We’ve all had days when we’ve needed a little extra motivation, but when you’re always on the go, it can be challenging to take time and find the inspiration you need. Fortunately, I’ve put together a list of 15 of the best motivational podcasts you can listen to anytime you need affirmations, advice, or words of wisdom.

Best Motivation Podcasts

1. Too Smart for This
2. The Science of Success
3. The Happiness Lab
4. Tiny Leaps, Big Changes
5. How to Fail with Elizabeth Day

Best Motivational Podcasts on Spotify

6. Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

7. The One You Feed

8. Black Girl in Om

9. Food Psych

10. Beyond the To-Do List

Best Motivational Podcasts for Women

11. Redefining Ambition
12. Therapy for Black Girls
13. Side Hustle Pro
14. The Self Love Fix
15. Our Body Politic

Best Motivational Podcasts

Here are some of the best motivational podcasts covering topics like career advancement, mental health, wellness, and personal development:

1. Too Smart for This

Hosted by content creator and full-time YouTube Content Strategist Alexis Barber, Too Smart for This is a podcast aimed at helping women entrepreneurs hone their craft and map out their unique career paths. The podcast features candid interviews with women in various industries and gives valuable advice on how young women can enter the world of entrepreneurship.

What We Like: At 23 years old, Barber does an excellent job of providing actionable advice in a way that is relatable to young 20-somethings looking to forge their own path to success. Listening to her podcast often feels like having lunch with a friend who always drops gems on how to break into different industries.

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2. The Science of Success

This weekly podcast hosted by Matt Bodnar features guests ranging from neuropsychologists to mindfulness experts to FBI hostage negotiators. The podcast explores the science and psychology behind success in communication, leadership, and other avenues in life.

What We Like: The Science of Success prioritizes evidence-based practices relating to success from real-life thought leaders, so you won’t find yourself wondering, “Okay, but how do I know this advice really works?”

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3. The Happiness Lab

Dr. Laurie Santos, a professor at Yale, hosts The Happiness Lab and has studied the science of happiness for years. The podcast is based on the psychology course Dr. Santos teaches, which also happens to be one of the most popular classes at the university. The podcast cites the latest scientific research about happiness and shares inspiring stories meant to change how we look at the emotion.

What We Like: Often, when people think of what it takes to be happy, they think of material things like money, possessions, or expensive vacations. While all those things can certainly make almost anyone happy, Dr. Santos shows how mindfulness, looking inward, setting boundaries, and enjoying life’s simplest pleasures can lead to a happier life overall.

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4. Tiny Leaps, Big Changes

Tiny Leaps, Big Changes focuses on personal development and the little things we can do day-to-day to improve our lives. In the podcast, author Gregg Clunis shares simple strategies to implement in our daily lives to help us along toward our goals.

What We Like: Goal setting and working toward the best version of ourselves can be daunting, especially if you’re unsure where to start. However, Clunis explains that goals can be attainable by incorporating the tiniest actions into our routines. In other words, adjusting our habits and behaviors over time can lead to considerable advancements in our personal development.

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5. How to Fail With Elizabeth Day

How to Fail With Elizabeth Day features insightful interviews with influencers, celebrities, and thought leaders as they explain their past failures and what they learned from their experiences. The podcast removes the stigma of failure and instead frames it as an opportunity to learn and improve.

What We Like: Guests for the podcast have included Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls, conservationist Jane Goodall, and actor Simu Liu who starred in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Almost all of the podcast’s guests have been considered successful in their respective fields, so learning about their past stumbles and how they recovered can be the motivation you need to keep pushing forward.

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Best Motivational Podcasts on Spotify

According to a study by Statista, 25% of podcast listeners ages 18 and up use Spotify to listen to podcasts. If you’re among that 25%, here are some of the best motivational podcasts on the app.

6. Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations is Oprah’s selection of her favorite and most thought-provoking interviews uploaded in podcast form. Episodes include conversations with best-selling authors, artists, wellness experts, and spiritual leaders.

