running a small business? You can use a friendlier, more personable tone in your Instagram posts, emphasizing your products’ better quality and advertising the benefits of purchasing from local or small businesses. We love the captions below for businesses that focus on handmade or locally sourced products.

1. “Made with love and care in [city]. Order yours online.”

2. “Every order and customer means the world to us — thank you for your support!”

3. “The best things start small and simple. Learn about our process at the link in bio.”

4. “We put our heart and soul into every product we create, and we hope you can taste the difference.”

5. “Join our revolution — we promise it’s worth the buzz.”

6. “Shop small, save big.”

7. “Passion fuels our business, creativity drives our journey.”

8. “Small business, big heart.”

9. “From our small business to your doorstep, delivered with ♥.”

10. “Handcrafted perfection.”

11. “Shop small, support your local economy.”

12. “Shop local, feel good.”

13. “Quality > quantity.”

14. “Treat yourself with a [product/service] made just for you.”

15. “Create connections and spread joy. Come in today to experience the [business name] difference.”

Coming Soon Captions for Instagram

If you have something new coming down the line, why not generate some buzz with a series of Instagram posts? Here are some captions to get the conversation going and increase anticipation for new products, releases, or business expansions.

1. “Mark your calendars. Something amazing is coming your way on [date].”

2. “The countdown is on.”

3. “Stay tuned for something special.”

4. “Join us on our mission to make a difference starting from [date].”

5. “You won’t want to miss this. We partnered with [company] to bring you the latest in [industry].”

6. “Get ready to meet our latest creation.”

7. “The wait is almost over. Launching on [date].”

8. “We’ve got something incredible in the works, and we can’t wait to share more with you.”

9. “No need for binoculars. Something big is on the horizon.”

10.”We’re brewing up something exciting, and we can’t wait for you to be a part of it.”

11. “Something special is in the works — can you guess what it is?”

12. “We’ve been keeping a little secret from you… Stay tuned.”

13. “A new adventure is about to begin. New [city] location opening on [date].”

14. “Keep your eyes peeled for our big announcement on [date].”

15. “Can’t wait to share our latest project with you. Sign up on our website for updates.”

Catchy Instagram Captions for Business

Showcase your brand personality a little more with a catchy caption or saying. A catchy caption can convey your brand ethos, your entrepreneurial spirit, or your company values. The below options can effectively be used for business updates or news.

1. “We’re here to make a difference, not just a profit.”

2. “No matter how small, every success counts.”

3. “Good things come to those who hustle.”

4. “Expect the unexpected.”

5. “Small business, big heart.”

6. “Keeping it simple with our latest launch.”

7. “Service is not just a transaction, it’s an experience.”

8. “It’s never too late to start — just do it.”

9. “Believe in your dreams, and the rest will fall into place.”

10. “Make waves in your business, or get lost in the sea of competition.”

11. “Whatever you do, do it with all your heart.”

12. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it’s the courage to continue that counts.”

13. “Creating experiences, one [product] at a time.”

14. “Small things can make a big difference in a business.”

15. “Find your happy place here.”

Business Meeting Captions for Instagram

Feel like a business meeting isn’t Instagram-worthy? Think again. Not only can posting about your meeting show your company culture, but it can also show your followers that you’re hard at work trying to make better products and services for them. Here are a few of our favorite business meeting captions that you can customize.

1. “Generating our next big idea with the brightest minds we know. P.S. We’re hiring!”

2. “When we come together, we achieve great things.”

3. “Collaboration is the key to success.”

4. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

5. “Meetings that matter, for a purpose that counts.”

6. “In the right company, your ideas will flourish.”

7. “Everything is possible when you have the right people in the room.”

8. “There’s no substitute for hard work and determination.”

9. “When passion meets purpose, great things happen.”

10. “We believe there are no bad ideas. We love facing challenges head-on.”

11. “The best ideas come to life in a room full of great minds.”

12. “Surround yourself with positive people who lift you higher.”

13. “We may have different perspectives, but we’re working towards a common goal.”

14. “Even a ten-minute business meeting can be the key to unlocking limitless possibilities.”

15. “We work hard, we play hard, and we achieve great things together.”

Quote Instagram Captions

If you can’t find the words yourself, there’s a quote out there to help you convey that idea.

Using quotes for your Instagram caption is a great way to evoke and share your emotions. Quotes can propel people to think more open-mindedly, and optimistically — or even motivate them to do something great. Below is a list of some of our favorites.

1. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” –Nelson Mandela

2. “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” -Margaret Mead

3. “You change the world by being yourself.” -Yoko Ono

4. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” -Abraham Lincoln

5. “What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.” – Oprah Winfrey

6. “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” -Dalai Lama

7. “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” -Mae West

8. “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

9. “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” -Vincent van Gogh

10. “Success isn’t about the end result, it’s about what you learn along the way.” -Vera Wang

11. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” -Confucius

12. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” -George Addair

13. “You become what you believe.” -Oprah Winfrey

14. “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” -Theodore Roosevelt

15. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” -Walt Disney

16. “Love the life you live. Live the life you love.” -Bob Marley

17. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” -Maya Angelou

18. “Embrace what makes you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable.” – Janelle Monae

19. “Success is a collection of problems solved.” – I.M. Pei

20. “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

21. “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” -Gandhi

22. “I dream. Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do.” -Haruki Murakami

23. “We become what we think about.” -Earl Nightingale

24. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” –Winston Churchill

25. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” -C.S. Lewis

26. “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.” -Lao Tzu

27. “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein

28. “If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” -Steve Jobs

29. “Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller

30. “Stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals.” -Michelle Obama

Personal Captions for Instagram

If you’re looking for Instagram captions for your personal Instagram profile, we’ve got you covered. The good news? The captions below are also a great option for businesses with a more casual or personable brand voice.

Skip to the Instagram captions you’re most interested in:

• Short Instagram Captions
• Funny Instagram Captions
• Clever Instagram Captions
• Cute Instagram Captions
• Wedding Instagram Captions
• Couple Instagram Captions
• Friends Instagram Captions
• Sassy Instagram Captions
• Song Lyrics for Instagram Captions
• Holiday Instagram Captions
• Seasonal Instagram Captions
• Selfie Instagram Captions
• Baddie Instagram Captions
• Travel & Vacation Instagram Captions
• Beach Instagram Captions
• Birthday Instagram Captions
• Prom Instagram Captions
• Graduation Instagram Captions
• Food Instagram Captions
• Pet & Dog Instagram Captions

Short Instagram Captions

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A picture is already worth a thousand words — there’s no need to go on and on in your captions. Let the photo or video speak for itself and keep it brief. Take the captions below and change them to suit your exact post. It may be enough to tag someone who’s in the photo, give credit if you’re reposting, or prompt people to check out your bio.

1. @[account]

2. Credit: @[account]

3. This week’s photo dump.

4. Photo dump sacrifice for the algorithm god.

5. Scroll →

6. More info in bio.

7. Link in bio.

8. Sneak peek →

9. [Product] in production at our factories.

10. @[account] x @[account]. Coming soon.

11. Loading…

12. [The most dominant color in your post, ie “Red,” “Blue,” etc]

13. [Hashtag relevant to your post]

14. [Emoji relevant to your post]

15. [Relevant word 1] + [Relevant word 2]

16. Happy [weekday]! [hashtag]

17. Happy [holiday of the day]! [hashtag]

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18. You can find me at [place you most often frequent].

19. In [place where the photo was taken].

20. An ode to [item in the image or video].

21. Thinking about [relevant word].

22. Weekend.

23. [Month].

24. 2:38 pm. [Or time when the photo was taken]

25. Time passing.

26. From the archives.

27. Mentally here.

28. Couldn’t pick one.

29. That’s all for now.

30. I can’t. I simply cannot. [Emoji]

31. Sunset.

32. Spring.

33. Summer.

34. Winter.

35. Fall.

36. Midnight.

37. Immediately yes.

38. Immediately no.

39. Say more.

40. Say less.

41. Mood.

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42. My go-to.

43. My favorite hour.

44. Taking it slow.

45. Grateful.

46. Once upon a time…

47. We/I/You/@[account] know(s) what’s up.

48. The only thing stopping you is you.

49. Good food, good mood.

50. And the boredom award goes to…

51. My life, my rules. At least 62% of the time.

52. We’re all still healing.

53. Be the type of person you want to meet.

54. It starts with you.

55. Call it what you want.

56. I’ve never been a fan of change, but I’d follow you anywhere.

Funny Instagram Captions

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We don’t always have to take social media so seriously, so explore some funny Instagram captions for your upcoming posts.

Instagram can be a tool to convey aesthetic picture taking or stoic model shoots, it can also be a fun place to share a laugh or lighthearted content, too. Sharing a funny caption can boost your page’s personality, and potentially brighten someone else’s day. We hope the following captions make you crack a smile.

