Yearly Archives: 2023

If you’ve been on social media lately, you know shopping has taken center stage on most platforms.

But, social commerce a controversial topic — some people love it, others are exhausted by product placements everywhere. And, in our latest research, we discovered that people don’t trust the social media apps they use daily to handle their purchases.

How Consumers Feel About Social Media Shopping

For starters, just 41% of social media users feel comfortable buying products directly on social apps, and only 37% trust platforms with their card info.

And when it comes to the products sold directly on social platforms, just 21% of social media users view them as high-quality.

Still, around one in five social media users buy on social media regularly, and 75% of those shoppers say they’re satisfied with their latest purchase.

So why are people so suspicious of social shopping? Let’s take a look at the biggest concerns consumers have with shopping on social, how you can address them, and which platforms are most trusted for shopping.

The Biggest Social Shopping Concerns

By far, the biggest concern of consumers is that companies selling products directly on social media aren’t legitimate or could be scamming customers.

As mentioned above, suspicions regarding the quality of the product and sharing card information with social platforms also play a huge role.

On top of that, one-third of social media users are concerned that their purchase will never be delivered, and the same amount worry about the item will not be as described when and if they do get it.

What Can Social Sellers Do to Build Trust?

1. Make and Stand By Customer Promises

First, directly address common consumer objections or concerns by promising and following through on guarantees like:

• a set, transparent, and explainable shipping speed
• Refunds and/or replacement warranties
• Customer service availability (ideally on multiple channels)

While this step is a foundational standard that most businesses should follow, the promises above won’t be enough to gain full trust, especially if you’re a brand selling exclusively on social.

2. Build Community

The next step is to foster a trusting community with your audience.

You can do this by responding to their comments or questions, addressing concerns in review responses, and asking your community for feedback. You should also aim to build content strategies fueled with funny, relatable, and valuable posts that are relevant to your prospects andd show the humanity behind your brand, without making the content feel like an ad.

For example, if you sell peanut butter, make a poll on your story about crunchy vs. smooth to end the debate once and for all. Or create a short video chock-full of fun facts about peanuts: (Did you know astronaut Alan Shepard once brought a peanut to the moon and back?).

Encourage Customer Engagement and UGC

Time and time again, research has shown that word of mouth, recommendations from loved ones, and product reviews from trusted, or relatable, sources can drive consumers through their buyer’s journey. And, this makes sense: Are you more likely to trust a random website selling your a product, or a friend who already used that same item?

With this in mind, encourage happy customers to provide positive reviews or user-generated content to build social proof that your product is legitimate and customers are satisfied with it.

Similarly, try working with small influencers with niche, tight-knit communities related to your product – their stamp of approval can help bridge the trust gap.

Zone in on the Right Channels

When it comes to social selling you also have to consider the platform you’re using, because they aren’t all equally equipped for social commerce just yet, and different audiences are looking for different things.

For example, products you prioritize selling on Facebook, where the demographic skews older, might be different from products you’d sell on a Gen-Z-heavy platform like TikTok. Like content preferences, consumers also trust certain platforms to a different extent – especially when giving personal or credit card information.

Next, let’s take a look at the platform consumers trust most for shopping.

Most Trusted Social Shopping Platforms

Facebook has the most trusted social shopping platform, according to 38% of social users. YouTube comes in 2nd place (17%), followed by Instagram (14%).

Though not exactly the same as social shopping (where you buy directly in the app), it’s important to remember that people have been buying things through Facebook Marketplace for a while now, while shopping experiences on other platforms are much newer and have catching up to do. So, now, with Facebook Shops, it feels much more natural to start using your credit card to purchase items on a platform that’s already built robust shopping experiences with Marketplace.

One interesting thing to note is that Facebook and Instagram (both owned by Meta) have the same in-app shopping technology and platform, while one is adapted for Facebook, Instagram’s is adapted to Instagram features, Instagram business pages, and UX. However, Instagram has far less trust than Facebook.

Why could this be? We aren’t sure, but one guess could be the age, trust, and sheer size of Facebook – which Instagram could likely catch up to. It will be interesting to see if Instagram ultimately gains more shopping trust due to its growing age, credibility, and product purchasing features in the coming years. So

Channels with the Best Social Shopping Experience

We also asked social media users, which platform has the best in-app shopping experience, and Instagram (despite its lack in consumer trust) came out on top with 30% of the vote, followed by Facebook (29%), and TikTok (15%).

This makes sense as Instagram has been a leader in the social shopping space, though it seems users are somewhat skeptical of the quality of the products being sold on the app. While shopping features and product placements were a key part of Instagram’s cultural and UX evolution, platforms like Faccebook and YouTube started with a focus on content and user experience – and eventually worked shopping in.

What’s Next for Social Shopping?

The good news is social shopping is still evolving, so there’s plenty of time to build trust with social media users.

For more insights, check out our Social Media Trends Report or the full Consumer Trends Report.

And if you’re setting up shop on Instagram, head over to the Instagram Shopping Report for a deeper dive into selling on the app and which tools offer the best ROI.

Lastly, for overall coverage on the latest social media trends and tips from experts in the social marketing industry, download our full Social Media Report below.

Artificial intelligence will change how businesses operate. At this point, that statement won’t surprise you.

In fact, AI’s impact on the workplace is already happening.

62% of business leaders have already invested in AI and automation tools for their employees, according to our State of Artificial Intelligence survey.

What’s more, 65% of survey respondents believe AI innovations will be comparable to the industrial revolution.

At its core, this means one big thing for the future of business: Marketing, sales, and service professionals now have more time to work on complex, higher-impact work. AI enables creativity and innovation to supersede tedious and redundant tasks.

Hours spent drafting professional emails, creating marketing reports, coding, and much more will be replaced by time spent on deeper work: work that better enables you to learn about your email readers, strategize based on pre-synthesized data, and plan stronger web or product experiences for your customers.

But how, specifically, will you see AI impact businesses in 2023? Here are just a few ways AI’s already changing the workplace, according to our State of AI survey of 1,350 U.S. professionals.

How AI Will Revolutionize the Future of Business, According to HubSpot’s CMO

1. AI will enable you to obsess over your customers.

At Inbound 2022, we discussed the crisis of disconnection facing businesses today. Many SMBs are trying to find new ways to connect with customers in a hybrid world and rely on cobbled-point solutions that don’t reliably connect their customer data in an efficient, streamlined way.

AI is one of the most compelling solutions to the crisis of disconnection when it comes to understanding our customers.

Business leaders agree. Our research found a whopping 63% of business professionals feel that AI already helps their employees understand their customers better.

AI can help you pull data from disparate sources into one single source of truth and glean unique insights about your customers that you otherwise might’ve missed.

But most importantly, it gives you the time to obsess over your customers again.

It gives your sales team time to genuinely connect with customers and work with them to identify how your products can solve for their unique needs.

It gives your support team the ability to focus on complex customer challenges rather than being bogged down by tickets that could be answered by a chatbot.

And it gives your leaders the insights they need to make more high-impact, powerful decisions that align with what matters most to your customers.

2. AI will automate data analysis for better decision-making.

One of the most time-consuming aspects of any leader’s job is wrangling the right data. It can take hours for a business leader, analyst, or marketer to analyze customer data and uncover meaningful insights, leaving less time to actually use it to make critical decisions. Not to mention, a manual data analysis process is inherently prone to human error.

Fortunately, predictive analytics — which uses machine learning algorithms, data mining, and statistical techniques to analyze large amounts of data and make powerful predictions about future trends or behaviors — can help streamline and supercharge your analytics processes.

There are three main benefits to leveraging AI for data analysis:

• AI algorithms can discover patterns that might not be obvious to humans.
• AI can learn from your data and improve its predictions over time.
• You don’t have to do it yourself.

Smarter data ultimately means a more personalized customer experience. Truly understanding your customer data helps you improve how you engage with each individual prospect.

Additionally, predictive analytics can help each organization expand its reach. Sales leaders, for instance, can leverage AI-based insights to formulate reports, develop key account strategies, and build more powerful forecasts on their pipelines.

Among the leaders we surveyed, one-fourth reported the biggest benefit of AI is its ability to enable their employees to make better data-driven decisions.

My bet? The best leaders of the near future will see AI as an indispensable part of their reporting and analytics processes.

3. AI will reduce business costs and improve efficiency.

In today’s difficult economic climate, business leaders need to do more with less.

There are innumerable ways AI can help your business save money – 28% of business leaders have already found that AI helps their company cut costs.

For one, it will help automate time-consuming, manual tasks. For instance, many customer support reps need to spend extensive time responding to recurring questions from customers. By leveraging AI, you can automate responses to commonly asked questions, which frees up your support reps for more complex issues.

A full 91% of customer support reps who use AI say that chatbots already effectively respond to customer service requests.

Additionally, you can leverage AI for predictive maintenance. Run or work at a business that uses lots of equipment or machinery? AI can help businesses predict equipment failures so you can schedule maintenance before a breakdown, minimizing repair costs. Dealing with inventory issues? AI could help predict when or if inventory is running high or low to help prevent excess storage costs or other business waste.

Ultimately, AI will improve efficiencies across the business – all while enhancing the customer experience. On average, AI already saves the average employee 2.5 hours per day.

With all that extra time, your business and employees can scale a stronger human connection.

4. Business leaders will invest in new hires specifically trained in AI.

So the question on everyone’s mind is: Is AI going to steal my job?

The short answer: no. AI is more likely to optimize the impact of existing roles and create room for additional hiring opportunities.

On Google Trends, the term “prompt engineer” — which was practically non-existent at the start of 2023 — has risen rapidly, hitting peak popularity in early April.

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And our AI survey found that 66% of business leaders have already hired a new employee specifically to help with leveraging and implementing AI.

This number will only increase.

At HubSpot, we’ve created dedicated task forces across departments with the specific purpose of identifying how we should implement AI into our current processes across the organization.

Other businesses will do the same — either identifying internal employees who can focus on AI for their business, or hiring new AI experts or consultants to fill that need.