What We Like: Each episode, according to the podcast’s description, is “designed to light you up, guide you through life’s big questions and help bring you one step closer to your best self.”

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7. The One You Feed

The One You Feed is a podcast meant to help listeners navigate life’s complexities. Each week the podcast’s host, Eric Zimmer, speaks with scientists, authors, psychologists, and experts in various fields about what listeners can do to live more fulfilling lives.

What We Like: The podcast provides valuable information about the skills and behaviors listeners can develop to find peace, love, and fulfillment.

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8. Black Girl in Om

Black Girl in Om is a unique motivational podcast with episodes featuring words of affirmation and guided meditation. Many episodes also feature interviews with experts from various industries.

What We Like: The podcast’s guided meditations and morning words of affirmation are a great way to start the day with a positive outlook and clear mind.

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9. Food Psych

Hosted by registered dietitian Christy Harrison, Food Psych is a podcast focusing on mental and physical wellness concerning food. In each episode, Harrison speaks to guests ranging from health and psychology professionals to anti-diet activists to leaders in the body liberation movement. The goal is to help listeners build healthy relationships with their bodies, food, and mind.

What We Like: Food Psych motivates listeners to work toward a healthy and happy lifestyle while promoting body acceptance and calling out the dangers of diet culture.

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10. Beyond the To-Do List

Whether in our personal or professional lives, we all have mounting to-do lists we must tackle, and keeping up with all of our tasks can be daunting. Beyond the To-Do List is a podcast that gives expert advice on implementing productivity strategies into our daily lives.

What We Like: This podcast does an excellent job of motivating listeners to be productive and complete their tasks to live a more stress-free life.

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Best Motivational Podcasts for Women

Here are some great podcasts to check out if you’re a woman looking for motivation and advice.

11. Redefining Ambition

Produced by The Women’s Network, Redefining Ambition highlights the unconventional career paths of successful women in various industries. In each episode, a speaker details the many twists, turns, setbacks, and surprises that led them to where they are today. According to the network’s website, the podcast’s goal is “to demonstrate the power of ambition, passion, and drive to inspire future generations of women to achieve success.”

What We Like: Redefining Ambition shows multiple ways to success and that everyone’s path is challenging and unique.

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12. Therapy for Black Girls

Therapy for Black Girls is a weekly podcast about mental health and personal development as they pertain to the unique experience of Black women.

What We Like: The podcast covers a wide range of topics and situations that can impact the mental health of Black women and provides solid advice from experts and thought leaders.

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13. Side Hustle Pro

Side Hustle Pro highlights Black women who have managed to turn their side hustles into a profitable business. Hosted by Nicaila Matthews Okome, the podcast has been featured on the TODAY show and has earned over three million downloads, according to its website.

What We Like: Content creation is seeing a massive boom in popularity, and many content creators have questions about how they can turn their side gig into a full-time career. This podcast provides valuable information creators can use to turn their work into a business.

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14. The Self Love Fix

The Self Love Fix is hosted by teacher, mentor, and embodiment coach Beatrice Kamau. In the podcast, Kamau advises women on how to shift from codependency and low self-esteem to self-trust and alignment. The podcast often features interviews with experts in various fields such as wellness, nutrition, and parenting.

What We Like: Episodes cover many topics, such as relationships, family, and mental health.

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15. Our Body Politic

Hosted by award-winning journalist Farai Chideya, Our Body Politic is a podcast reporting on how women of color are impacted by today’s major political events and how every woman can make a difference. Weekly episodes cover various topics like the economy, health, education, and the environment.

What We Like: Many of today’s pressing issues seem beyond control, but Our Body Politic shows women from all backgrounds how they can get involved and be the change they want to see.

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Whether you’re relaxing at home, commuting to work, or going for a jog — you’re now able to get some motivation whenever you need thanks to these podcasts. Let them bring you a step closer to becoming your best self.