1. Glitch in the matrix.

2. My favorite exercise is a cross between a lunge and a crunch … I call it lunch.

3. I need a six-month holiday, twice a year.

4. We tried to be normal once. Worst two minutes of our lives!

5. There are 16-year-olds competing at the Olympics and some of us (me) still push on “pull” doors.

6. That awkward moment when you’re wearing Nike’s and you can’t do it.

7. I’m just a girl, standing in front of a salad, asking it to be a cupcake.

8. What if we told you … you can eat without posting it on Instagram?

9. I know the voices in my head aren’t real, but sometimes their ideas are just too good to ignore.

10. We don’t know what’s tighter: Our jeans or our company culture.

11. Friday … Our second-favorite F word.

12. We don’t care what people think of us. Unless they’re our customers. We definitely care what customers think of us.

13. All you need is love … and investors. All you need is love and investors.

14. Hi, we’re [company name]. We build amazing apps and eat amazing apps.

15. They say “Do what you love and money will come to you.” Let’s see what happens, I just ordered tamales.

16. My favorite subject in school was recess.

17. No thoughts brain empty just tacos and cats.

18. [Food item] so good it’s got me weak in the knees.

19. The best part about waking up is going to sleep eighteen hours later.

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20. For legal reasons, this is not a joke.

21. The older you get, the better you get, unless you’re a banana.

22. Bring the alcohol! Because no great story started with someone eating a salad.

23. Don’t worry if plan A fails. There are 25 more letters in the alphabet.

24. If you’re not supposed to eat at night, why is there a light bulb in the refrigerator?

25. First rule of Sundays: If you can’t reach it from your couch, you don’t need it.

26. If you fall, I will be there. Signed, Floor.

27. The first thing I do after coming to work is logging off.

28. I used to think I was indecisive, but now I am not so sure.

29. Friends buy you lunch. Best friends eat your lunch.

30. Darn it, just accidentally had another thought again.

31. My goal this weekend is to move… just enough so people don’t think I’m dead.

32. You think nothing is impossible? Try getting me out of bed before 12 PM.

33. Looking at these pictures won’t fix all your problems, but it’s a good start.

34. My sauce is too hot that’s why you’ll never ketchup.

35. Google Maps said it’s MY TURN.

36. I got my haters seasick, they see me and get sick.

37. If there would be an award for being lazy, I would send someone to pick it up for me.

Clever Instagram Captions

Trying to come up with some clever IG captions on your own can be a lot of work, so we’ve done it for you. Below we’ve compiled a list of our favorite clever Instagram captions for all your witty caption needs.

1. Patience — what you have when there are too many witnesses.

2. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s the Clarendon filter.

3. “Life is short.” False — it’s the longest thing you do.

4. Happy Sunday! There may be no excuse for laziness, but I’m still looking.

5. Rejection is just redirection.

6. Better an “oops” than a “what if.”

7. Anyone looking for a heart? Selling mine for $2. (Used, good condition)

8. The world is changed by your example, not your opinion.

9. Seven billion smiles and these are my favorite.

10. Stop working hard and start working smart.

11. I found your nose. It was in my business.

12. Imposter complex is just a byproduct of success.

13. Life is simple. It’s just not easy.

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14. There’s a big difference between being alive and living.

15. The best times begin at the end of your comfort zone. So you can catch me on the opposite end of the end of my comfort zone.

16. When nothing goes right, go left.

17. “Success is making those who believed in you look brilliant.” -Dharmesh Shah

18. “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” -Harry Truman

19. The world changes by your example, not your opinion. So get acting right.

20. It’s always a good idea to be on the right side of history.

21. When you learn, teach. When you get, give.

22. Don’t quit your daydream.

23. Legend has it that if you look hard enough you’ll see the weekend approaching!

24. It’s time to make new memories. But first, five tequila shots.

25. I’m on a seafood diet. I see food, I eat it.

26. Sorry I didn’t get back to your text. I was too busy converting oxygen into CO2.

27. Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.

28. “Arguing with a fool proves there are two.” -Doris M. Smith

29. Well, enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think about me?

30. We’re all one more minute closer to dying. What’s one more shot going to do?

31. There’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If you find it, let me know so I can get some.

Cute Instagram Captions

If there’s one thing people on the internet love to see — it’s anything and everything that falls into the category of cute. Whether you’re posting your adorable pet, your significant other, or a picnic by the park, we’ve got all the cute Instagram captions that you need to complement them.

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1. Through all seasons and through all time.

2. Don’t give up on your dreams. Keep sleeping.

3. My fave sound is you snoring next to me.

4. Here’s to a hundred more years with you.

5. Happiness is watching you do what you love 💗 Hopefully that’s me.

6. I like you more than [food]. And I looove [food].

7. Wearing a onesie to bed just in case my SO steals the covers again.

8. Cuddle time with the pup 💞

9. Just showing off my [item] a little. Be jealous.

10. Always wear cute pajamas to bed; you never know who you’ll meet in your dreams.

11. You got me like 🥴️

12. I’d move to [state] for you. And I hate [state].

13. 🥺️👉👈

14. I have no idea what I was doing before you came around. Sleeping, probably.

15. No one can touch my books or my tacos 😤

16. Not me standing there like🧍‍

17. Don’t mind me while I drink my tea 🍵

18. Did someone say [something you like]? 🏃💨

19. They say elephants have a perfect memory. So do I when it comes to you.

20. My pup is the salsa to my whole enchilada.

21. I hate it when I’m singing a song and the artist gets the words wrong.

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22. MY HEART

23. Being an adult is like folding a fitted sheet. No one really knows how.

24. Here’s a🥇for being the cutest human to walk this earth.

25. Me before you:🌱 Me after you: 🌻

26. 🤟

27. Just got that Friday feeling.

28. Are you a timekeeper? ‘Cause time slows down when I’m with you.

29. I can’t see heaven being much better than this.

30. I’m not lazy, I’m on energy-saving mode.

31. My pillow is my best friend (sorry, [best friend’s name])

32. A day doing [activity] is a day well-spent.

33. I don’t know who’s cuter, me or my reflection?

34. Being a full-time angel is so exhausting.

35. With you, everything is twice the fun and half the trouble.

36. Sweeter than a cupcake.

37. Put me on your wishlist.

Wedding Instagram Captions

If you’re getting married, congratulations! Now, it’s time to post your gorgeous wedding photos, but what do you put in the caption? Here are a few ideas to help you get started.

1. “The start of forever.”

2. “Worth the wait.”

3. “Finally found my happily ever after.”

4. “You’re my best friend — here’s to many, many more years.”

5. “I never want to stop making memories with you.”

6. “I promise to love, honor, and cherish you forever.”

7. “I never knew true happiness until I met you.”

8. “Forever and always, I choose you.”

9. “Our beginning.”

10. “Life is an adventure, and I can’t wait to embark on this one with you.”

11. “And so the adventure begins…”

12. “Together is a wonderful place to be.”

13. “Today I marry my soulmate, my partner in life, and my best friend.”

14. “From this moment on, everything changes.”

15. “All I need is you (and some cake). Here’s to forever.”

Couple Instagram Captions

If you’ve yet to tie the knot with your partner, you should still share all the love. Here are some of our favorite couple Instagram captions to pair with the perfect picture.

1. “Forever and always.”

2. 💞💞💞

3. “Together we make the perfect team.”

4. “Two hearts. One tray of tacos.”

5. “I never want to stop making memories with you.”

6. “You stole my heart, but I’ll let you keep it.”

7. “You’re my favorite notification.”

8. “The good things in life are even better with you.”

9. “Billions of humans and you’re my favorite.”

10. “Some things just get better with age. Like us.”

11. “It’s not about finding the person you can live with, it’s about finding the person you can’t live without.”

12. “The exception to every rule.”

13. “After all these years, it’s still you.”

14. “I don’t need a filter when I’m with you.”

15. “Tried and true.”

Friends Instagram Captions

Posting a photo or reel with friends? Pair it with the perfect caption to express your love for your closest confidantes.

1. “Good friends, great memories.”

2. “Besties.”

3. “Friends who laugh together, stay together.”

4. “Friendship isn’t a big thing, it’s a million little things.”

5. “In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips.”

6. “My sunshine on a rainy day.”

7. “Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.”

8. “Laughter is the sound of friendship.”

9. “Together we can conquer anything.”

10. “The three musketeers.”

11. “Sun? What sun? You guys make every day a little brighter.”

12. “You bring out the best in me. 💞”

13. “Making life a little sweeter with my girls.”

14. “Like we were never apart.”

15. “Inseparable.”

Sassy Instagram Captions

Your Instagram posts are your way to express yourself, so if you’re bold, sassy, and not afraid to show it — let your caption do the talking.

For those that want to give their Instagram posts some more pizzazz, try throwing in one of these sassy captions.

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1. Alexa, let them know I don’t give a —

2. What’s a queen without her king? Historically speaking, more powerful.

3. Be a little more you, and a lot less them.

4. We’re an acquired taste. If you don’t like us, acquire some taste.

5. Well-behaved people don’t make it into history books.

6. Be sunshine mixed with a little hurricane.

7. We got 99 problems, but an awesome marketing team ain’t one.

8. Sometimes you just need to do a thing called “what you want.”

9. You can’t do epic stuff with bad people. And we got the best in the biz.

10. It’s not called being bossy, it’s called having leadership skills.

11. You did not wake up today to be mediocre.

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12. You’re italic, I’m in bold.