5. AI can help businesses detect fraud.

Another benefit of AI? It will make fraud detection easier for businesses of all sizes.

In 2022, 65% of businesses were victims of fraudulent attacks or attempts.

Fraud can be detrimental financially and legally for any business. Fraud is also increasingly challenging to detect as it becomes more sophisticated.

In 2023, businesses will increasingly leverage AI tools to detect and deter fraudulent activity. AI can point out anomalies in data, such as unusual spending behavior, which helps your employees identify potential fraudsters.

Additionally, AI can use data to make predictions on the likelihood that a particular transaction is fraudulent. Over time, AI algorithms will become better at detecting fraudulent activity, such as suspicious logins, odd transactions based on consumer behavior, or identity theft.

6. AI will help businesses build better products.

In the future, we’ll also begin to see business leaders leverage AI to uncover new product opportunities.

For instance, software engineers can use AI tools to sift through feedback, engagement, or other product usage data to determine which features they should improve on an existing product, or discover new product ideas based on gaps in their offerings.

But it goes beyond that. AI algorithms can also help you design your product.

Yep – you heard that right. AI will be able to analyze data on customer usage patterns, feedback, and preferences to provide you with invaluable insights necessary to create more user-friendly, engaging, effective products for your customers.

It will also help you speed up the product development process start-to-finish with rapid prototyping. AI algorithms can seamlessly and instantly provide different design options, so your team can quickly identify the most promising option and iterate in real-time.

Preparing for an Era of AI Disruption

AI is poised to disrupt virtually every industry. But it’s not something we need to fear.

The key to long-term growth and success is to evolve quickly with AI and accept it’s here to stay.

In the early stages of AI, you’ll want to remain focused on your highest priorities, and how your business can get the most out of AI. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use AI on a tactical level, or get more original data in our State of AI Series, dive into our AI learning path, or download the offer below.

You’ve seen that email marketing works wonders for your business. So you doubled down and built a massive email list. However, you’ve now hit a roadblock. You can’t send bulk emails through providers like Gmail or Outlook.

Enter: Bulk email service providers.

These bulk email services are equipped to manage large volumes of email while offering features to track performance. Read on to discover the key features to look out for in a bulk email service and the best bulk email services in the market.

Table of Contents

• What is a bulk email service?
• Reasons to Send Bulk Emails
• Best Bulk Email Services
• Top Features in Paid or Free Bulk Email Service

A mass email service helps you reach a large audience and nurture them one email at a time. In addition to getting direct access to your customer base, you can track how your emails perform and test various methods to increase clicks and conversions.

While traditional advertising methods, such as print ads and direct mail, can have a high return on investment (ROI), it can be challenging to understand how consumers interact with your materials. With a bulk email service, you can find out what attracts consumers and what elements lead to more conversions.

Furthermore, many bulk email services offer automation tools — think workflows and sequences. You can more easily move leads down the funnel and retain your current clients.

Using a personal or business email can work in the first few months of starting a business but will quickly become ineffective as you grow. Bulk email services offer a long-term solution.

Reasons to Send Bulk Emails

Not sure if it’s the right time to try a bulk email service? The first question you should ask is, “Is our brand investing in email marketing this quarter/year?”

If the answer is yes, that’s your sign to invest in an email service.

Here are specific examples of when you would send out a mass email to your subscribers:

• Sales promotions. Say you want to promote discounts on specific products or services. Sending a mass email to your subscribers is a great way to generate sales.
• Newsletters. Do you want to send out exclusive content to your subscribers? Then a newsletter is the way to go.
• Product updates. A great way to announce a new product feature or line is via email. You can include previews to build up excitement and include calls-to-action (CTAs) for conversions.
• Announcements. Are you updating your hours, prices, or services? Or perhaps there’s been a change in your policy. Notifying your subscribers in an email blast is an effective way to spread the news.

With every email you send to subscribers, you’ll want to remember your goals, audience, time and day, personalization, and compliance with data protection laws.

Best Bulk Email Services

1. HubSpot’s Email Marketing Tool

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With HubSpot, you can create, customize, and optimize your emails without coding or design experience.

You can send up to 2,000 emails monthly, which doesn’t include test emails to check functionality. In addition, the platform offers a user-friendly interface, tools like drag-and-drop to design your email easily, tokens to personalize every email, and an a/b testing feature.

In addition, you can create custom reports based on the data you want to collect and analyze.

Pricing: The best part? It’s free.

2. ConvertKit

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As their name suggests, the platform is designed to help you earn more conversions and generate more revenue. ConvertKit is known for its advanced automation tools, including custom email funnels, smart filters, and link triggers.

Furthermore, the platform has a 98% delivery rate, ensuring that your emails will always reach your subscribers. In addition, the average open rate for ConvertKit emails is an astonishing 30%, according to their website.

Pricing: ConvertKit offers a free version of its platform, and custom pricing for enterprise-level businesses with over 365,000 subscribers.

3. Mailchimp

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Mailchimp is an excellent email service for those just starting in email marketing. The platform offers a user-friendly interface and over 100 templates to choose from.

With their free plan, you can send up to 10,000 emails monthly to 2,000 contacts — an ideal option for small to midsize businesses.

Then, as your business grows, you can scale to the premium version. Here, you’ll have unlimited audiences, multivariate testing, and advanced segmentation with up to 200,000 contacts.

Pricing: A free plan is available. Paid plans range from $11 to $299 per month.

4. Drip

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If you have an ecommerce business, consider Drip for your email marketing. The platform offers pre-built email templates that you can customize and a user-friendly workflow builder for automation.

In addition, you can schedule automation based on actions your subscribers take (like viewing a product, abandoning their cart, and making a purchase).

With Drip, you can easily integrate your online store (like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce) to make gathering data easier.

Pricing: Prices start at $19 and go up based on your number of subscribers.

5. Insycle

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Insycle doesn’t fall under the email provider list. However, this software does work in tandem with providers like HubSpot and Mailchimp to keep your contact list clean.

One of the downsides of having a subscriber list is the potential for duplicate contacts. This can impact your metrics and make it difficult to tailor your emails. Insycle allows you to clean your contacts in bulk, merge duplicate ones, and avoid overwriting data.

Pricing: Pricing starts at $5 per month and scales up to custom pricing based on the services you want.

6. Sendinblue

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Sendinblue is one of the best bulk email services for small and large businesses. A drag-and-drop editor is one of the must-have features for a good email service, and Sendinblue features one of the most powerful editors on the market.

Aside from that, the service has segmentation features that let you send emails to a targeted audience. This feature helps to improve overall engagement with customers.

Pricing: Sendinblue has free and premium plans. The free plan lets you send up to 300 emails daily, albeit with the Sendinblue watermark. The premium plan begins at $35 monthly.

7. Constant Contact

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Constant Contact is a bulk email service that’s great for small businesses and individuals. We love its simplicity and ease of use, features that make it great for beginners.

The service features inbuilt social media sharing tools, easy tracking and reporting, and integrations with ecommerce centers like Facebook and Shopify.

Its advanced features, like coupons, surveys, and event marketing automation, make it one of the best bulk email services.

Pricing: This bulk email service offers a 30-day free trial, which you can upgrade to a premium plan. Paid plans start at $10 monthly and can be further upgraded to the Email Plus plan for $45 monthly.

8. Mailmodo

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Mailmodo offers a free plan that allows you to send up to 10,000 emails monthly, making it an ideal choice for individuals and small businesses. However, if you want more, you can choose from four premium plans which let you send more emails monthly.

Mailmodo’s no-code, drag-and-drop editor, makes crafting emails a breeze. Additionally, this bulk email service offers users several customizable templates.

If you ever run into problems while using the service, Mailmodo offers 24/7 customer support.

Pricing: A free plan is available. Premium plans start at $99 monthly.

9. AWebe

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AWeber is a flexible service that only charges users based on their number of subscribers. This flexibility is one of the reasons some users prefer this service.

AWeber also has one of the most extensive libraries of customizable, mobile-responsive email templates. These templates allow you to create and send emails very quickly and easily.

The platform offers sales tracking and lets you check out the performance of your emails and subscriber information.

Pricing: The free plan allows you to automatically create emails from blog posts and send them to hundreds of subscribers at a go. AWeber then charges users based on their number of subscribers.

10. Mailgun

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Mailgun’s email solutions for email marketing, tracking, parsing, and more make it one of the best bulk email services. In addition, Mailgun’s email API allows developers to easily integrate it into their apps.

Furthermore, Mailgun’s email analytics feature ensures email delivery. There’s also an email validation feature to ensure your emails are sent without typos.

Pricing: Mailgun offers a free plan that allows sending up to 10,000 monthly emails. You can opt for its premium plans which start at $35 monthly if you want even more features.

11. SendPulse

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SendPulse allows you to send emails, web push notifications, Facebook messages, and more.

When it comes to emails, this service allows you to create responsive emails without writing a line of code. And if you prefer, you can use any of the 130+ templates available on the platform.

Additionally, SendPulse has a drag-and-drop editor that lets you design subscription forms that can then be integrated into a website. Aside from regular websites, SendPulse also supports integration with PipeDrive, WordPress, Zapier, and other tools.

Pricing: SendPulse has a free version available, while paid plans start at $8 per month.

12. Stripo

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Looking for an all-in-one email design platform? Then you should consider using Stripo.

This service offers hundreds of easy-to-use email templates that make your emails look better and help improve conversion rates.

Stripo gives users the tools they need to create all types of emails. After creating the email, Stripo lets you test how it’ll look on different platforms. You can also have colleagues or clients view potential emails before sending them off to subscribers.

Pricing: Stripo has four plans, from free to $95 per month, priced according to the number of recipients and features.

13. SendGrid

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SendGrid is the go-to choice for users looking to create and send transactional emails. It allows you to add contacts via CSV upload, signup forms, or APIs.

In keeping with its focus on transactional emails, SendGrid has features like anti-spam regulations to protect you and your subscribers.