Are you interested in earning money on Instagram but not sure how to start? We’ve got you covered.

Although people first think of influencer marketing, that’s not Instagram’s sole monetization opportunity. In this article, we’ll dive into the current features the social app offers.

Although monetization on the platform can involve promoting products and/or services to increase sales, that’s not what it always looks like. With monetization, the focus is on the content whereas selling focuses on the products/services.

While YouTube is seen as the OG monetization platform for content creators, Instagram is making its way up there.

When we surveyed marketers for our 2022 Social Media Trends Report, 73% say they work with influencers on Instagram compared to only 61% on YouTube.

But as we’ll cover later on, that’s only one way to make money on the app. Before we get into those, let’s review monetization requirements.

Instagram Monetization Tools

Ever since Instagram transitioned to a creator-focused platform, they have tested numerous monetization tools. Some end up staying on the platform while others are sunsetted.

For instance, in June 2021, Instagram announced that it would test an affiliate program, in which creators could have their own Shop tab and earn commissions based on sales they influenced.

After over a year of testing, the platform announced that it would no longer be available after August 2022.

Another monetization tool was Reels ads, a move designed to encourage creators to post more Reels. It allowed them to earn money via ads displayed before and/or after their Reels. That has seemingly been replaced by the bonus play program (more on that later.)

Here’s a list of the monetization tools available or being tested on the platform:

• Influencer marketing
• Bonuses
• Badges
• Subscriptions
• Gifts

Instagram Monetization Requirements

Each monetization practice will have its own set of requirements, but there are general policies set by Instagram for any creator who wants to earn money on the app.

You cannot earn money on Instagram if you share:

• Sexual, violent, profane, or hateful content.
• Static and looping videos
• Image slideshows
• Misinformation
• Unoriginal and misleading content
• Polarizing or inflammatory content relating to race, gender, age, or other sensitive subjects.

For more details on this, check out Instagram’s full list of content monetization policies.

How to Get Monetized on Instagram

1. Influencer Marketing

Becoming an influencer is the most popular way to make money on Instagram and from the marketers’ perspective, it’s one of the main ways they work with creators.

According to HubSpot research, 64% of marketers said they work with micro-influencers (those with 10K to 99K followers) when asked about their 2022 influencer marketing campaigns, and 57% work with macro-influencers (100K-999K).

The great news is that even if you have a smaller follower count, you can still be an influencer. 27% of marketers we surveyed say they worked with nano influencers (1K-9K) in 2022.

How much can you earn? The limit does not exist.

A Business Insider report found that Instagram influencers can earn anywhere from a couple of thousand dollars to millions. It really depends on their rates, their follower count, engagement rates, niche, and more.

Requirements

To be an influencer, there are no set requirements. Here’s what you should aim for:

• 500+ followers
• Have an engagement rate of 2% or more
• Rich, high-quality content

2. Bonuses

To encourage creators to post Reels, Instagram launched a bonus program, which rewards users based on how often they post Reels and how they perform.

Every creator will have personalized bonus goals, maximum payout amounts, and deadlines. Creators have reported payouts ranging from $600 to $35,000, according to a Verge article but Instagram has not shared how it determines payment and goals.

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However, Meta did promise to invest $1 billion in monetization opportunities for creators in 2022.

The program is currently only invite-only and as such, isn’t available to all users just yet. It’s also not available in all languages. However, if it does become a permanent feature, additional tools will be added.

If you have been invited to participate, you will receive a pop-up notification that will lead to your professional dashboard. From there, you’ll have to activate it before your eligibility expires.

That involves agreeing to Instagram’s terms and conditions and then adding your business information and payout details. Note that you will get your payout once you’re earned at least $100.

From there, all that’s left to do is create your Reels.

Requirements

To qualify for the program, you must:

• Be 18 years of age or older.
• Live in the United States.
• Have less than 1 million followers.
• Share accurate content.
• Have authentic engagement.
• Have an established presence on the platform.
• Follow community guidelines.