13. A bad attitude is like a flat tire. You can’t go anywhere until you change it.

14. We’re entrepreneurs. They call us dreamers, but we’re the ones who never sleep.

15. All of us have the capacity to light up a room. Some when they enter, others when they leave it.

16. Brains are awesome. I wish everybody would have one.

17. Common sense is like deodorant. The people who need it most never use it.

18. You see that? That’s my patience leaving.

19. I’ll have you know, I’ve completed plenty of marathons. [Show 1], [Show 2], and [Show 3], to name a few.

20. Everyone has that one annoying friend. If you don’t have one, then it’s probably you.

21. Above: A photo of me pretending to be listening.

22. Oh, you sent me an email? Expect a response in approximately never.

23. Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

24. If you like me, raise your hand. If not, then raise your standard.

25. If you don’t succeed the first time, then burn all the evidence you tried.

26. Underestimate me. That’ll be fun.

27. I like my coffee how I like myself: Dark, bitter and too hot for you.

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28. We move regardless.

29. People say I act like I don’t care. It’s not an act.

30. They say good things take time … that’s why I’m always late.

31. Focused. Intelligent. Motivated. Oh, and cute.

32. “The question isn’t who is going to let me: it’s who is going to stop me.” -Ayn Rand

33. It’s okay if you don’t like me. Not everyone has good taste.

34. I’m a work of art, showing you the art or working.

35. I only show up wearing my best and you shouldn’t expect less.

36. You couldn’t even outshine my shadow.

37. Please don’t call me, I’m out of your range.

38. If you’re sleeping on me I hope you’re tossing and turning.

Song Lyrics for Instagram Captions

People of all different backgrounds can relate to music. Beyond the different chords and melodies are lyrics that tell a story, echo a feeling, or inspire others.

To convey the message or emotion you want in your Instagram caption, use one of these iconic song lyrics.

1. “I’m gonna live like tomorrow doesn’t exist.” — Sia, “Chandelier”

2. “I live for the nights that I can’t remember, with the people that I won’t forget.” — Drake, “Show Me a Good Time”

3. “I hope you never lose your sense of wonder.” — Lee Ann Womack, “I Hope You Dance”

4. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” — John Lennon, “Imagine”

5. “If you give, you begin to live.” — Dave Matthews Band, “You Might Die Trying”

6. “Outlining my findings, using life as a stencil.” — Kero One, “In All the Wrong Places”

7. “Feeling good living better.” — Drake, “Over My Dead Body”

8. “Say oh, got this feeling that you can’t fight, like this city is on fire tonight.” — OneRepublic, “Good Life”

9. “Time makes you bolder.” — Fleetwood Mac, “Landslide”

10. “If I fail, if I succeed, at least I’ll live as I believe.” — Whitney Houston, “The Greatest Love of All”

11. “The rest of the world was in black and white, but we were in screaming color.” — Taylor Swift, “Out of the Woods”

12. “Lightning strikes every time she moves.” — Calvin Harris, “This Is What You Came For”

13. “We aren’t ever getting older.” — Chainsmokers, “Closer”

14. “Sing with me, sing for the years, sing for the laughter, sing for the tears.” — Aerosmith, “Dream On”

15. “Life is good.” — Future & Drake, “Life is Good”

16. “Life without dreaming is a life without meaning.” – Wale, “Aston Martin Music”

17. “But like the sun, know you know I find my way back ‘round.” — J. Cole, “Crooked Smile”

18. “I will overcome any hurdle or obstacle that’s in my path.” — OutKast, “Knowing”

19. “I’m way up, I feel blessed.” — Drake, “Blessings”

20. “Eat, sleep, and breathe it. Rehearse and repeat it.” — Dua Lipa, “New Rules”

21. “I’d rather be dry but at least I’m alive. Rain on me.” — Lady Gaga, “Rain On Me”

22. “And I know that I gotta be above it now. And I know that I can’t let them bring me down.” — Tame Impala, “Be Above It”

23. “I’m on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold, hey, I’ll be fine once I get it, yeah, I’ll be good.” — Kid Cudi, “Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare)”

24. “There’s much more to life than dyin’ over your past mistakes and people who threw dirt on your name.” — Lil Nas X, “Sun Goes Down”

25. “They say the loudest in the room is weak, that’s what they assume, but I disagree.” — Tyler the Creator, “911/Mr. Lonely”

26. “You don’t have to be like everybody else, you don’t have to fit into the norm, you are not here to conform.” — Marina, “Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land”

27. “Throw me in the fire, baby, I’ll survive.” — BROCKHAMPTON, “RENTAL”

28. “When you being real, you ain’t worried ’bout who fake.” —Megan Thee Stallion, “Money Good”

29. “We’re so young, boy, we ain’t got nothin’ to lose.” -Doja Cat, “Kiss Me More”

30. “If someone talked to you the way you do to you, I’d put their teeth through. Love Yourself!” -IDLES, “Television”

Holiday Instagram Captions

Around the holidays, you want to post and share the memories you’ve made throughout the years. For whichever one you’re celebrating, take some inspiration from our favorite Instagram captions and spread some holiday cheer.

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New Year’s Instagram Captions

1. “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” — Abraham Lincoln

2. Didn’t make it to midnight.

3. Resolutions are made to be broken.

4. Ringing in the new year — like a bell.

5. “Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.” — Brad Paisley

6. New year, same me.

7. Time to show off my bubbly personality.

8. Any excuse to wear glitter.

9. Starting off the year on the right foot.

10. There are 12 months ahead of us to make a difference.

11. Day 1 of 365

12. Sip, sip, hooray!

13. All you need is a fresh start.

14. Save water, drink champagne.

15. The best has yet to come.

Valentine’s Day Instagram Captions

1. Roses are red. Violets are blue. Consider this post my Valentine to you.

2. Don’t tell me you love me. Tell me you’re outside with pizza.

3. All I need is you. (And maybe wine + chocolate too.)

4. Cupid called, he wants his arrow back.

5. 99% of my socks are single, and you don’t see them crying about it.

6. I will do anything for love. Except that. And that. Or that. Or…

7. I followed my heart and it led me to the fridge.

8. Look at us. Hey. Look at us. Who woulda thought? Not me!

9. In love with my best friend.

10. I’m better when I’m with you.

Halloween Instagram Captions

1. Creepin’ it real.

2. I brake for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

3. Oh my gourd, Becky, look at her bat.

4. You’re just my (blood) type.

5. How to eat candy corn: don’t.

6. #squadghouls

7. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

8. Driving me batty.

9. “Scary hours.” — Drake

10. Resting Witch Face

Thanksgiving

1. I’m wearing my elastic pants.

2. “For those of you who cannot be with family this Thanksgiving, please resist the urge to brag.” — Andy Borowitz

3. On a veggie diet this Thanksgiving: Carrot cake and pumpkin pie.

4. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” — Oprah Winfrey

5. I think, therefore I cran.

6. Bad day to be a turkey.

7. Need fuel for Black Friday.

8. “Okay, guys. I have exactly 28 minutes before I have to baste again.” — Monica

9. Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.

10. Who made the potato salad?

11. There’s always something to be thankful for.

12. To-do list: eat, drink, nap.

13. I only have pies for you.

14. Gobble ’til you wobble.

15. Love at first bite.

Christmas & Hannukah Instagram Captions

1. You sleigh me.

2. Fa la la la llama.

3. “O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, your ornaments are history.” — The Cat

4. “It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters. It’s who’s around it.” — Charles M. Schulz

5. Dear Santa, let’s not talk about this.

6. Rebel Without a Claus

7. Doesn’t Santa have anything better to do than watch us while we’re sleeping?

8. All I want for Christmas is you (and wine would be nice).

9. Say it ain’t snow.

10. Drop it like a top.

11. Wishing you a latke love this Hanukkah.

12. I want to eat 8 latkes for the calories of one.

13. One little candle can light up an entire room.

14. Keep calm and spin that dreidel.

15. Deck the halls with matzo balls!

16. It’s Christmas time and I’m the gift.

17. The best gift is to be present with the ones you love.

18. Baby, it’s cold outside.

19. Merry everything and happy always.

20. Treat yo elf.

Seasonal Instagram Captions

As the seasons come and go, why not share your joy for the next one on your Instagram? Whether you love the sunshine in the Summer, or snowfall in the winter, you can share that excitement with others.

Ring in the new season with some of these witty, seasonal captions.

Spring Instagram Captions

1. Hello, spring!

2. “And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.” — Louis Armstrong

3. April showers bring May flowers.

4. I think I just experienced all the seasons in a single day.

5. I love allergy season, said no one ever.

6. Currently soaking up the sun and smelling the roses. Please leave a message after the beep.

7. I owe a lot to the inventor of flip-flops.

8. “Here comes the sun, and I say… It’s all right.” — The Beatles

9. “Warm winds in the springtime.” — SZA, “Warm Winds”

10. Springing into the new season.

Summer Instagram Captions

1. “Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. Life’s a beach.

3. School’s out, sun’s out, guns out.

4. “A little bit of summer is what the whole year is all about.” — John Mayer

5. 90% happy, 10% burnt.