Pricing: SendGrid has a free plan that lets you send up to 40,000 emails in the first month and 100 emails daily. For more features, you’ll need to upgrade to either the $19.95 or $89.95 monthly plans.

14. Mailjet

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Our penultimate choice is a user-friendly bulk email service best for marketers and development teams. Mailjet has a drag-and-drop email builder that lets you quickly create emails and templates.

Mailjet also features an interactive design so you can give team members access and let them work on it individually.

Email tracking lets you monitor how your sent emails are doing. You can check metrics such as email delivery, bounce rate, and open rate.

Pricing: If you decide to use Mailjet, you can choose between a free plan that lets you send up to 6,000 emails or any of the four premium plans starting at $15 monthly.

15. Omnisend

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The last but not the least bulk email service on our list is Omnisend.

Omnisend combines emails, SMS, and other channels. You can also create customizable forms for collecting information from website visitors.

Omnisend makes it easy to divide subscribers into segments, improving the ability to send the right emails to them. With its all-in-one features, automation, and numerous template options, Omnisend is one of the best bulk email services of the year.

Pricing: New users can use this service for free. However, to fully enjoy the tool, you’ll need to subscribe to a premium plan which is priced based on the number of email recipients.

So you’re ready to invest in an email marketing service. These are the key features you should look for in a bulk email service. Some of these features will only be available in a premium package. Others will be included in the standard or free versions.

Here’s your complete guide with factors to consider.

1. User Behavior Tracking

Reporting capabilities will be the number one tool you’ll need in any bulk email service you select. Because what’s the point of investing your time in designing and sending emails if you can’t see how they perform?

You should be able to track key email metrics, such as:

• Open rate.
• Unique clicks.
• Click-to-open rate (CTOR).
• Clickthrough rate (CTR).
• Unsubscribe rate.
• List growth rate.
• Bounce rate.

Email providers with advanced reporting features also allow you to track revenue per subscriber and revenue per email.

2. Drag-and-Drop

A drag-and-drop tool makes designing your email easy. This intuitive feature allows you to select an element from the sidebar, like an image, quote, or button, and drag it to a section of your email.

This will save you time as you determine the best flow for your email and move things around.

3. Email Segmentation and Personalization

Segmentation ensures that your emails are reaching the right people at the right time.

You should look for a bulk email service that allows you to segment your subscriber list based on the following:

• Location
• Actions taken in the email
• Purchase history
• Type of subscriber (e.g., prospect versus current customer)

You can get higher engagement rates when you segment your list, as the content will be more relevant to your recipients.

Furthermore, personalization is one of the key factors to improving email engagement and advancing customer relationships.

4. Split Testing

Split testing, also known as A/B testing, is a great way to understand what resonates with your audience.

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AThis feature is beneficial if you need help generating high open rates and converting subscribers.

By testing out different subject lines and elements within the body of your email, you can determine what works best.

5. Automation

When you’re scaling your email list, the name of the game is automation.

Say you have a content offer and want to send an email sequence to leads after they download the offer. With an automation tool, you can pre-select which emails will go out, in what order, and after how much time for each email.

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Once you complete the setup, the automation does all the work for you — nurturing your subscribers and moving them through the buyer’s journey.

This hands-off approach allows you to focus on strategy instead of the tedious work of sending out emails. With automation, you can take the guesswork out of the process.

6. Design Templates

If you’re like me, designing isn’t your forte. So, when designing an email, you’ll take all the help you can get.

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A design template based on the type of email you want to send can save you time and ensure you’re following email best practices. This is particularly helpful if you have limited experience designing emails and are just starting out.

What’s great about having a template is that it’s a foundation. You can customize it to fit your needs, but it provides a blueprint from which to work.

7. High Email Delivery Rates

Imagine you work so hard on an email campaign, and it never reaches your subscribers’ inboxes. Frustrating, right?

That’s why verifying your provider’s email delivery rates is essential. You’ll want to select a service with high email delivery rates. You want something as close to 100% as possible.

Grow Your Business

Knowing what to look for in an email service is half the battle.

Now that you have a list of key features and a few tools to choose from, you can find a platform to grow your email list and generate revenue.

Creating and managing content is more challenging than ever. With so many channels, keeping track of all of your posts can be cumbersome. Enter social media aggregators.

These tools can help you oversee your digital presence and distribute information to your audience.

In this post, you’ll learn about the different types of social media aggregators and what they can do for your team. From there, we’ll share the top tools already on the market.

What is a social media aggregator?
The Benefits of Social Media Aggregators
Types of Social Media Aggregators
Social Media Aggregation Tools

Like other content aggregators, social media aggregators pull posts from your platforms and display them as a collection. You can embed the collection on your website to highlight posts about your brand, including user-generated content.

Aside from your website, there are several places to feature these collections, including email marketing and digital screens at live events.

The Benefits of Social Media Aggregators

Social media is vital for engaging with your target audience and keeping a pulse on how people feel about your brand. However, you’re missing out on opportunities if you stop there.

Social media can also deliver social proof of your status by sharing satisfied customers on your website.

Highlighting positive, user-generated posts on your site creates shout-outs to your followers, which makes them feel valued. Plus, when other people see real customers touting your brand, it reinforces your status.

Of course, you could do these things yourself by combing through hashtags and mentions to create a collection. But do you have time for that?

One of the primary benefits of using a social media aggregator is that it saves you time through automation. The best social media aggregator tools can even weed out inappropriate or negative posts to keep things clean and upbeat.

Types of Social Media Aggregators

There are three primary types of social media aggregators, two pull from your social media feed, while the other focuses on a specific platform.

Hashtag Aggregation

Hashtag aggregators can pull content from social media networks based on a custom or popular hashtag.

For example, if you operated an event, you could create and share a custom hashtag with attendees. Then, the aggregator would pull content based on that hashtag.

You could even share during the event so people can see their feedback and experience in real-time.

Profile Aggregation

Profile or channel aggregation focuses more on branded content you create and share across social media platforms. You could let individuals take over for a day, follow influencers, or highlight a business partner’s social media accounts.

Platform Aggregation

The final type focuses on a specific social network, like Instagram or Twitter, and curates based on your selected settings. You could set a feed based on a keyword or hashtag and use different keywords for each platform.

Social Media Aggregation Tools

You have plenty of social media aggregator tools to choose from, but it helps to have a starting point. So we compiled a list of our favorite options to get you started.

Taggbox

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Taggbox is a widget that draws user-generated content from over 20 platforms. Use the collections for everything from email campaigns to your website.

This tool is beginner-friendly, so you don’t need extensive tech knowledge to make it work. Taggbox’s customer service is also stellar.

What we like: Taggbox draws from multiple social media platforms so you can see what users say about your brand all in one place.

Tagembed

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This widget works with the most popular social networks and offers plugins specifically made for WordPress and Shopify.

Tagembed offers options for stories and albums, plus you can also choose different themes and layouts on your website.With Tagembed, you can alter color schemes to match your brand. You even get access to engagement analytics.

What we like: Tagembed offers a free forever plan and three different pricing tiers, so you can pick what works for you.

EmbedSocial

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EmbedSocial might be one of the more established social media aggregation platforms, with quite a client base to show for it. Users can try it for free with Instagram and then pay to upgrade for additional sources.

EmbedSocial is a better option for larger, established businesses with a budget to accommodate the upgrades and the ability to use all the features.

What we like: Users can access a massive selection of mobile-friendly templates, with new ones added monthly.

Flockler

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Flockler allows you to gather hashtag feeds from eight sources that you can display on your site, in your email, or more. You can arrange your brand’s posts and user-generated content within a diverse array of layouts.

Plus, there are no ads.

Flockler is a solid option for those who can afford it. You can try it for free for 14 days, but then you have to pay a monthly fee. The base package might be pricey, but this tool is comprehensive compared to the others.

You’ll also have access to top-notch customer service.

What we like: The aggregator updates content every five to fifteen minutes, making it helpful during events.

Curator

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Curator uses JavaScript, which makes it SEO-friendly and easy to use. It also uses minimal code and translates well to mobile devices. Users seeking a simple interface with basic aggregator tools might start here.

What we like: Curator offers a wide range of pricing plans, including one of the most inclusive free tiers available.

The Wallrus

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Aside from the fun name, this platform is fun and helpful for those who thrive on Instagram and Twitter. The Wallrus doesn’t serve as many social networks, but it does two exceptionally well and is free.

Though it’s only in beta mode, the platform is working on using analytics to help you improve your feed parameters.

What we like: You can add your logo to any of the themes in the library for subtle branding.

Hootsuite

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Many people know Hootsuite as a social media scheduling tool, but the platform offers much more.

For example, you can create specific streams using different parameters, monitor the content, and engage with your audience. However, Hootsuite can get expensive as you add extras to make it more functional.

What we like: Hootsuite offers more than just social media aggregation, making it a versatile tool.

Juicer

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This platform works with 15 social networks and allows you to upgrade as you grow and need more tools. You can cancel anytime because there are no contracts, and you get moderation tools with the first tier.

Users can create custom designs that match their brand.

What we like: Juicer features one of the best moderation tools in the market so that you know posts stay safe and positive.

Using Social Media Aggregators

The best social media aggregators allow you to automate a process that could set you apart from your competition.

However, you might need to experiment to find the right one with the features you desire most, like moderation tools and customization options.

These tools have user-friendly interfaces and excellent customer support to make setup easy.

Showcasing relevant posts, especially from your audience, is priceless. Reinforce your brand identity, build trust, and let your followers testify about why they love you.

 

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. 

Many YouTube viewers click “skip ad” as soon as possible, but Nissan figured out how to keep viewers engaged for four hours without reaching for the “skip” button. Keep reading to learn how.

The automotive industry is ripe for marketing innovation. Traditionally, outside of the occasional car commercial featuring vehicles driving through various terrains and excursions, most of the marketing happened at car dealerships.

Until the pandemic.

Between travel restrictions, high interest rates, and supply chain issues that caused manufacturing disruptions, the automotive industry has had major growth challenges over the past few years, and relying on dealerships alone to push sales isn’t cutting it.