Check out the full list of eligibility requirements for Instagram’s bonus program.

3. Badges

Love going live with your audience on Instagram? Now is your chance to earn money while doing it.

When you go live, viewers can buy badges ranging from $0.99 to $4.99 and support the creators they love – up to $250 worth of badges per Live video. The best part is that as of September 2022, creators keep $100 of their revenue from badges received.

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Here are the steps to set your account up:

• Go to “Profile.”
• Tap “Professional Dashboard.”
• Tap “Set Up Badges.”
  • You’ll only see this if you’re eligible.
• Set up your payout details.
  • Note: You will only get paid once you’ve earned at least $25.
• Go Live.

Requirements

• Be 18 years of age or older.
• Be based in the United States.
• Badges are available on an invite-only basis to creators in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, Australia, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, and the UK.
• Have a Creator or Business account.
• Have at least 10,000 followers.
• Adhere to Instagram’s Partner Monetization policies and content guidelines.

4. Instagram Subscriptions

In January of this year, Instagram announced it was testing creator subscriptions with only 10 users based in the U.S. Months later, this subscription test has expanded to more creators but is still on an invite-only basis.

Here’s how it works: Creators can launch a paid subscription, priced at their discretion, which gives their followers access to exclusive content, such as posts, Lives, Stories, Chats, and Reels.

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It allows creators to build a more intimate community and share content with their most loyal followers.

Here’s how you get started:

1. Go to “Profile.”
2. Click on your “Professional Dashboard.”
3. Tap “Subscriptions.”

From there, you can set your pricing, keep track of your earnings, set up your payout details, and more.

Requirements

• For now, you must receive an invitation to participate in Instagram’s Subscription feature.

5. Gifts

Business Insider recently reported that Instagram is testing a new monetization feature internally called “Gifts.”

According to app researcher and developer Alessandro Paluzzi, the tool would allow followers to send gifts to their favorite followers. This tipping feature is similar to Badges but seems like it would be on Reels and potentially Stories, whereas Badges are limited to Lives.

#Instagram continues to work on the Content Appreciation feature 👀

ℹ️ The feature has been renamed to “Gifts” pic.twitter.com/AJmTPZMLsl

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a)
August 25, 2022

While this tool isn’t yet tested with creators, it’s good to stay on top of upcoming features that could earn you money on the app.

As you can see, you can do much more than collaborate with brands on Instagram to earn money.

Before you jump on any opportunity, your first step should be producing high-quality content that appeals to your audience – that will set you up to be eligible next time Instagram’s looking for creators to test monetization tools.

An Instagram Reel is a video creators make to share creative and unique content with their audiences. These videos can be up to 90 seconds long and are similar to TikTok videos.

Since its introduction in 2020, Instagram has added more and more Reels features for creators to take advantage of. Most recently, it has added the Reels Play Bonus, where creators can make money per Reels view. Read on to learn more about it.

Table of Contents:

• What is Instagram Reels Play Bonus?
• Who is eligible for the Instagram Reels Play Bonus?
• How does the Reels Play Bonus work?
• How much money can you make from the Reels Bonus?

What is Instagram Reels Play Bonus?

Instagram Reels Play Bonus allows creators to earn money based on the number of plays a Reel gets. The feature is part of Instagram’s commitment to investing 1 billion in creators.

Who is eligible for the Instagram Reels Play Bonus?

According to Instagram, the Play Bonus is currently invite-only and exclusive to the U.S., but it could potentially expand globally throughout 2022.

Eligible creators also must: 

• Have less than 1 million followers,
• Have a professional Instagram account,
• Follow Instagram’s Partner Monetization Policies.

How does the Reels Play Bonus work?

When you’re invited to the program, you need to opt in to begin earning money for plays. The process involves similar requirements to other Creator tools, like proving you’re the account owner and providing legal information.

Once set up, you receive a payout for your reels at the end of 30 days, during which you can choose up to 150 Reels to count towards the bonus. Paid, sponsored, or partnership Reels are not eligible for the bonus.