6. Girls just want to have sun.

7. “Summer lovin’ had me a blast, summer lovin’ happened so fast.” — Grease

8. Happiness is a cold popsicle.

9. Life is better by the pool.

10. “Summertime and the livin’ is easy.” — Ella Fitzgerald, “Summertime”

11. “Here comes the sun, and I say… It’s all right.” — The Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun”

12. Tans, tans, tans across the board.

Fall Instagram Captions

1. My favorite color is October.

2. “Wild is the music of autumnal winds amongst the faded woods.” — William Wordsworth

3. My favorite kind of weather.

4. It’s never too early for pumpkin spice.

5. Meet me in the corn maze.

6. Crisp air. Apple cider. Flaming foliage.

7. Pumpkin spice and everything nice.

8. “Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day.” — Shira Tamir

9. Leaves are falling, and autumn is calling.

10. “Days in the sun and nights in the rain. Summer is over, simple and plain.” — Drake & Majid Jordan, “Summer’s Over”

11. Falling never felt so good.

12. Painted in the colors of fall.

13. Sweater weather.

14. Even the leaves fall for you.

15. Channel the flannel.

Winter Instagram Captions

1. “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus

2. If it’s snowing, I’m not going.

3. Cozy nights. Good books. Hot chocolate.

4. Do you want to build a snowman?

5. Running on caffeine and holiday cheer.

6. “Winter is not a season; it’s a celebration.” — Anamika Mishra

7. Merry and brrrrrrright.

8. Having snow much fun.

9. ‘Tis the season to be freezin’.

10. “Timb’ laces get tighter and parka hoods flip up.” — Drake, “Come Winter”

Selfie Instagram Captions

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Selfies are a celebration of something unique, beautiful, and full of life — you! So when you share your next selfie, complement it with one of our favorite selfie Instagram captions.

1. Golden hour.

2. Me, myself, and I.

3. Be yourself, there’s no one better.

4. It’s the happiness for me.

5. Smile! The happiness is right under your nose.

6. My favorite filter is reality.

7. Self-care selfie!

8. Conquer the world one smile at a time.

9. It’s a great day to have a great day.

10. The greatest gift you can give someone is a smile.

11. Self-love is the best love.

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12. The only rose that blooms in winter.

13. “But she looked powerful. She wore the sun like a shiny pin on the side of her hair.” –Lilian Li

14. I don’t need a hairstylist. My pillow gives me a new hairstyle every morning.

15. All-natural.

16. No filter.

17. Morning hair, don’t care.

18. Quick #OOTD

19. Anything but basic.

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20. Welcome [age]!

21. Hard to be down to earth when you look out of this world.

22. Looking like I don’t know how to lose.

23. Beautiful from halo to toe.

24. I’m ready for my close-up.

    

Baddie Instagram Captions

That OOTD or travel photo with the beautiful lighting, impeccable attire, and je ne se quois makes a great addition to your Instagram feed. Here are some captions to convey “baddie” energy.

1. “She who dares, wins.”

2. “Don’t let anyone dim your shine.”

3. “Stay focused, stay fierce.”

4. “I’m not bossy, I’m the boss.”

5. “I’m not always right, but I’m never wrong.”

6. “Chasing my dreams in Chanel.”

7. “Not afraid to break the rules.”

8. “Be the girl that decided to go for it.”

9. “I refuse to be anything less.”

10. “Confidence isn’t walking into a room thinking you’re better than anyone, it’s just walking in and not having to compare yourself to anyone at all.”

11. “A perfect work-in-progress.”

12. “Improvement is a journey.”

13. “My standards are high because I know my worth.”

14. “Some girls are just born with glitter in their veins.”

15. “I am not a one in a million kind of girl. I am a once in a lifetime kind of woman.”

Travel & Vacation Instagram Captions

When you want to treat yourself, a vacation is always a great reward.

It’s a chance to experience different cultures, food, music and scenery. When you’re out exploring the world, share some of your favorite travel moments with these awesome Instagram captions.

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1. Majestic moments in [place].

2. A chance to get away from the everyday.

3. Work. Save. Travel. Repeat.

4. Staycation loading…

5. Collect the moments, not the materials.

6. Another destination off the bucket list.

7. An adventure to fill the soul.

8. The scenic route is always better.

9. I need a six-month vacation, twice a year.

10. Be back never.

11. Catch flights, not feelings.

12. Always take the scenic route.

13. I’ve never met a vacation I didn’t like.

14. An adventure a day keeps the doctor away.

15. Travel is an investment in yourself.

16. Some call it vacation, I call it heaven.

17. “I hate traveling.” said no traveler ever.

18. If you need me, call me on my shell phone.

19. I can sea clearly now.

20. Happiness comes in waves.

21. A change in latitude helps my attitude.

Beach Instagram Captions

1. “Enjoying the waves.”

2. “Sandy toes, sun-kissed nose.”

3. “Pure, sunburned happiness.”

4. “Life’s a 🏖️.”

5. “No worries. No thoughts.”

6. “There’s nothing more healing than the sound of the ocean.”

7. “My happy place.”

8. “Time at the beach is never wasted.”

9. “Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink in the wild air.”

10. “See ya when I’m back on earth. ✌️”

11. “The beach is always a good idea.”

12. “Paradise found.”

13. “Agenda today: Do nothing. Get sunburnt.”

14. “The beach: where doing absolutely nothing, is doing everything.”

15. “Life is too short, go on that beach vacation.”

Birthday Instagram Captions

1. “Another year wiser.”

2. “A whole year older and still young at heart.”

3. “[Age].”

4. “Celebrating another spin around the sun.”

5. “A new year of life, a new chapter to write.”

6. “Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.”

7. “Here’s to one more year of blessings and adventures.”

8. “Happy day of emergence to me.”

9. “Here’s to another year of making memories together.”

10. “Age is just a number, it’s the memories that count.”

11. “Another year to shine bright.”

12. “Celebrating a day filled with love, laughter, and of course, cake!”

13. “[Previous age], you were good to me. Now it’s time for another year of shenanigans.”

14. “Cheers to one more year on this planet called Earth.”

15. “Another year more grateful.”

Prom Instagram Captions

1. “A night to remember.”

2. “Dancing the night away with my favorite people.”

3. “Memories to last a lifetime.”

4. “Tonight, we’re young.”

5. “Ready to have the time of our lives.”

6. “Prom photo dump.”

7. “Prom [current year].”

8. “Let prom night begin!”

9. “The night is young and so are we.”

10. “Feeling like a prince/princess tonight.”

11. “Started from the bottom, now we’re all fancy and stuff.”

12. “Prom ✨”

13. “Here’s to a night of memories we’ll cherish forever.”

14. “Who needs a limo?”

15. “Let the party begin!”

Graduation Instagram Captions

1. “The tassel was worth the hassle.”

2. “The beginning of a new adventure.”

3. “Today is the first day of the rest of our lives.”

4. “I feel like I was in ninth grade JUST yesterday?”

5. “Keeping it on 💯”

6. “Onward and upward.”

7. “Class of [year], can’t believe we did it!”

8. “It’s not the end, it’s just the beginning.”

9. “[Class year] is the best class, no 🧢”

10. “Cheers to new beginnings, and to ending what we started.”

11. “The future belongs to those who believe.”

12. “The best is yet to come.”

13. “Ready to seize the world.”

14. “Look back on your accomplishments with pride, and look forward to the future with excitement.”

15. “We did it — it’s time to celebrate!”

Food Instagram Captions

1. “Good food, good life.”

2. “Eating may be a necessity, but cooking is an art.”

3. “Life is short, eat dessert first.”

4. “Food is not just fuel, it’s information. It talks to your DNA and tells it what to do. So… you’d better bet I’m gonna eat.”

5. “Food is love made visible.”

6. “Good food with even better people.”

7. “Eating my favorite with my favorites.”

8. “The only thing better than talking about food is eating it.”

9. “@[restaurant]”

10. “A night of [food item]: the ultimate stress reliever.”

11. “Nothing more romantic than eating [food item] and [food item] in sweatpants with crumbs on our chests.”

12. “My favorite hole-in-the wall place.”

13. “Good food equals good mood.”

14. “A party without cake is just a meeting.”

15. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Anyway, who wants fries?”

Pet & Dog Instagram Captions

1. “My heart is full of paw prints.”

2. “Who needs a therapist when you have a dog?”

3. “Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”

4. “Life is too short to not have a dog.”

5. “#1 family member (sorry, mom).”

6. “I woof you more than words can express.”

7. “Every day is an adventure with my four-legged buddy.”

8. “The best kind of love.”

9. “Adopt, don’t shop.”

10. “Everything’s better with your little paws by my side.”

11. “My [pet] is the king/queen of my heart.”

12. “The only thing better than coming home after a long day is being greeted by you.”

13. “My dog is smarter than most politicians.”

14. “The best things in life are furry and have four legs.”

15. “I didn’t choose the dog life, the dog life chose me.”

Features of Good Instagram Captions

Want to write a caption from scratch? I totally get it. If you’re anything like me, you take about four minutes choosing a filter for your Instagram photo, and about four hours deciding on a caption.

Worst of all, after much creative effort and advice from friends, I’m usually barely able to write a caption that goes beyond, “Had a fun day with friends!” And I’m a writer — go figure.

The point is, writing a good caption is hard. Whether you create one from scratch or choose a pre-written one, it should fulfill a few requirements.

1. Your caption is on-brand.

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Whether your Instagram page is personal or for your business, your captions should be on-brand, or reflective of your brand identity.

This encapsulates the nature of your Instagram’s branding and tone of voice. For example, if your page is based on self-love, you should use captions that are friendly in tone, and use inclusive language to make people feel good when they scroll through your Instagram profile.

2. Your caption is simple.

Instagram captions can fit up to 2,200 characters, but you don’t have to use all of them for your caption to be considered a good one. You ideally want to keep your captions clear, short, and simple for easy readability. You also want to keep your audience’s attention enough to read it to finish.