With more customers looking to facilitate the car buying process online, car manufacturers’ ability to embrace digital marketing tactics is more important than ever for making sales.

Earlier this year, Nissan launched a new ad that is refreshingly different from traditional marketing tactics associated with car companies.

The manufacturer posted a four-hour-long video to its YouTube channel featuring a custom Lofi playlist that serves as the soundtrack to an animated character’s road trip. The animated character happens to be driving a Nissan ARIYA and passes several Nissan billboards on their drive.

Since launching in February, the video has racked up over 17 million views and 3,500 overwhelmingly positive comments. Here’s what viewers had to say:

• “I’ve been letting this ad run for 20 minutes.  I’ve sent it to friends, saved it in my favorites, and hadn’t ever considered a Nissan before – but who knows now?  I genuinely want to shake the hand of whoever greenlit this in the advertising department.  It’s a very normal chill hop reel, but that’s what’s so uncommon and endearing about it. Amazing job & sincere kudos for having your finger on the pulse on this one!”
• “At first, I was like? ‘Is this really a 4-hour ad?’ Then I was like, ‘Damn, this beat is fire.’”
• “This might be the first-ever ad (and longest) that I didn’t want to skip.”

In addition to having the video listed on its own channel, Nissan also runs the ad on other Lofi YouTube channels. The spot blends right in with the Lofi playlists audiences are looking for, and doesn’t tempt Lofi fans to click “skip ad.”

Why is the Nissan ARIYA Lofi ad so captivating?

Well, the music, for starters. Lofi stands for low fidelity, a genre that combines elements of jazz, hip-hop, and pop to create dreamy, laid-back music tracks.

Originating in the early 2000s, Lofi music has become a popular genre, particularly on YouTube, that people often listen to while working, studying, or trying to relax.

Many commenters on Nissan’s video complimented how good the music was, and noted it was a playlist they would want to come back and listen to again and again.

Inspired by Lofi Girl

The ad takes clear inspiration from Lofi Girl, a popular YouTube channel that streams Lofi music 24/7 and has racked up billions of views (yes billions, with a B) since 2017.

Recently, the Lofi Girl YouTube channel made headlines for unlocking a new character.

Fans of Lofi Girl were in for a surprise when a mysterious countdown timer popped up on the channel and the familiar Jane the Lofi Girl character temporarily disappeared. The countdown eventually introduced a new live stream called Synthwave from the point of view of a new Lofi Boy character.

Nissan’s ad relies heavily on subliminal marketing, creating an association between Lofi music and driving a Nissan. While it’s ultimately a long-game play, Nissan hit it out of the park reaching a new audience with this innovative effort.

Elsewhere in Marketing

The latest marketing news and strategy insights.

Snapchat is releasing its“My AI” chatbot to all users on the platform for free.

Podcasts are here to stay: according to Pew Research, nearly half of American adults regularly listen to podcasts for news and education. 

Meta is now allowing teens as young as 13 to use its virtual reality app Horizon Worlds. The app was previously only available to users over the age of 17.

LinkedIn marketing: here’s how to generate leads on LinkedIn in 2023.

Keeping track of SEO trends is like hitting a moving target. From algorithm updates to evolving innovation, it can feel like the goalpost is always moving.

And while the goal of SEO remains the same — to boost your presence in relevant search results — the tactics for getting there look different from year to year.

Here, we’ll cover the top SEO challenges facing marketers in 2023 and the 25 biggest trends to watch this year.

SEO Challenges in 2023

25 SEO Trends to Leverage in 2023

SEO Challenges in 2023

A HubSpot Blogs survey identified the top three challenges of SEO marketing:

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1. Algorithm Changes

The number one challenge for marketers is keeping up with algorithm changes. That’s unsurprising. In 2021 alone, Google ran more than 800,000 experiments that led to 4,000+ changes to search.

If you’re like most marketers, this stat can feel pretty overwhelming. After all, how can you succeed when Google keeps rerouting the path to success?

The key is to respond to these changes strategically. For one, this means staying on top of industry news. If there’s a significant algorithm change, the SEO industry will likely comment on it.

The second strategy may sound counterintuitive: Wait until the dust has settled after an update. Why? In some cases, Google discovers a change has not panned out as expected, and they revert back.

2. Not Ranking

SEO is a long-term game. Unlike paid search, organic results take time to show results. It’s usually a culmination of small efforts.

To use a metaphor, SEO is like a mutual fund slowly building over time. It’s not the stock market, where you see gains and losses in real time. This can be helpful to mention when clients expect quick results.

Some “solutions” to fix a low ranking include technical SEO and content marketing. However, developing a long-term strategy that focuses on three to four initiatives at a time is even more important.

3. Keyword Research

Keywords are the foundation of SEO. But today, rather than scanning for just a keyword, Google takes a high-level look at your website to get an overall sense of its tone, scope, and relevancy.

This means that keyword stuffing is out. Instead, the goal is to understand user intent, or the deeper problem your users hope to solve. With this understanding, you can perform better keyword research and write content based on this insight.

Check out this helpful article on how to add user intent to your keyword strategy.

25 SEO Trends to Leverage in 2023

1. Voice and Mobile Search

“Hey Google, what’s a good substitute for heavy cream?”

This was a question I asked my Google Assistant last week while baking a cake, hands covered in flour. It looks like I’m not the only one using voice search. By 2026, more than half of internet users in the US will use a voice assistant.

There’s no denying that voice search is becoming a part of our daily lives. But how can we optimize our content for people searching with their ears — not their eyes?

The answer is clear: Optimize your site for mobile. Since most voice searches occur on mobile and smart devices, it makes sense that Google prefers mobile-friendly sites with fast speeds.

Another strategy is reworking your content to include common questions users may ask. For example, identify long-tail question keywords and include them in your H2 or H3 headers.

2. Tightened Page Headers

In 2021, Google rolled out a new search ranking feature called Passages. This feature lets Google rank specific sections of a page (or “a passage”) semi-independently from the page itself.

In other words, instead of ranking an entire page on relevancy, Google will now score for relevance in specific sections of a page.

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This change is no cause for alarm — assuming your pages are organized.

If not, it’s a good idea to tighten your page headers to provide more context for different sections, enabling Google to understand your content regardless of the markup.

Keep in mind that other page-ranking factors still apply. Don’t skimp on backlinks, SEO-optimized copywriting, and other ranking strategies.

3. Emotionally-Charged Headlines

Have you ever clicked on a headline that was too compelling to resist? Turns out, a lot of research has gone into identifying a formula for clickable titles.

According to one recent study that analyzed 5 million headlines, emotional titles — either positive or negative — had a higher click-through rate than neutral titles.

Titles with a positive sentiment had a 7.4% higher CTR, while those with a negative sentiment had a 7.2% higher CTR.

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That said, emotionally-charged titles can drive clicks only to a point. Go any further, and you quickly enter clickbait-land.

For instance, the same study found that “power words” — or words specifically designed to grab attention — can negatively affect CTR.

Power words include terms like unbelievable, insane, and crazy. While these may work on social media, they can hurt your organic CTR. Use them sparingly, if at all.

4. Video in Search Results

You’ve likely come across a YouTube video in a Featured Snippet. These tend to appear for “how-to” searches where the reader is looking for step-by-step instructions.

For instance, imagine you’re stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire. One Google search for “How to fix a flat tire” will lead you to the following video:

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Video Snippets are just the beginning. We predict Google will continue to incorporate video into search results. With that in mind, optimizing your videos for search is essential.

Here are a few ways to get there.

• Add chapters to your YouTube videos. Chapters break up your video into sections, usually by topic. This layer of context allows viewers (and Google!) to understand the contents of a video. 

It also makes it easy for Google to use different clips from your video for Featured Snippets.

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• Include closed captions (CC). Closed captions help YouTube and Google understand every word in your video. While YouTube can automatically generate captions, these aren’t always accurate, so adding your own manually is better.
• Optimize your title, tags, and description. Videos are like webpages — they have titles, descriptions (like meta descriptions), and tags (like meta tags). Optimize these using SEO best practices.

Lastly, it doesn’t hurt to embed videos into your website and blog posts, which can improve bounce rates.

5. Tweaking Content for “People Also Ask”

While browsing Google, you may have noticed something new: People Also Ask (PAA). In fact, 43% of search queries now include a PAA box.

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With a prominent position at the top of the SERP, everyone wants to rank in this highly-coveted feature. Luckily, you can increase your chances by making some minor tweaks to your content.

Since the majority of PAA boxes start with question words, like “what,” “why,” and “when,” it’s a good idea to incorporate questions and answers into your content.

You can use a keyword research tool to identify long-tail question keywords, then include these questions in your page headers.

Or, consider adding a FAQ section at the bottom of your web pages. Not only does this summarize key points for the reader, but it also has useful SEO benefits.

6. AI-Generated Content

AI content writing tools like Jasper and Copy.AI already gained traction last year, but none blew up the way ChatGPT did.

Now the fastest-growing consumer app in history, ChatGPT can help you create copy that reads almost as if a real person wrote it. In February 2023, Google countered with its own AI chatbot — Bard.

However, Google still attempts to squash AI content with its helpful content update. This update rewards content that gives users a satisfying experience, leading to the question: To what extent should you use AI?

Simple: Speed up your process, don’t replace it.

Thin long-form content entirely generated by AI will be difficult to pass. Instead, use AI to create short-form content like FAQs. Use it to create general content and infuse the gaps with your insights.

Incorporate AI into different stages of your content production process, such as research. AI is also useful in summarizing existing content. Take an existing piece of content and repurpose it for different channels.

And don’t completely rely on AI to create your copy. Supplement the production process with an experienced human writer who can edit and add valuable insights.

7. Digital Accessibility

Only 3% of the internet is currently accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility isn’t yet a direct ranking factor for Google, but that doesn’t mean it might not be in the future.

Google Search Trends and Glimpse Trajectory highlighted how, in 2022, there was an increase in search demand for “digital accessibility” by +69% and “SEO accessibility” by +124%.