And, you can go back and make Reels you’ve already published eligible for the bonus if you’re within the 24-hour window post-publishing.

How much money can you make from the Reels Bonus?

Your end payout is based on the number of Bonus Plays (number of views your Reel receives on Instagram or Facebook). However, you have to earn a minimum of $100 to cash out and reach a minimum view requirement, but Instagram personalizes this for each creator so there is no earrings benchmark to follow.

For example, Kitty Parker stated on Twitter that they have a maximum bonus of $1,200 and receive an average payout of $234 for 20-30k views.

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Gabe Wells, on the other hand, has a maximum bonus of $8,500 and received almost two thousand dollars for 31 million views.

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There is a cap on how much you can earn and how many views you can count towards the bonus, but this also varies from creator to creator.

Over To You

The Instagram Reels Play Bonus is a great opportunity for creators to monetize their presence on the app alongside building brand awareness and engagement. If you’re already a Reels expert, keep a lookout for any eligibility updates on the program — you’ll want to get started with earring as soon as it becomes available to everyone.

The past two years have brought on changes in the workforce, especially when it comes to how people do their jobs and where they do their jobs.

In this post, we’ll discuss new data from HubSpot’s State of Consumer Trends Report that shows exactly how consumers feel about work in 2022 and what they expect from their employers.

How Consumers Feel About Work in 2022

In 2022, consumers want businesses to continue to offer the remote and hybrid work models that increased in popularity in 2020. The State of Consumer Trends survey found that 40% of respondents are in the office full-time or nearly full-time, 32% are in remote roles, and 28% are in hybrid roles.

Even though people are returning to the office, 54% of remote and hybrid workers expect to continue to be able to work their preferred model, and more than half would consider leaving their role if they were required to return to the office full time.

Consumers also want the businesses they work for to understand what’s important to them in how they work, and 65% of those surveyed said they want to feel like they’re making a positive impact with the work they do.

More than half of respondents also said they want to work for companies with a diverse and inclusive work culture. Valuable ways to speak to this desire and help employees feel seen in the workplace are offering employee resource groups for people to find community and encouraging healthy work/life balance habits.

Regarding job satisfaction, 70% of survey respondents said they are satisfied with their current job, and 12% are dissatisfied.

People who stay in their current roles do so because of competitive pay, having a healthy work/life balance, and having a flexible work schedule, and those considering leaving do so because pay isn’t competitive, they experience burnout, and they don’t feel supported by management.

With this in mind, potential economic instability could change how these trends look. Let’s go over what this could mean.

How the Recession Could Impact Today’s Workforce Trends

Although there have been no official declarations of recession, businesses preparing for potential economic instability will likely make decisions that preserve assets. This ensures that there is enough money to keep the company afloat, and many of these decisions initiate changes in investments, budgets, and even in the workforce and hiring practices.

For example, Meta, Twitter, and Uber are a few companies that have updated their hiring processes. Dara Khosrowshai, Uber CEO, said hiring will become a privilege, and the business will “Be deliberate about when and where we add headcount.”

Economic changes could also mean that businesses are more strict about how employees work. However, even if companies are more strict, consumers likely won’t change their desire for flexibility — some might even be more inclined to work remotely or hybrid if it could mean cutting costs for things like childcare or transportation.

Nela Richardson, Chief Economist at ADP and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, says that, in the face of a possible recession, companies will need to invest more in their people to stay competitive in the market.

However, the state of employment could change quickly if we were to enter a recession. So, the best way to keep employees satisfied is to understand their needs and what they want in the workforce. Many trends in the HubSpot Blog survey may become even more critical as economic instability can be stressful.

For example, workers might search for more support in their work environment, whether from managers, connecting with people like them in employee resource groups, or having a healthy work-life balance.

In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, people wanted businesses to support causes outside of work that contributed to the betterment of society, such as people laid off as businesses closed — a recession can cause these same issues that employees are passionate about.