The exception to this is if you’re making posts that champion storytelling or other lengthy formats. Ultimately, it comes down to what your audience is looking for.

3. Your caption is memorable.

While your Instagram caption doesn’t have to be a profound piece of literature, you can make it memorable in a number of ways. Depending on the type of post you’re sharing, you can make it hilarious, thought-provoking, inspiring, or anything you want it to be.

Want more inspiration? Check out our Instagram page to see how we incorporate fun, witty, and engaging captions into our social media content. The captions often complement the post itself and prompt engagement from users. Instagram Insights metrics such as comments, likes, and saves show you how well you’re engaging users and whether your captions are effective in prompting likes and comments.

Here’s one example from HubSpot with the caption “You can’t spell ‘CRM’ without ‘R’”:

Don’t underestimate the power of a good caption. They can help you generate more engagement and turn your followers into customers.

How to Make Engaging IG Captions

Instagram captions can actually be used strategically, and in many cases help personal or business pages to increase engagement on the platform — and here’s how.

1. Ask your followers questions.

If you’re looking to entice your followers to interact or like your posts more, you could ask them for their opinion, recommendations, or even personal stories to make your page more interactive.

For example, if you’re running an Instagram page for fashion, ask your followers to comment under your newest post about their favorite designers, collections, or trends buzzing in the industry.

Or if you’re promoting a product or service, ask your followers to chime in on what they’d like to see, a problem they need solved, or even ask for a product review or testimonial on how your business has positively impacted them.

2. Add a CTA.

If you advertise your business, product, or free resource, add a clear and enticing call to action.

It doesn’t have to be the entire IG caption, but including it on the tail end of your post’s description can lead your followers from simply liking your post to visiting your online storefront or website.

3. Incorporate relevant hashtags.

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You can use up to a maximum of 30 hashtags on a typical Instagram post, these give you a lot of possibilities to attract viewers based on your topic, location, industry, product, or service. Though, you shouldn’t feel pressured to use that many, just choose the ones you find essential, or even come up with your own personally branded one.

Capture the Feeling with an Instagram Caption

Even though an image is worth 1,000 words, a well-written caption couldn’t hurt. These days, the caption can make just as much of a statement as the image! For all of the occasions that are worthy of a post to your feed, use one of the quotes from this list and customize it to make it your own.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

SEO isn’t easy — it often requires an entire team of people who solely focus on SEO within your marketing department to get it right. That’s why many companies choose to outsource their SEO to an SEO agency/service.

But where do you start? And how much will it cost? These are some of the first questions businesses may have when thinking about hiring externally.

In this post, we’ll explore what SEO agencies do, how they structure their prices, and how you can tell if they’re worth the cost. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

• What do SEO services do?
• The Benefits of SEO Services
• How SEO Services Structure Their Prices
• Basic SEO Plan Pricing
• Enterprising SEO Plan Pricing
• How can you tell if an SEO service is worth it?

What do SEO services do?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important marketing strategy because it helps you rank higher on search engines.

By hiring an SEO service, you can partner with an agency that uses several tactics to increase your rank and traffic. These tactics include keyword targeting, keyword research, content marketing, link building (both internal and external), and more.

Since there are several different kinds of SEO (on-page, off-page, technical, and local), there are services available. Some provide an all-in-one service others focus on just one type of SEO.

Foundational services usually include the following:

• Keyword research
• Technical SEO audits
• On-page setup
• Competitor analysis
• Website blog content
• Link building
• Link auditing
• Guest blogging
• Local SEO
• Citation building
• Review management
• Google Business optimization

The Benefits of SEO Services

Many companies choose to use SEO services so experts can execute their marketing strategies.

These companies can help you improve your rank on search engines, increase conversions, and boost authority. Let’s go into more detail.

1. SEO services help improve your rank on search engines.

With an SEO service, you’ll have an expert handling your content marketing, so you can improve your rank on search engines and drive traffic to your website.

Reaching people organically in this way is important to your company as it builds brand awareness and brings visitors/leads to your site.

Organic is one of the best ways to bring in leads because you’re helping potential customers that will then turn into leads and sales. Improving your rank on search engines will bring that traffic and get your product/service in front of more people.

2. You can increase conversions with both paid and organic leads.

SEO is necessary for your site because it can help generate leads. By using an SEO service, you can increase conversions from paid and organic efforts.

When people come to your site from organic efforts, an SEO service will help turn them into leads and convert them into customers by using their expertise in content marketing, lead nurturing, and lead generation.

Additionally, SEO services often help with PPC and display ads, meaning they can help increase your paid leads as well.

3. They help boost authority and build brand awareness.

The overall goal of SEO is to help boost authority and build brand awareness among your audience, teaching your audience to trust your company.

An SEO service can help with this by implementing an involved strategy focused on consistently publishing content related to your products and services, and adjusting as necessary based on results.

Now that we know what SEO services are and why they exist, let’s discuss how much they cost.

How SEO Services Structure Their Prices

SEO services can structure their prices in several ways, whether they’re on retainer, charge hourly rates, or charge by the project.

These services also take into consideration the competitiveness of keywords, whether you’re running a local or national campaign, the type of project, and whether they’re an individual freelancer or a full-service agency.

Typically, hiring services can cost an average of $1,000 to $10,000 monthly.

SEO services also usually come in different packages, bundles, and plans. Let’s review what a basic SEO plan might cost compared to an enterprise SEO plan.

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Basic SEO Plan Pricing

A basic SEO plan usually features several automated services and the bare minimum for organic reach. This often includes title tag creation, technical SEO maintenance (image sizing, page speed, etc.), citation building, and monthly reports.

Usually, an SEO service will use software and tools to automate these processes, allowing them to offer more cost-effective packages. A basic SEO plan may cost anywhere from $500 to $2,500 per month.

Enterprise SEO Plan Pricing

An enterprise SEO plan will include more specialized, customized campaign work.

You’ll most likely have a dedicated customer success manager and work with several departments on content marketing, technical SEO, PPC ads, and more.

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An enterprise plan will likely include keyword research, analytics and reporting, PPC ads, title and meta tag creation, technical SEO maintenance, content creation (lead magnets, blog posts, ads, ebooks, etc.), link building, and monthly reports.

This plan will cost more, ranging from $3,000 to $15,000 monthly. Remember, costs can quickly increase depending on the service your hire, so it’s important to know which service is worth it.

How can you tell if an SEO service is worth it?

The main reason there’s such a variety in cost is that many types of SEO services exist. Whether it’s a freelancer or an agency, either will structure their pricing differently and have varying levels and areas of expertise.

For example, Scorpion is an SEO agency specializing in legal and home services marketing. Other agencies might specialize in B2B marketing. It’s important to remember that with specialized expertise comes higher pricing.

To determine whether or not an SEO service is worth the cost, consider the types of packages they offer, the per-project cost, the hourly rate, the experience and expertise, and their client testimonials.

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Here are some things to consider.

1. Can they demonstrate proven results?

Make sure to look for proven results from any SEO service. What do previous clients say? What kind of results did they see? Do they have case studies to share?

Look for data, videos, reviews, social media posts, and other points that prove they know what they’re doing. Social proof will let you know how likely you are to succeed and what results you can expect.

2. Do they feature customer testimonials?

Pay particular attention to testimonials, customer videos, and case studies. These will show you how happy other clients have been with the service, and they might even explain the type of packages and projects.

The more happy customer there are, the more likely you are to have a similar experience.

3. Do they implement white-hat or black-hat SEO tactics?

Some SEO tactics are allowed, like white hat, and some are not allowed by search engines, like black hat.

Black-hat tactics include keyword stuffing, blending text into the background, and more. Look out for shady strategies that don’t sound right or try to manipulate the system. Then, run in the other direction.

4. Are they willing to explain your customized strategy?

A reputable SEO service will explain its strategy, approach, services, and the results you can expect to see.

That’s a sign that their service is worth it. If they can’t do that, they may be working off the whim without a clear direction — something you don’t want.

Getting Started

SEO is an important marketing tactic responsible for driving leads and revenue. These strategies aren’t going away anytime soon.

That’s why many companies look at SEO services, figure out what services they need, find a plan that fits their budget, and seek an agency to partner with.

vlookup is a powerful tool that allows users to search for specific data in a large dataset. Whether you’re a business owner or simply someone who works with data, mastering the vlookup function can save you time and help you make more informed decisions.

You might be a complete beginner to vlookup. Or perhaps you’re more familiar with Excel and want to know how to execute this formula in Google Sheets.

Either way, you’ll find step-by-step instructions and useful tips below to make sure you’re using the vlookup function correctly and retrieving accurate results from your dataset.

Table of Contents

• What does vlookup do in Google Sheets?
• The Benefits of Using vlookup in Google Sheets
• How to Use vlookup in Google Sheets
• Vlookup Example
• Best Practices for Using vlookup

What does vlookup do in Google Sheets?

Vlookup is a function in Google Sheets that searches for a specific value in the leftmost column of a table or range and returns a corresponding value from a specified column within that range.

The syntax for the vlookup function is as follows:

Vlookup(search_key, range, index, [is_sorted])

• search_key is the value that you want to search for.
• range is the table or range that you want to search in.
• index is the column number (starting from 1) of the value you want to retrieve.
• is_sorted is an optional argument that indicates whether the data in the range is sorted in ascending order. If this argument is set to TRUE or omitted, the function assumes that the data is sorted and uses a faster search algorithm. If this argument is set to FALSE, the function uses a slower search algorithm that works for unsorted data.