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Accessible websites aren’t just good for SEO, they also help build reputational trust with users, generate more business, and improve customer experience.

Web accessibility is extensive. Use a checklist to identify any areas you may have missed. Review examples of other accessible content, and check the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Here are five ways you can improve the experience for all visitors:

• Include image alt-text that describes the image’s content.
• Optimize video content with closed captions and transcripts.
• Create headers and structure elements with HTML, not images.
• Add zoom and magnification capabilities.
• Test your website with an automated accessibility testing tool, such as Wave or DYNO Mapper.

And lastly, involve accessibility experts and users who can provide feedback on your design and content.

8. Featured Snippets and Zero-Click Results

“How to cure a fever.”

That’s what I Googled when I was down last week and didn’t know what to do.

My answer? A featured snippet from Mayo Clinic with no clicks necessary.

Of search queries, 12.29% have featured snippets in their search results. Additionally, two-thirds of Google searches end without a click, and the race for zero-click search domination is on.

Featured snippets and zero-click results will rule the SERPs. Users also have a higher chance of clicking content above the fold since they can see a preview of the answer.

Five tips to grab the featured snippet spot.

• Use relevant keywords. You want to include your primary keyword but also search for related keywords. Refer to content optimization tools for their suggestions, but also follow your own judgment.
• Add headers. Break your content into sections with H2 and H3 tags. These tags make it easier for search engines to crawl your content and identify points of interest.
• Keep it short. Limit content to 40 to 60 words. It might also help to include a “what is” header.
• Include a list. Featured snippets love lists. Include steps, recipes, or other relevant info in a numbered list.
• Format your content. The more your content looks like a featured snippet, the more likely it is to become one. Use tables and images when possible.

9. Topical Authority

Are you going to trust the website that talks about 50 vastly different topics or the one that focuses on just a few?

The answer is obvious — and that’s exactly why topical authority is crucial.

Topical authority signals to search engines the depth and quality of your content. When you focus your content around a specific topic, Google understands the expertise and trustworthiness of your website.

This expertise is especially crucial considering Google’s helpful content update. Topical authority tells the algorithm which content provides value and which it should rank higher.

Focus on topic clusters to build authority. Identify the topics you want to focus on, research related terms and phrases, and create content for each cluster.

Also, target multiple keywords at the same time to build online authority. Create content around a certain topic, link internally to other related pages, and cross-link between clusters.

In the example below, if you want to rank for the keyword “design software,” consider creating content around the clusters such as “design posts,” “graphic design examples,” “what laptop is best for graphic design,” or “tips for designing.”

Building topical authority is a time-intensive process that’s well worth the effort.

10. Firsthand Experience

Have you ever read an article and thought, “This person really doesn’t know what they’re talking about”?

That’s because the content didn’t come from firsthand experience, and Google’s ready to change that.

In December 2022, Google rolled out an update to its E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trust) algorithm and added another E for Experience.

The new E-E-A-T algorithm will now consider the author or creator’s experience when evaluating content quality.

With this additional ‘E,’ we’ll see content creators investing more effort to access practitioners or subject matter experts when creating search content.

Unique insights will become more critical. Whether in the form of original data, contrarian takes, content driven by subject matter expertise, or even content written from other perspectives, such as consumer reviews.

Such insights are challenging to replicate and will, in turn, result in greater returns in 2023.

When everyone has access to the same AI writing and keyword research, it’s the “hard” path of including unique insights that will become the most successful.

11. Content Optimization Tools

Ranking for SEO isn’t about stuffing your primary keyword a couple of times and calling it a day.

It’s about creating semantically rich content that explores a topic in-depth and provides value to the reader.

That’s where content optimization tools such as Frase, Clearscope, and SurferSEO come in.

These tools use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze your content and offer suggestions on keywords, common phrases, subtopics, and frequently asked questions.

The suggestions they offer help search engine bots understand the context of your content and rank it higher.

Featured snippets, first-page rankings, and high visibility are all outcomes of optimizing your content. Here’s an example of how Surfer SEO’s Content Editor suggests optimizing content for the keyword “marketing insights.”

12. Multiple Content Formats on Multiple Channels

You’re looking for a new pizza place to try. You turn to Google to find the best places in your area. That seems like the only route to take, right?

Well, Gen Z is taking a different approach.

Of Gen Z, 40% prefer TikTok and Instagram to search over Google. While Google remains the world’s largest search engine, we’re seeing a shift.

Digital search is expanding as different discovery tools emerge. NLP algorithms have never been better, and users have more options to find the information they’re looking for.

Your target audience is everywhere, and you need to meet them at multiple touchpoints.

Create content for different platforms and target multiple channels and audiences simultaneously. Have one long-form blog post? Break it into two videos, five social posts, and two podcasts.

You’re investing a lot of time, effort, and money into your content assets. Repurpose content for multiple channels and squeeze the most out of it.

Set benchmarks and determine how your audience consumes content. Do younger people scroll less? Do older people watch more videos?

Optimize your content for different platforms and devices to reach the right audience. Ensure you’re not missing an opportunity to engage users across various channels.

13. User Experience

Even a one-second delay in mobile load times can reduce conversion rates by up to 20%.

Slow, laggy websites frustrate visitors and might prevent Google from crawling your pages.

Google’s Core Web Vitals is still crucial to check whether your website meets the speed and responsiveness requirements.

Reducing server response time, improving site navigation, eliminating render-blocking resources, and compressing images all play a role in improving your website load times.

Content quality and technical SEO go hand in hand. Optimize website performance on desktop and mobile to improve the experience for visitors and make it easy for Google to index your pages.

14. Author Authority

Adding another E to its E-A-T acronym hasn’t just increased the demand for unique insights. It’s also increased the demand for authoritative creators and writers.

AI content has never been this popular, and Google’s on a mission to ensure whoever’s behind the content is a qualified, experienced, and real person.

For starters, ensure experienced creators churn out the content. Have them write about their own experience and research instead of relying on AI-generated or outsourced content.

Then, build their profiles further with author bios. Here are a few aspects to focus on:

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After creating a bio, create an author page that compiles all of their work on your website. Link the author’s social media accounts and personal website so Google understands the creator is a real, authoritative person.

15. SEO Automation

Two threats loom over businesses in 2023: Google’s rapid algorithm updates and the recession.

Sustainable SEO growth strategies that allow you to respond to these changes and spend fewer resources on manual processes are key this year. Long-tail keywords that compete for lower search volumes are your friend.

Opt for automation tools like SEMRush to monitor and improve SERP rankings, analyze competitors, identify internal link opportunities, and monitor social media.

AI-driven technologies can help you supplement your SEO efforts and increase efficiencies by suggesting relevant keywords, content ideas, and backlinks.

These algorithms learn from experience and detect opportunities for optimization more quickly than manual processes.

Invest in automation to speed up SEO tasks and fill those time gaps with strategic decisions that help you navigate challenging times.

16. Local SEO

Ranking for general keywords is tempting. Why shouldn’t you go after keywords everyone is looking for?

That’s because it’s harder and harder to compete with global brands — unless you specialize in local SEO.

First, conduct a local SEO audit. Then, optimize your website for local, long-tail keywords, update your Google My Business and other local listings, add photos, and create content focused on topics related to city-specific or regional needs.

Of Millennials, 42% who perform a local search will visit the business most of the time. As customers become more frugal in 2023, they’ll value in-person visits even more to evaluate the quality of your product.

Online reviews are also one of the most critical factors that affect organic search results. In fact, 63.6% of consumers say they are likely to check reviews on Google before they visit a location.

Encourage customers to leave reviews on your website or through Google My Business.

And don’t forget mobile — 57% of local search queries are submitted using a mobile device or tablet. People want solutions, and they want them quickly. Mobile-friendly content directs users to your business when they need it the most.

17. Historical Optimization

Have you ever found an interesting article only to see it was published and updated three years ago?

That’s a missed opportunity.

Not updating your old blogs is like forgetting to water your plants. You’re missing out on tons of potential growth.

Historical optimization is the process of going back and updating your old blog posts. To start, you can conduct a content audit to identify old posts that need a revamp.

Focus on articles with declining traffic, high bounce rates, or ones that need fresh insights. Analyze content based on Google’s helpful content and see if you can add anything to make it more comprehensive and up-to-date.

Five aspects you can focus on:

• Stats. Add recent and relevant stats that support your claims and make your content more credible.
• Links. Remove broken links and identify internal and external links you can use to add value.

• Images. Replace outdated images or graphics with new ones that fit current design trends.
• Keywords. Look for missing high-intent keywords and use them naturally in your content.
• Expert insights. Identify content gaps that could benefit from quotes from subject matter experts.

18. Search Intent

The best content isn’t created for search engine crawlers. It’s created for your audience.

Search intent focuses on why people search and what they’re looking for when they type a query into the search engine.

What pain points were they trying to solve when they decided to type in a keyword?

Are they looking for product reviews, educational content, or simply curious about something specific?

Creating content that meets user search intent means creating content that answers their questions. It’s as simple as that.

There are four types of search intent:

• Navigational. When users are looking for a specific website or page. For example, when they type “Walmart” into the search engine.
• Informational. When users are looking for more information on a topic, like when they type in “features to look for in a blender.”
• Transactional. When users are ready to buy something or take an action, like when they type in “order Black and Decker blender online.”
• Commercial. When users compare products or services before making a purchase, like when they type in “best blender under $100.”

Focus on content that matches users’ queries and expectations rather than just optimizing your content with the right keywords.

19. Link Building

Google’s December 2022 link spam update detects spammy links and penalizes websites with an unnatural link profile.

Its AI-powered SpamBrain will now “detect both buying and selling links and sites used for the purpose of passing outgoing links.”

What does this mean for SEO?

While link building can be a great way to improve your organic search visibility, focusing on quality rather than quantity is essential.

As Google gets better at detecting manipulative links using AI, link farms will become less effective. From Google’s perspective, neutralizing links algorithmically across the web is much more efficient than issuing manual actions.