Understanding Your Employees Is Critical

Employee satisfaction significantly impacts your business’s bottom line, so it’s essential to know who they are, what they stand for, and what they want from their employers. Having this information also makes it easier to retain them, whether during a period of economic prosperity or uncertainty.

If you want to learn more about consumer trends and their preferences for things like where they prefer to shop or how they feel about crypto and NFTs, check out the State of Consumer Trends Report.

While TikTok is a newer platform, it has made strides in proving itself as a must-have platform for brands, businesses, and creators looking to grow an engaged audience and advertise themselves.

Whether you’re just starting on the platform or you’re looking to learn more about the state of advertising on TikTok, this post will go over critical stats to know.

TikTok Advertising Stats To Know

• TikTok has 1 billion global daily active users. (DataReportal)
• Of marketers that buy paid ads on social media, 65% purchase them on TikTok. (HubSpot Blog)
• Marketers say that TikTok is the second most effective platform for video content. (HubSpot Blog)
• 36% of consumers want to learn about products through short-form videos like TikToks or Reels. (HubSpot Blog)
• Gen Z is discovering and buying products on social media more than any other generation. (HubSpot Blog)
• Amazon and HBO spent the most money on TikTok ads in the U.S. between January and May of 2022. (Statista)

• A recent Kantar survey found that 67% of respondents agreed that ads on TikTok capture their attention, which is a 10% lead on other social media channels. (Kantar)
• 52% of TikTok users in the U.S. said that advertisements they saw on the platform were fun and engaging. (Statista)
• TikTokers are twice as likely as users of other social channels to recommend something they’ve discovered on TikTok. (Material)
• 43% of users try something or go somewhere new after seeing it at least once on TikTok. (Flamingo)
• 58% of users say they’re more likely to talk about a brand or share an ad if a video features a song they like. (TikTok)
• Ad content created for TikTok and in partnership with creators has a 93% higher engagement rate. (TikTok)
• 71% of TikTokers say that TopView ads, which have a longer run time, successfully capture their attention. (TikTok) 
• In-Feed ads on TikTok achieve 23% higher detail memory than TV ads. (Neuro-Insight)
• 55% of users say TikTok helps them discover new things. (TikTok)

Having found success on TikTok, Thomas Petrou co-founded The Hype House, a collaborative content house where TikTokers lived together, created videos, and grew their following with Petrou’s guidance and support.

He is one of the many content creators making a name for themselves in the creator economy — a relatively new concept but, as anyone can become a content creator, the potential for significant growth is clear.

In this post, we’ll explain exactly what the creator economy is, and go over key stats that marketers should know.

What is the creator economy?

The creator economy is where creators, from YouTubers to bloggers, share content with audiences and generate revenue from monetization opportunities. It also includes the businesses that creators launch to further grow their content.

Businesses have a place in the creator economy as well; specifically those that create tools for creators to build their impact, reach, and audience. For example, Patreon helps creators launch premium membership programs and Virtual Dining Concept helps creators launch restaurants in ghost kitchens. Creators will also continue to look to businesses to offer the tools they need to meet their goals, requiring businesses to be on top of the trends.

Marketers are also impacted by the creator economy, as social media users put more trust in their favorite influencers and creators than the brands they follow. As a result, creating an impactful ad for social media can require partnering with influencers that have an engaged audience that trusts their recommendations.

The creator economy is only set to grow. Given this, it’s important to stay on top of the current state of the creator economy — below we’ve compiled a list of stats that demonstrate this.