For example, if you have a table with a list of product names in the first column and their corresponding prices in the second column, you can use the vlookup function to look up the price of a specific product based on its name.

The Benefits of Using vlookup in Google Sheets

Using vlookup can save you a lot of time when searching through large datasets. It’s a great way to quickly find the data you need without having to scroll through hundreds of rows manually.

Using vlookup in Google Sheets also:

• Saves time and effort. You can quickly retrieve information from large datasets by automating the search and retrieval process through vlookup. This can save you a lot of time and effort compared to manually searching for information in a table.
• Reduces errors. When searching for information manually, there is a risk of human error, such as mistyping or misreading information. Vlookup can help you avoid these errors by performing accurate searches based on exact matches.
• Increases accuracy. Vlookup helps ensure that you’re retrieving the correct information by allowing you to search for specific values in a table. This can help you avoid retrieving incorrect or irrelevant information.
• Improves data analysis. You can analyze data more efficiently by using vlookup to compare and retrieve data from different tables. This can help you easily identify patterns, trends, and relationships between data points.
• Provides flexibility and customization. Vlookup allows you to specify the search criteria and choose which columns to retrieve data from, making it a versatile and customizable tool that can be used for a wide range of tasks.

How to Use vlookup in Google Sheets

1. Open a new or existing Google Sheet.
2. Enter the data you want to search for in one column of the sheet. For example, you might have a list of product names in column A.
3. Enter the corresponding data you want to retrieve in another column of the sheet. For example, you might have a list of prices in column B.
4. Decide which cell you want to use to enter the vlookup formula, and click on that cell to select it.
5. Type the following formula into the cell:
   

   =VLOOKUP(search_key, range, index, [is_sorted])

   

6. Replace the “search_key” argument with a reference to the cell containing the value you want to search for. For example, if you want to search for the price of a product named “Milk” and “Milk” is in cell A1, you would replace “search_key” with “A1”
7. Replace the “range” argument with a reference to the range of cells that contains the data you want to search in. 

   For example, if your product names are in column A and your prices are in column B, you would replace “range” with “A:B”.

   You can also just click and drag your mouse over the range of cells the vlookup should use to retrieve the data if you’re working with a smaller dataset.

   

8. Replace the “index” argument with the number of the column containing the data you want to retrieve. For example, if you want to retrieve prices from column B, you would replace “index” with “2”.
9. If the data in your range is sorted in ascending order, you can omit the final “[is_sorted]” argument or set it to “TRUE”. If the data is not sorted, you should set this argument to “FALSE” to ensure accurate results.
10. Press Enter to apply the formula and retrieve the desired data.

That’s it! The vlookup function should now retrieve the corresponding data based on the search key you specified. You can copy the formula to other cells in the sheet to retrieve additional data.

vlookup Example

Let’s take a look at a practical example of how to use the vlookup function in Google Sheets.

Suppose you have a table that lists the names of employees in column A and their corresponding salaries in column B. You want to look up the salary of an employee named “John” using the vlookup function.

Once the data is entered into a Google Sheet, you need to decide which cell you want to use to enter the vlookup formula, and click on that cell to select it before typing in the following formula:

=VLOOKUP(“John”, A:B, 2, FALSE)

The vlookup function should now retrieve the salary of John, which is 50,000. Here’s how the formula works:

In the first argument, “John” is the search key, which is the value you want to look up in the leftmost column of the table. In the second argument, “A:B” is the range you want to search in, which includes both columns A and B.

In the third argument, “2” is the index of the column you want to retrieve data from, which is column B (since salaries are listed in column B).

The fourth argument, “FALSE”, indicates that the data in the range is not sorted in ascending order.

So the formula searches for the name “John” in the leftmost column of the table, finds the corresponding salary in column B, and returns that value (50,000).

Best Practices for Using vlookup

There are a few key things to remember when using vlookup in Google Sheets to ensure it works properly and returns accurate data.

Make sure the data is in the same row.

First, make sure that the data you want to return is in the same row as the value you’re searching for. Otherwise, vlookup won’t be able to find it.

Sort the first column by ascending order.

Make sure that the first column of your data range is sorted in ascending order.

This will ensure that the vlookup function returns the correct results. If not, make sure you use the FALSE argument in the formula.

Include headers in the vlookup formula.

If your data range includes headers, be sure to include them in your vlookup formula so that the function knows where to find the relevant data. Otherwise, the function may not know which column to search in and could return incorrect results.

For example, if your columns have headers in Row 1 of the sheet such as “Price,” “Name,” or “Category,” make sure these cells are included in the “range” section of the formula.

Make use of the wildcard character.

The wildcard character (*) can be used in the lookup value to represent any combination of characters.

For example, suppose you have a list of product names in the first column of a data range, and you want to look up the sales for a product called “Chocolate Bar.”

However, the name of the product in the data range is listed as “Chocolate Bar – Milk Chocolate.” In this case, an exact match lookup would not find the sales for the “Chocolate Bar” product.

Here is how you would include the wildcard character in the Google Sheets vlookup formula:

=VLOOKUP(“Chocolate Bar*”, A2:B10, 2, FALSE)

It’s important to note that when using a wildcard character, vlookup will return the first match it finds in the first column of the data range that matches the lookup value.

If there are multiple matches, it will return the first one it finds. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that the lookup value is specific enough to return the desired result.

Match your formula to the case of the data you’re seeking.

Remember that vlookup is case-sensitive, so the value you enter into the formula must match the case of the value in the cells.

For example, let’s say you have a data range that includes a column of product names, and the product names are listed in different cases in different cells, such as “apple,” “Apple,” and “APPLE.”

If you’re using VLOOKUP to search for the sales of a particular product, you need to make sure that the lookup value in your formula matches the case of the data in the data range.

Getting Started

The vlookup function in Google Sheets is extremely useful if you’re dealing with large datasets in complex spreadsheets. It can seem complicated to use at first, but with a bit of practice, you’ll get the hang of it.

Just remember to keep best practices in mind and, if your vlookup isn’t working, use the tips above to troubleshoot.

Google Sheets is a powerful tool for managing and analyzing data, but as your spreadsheets become more complex, you may need more advanced tools to perform calculations and analysis.

Arrays are one such feature. This function in Google Sheets allows you to perform complex calculations across multiple cells or ranges of cells.

Using arrays in Google Sheets can be daunting for beginners, but with a little practice, they can be a game-changer for managing and analyzing data. In this blog post, we’ll take a deep dive into how to use arrays in Google Sheets, from basic formulas to more advanced techniques.

Table of Contents

• What do arrays do in Google Sheets?
• The Benefits of Using Arrays in Google Sheets
• How to Use Arrays in Google Sheets
• Google Sheets Array Example
• Best Practices for Using Arrays

What do arrays do in Google Sheets?

Arrays in Google Sheets are used to perform calculations on multiple cells or ranges of cells simultaneously, without having to create a separate formula for each cell.

An array formula is a special type of formula that can be used to perform calculations across multiple cells in a column, row, or even across multiple columns and rows.

Array formulas are surrounded by curly braces { } and are created by typing the formula and then pressing Ctrl + Shift + Enter (on Windows) or Command + Shift + Enter (on Mac).

An array formula is identified by the presence of curly braces { }. The basic syntax of an array formula in Google Sheets is:

{formula(range)}

“Formula” is any valid formula, and “range” is the range of cells to which the formula should be applied.

For example, if you wanted to calculate the sum of the values in cells A1 to A10, you could use the following array formula:

=SUM(A1:A10)

When you enter this formula as an array formula (by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Enter), Google Sheets will automatically apply the formula to all of the cells in the selected range, producing a single result in each cell.

Arrays can also be used with other functions like AVERAGE, MAX, MIN, and COUNT, as well as with logical functions like IF and AND. Using arrays can be a powerful way to perform complex calculations and analyses in Google Sheets.

The Benefits of Using Arrays in Google Sheets

Like many formulas used in Google Sheets, the main benefit of arrays is the ability to work with data faster and more simply. A few of the specific benefits of arrays include:

• Efficiency. Arrays can perform calculations on multiple cells or ranges of cells simultaneously, saving time and reducing the amount of manual work required.
• Flexibility. Arrays can be used with a wide range of functions and formulas, making it possible to perform complex calculations and analyses in Google Sheets.
• Accuracy. Using arrays can reduce the risk of errors and mistakes that can occur when performing calculations manually or using individual formulas for each cell.
• Simplicity. Arrays can simplify complex formulas by allowing you to perform multiple calculations with a single formula.
• Dynamic range referencing. Arrays can reference a dynamic range of cells, which is useful when working with data that changes or grows over time.

• Improved readability. Arrays can make spreadsheets easier to read and understand by reducing the number of formulas required and by grouping related calculations together.