Focus on white-hat, link-building tactics and avoid quick-fix solutions. Earn links by responding to media calls and position yourself as an industry expert.

Websites, such as HARO, Help a B2B Writer, and Terkel, have new opportunities daily. Give quotes drawn from firsthand experience that journalists can use straight away without further research.

20. Reverse Outreach

Link building can be tricky. Building backlinks without sending countless outreach emails that most people ignore is challenging.

That’s where reverse outreach comes in.

Reverse outreach is a content marketing technique invented by Brian Dean of Backlinko, who built 5,660 backlinks in 30 days. The technique involves creating buzzworthy content designed to be linked or shared.

Think listicles of stats, research, creative infographics, and helpful guides.

The key is to find a “journalistic keyword” other websites or blogs use to cover stories similar to yours. Then, create a narrative around that keyword, collect data, create the content, optimize it, and publish it.

Once you’ve published the content, the domino effect kicks in. High-authority sites link back to your site, boosting your domain authority and increasing organic website traffic.

21. Product SEO

Today, 61% of US consumers begin their product hunt on Amazon. Google knows how fiercely it competes with Amazon in the ecommerce space, and it’s taking steps to ensure it doesn’t lose out.

In 2022, Google made several changes to product search results, including adding Pros and Cons to product review snippets and expanding eligibility for Merchant Listing Experiences with Product Structured Data.

Add structured data to product pages to help Google Images and Lens detect and display your product information. Include other information, such as FAQs and drop-down menus, to make your product page richer.

Instead of optimizing for SEO alone, think of other helpful information that improves customer experience. Include product specifications, high-quality images, and 3D modeling to make it easier for customers to make decisions.

Lastly, focus on customer reviews. They’re extremely powerful in influencing purchase decisions.

Product reviews linking to multiple sellers may also boost rankings over reviews linking to one. When you’re giving customers the option to purchase from different vendors, you’re being helpful, and that’s what Google rewards.

22. Zero Volume Keywords

Search volume has traditionally been a key factor for deciding which keywords to target. But what if your target keyword has no search volume?

Zero search volume (ZSV) keywords are exactly that — they’re specific long-tail search queries that barely anyone searches for or tools don’t pick up on.

But because these keywords have a hyper-focus, they can help you attract more qualified leads and achieve higher conversion rates, especially at the bottom-of-the-funnel (BoFU) stage.

Keyword tools like Surfer and Ahrefs might not display the volume accurately. Here are a few checks that can help you identify whether a ZSV might generate traffic:

• Forum activity. Does the search for the ZSV keyword draw up forum or UGC activity? Are the results relevant? If yes, then people are interested.
• Incognito mode. Start typing the keyword on Google. Does Google autosuggest the remaining phrase? If yes, then people have searched for this.
• Related searches. Does Google display related searches on the results page? If so, the topic generates enough interest for Google to pull in related queries.

ZSV keywords provide small businesses, especially with little-to-no competition for search engine exposure. Less competition, a targeted approach, and the chance to build awareness in your niche can help you build traffic and rankings.

23. Image SEO

Image SEO has always been important, and for some niches, it can make or break a visitor’s decision to stay on your site.

Think about it: Would you trust a recipe blog where all the images are blurry and grainy? Would you be comfortable booking a hotel without photos of its amenities?

The answer is probably no.

Images make up 62.6% of all Google searches. Google understands how crucial visual results are to a user’s experience, and search results now feature image carousels and visual results more.

For example, a simple search for Bali on Google draws images of its map, pictures of different places to visit, and previews of hotels.

Google loves accessibility and sites optimized for visuals. To make sure your images are SEO-friendly, here are six tips:

• Give each image a descriptive filename.
• Compress the file size to improve loading times.
• Add alt-text and descriptions to make them accessible.
• Use captions and titles in addition to the alt-text.
• Create an image sitemap to help Google crawl and index images.
• Include semantic keywords to help Google understand their context.

24. Structured Data Markup

The more organized your content is, the easier it is for search engines to read and evaluate it — which is why structured data markup remains important in 2023.

Structured data markup tags are added to web pages to provide additional context about the page’s content.

These tags help search engines understand the page better, which helps them display it for the right queries and provide the most helpful information to users.

Structured data also helps generate rich results, and these results stand out from regular search results and can help you get more clicks.

Rotten Tomatoes, for instance, added structured data to 100,000 unique pages and measured a 25% higher click-through rate (CTR) than those without. Nestle also measured an 82% higher CTR for rich results than regular search results.

Add relevant schema markups, such as recipes, videos, or Q&As, to help Google’s crawlers understand the context of your content. Here’s how you can ensure you’ve marked up your content correctly:

• Use schema.org vocabulary when creating tags.
• Test structured data using Google’s Rich Results test tool.
• Monitor errors with Google Search Console.

25. Interactive Content

You’ve probably come across boring, monotonous web pages filled with endless text. Most users won’t spend more than a few seconds reading them before they leave the page.

That’s why interactive content is so important. In simple terms, interactive content engages users and encourages them to interact with it.

Interactive content elevates an otherwise static page to draw more engagement, time on site, and potentially conversions.

According to 88% of marketers, interactive content helps brands differentiate themselves.

And why not?

Content such as quizzes, polls, games, surveys, or virtual reality is memorable for users. It captures your target audience’s attention and conveys valuable information in a fun, entertaining way.

Back to You

The only constant in the SEO world is changing. While it may feel like these changes are out of our control, so much is in our control — namely, how we react.

Start by watching trends and following the best practices in this article to help you navigate the changing landscape.

Chances are, you’ve probably spent an afternoon falling down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos.

While it’s a great source of entertainment, the platform is also valuable for marketers using YouTube to find their target audience. With a global user base of more than 2.5 billion people, it’s also safe to assume that your audience is on the platform.

In this post, we’ll go over key YouTube statistics you need to know this year to help you succeed in your marketing efforts.

• YouTube Demographics
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Geography

• What Different Generations Watch on YouTube
• How to Target the Right Demographic on YouTube

2023 YouTube Demographics

Below, we’ll go over the most critical YouTube statistics that show marketers how global audiences are using the platform.

General YouTube User Demographics

• YouTube has 2.5 billion users, making up almost one-third of the entire internet. (Statista)
• 70% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing content on YouTube. (Google Ads)
• India has the most YouTube users in 2023 at about 467 million (Statista)
• YouTube’s global advertising revenues amounted to about 29.24 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. (Statista)
• YouTube is the top video streaming app, and the average user spends 23.2 hours per month watching content. (App Annie)
• The most popular YouTube video is Baby Shark Dance with 12.3 billion views. (Statista)
• Videos are most likely to go viral on YouTube (27%), TikTok (24%), Instagram (18%), and Facebook (14%). (HubSpot Video Marketing Report)

YouTube Age Demographics

• Millennials trust YouTube more than any other generation. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• 56% of Gen Z, 54% of Millennials, 48% of Gen X, and 26% of Boomers say they discover new products most often on YouTube. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• About 377 million adults between ages 18-24 use YouTube — about 15% of YouTube’s audience. (DataReportal) 
• As of 2022, 20.2% of YouTube’s advertising audience is between 25 and 34 – the largest group – and 15.5% is between 35 and 44. (Hootsuite)
• 85% of children ages 2-12 say they watch YouTube. (TVTech)
• 84% of parents who use YouTube or YouTube Kids agree that YouTube makes learning more fun for their children. (Oxford Economics)

YouTube Gender Demographics

Please note that audience data for individuals who do not identify within the binary are not reported.

• As of January 2023, 48.6% of YouTube users in the United States are male. (Statista)
• 51.4% of YouTube users in the United States are female. (Statista)
• 11.9% of YouTube’s global audience consists of males between the ages 25-34. (Statista)
• 8.8% of YouTube’s global audience consists of women between the ages of 25-34. (Statista)

YouTube Geography Demographics

• The United States has the second-highest number of YouTube users, at 246 million. (Global Media Insight).
• Brazil has the third-highest number of users, at 142 million. (Global Media Insights)
• YouTube has launched local versions of the platform in more than 100 countries. (YouTube Blog)
• 74% of U.S. adults living in rural areas, 81% of those living in suburban areas, and 84% living in urban areas report using YouTube. (Pew Research)

What Different Generations Watch on YouTube

What Gen Z Watches on YouTube

• As of May 2022, 96% of Gen Z users (born between 1997 and 2012) have a YouTube account. (Statista)
• 56.66% of YouTube’s audience are millennials or Gen Z. (SimilarWeb)
• To break it down further, 30.19% are the ages of 25-34, and 26.47% are the ages 18-24. (SimilarWeb)
• 82% of Gen Z say they’ve used YouTube to watch content that will make them feel nostalgic. (YouTube)
• 83% of Gen Z have used YouTube to watch soothing content that helps them relax. (YouTube)

Takeaways for Video Marketers

Based on the research, Gen Z turns to YouTube when they want to relax or revisit positive memories from their past. If you’re targeting Gen Z, entertaining content will reign supreme.

What Millennials Watch on YouTube

• YouTube reaches more millennials than all the TV networks combined. (The Shelf)
• A 2022 report found that YouTube will have nearly double the penetration of TikTok among millennials this year. (eMarketer)
• Millennials prefer watching:
  • News and human interest stories to keep up to date
  • Unboxing and product review videos to influence spending
  • Quick and fun entertainment content (The Shelf)

Takeaways for Video Marketers

Millennials go to YouTube when they want to learn something or be entertained. Additionally, they go to the platform to be inspired, watch TV, and catch up on the news. If you’re targeting millennials, news stories, product reviews, entertaining content, and inspiring content will win out.

How to Target the Right Demographic on YouTube

While each generation might watch fairly similar content, it’s important to remember that the goal is different. For Gen X it might be to reminisce, while for Boomers it’s to save time, and for Millennials and Gen Z, it could be to learn something new.

To properly target the right demographic on YouTube, pay attention to the most popular categories and types of videos they watch on the platform.

Just as it is for all social networks, building a presence on YouTube requires understanding which segments of your audience are already there and what they’re watching.

Use these statistics to create a YouTube marketing strategy that speaks to your audience’s interests, drives revenue, and increases conversions.

Having that information makes it easier to create content that speaks to their interests, maximize ROI, and achieve general marketing success.

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

 

The business world can feel like a place of constant pressure and complexity. We hate stress a lot (because it sucks) but, at work, it can sometimes feel like addressing and dealing with stress can get in the way of meeting deadlines and producing results.

Stress should always be addressed, though, because not dealing with it can lead to burnout — a legitimate health condition.

In this post, learn why remaining calm under pressure at work is important and strategies to stay level-headed.

Why is it important to stay calm under pressure at work?

Justin Menkes, the author of Better Under Pressure, says that pressure itself isn’t bad, but pressure that becomes panic is. “There’s a lot of research that shows that a moderate amount of pressure is critical for human satisfaction and gratification, otherwise we get very restless. We like challenge; we have to have challenge. It’s just that, if you overload and flood us, panic is what many people are talking about when they say ‘unhealthy pressure.’”

The key is handling pressure without panic, and here are tips and expert advice for doing so.

How to Stay Calm Under Pressure At Work

1. Organize your priorities.

Staying organized at work is a great way to stay calm under pressure. Creating to-do lists to uncover the most pressing tasks and devising an organized way to tackle your responsibilities so you don’t get overwhelmed.

For example, in the face of an upcoming deadline, you can list tasks and their dependencies, organize them by importance, and create a structure to follow to help you meet your deadline.

Alison Elworthy, EVP of Revenue Operations at HubSpot, says, “For me, it’s all about staying organized and being methodical to get through stressful situations. I approach it like any other large project I might be tackling at work and will even create a project plan to get through it, as nerdy as that sounds.”

2. Think about the satisfaction of future results.

Thinking about the benefits of the future can help you build a more positive attitude about your now if you remember that good things are to come.

For example, maybe you’re racing to finalize a marketing campaign for a new product, but you’re caught up in your remaining tasks. Launching the campaign and seeing ROI can be incredibly satisfying and a valuable motivator, so taking time to think about the outcome of your tasks can be helpful.

3. Break down larger tasks.

Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot Founder and CTO, says, “Usually, I feel the most pressure when there is a seemingly overwhelming large problem at hand. My tactic to deal with this is to ‘deconstruct’ the large problem at hand into smaller, bite-sized chunks. Each of the individual, smaller things seem surmountable on their own, and it calms me to know that if I conquered all of those small things, I’ve essentially conquered the big thing.”

Breaking down large tasks might help you realize that your responsibilities are entirely manageable and that you have what you need to get them done.

4. Reach out to people on your team.

Your coworkers and managers are there to support and help you at work. They can offer fresh perspectives, act as a sounding board for your thoughts, and offer advice about your processes.

Therefore, reaching out to people on your team can be a grounding and helpful strategy if you’re experiencing a bit of stress on-the-job.

5. Take breaks.

Taking breaks can remove you from the stress that’s impacting your work, and taking a step away to focus on something else and letting your thoughts wander can help you clear your head.

Everyone decompresses in different ways, but some kinds of breaks to consider are:

• Walking around the office or stepping outside to get a change of scenery.
• Socializing and catching up with coworkers.
• Having a snack.
• Picking up another task or starting a new one.

6. Focus on the now.

Ruminating on the future is easy to do when you feel stressed, whether you’re worried about an upcoming presentation or meeting a deadline. This thinking can take up a lot of time and can actually make you more stressed.

While easier said than done, focusing on your present day can be grounding because the job currently in front of you has to get done, and, in some cases, getting it done now can make you better prepared for what’s to come.

Mike Volpe, former CMO of HubSpot, says “You almost need to have tunnel vision in order to ignore all the outside noise that is creating the stressful situation.” Focusing on the things you need to get done today can distract you from your overall stressors.

7. Build your ideal work environment.

Having a work environment that you’re comfortable in and is conducive to your productivity can help you combat stress and pressure at work. Being around things that you enjoy can be grounding, and a space you’re excited about can make you excited about work.

Maybe having plans and greenery at your desk makes you feel motivated and uplifted, or maybe it’s more personalized touches like pictures of loved ones. Whatever you include in your space, it should help you feel comfortable.

8. Prioritize a work-life balance.

A work-life balance is important to many working professionals, as it ensures stressors of work are checked at the door and are replaced with personal hobbies and activities that bring joy uninterrupted by the demands of a job.

When it comes to staying calm under pressure, stepping away and enjoying things outside of work can help you feel relaxed and level-headed, and keeps stress from creeping into all aspects of your life.

Mark Roberge, former CRO at HubSpot, says “”My key to staying calm in high-pressure roles is disciplined prioritization and maintaining a balance across my personal and professional lives…I always prioritize activities that keep my stress in check.”

Roberge says he runs, meditates, plays guitar, and avoids weekend work to not compromise time with his family. “Squeezing in one more meeting or one more email at the expense of these balancing activities quickly leads to burn out,” and burnout is never worth it.

In a new commercial for Mint Mobile, co-founder Ryan Reynolds reads from a script written entirely by ChatGPT.

His prompt was simple enough: include a joke, a curse word, and let people know about the company’s holiday promotion – all in the voice of Ryan Reynolds.

The results, in his own words, were “compelling” but also “mildly terrifying.”

Admittedly, the Mint Mobile ad is a little stunty. However, it’s a prime example of marketers using AI to streamline the creative process.

That said, AI is still in its early stages, and marketers need to know how to use these tools correctly. Here, I spoke with Samyutha Reddy, Head of Enterprise Marketing at Jasper, to learn how to fit generative AI into your content marketing strategy — and the pitfalls to avoid.

How Generative AI Can Fit Into Your Content Strategy, According to Jasper’s Head of Enterprise Marketing

1. AI for content ideation.

As a writer, there’s nothing worse than staring at a blank document. But these days, you don’t have to wait for inspiration to strike. Instead, you can leverage AI to get the ball rolling.

Samyutha told me, “AI really fits at the beginning of the writing process, particularly for content ideation. If I’m writing a blog, I often use Jasper Chat to test new ideas and try different angles, just like I would with a colleague in a conference room.”

Samyutha points out that AI tools are especially beneficial for remote marketers who don’t have the physical space to spitball ideas with others.

“It’s valuable during a time when people are working remotely and teams are distributed. We can get a lot accomplished in virtual meetings, but they’re not often used to just brainstorm or connect. In that way, AI can be really helpful,” she observes.

2. AI for content research.

A lot of effort goes into writing a piece of content before a writer can even put pen to paper. 

For most creators, the bulk of the work happens on the front-end — namely, researching and sifting through information. Samyutha believes this is the next big area for which AI can help.

She says, “Being able to take super lengthy pieces of content, feed them into Jasper’s Content Synthesizer, and have a summary of different viewpoints and pieces of data can help creators form an opinion or perspective that much quicker.”

For example, suppose a marketer needs to convert a multi-page e-book into a blog post. To speed up the process, she pastes the e-book into an AI chatbot and prompts it to list the biggest takeaways.

The AI chatbot analyzes the e-book to identify its key themes, topics, and ideas. After, the marketer uses its output as a rough draft for her blog, making sure to add her own voice and perspective. In the end, she has a new piece of content that took a fraction of the time to create.

Click here to set a Google Calendar Reminder for The State of Generative AI & How It Will Revolutionize Marketing [New Data + Expert Insights], coming May 17, 2023.

3. AI for scaling marketing campaigns.

In an ideal world, there would be a single channel to meet, engage, and convert customers. In reality, marketers need a multi-channel strategy to reach their audience.

Of course, scaling marketing campaigns is no easy feat. As Samyutha puts it, “We often burn all our energy on creating one beautiful, optimized piece of content. But then our distribution falls.”

However, marketers can use AI to build entire marketing campaigns from one piece of content, which they can adapt to different formats and lengths.

For instance, if a marketer creates a YouTube video that she wants to scale into an entire campaign, she can leverage AI to convert the video script into different formats, like a LinkedIn post, Facebook ad, or e-newsletter copy.

Now, she’s able to build a multi-channel strategy instead of relying on a single platform or format. On top of that, it enables her to ramp up her marketing strategically.

Samyutha underlines this point, telling me, “It enables me to truly be a project manager and a strategist, versus someone who is waiting on other people to deliver their end of the bargain.”

4. AI for SEO optimization.

As content creators, we want our work to be seen by as many people as possible. One way to get there is by optimizing for SEO.

However, not everyone is an expert in technical SEO. For Samyutha, this is where AI can really shine.

She says, “I’m not someone that grew up in the discipline of content marketing, and I never had a tool to help me with the technical aspect of SEO. That’s where Jasper comes into play. It can help content marketers optimize their articles by automating a lot of SEO tasks.”

For instance, an AI chatbot can write content around certain keywords, as well as suggest the best headers, meta tags, and descriptions to improve click-through rates.

But AI doesn’t end at optimization — it can also work as an editor during the final stages of writing. Tools like Jasper and Grammarly can detect wordiness, offer alternative phrases, and improve readability. The result? SEO-optimized content that people enjoy reading.

The Pitfalls to Avoid When Implementing Generative AI Into Your Processes

1. Removing creators from the creation process.

“When incorporating generative AI, the worst thing you can do is remove someone with a strong creative or editorial eye,” cautions Samyutha.

At first glance, AI-written content may look perfect. Yet, many human elements — like humor, empathy, perspective, and cultural context — could be missing. On top of that, generative AI operates with limited data, so the information it collects could be irrelevant, outdated, or even biased.

Ultimately, marketers should use AI for the first draft — not the last. AI can lay the groundwork, but you still need to elevate this content with your unique personality or perspective.

2. Recreating the wheel.

Every marketing team has a different strategy for creating content. As a result, your approach to AI — and how you choose to implement it — is unique to your team.

While AI is exciting and new, Samyutha recommends the “less is more” approach when adding it to your workflow.