How to Use Arrays in Google Sheets

Applying an array to your formula is very straightforward but not very intuitive. Follow these steps to understand how to use an array formula in Google Sheets:

1. Select the range of cells that you want to perform a calculation on. Make sure that the cells are contiguous (i.e., they’re all next to each other).
2. Type the formula that you want to use to perform the calculation. For example, if you want to sum the values in the selected cells, you would type “=SUM(” (without the quotes).
3. With the cursor still inside the formula bar, press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys (on Windows) or the Command and Shift keys (on Mac) on your keyboard.
4. While holding down those keys, press the Enter key. The formula should now be surrounded by curly braces { }.
5. Release the Ctrl + Shift (or Command + Shift) keys.
6. Press Enter to complete the formula.
7. The formula will now be applied to all cells in the selected range, producing a single result in each cell.
8. If you need to edit the array formula, simply click on the cell containing the formula, then click on the formula bar to edit the formula.

Google Sheets Array Example

Let’s say you have a spreadsheet with a list of products and their prices, and you want to calculate the total cost of purchasing a certain number of each product.

You could use an array formula to calculate the total cost for each product and the overall cost.

Here’s how that would work.

1. Start by creating a table with the list of products and their prices.
2. In cell C1, enter the number of units you want to purchase for each product. For example, if you want to purchase three units of Product 1, two units of Product 2, and four units of Product 3, you would enter “3” in cell C2, “2” in cell C3, and “4” in cell C4.
3. In cell D1, enter the following formula:
   

   =ArrayFormula(B2:B6*C2:C6)

   This formula multiplies the price of each product by the number of units you want to purchase and returns an array of the total cost for each product.

   

4. Finally, in cell D7, enter the following formula:
   

   =SUM(D2:D6)

   This formula sums the values in the D2:D6 range to get the total cost of purchasing all the products.

   

5. That’s it! Now, as you update the values in column C, the array formula in column D will automatically recalculate the total cost for each product, and the SUM formula in cell D6 will update to reflect the overall cost. This can be a very useful tool for managing and analyzing data in Google Sheets.

Best Practices for Using Arrays

Use arrays only when necessary.

While arrays can be a powerful tool for performing complex calculations and analysis in Google Sheets, they can also be resource-heavy and slow down your spreadsheet. Use arrays only when necessary, and try to limit the number of cells they’re applied to whenever possible.

Be careful when editing arrays.

When editing an array formula, be sure to press Ctrl + Shift + Enter (on Windows) or Command + Shift + Enter (on Mac) to apply the changes. If you don’t use this key combination, the formula may not work correctly.

Use named ranges.

Instead of using cell references in your array formulas, consider using named ranges. This can make your formulas easier to read and understand.

Test your formulas.

Before using an array formula in your spreadsheet, test it on a small set of data to make sure that it’s working correctly. This can help you avoid errors and mistakes that can occur when working with large amounts of data.

Use the IFERROR function.

If your array formula is likely to return an error, consider using the IFERROR function to display a more user-friendly message instead. For example, you could use “=IFERROR(array formula, “No data available”)” to display the message “No data available” if the formula returns an error.

Document your formulas.

To make it easier to understand and troubleshoot your spreadsheet in the future, consider documenting your array formulas with comments or by using cell notes. This can also be useful if someone else needs to work with your spreadsheet.

Getting Started

Using arrays in Google Sheets is particularly useful if you’re working with large datasets or complex formulas that need to be linked together.

Although executing arrays is simple, it’s important to be careful and document how and where you’ve used them. That way, if you start getting errors on calculations, you’ll have a clear path to working backward and figuring out what went wrong.

If your website is structured like a house, then your website’s URL is like that house’s address. It defines where your website lives online, similar to how your home address determines where you live in a neighborhood, helping your visitors easily find your site. URLs also help Google understand what your website’s pages are about.

There are several URL parts, and they’re discreetly important for optimizing your site’s user experience (UX) and SEO. To help you develop a concrete understanding of every part of a URL, let’s explore each of them in detail.

Below is an illustration of the basic parts of a URL. A URL will always have a scheme or protocol, a domain name, and path.

However, URLs may contain more attributes than the basic components listed above. Let’s take a comprehensive look at URL structure below.

URL Structure

1. Scheme

The scheme (also called protocol) tells web servers which protocol to use when it accesses a page on your website.

Nowadays, HTTPS — which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure — is the most common scheme. It tells your web browser to encrypt any information you enter onto the page, like your passwords or credit card information, so cybercriminals can’t access it. This security protocol protects your website visitors and implementing it will help your site rank better on Google. That’s why implementing SSL is a must-do on any technical SEO guide.

Other schemes you might see are mailto://, which can open your computer’s default email service provider to help you draft an email to the email address you entered in the URL, and ftp://, which is a standard protocol for transferring computer files between a client and server on a computer network.

2. Subdomain

If your website is like a house, your subdomains are like specific rooms in that house. A subdomain in a URL indicates which particular page of your website the web browser should serve up. For instance, subdomains like “blog” or “offers” will provide your website’s blog page or offers page.

Subdomains also bucket your website into its main content categories and shows Google and your visitors that there’s more information on your site than just a homepage.

3. Second-level Domain

Your second-level domain (SLD) is the name of your website. It helps people know they’re visiting a certain brand’s site. For instance, people who visit “mlb.com” know they’re on Major League Baseball’s website, without needing any more information.

4. Top-level Domain

The top-level domain (TLD) specifies what type of entity your organization registers as on the internet.

For example, “.com” is intended for commercial entities in the United States, so a lot of American businesses register with a top-level domain of “.com”. Similarly “.edu” is intended for academic institutions in the United States, so a lot of American colleges and universities register with a top-level domain of “.edu”.

5. Subdirectory

A subdirectory — also known as a subfolder — helps people as well as web crawlers understand which particular section of a webpage they’re on.

For instance, if you own an online store that sells t-shirts, hats, and mugs, one of your website’s URLs could look like “https://shop.yourstore.com/hats”. Notice that the subdomain is “shop” and the subdirectory is “hats.” That means this URL would serve up the “Hats” page, which is a subfolder of the “Shop” page. T-shirts and mugs would be other subfolders of this page.

6. Port

The port is a number used to specify a connection endpoint and to direct data to a specific service. Different servers will use different port numbers. This number is always associated with a host network address, like an IP address. For example an HTTP server is identified using 80, while an HTTPS server uses 443 as its port number.

7. Path

The path specifies the location of the file or resource that the user wants to access. In the example below, the specified path would be the article “parth-url.”

8. Query

Ever noticed a question mark displayed in some URLs when Google displays your search results? That question mark says that a specific query is being performed and is used to precede a query string. A query string specifies the parameters of the data being asked from a website’s database. We’ll dig into parameters next.

9. Parameters

Parameters are the values being queried during a search. The parameter can be a number, encrypted value, search term or other data that can be found on the website. URL parameters contain a key and value, separated by an equal sign (=). A URL can contain multiple parameters, which are then each separated with an ampersand (&).

Written out, the structure would look like this:

https//www.hubspotexample.com/page?key1=value1&key2=value2

UTM parameters are used to track your marketing or promotional efforts. Added to the ends of URLs these parameters can track how visitors are coming to your site and if they’re interacting with an associated marketing campaign.

10. Fragments

Fragments are an optional component of URLs that are typically placed at the end with a hash (#). They indicate a specific location on the webpage like an ID or name attribute, but can also direct to other resources like a footer, or sidebar.

URL Structure: Subtle Yet Essential

Even though URLs might seem simple and arbitrary, they’re actually important for your website’s UX and SEO. And now that you understand each of the URL parts, check out the blog posts below to learn more about technical SEO.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in October 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. 

Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team.

Is there anything more satisfying than getting a great deal on a more affordable version of a popular product? Fans of the beauty company e.l.f. don’t seem to think so.

Founded in 2004, e.l.f. (an acronym for eyes, lips, and face) was created to offer high-quality cosmetics at a low cost. At the time of its launch, most of e.l.f.’s products cost between $1 to $3.

In its first decade, the company experienced a period of steady growth, expanding its product line, opening its own retail spaces, and finding some success in digital marketing. But by 2018, e.l.f. was experiencing a plateau in sales, and closed its standing retail stores, priming the brand for a marketing pivot.

E.l.f.’s shift to TikTok

In 2019, the hashtag #elfcosmetics had over 3 million views on TikTok before e.l.f. even had its own presence on the platform. With this in mind, the company shifted its marketing strategy to focus on TikTok’s user base (which was overwhelmingly Gen Z), leveraging short-form video and user-generated content in its #EyesLipsFace campaign.

Alongside Brooklyn-based agency Movers + Shakers, e.l.f. commissioned an original song that was catchy enough to go viral and encouraged TikTok users to feature the song and the hashtag #EyesLipsFace. The campaign was among TikTok’s most viral and cemented e.l.f.’s newfound focus on a Gen Z audience.

To keep the buzz going, e.l.f. centered its messaging on key points that Gen Z values when making purchasing decisions:

• Social responsibility: 50% of Gen Z consumers won’t purchase products from beauty brands that aren’t cruelty-free.
• Affordability: Gen Z may also be more frugal than other generations. 80% of Gen Z consumers will wait until an item goes on sale to buy it, and 60% of Gen Z buyers said the price of a product was the number one factor they consider when making purchasing decisions.

These are two areas e.l.f. cosmetics can deliver on. Since its founding, e.l.f. has been cruelty-free and continues to center this point in its messaging. Compared to other beauty brands, e.l.f. continues to be among the most affordable options.

Bring on the dupes

Capitalizing on its reputation as an affordable brand, e.l.f. began introducing more budget-friendly alternatives to viral beauty products, also known as dupes. 