She tells me, “When it comes to integrating AI, a lot of teams feel pressure to recreate the wheel. However, you don’t have to build all your processes around generative AI. Instead, incorporate AI into your existing processes that already work well.”

For example, a marketing team may have an effective content distribution process, but it could be improved by automating some tasks with AI — like scheduling social media posts and reformatting content for different channels.

With this approach, your marketing strategy isn’t dependent on AI. Instead, it’s improved by it.

3. Raising content demands too quickly.

As AI continues to speed up the creation process, it’s important to have guardrails in place to maintain quality.

Samyutha says, “We have multiple processes built to check our work, and that doesn’t go away because Jasper’s in the picture. If anything, that chain link of feedback is strengthened so we can catch things like inaccuracies or mistakes.”

She continues, “It’s not about creating content as quickly as you can. It’s about effectively incorporating another piece of technology into your existing workflow.”

As marketers, we’re always seeking ways to stay ahead of the curve and embrace new technology to help us do our jobs more effectively. AI could be the next big opportunity to uplevel our work. But, as Samyutha points out, it’s important to be realistic with this technology.

Ultimately, it’s about knowing when to push this technology into your workflow — and when to pull back. With this approach, marketers can effectively incorporate AI into their strategies for maximum impact.

Shopping trends have drastically changed over the past few years. While most of us previously browsed retail stores on a Saturday to find great deals, we now turn to Instagram to find discounts offered by influencers.

And rather than watching TV ads to find out about new products, nowadays, most of us stumble across ads in between YouTube videos.

Here, we’ll explore the shopping trends of 2023, as discovered in our State of Consumer Trends Survey, to ensure you’re able to meet customers where and when they’d prefer to shop. Let’s dive in. 

Table of Contents

How Shopping Trends Changed in the Past 6 Months

The Top Shopping Trends of 2023

The Shopping Trends to Expect in 2023

How Shopping Trends Changed in the Past 6 Months

1. Consumers prefer flexibility over subscription models.

These days, consumers have a lot of flexibility in how they purchase products. They can make a one-time purchase or join a subscription service. They can also pay full-price or via installments thanks to popular platforms like Afterpay and Klarna.

However, this flexibility may not be necessary. While 32% of consumers have purchased a subscription over the past three months, a staggering 69% of consumers still prefer purchasing products whenever the need arises. 

On top of that, consumers prefer to purchase products at full price. Only 21% of consumers prefer purchasing a product with installments.

2. Baby Boomers are skeptical about shopping via social media, but they’re coming around.

According to our report, a slim 6% of Baby Boomers feel comfortable making purchases directly on social media. What’s more, only 5% trust social media platforms with their credit card information.

In short, Baby Boomers are skeptical about shopping via social media. However, things could be turning around.

24% of Baby Boomers have discovered a new product on social media in the past 3 months — up 41% from May 2022. On top of that, 6% of boomers have bought a product on social media in the past three months, a 50% jump from May 2022.

While these stats are promising, it’s important to meet your consumers where they are right now. So, if you’re audience skews older, you might get more traction with other channels like TV ads and search.

3. Millennials and Gen Z’ers may hinge their purchasing decisions on a company’s stance on social issues.

Increasingly, consumers want to support companies that share their values. For example, 66% of consumers want companies to reduce their environmental impact.

This isn’t just talk: corporate responsibility is influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. Take a look at these stats:

• 39% of consumers are more likely to buy a product based on the brand’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, up 8% from May 2022.
• 61% of consumers believe companies should donate a portion of their profits to charity, up 9% from May 2022. Plus, 46% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that actively donates to charity.
• 75% of consumers believe companies should try to improve the well-being of their employees, up 4% from May 2022.

At the same time, consumers are skeptical of companies that use social issues as a marketing ploy without actually taking meaningful action. But when a company takes a genuine stand, it can be an effective way to build trust and credibility with consumers.

The Top Shopping Trends of 2023

1. Influencer recommendations matter more than recommendations from friends and family.

Influencer marketing has proven an incredibly effective strategy for brands over the past few years — in fact, as of 2021, almost 60% of marketers said influencer marketing was the most effective marketing trend, ahead of SEO, experiential marketing, and short-form video content.

And in 2022, 30% of consumers now report influencer recommendations are one of the most important factors in their purchasing decisions, compared to 27% for recommendations from friends or family.

In many ways, this makes sense: Influencers are traditionally considered experts in their niche. If I follow a makeup influencer, it’s safe to assume he or she knows more about makeup than most of my friends.

For e-commerce businesses, this is powerful news: It means you no longer need to rely on word-of-mouth alone. Instead, it’s wise to focus your efforts on influencer marketing, since influencers have demonstrated a level of influence over their audiences that surpasses even that of friends and family.

2. Gen Zers prefer to discover new products via social media — but they still like to make purchases in-store.

Our State of Consumer Trends Survey found Gen Zers (ages 18-24) most often discover new products on social media (71%), followed by YouTube ads (56%), ads on music streaming services (55%), and internet searches (50%).

If your e-commerce business is targeting Gen Zers, then, it’s vital you focus your efforts on social media rather than paid ads when it comes to attracting new leads to your products and educating those leads on your products.

Additionally, when asked which content formats Gen Zers prefer for learning about a product and its features on social media, roughly 50% said they’d like to learn about a product through a story post. This is followed by short-form video (42%), and then a feed post (42%).

However, 73% of people (and 55% of Gen Zers in particular) say they’d still prefer to purchase a product in-store. This is an important call-out: While you’ll want to focus on social media for your lead generation efforts, it’s still vital to have a strong, effective in-store shopping option for those who would like to make the final sale in person.

3. When it comes to millennials and Gen X, retail stores and searching the internet are two popular options for discovering new products.

Similar to Gen Zers, the most popular method among millennial buyers for discovering new products is social media (51%).

However, in a close second for millennials is searching the internet (50%) — which means, if you’re targeting a millennial demographic, you might want to consider leveraging paid ads and a strong SEO strategy for getting your products in front of your target audience.

And if your target audience is Gen X (35-54 year olds), retail stores are the most popular option for discovering new products, so you’ll want to invest time and resources in partnerships with brick-and-mortar retailers to ensure your products are at plenty of physical locations.

Plus, similar to millennials, 39% of Gen X buyers also search the internet for new products, so SEO is another good option here.

4. Millennials and Gen Xers prefer to discover new products on social media through ads or sponsored content — while Gen Zers prefer discovering new products on social media through short-form videos.

Depending on your target demographic, you’ll want to vary the type of content you create for social media when it comes to attracting new audiences to your products.

For instance, if you’re aiming to attract Gen Zers, you’ll want to consider short-form video like TikTok or Instagram Reels, since 41% report short-form video as their preferred medium for discovering new products.

If you’re instead looking to reach millennials or Gen Xers, you’ll want to think about leveraging ads or sponsored content, since 44% mark that option as their favorite.

5. Mobile phones are the most popular device for online shopping.

When shopping online, roughly 75% of consumers prefer using their mobile devices, compared to 15% that prefer desktop and 6% that prefer tablet.

This means as an e-commerce business it’s critical your website is mobile-optimized, and you have mobile-responsive product pages.

If I’m scrolling a company’s products and I find it’s too difficult or cumbersome on my phone, I typically ditch the website – and don’t return. So it’s vital you ensure you’re following mobile best practices (including large text, lots of white space, responsive templates, and mobile-friendly calls-to-action).

6. Price matters most to when it comes to making a purchasing decision — but other factors might surprise you.

Across the board, price is a major factor when it comes to purchasing decisions. 78% of Gen Z, 74% of millennials, 74% of Gen X, and 73% of Boomers report price as one of the most important factors when it comes to deciding whether or not they’re going to buy a product.

The quality of a product is important, as well, with 65% of Gen Z, 78% of millennials, 82% of Gen X, and 72% of Boomers marking it as another top factor when it comes to purchasing decisions.

But beyond having a reasonably-priced and high-quality product, there are a few other distinguishing factors you’ll want to keep in mind when marketing your brand.

For instance, 57% of Gen Zers will consider purchasing a product if a percentage of the proceeds from the purchase will be donated to charity. And 55% of millennials prefer buying a product that has strong reviews. 62% of Gen Xers appreciate whether a brand has an active community around it, and 55% of Boomers look for a product’s features and functionality when considering a purchase.

7. Short-form video offers huge advertising opportunities.

Short-form video is the most popular video length on social media. As a result, TikTok — and other short-form video platforms — are becoming viable advertising channels. In fact, 36% of consumers want to learn about products through short-form videos like TikToks or Reels.

On top of that, 52% of U.S TikTok users say the advertisements they see on the platform are fun and engaging — which are two ingredients for effective ads.

The Shopping Trends to Expect in 2023

Here are a few trends you’ll continue to see: 

• Mobile usage for shopping will continue to dominate the e-commerce industry. In 2018, it encompassed 63.5% of total e-commerce sales, and in 2020, that number jumped to 70.4% (Source). As mentioned above, we found roughly 75% of consumers preferring their mobile devices in 2022, which suggests mobile sales will continue to dominate the e-commerce landscape. 
• The Influencer industry will continue to grow and remain one of the most popular avenues for brands looking to connect with their audiences. Influencer marketing has grown rapidly over the past few years — from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.7 billion in 2020, and $13.8 billion in 2021. Nowadays, Gen Zers and millennials aren’t looking to celebrities for inspiration when it comes to purchasing products or services, and they’re not turning to friends, either — they’re looking to these influencers. 
• We’ll see a rise in people who use the metaverse or buy virtual currency. HubSpot’s Consumer Trends Survey found over half of those who have ever used the metaverse or bought virtual currency/items have done so within the past three months — including 56% who’ve visited the metaverse, 56% who’ve bought cryptocurrency, and 75% who’ve bought NFTs for the first time. 

When creating an effective e-commerce strategy, it’s vital you take the time to understand how shoppers want to shop today — and into the future. Shopping behaviors change over time. The more your business can meet the evolving needs of your consumers, the more likely you are to continue to succeed well into the future.