Some of e.l.f.’s dupes that have gone viral on social media include:

• Halo Glow Liquid Filter ($14): a popular dupe for Charlotte Tilbury’s Flawless Filter ($49)
• Power Grip Primer ($10): a makeup primer that has drawn comparisons to the Hydro Grip Primer by Milk Makeup ($38)
• Hydrating Camo Concealer ($7): a concealer product that users have compared to Tarte’s Shape Tape ($31)
• Halo Glow Beauty Wands ($9): blush, highlighter, and contour sticks that are reminiscent of Charlotte Tilbury’s Beauty Light Wands ($42)
• Brow Lift ($6): an eyebrow gel that’s considered a dupe of the Brow Freeze product by Anastasia Beverly Hills ($23)
• Whoa Glow ($14): a tinted facial sunscreen that is similar to Supergoop’s popular Glow Screen product ($38)

From the packaging to the formulations, it’s clear that e.l.f. is hoping to capture budget-conscious customers who are looking for affordable alternatives to these higher-end products. When these customers share their findings, it often results in user-generated content that has high reach and engagement potential.

In addition to creating dupes of popular high-end products, e.l.f. has also launched a series of high-profile collaborations designed to catch the attention of Gen Z including:

• A December 2022 holiday-themed campaign starring singer Meghan Trainor in collaboration with The Weather Channel.
• A 2023 denim-themed collection in partnership with American Eagle Outfitters (which is also a popular brand among Gen Z shoppers).

How effective was e.l.f.’s pivot to focus on Gen Z?

Based on the information available, these tactics have certainly been effective. According to Piper Sandler’s spring 2023 survey, e.l.f. is the generation’s top cosmetics brand, and this finding is reflected in the sales numbers.

E.l.f. reported a 49% increase in sales from 2021 to 2022. Furthermore, e.l.f.’s growth outpaced the overall growth of the cosmetics industry. In 2021, the cosmetics industry saw an 8% year-over-year increase, while e.l.f. grew by 36% and the momentum is expected to continue. Earlier this year, e.l.f. raised its 2023 outlook by nearly $100 million.

That’s a lot of concealer.

Elsewhere in Marketing

The latest marketing news and strategy insights.

Google announces plans to include conversational AI elements in its search results.

Gone sour: makeup company Tarte is making headlines again for its latest influencer trip.

Microsoft introduced a new API that would allow companies to run ads in AI chat experiences.

Amazon recently launched Inspire, its TikTok-inspired shopping platform.

As artificial intelligence advances, more businesses are interested in AI-powered solutions to improve their marketing efforts. One of the keys to making the most of the tech in marketing is to write effective AI prompts to generate the desired outcomes.

Marketers need to know how to communicate their goals effectively to AI systems. It’s a new skill that requires an understanding of how to write clear, concise, and effective instructions that a machine can understand.

In this article, we’ll share AI prompts marketers can use to optimize their generated results and better meet their marketing needs. If you’re short on time, jump to the topic you need.

• AI Prompts for Lead Generation
• AI Prompts for Drafting Social Media Posts
• AI Prompts to Create Podcast or Video Content
• AI Prompts for Content Promotion
• AI Prompts for Repurposing Outdated Content

AI Prompts for Marketers

Marketers can use AI for more than one purpose. They can use it to brainstorm entire processes or series if done correctly. So as you find inspiration for your own AI prompts, feel free to try them out in HubSpot’s content assistant.

Join the waitlist for HubSpot’s content assistant today

This content assistant tool natively integrates with the HubSpot products you know and love, allowing you to toggle between manual and AI content creation to generate copy for blogs, emails, and more. Now let’s get into the different prompts you can use for your marketing strategy.

AI Prompts for Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of attracting prospects to your business and increasing their interest from prospect to customer. AI can empower marketers to attract more potential customers based on buyer persona characteristics if specified in the AI prompt. The following examples showcase how to get those customized results.

1. Generate ideas for a new product launch in [month] that incorporates the theme of [season] and [tone].

2. Brainstorm content ideas for a blog post about [topic] in [number] of words or less that is search engine optimized in formatting using H2s and H3s accordingly.

3. Suggest high-volume keyword clusters for [topic] to optimize search engine rankings.

4. Identify popular trends in the industry of [product or service] that an audience of [target audience] will be interested in this [upcoming season].

5. Generate ideas for an upcoming marketing campaign about [new product] with a marketing mix consisting of [product] [price] [place] [promotion channels].

6. Suggest [number] ways to improve website traffic during [holiday season].

7. Identify potential target audiences in [location] that would be interested in buying [product] to solve [pain point].

8. Suggest new strategies for lead generation in [market] and [industry].

9. Generate ideas for creating a viral social media campaign using recent [social media platform] trending audios or popular memes from [month] [year].

10. Identify new channels for advertising [product] aside from [current platforms already in use].

AI Prompts for Drafting Social Media Posts

Did you know that AI can recognize different social media platforms from one another? Marketers benefit from using AI prompts for their preferred channels instead of basing strategy on generalizations. Here are some excellent examples to follow for social media drafts.

11. Write a tweet promoting a new product suited for a target audience in [industry] and [location].

12. Generate a post for Instagram featuring a customer testimonial about [product] in [number] words or less.

13. Write a Facebook post introducing a new product feature and rephrase its current description to sound more exciting and effective: [insert current product description text].

14. Create a LinkedIn post promoting a new job opening in [number] words or less with a strong call to action at the end.

15. Draft a Pinterest post featuring a new product line and provide tips on improving product photography for [type of aesthetic].

16. Write a YouTube video description for a new product review that links to [insert links] for viewers to go to the product landing page for more information.

17. Draft a TikTok video script showcasing a product demonstration for 2 minutes at maximum.

18. Create a Snapchat story promoting a limited-time offer and describe the type of stickers or filters that can improve it.

19. Write a blog post title to promote a new social media campaign in [number] characters or less.

20. Draft an email subject line to promote a new blog post that feels personal, enticing, and not spammy.

AI Prompts to Create Podcast or Video Content

Developing ideas for podcasts or videos on your own can be exhausting. Thankfully, AI can provide ideas for them and even walk you through the script and development process if you specify it in your prompt. See the different types of prompts that can help you create multimedia content.

21. Draft a podcast episode about the latest [industry] trends and innovations that contains [number] minutes of dialogue.

22. Produce [number] of topics for a video series featuring interviews with thought leaders in [industry].

23. Develop a podcast episode discussing the benefits of [products or services] divided into four chapters.

24. Create a video series that showcases customer success stories.

25. Produce a podcast episode on the history and evolution of [brand or industry].

26. Develop a video series on best practices for using [products or services] in [number] of different ways.

27. Create a podcast episode that features an expert roundtable discussion on [industry topics].

28. Produce ideas for a video series featuring a behind-the-scenes look at your company’s operations.

29. Develop a podcast episode that offers tips and advice on succeeding in [industry] as an entrepreneur.

30. Create a video series highlighting the impact of [products or services] on the lives of customers or clients in [demographic].

AI Prompts for Content Promotion

Marketers looking for more effective ways to promote their products or service can use AI for best practices. Explore the different channels, tips, and methods this technology can yield using solid AI prompts.

31. Suggest the best time and day of the week to publish a blog post about [topic].

32. Write a press release announcing a new product launch geared toward [target audience] that sounds confident, exciting, and interesting.

33. Generate ideas for outreach emails to promote a new product, including [number] of attention-grabbing subject lines and [number] of clear calls to action.

34. Write a guest post for a popular industry blog discussing the impact of [product] on [marketing strategy].

35. Suggest the [number] best hashtags for a social media campaign on [social media platform] to reach [target audience].

36. Draft a script for a 60-second podcast ad that has a friendly tone and witty humor fit for [target audience characteristics].

37. Create a landing page for a new product promotion divided into [number] sections about different benefits based on this description: [insert new product description].

38. Write a script for a TV commercial involving [number] actors in [setting] that promote [product].

39. Draft a product description for an e-commerce site that is [number] sentences long and enticing to [target audience].

40. Generate ideas for cross-promotion with other businesses in the [market], specifically with brands such as [brand names].

AI Prompts for Repurposing Content

AI can allow marketers to reuse and recycle outdated content into something new or more useful in the current year — a process known as historical optimization. When making AI prompts for content repurposing, think outside the box and see how you can transform your old work into something new.

41. Repurpose a blog post into a video script using this article: [insert old blog post].

42. Turn a webinar into a podcast episode using this pre-existing transcript: [insert old webinar transcript].

43. Repurpose an ebook into a series of [number] blog posts using this pre-existing text: [insert old e-book content].

44. Generate ideas for updating an outdated infographic on [topic] for 2023.

45. Rewrite a blog post into a social media post series of [number] posts on [social media platform of choice].

46. Turn an old product page into a landing page for a new product using this pre-existing copy: [insert old product page content].

47. Generate ideas for repurposing a white paper into a video series about [topic] using this pre-existing text: [insert old whitepaper content].

48. Rewrite an old email campaign into a new one with updated messaging suited for [season] [year].

49. Turn a research report into a series of social media posts using this information: [facts from research report].

50. Generate ideas for repurposing an old product demo into a webinar.

Use Thorough AI Prompts for Thorough Results

AI is becoming incredibly useful for marketers in more ways than one. When you leverage this technology, make sure you’re using specific and concise prompts to yield the results your team is looking for.