Creator Economy Stats For Marketers To Know

General Creator Economy Stats

• 30% of 18-24 year olds and 40% of 25-35 year olds call themselves content creators. (HubSpot Blog)
• Creators are most likely to be young (63% Gen Z) and female (48%). (Global Web Index)
• 46.7% of creators are full-time creators. (ConvertKit)
• The top types of creators are educational creators, bloggers, coaches, writers, and artists. (ConvertKit)
• 37% of niche creators have engaged in a brand collab at least once. (Linktree)
• Full time creators use an average of 3.4 channels for audience engagement. (ConvertKit)
• The average amount of time spent creating content each week is 1 – 5 hours. (Linktree)
• Content creators say their top challenge is getting their content found. (The Tilt)
• 61% of content creators say they post content for fun, 34% post because they’re passionate about the content they share, and 31% post content to explore a new potential hobby. (Global Web Index)
• The most common creator launchpad in 2021 was Instagram. (ConvertKit)
• 58% of creators produce 2-4 types of content. (Linktree)
• Most often, full-time creators create social media posts, emails/newsletters, and articles/blog posts. (ConvertKit)
• 52% of marketers lean on creators to strengthen their social community, and 41% say they want to work with content creators to promote their brand values. (Sprout Social)
• The most common types of content marketers hire creators to make are educational content, unboxing or reveals, and testimonials. (Sprout Social)
• The top earning types of creators are educational creators, coaches, podcasters, influencers, and marketers. (ConvertKit)
• A majority of content creators share between 0 and 10 sponsored posts per year. (Influencer Marketing Hub)

Creator Economy Revenue Stats

• The creator economy currently consists of over 300 startups. (Influencers Club)
• The creator economy market size is currently estimated at $104.2 billion. (Influencers Club)
• The total valuation of creator economy startups was $5 billion in 2021. (Influencers Club)
• A majority of content creators say their highest earning revenue source is brand deals. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• It takes content creators an average of six and a half months to earn their first dollar. (The Tilt)
• Content creators prefer to monetize their content on Instagram and TikTok. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• Full time creators leverage 2.7 income streams on average. (ConvertKit)
• 59% of beginning creators haven’t monetized their content yet. (Linktree)

If you leverage influencer collabs, partnerships, or branded content on Facebook, there are two new features you need to know: Creator Collabs and Branded Content Tags.

These tools have a simple goal: to create smoother collaborations between content creators and brands that lead to more exposure and reach. On the consumer side, they add an extra layer of transparency around branded content.

Here, we’ll cover everything you need to know about these tools and discuss how they can bring your Facebook strategy to the next level.

What is Facebook’s Creator Collab feature?

Released just this year, Facebook’s Creator Collab feature enables you to tag multiple creators in a single post. Here it is in action:

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In the example above, notice that two creators — Daniel Santos and Taiba Rizvi – are tagged in the same post. What’s the benefit of this? When you tag multiple creators, you can generate more exposure by tapping into the audience of each collaborator.

Here’s how it works: the primary collaborator (the creator who uploads the post) sends an invite to the secondary collaborator to “join” the post. Once they accept, the primary user can add or remove the secondary collaborator at any time.

You may be wondering, what if the post is eligible for monetization? In that case, earnings are only available to the primary collaborator.

In terms of analytics, each collaborator can access insights about the post, such as reach, view count, and engagement, right within Facebook’s Creator Studio. Here’s what Facebook has to say:

Facebook’s Collab tool mirrors a similar one on Instagram. The feature, known as Collab, enables two Instagram users to post the same post from two different accounts. They share likes, comments, and view counts on these posts.

It’s clear that Meta-owned platforms are trying to reimagine the way creators and brands collaborate. Facebook’s Collab feature is an excellent addition to this effort, but it’s also limited. The feature is only available for video posts, although this may change in the future.

Now let’s take a closer look at another handy tool from Facebook: Content Tags.

What is Facebook’s Branded Content Tag?

You’re probably familiar with tagging on Facebook. Nowadays, creators must disclose who they work with by “tagging” the sponsor in each post. But there’s more to the story.

When a creator goes to publish content about your brand, they can now give you permission to boost the post.

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If they enable this feature, you can pay to promote the post and reach even more people. The audience will see the post from the original creator, even though you, the sponsor, boosted it.

Facebook will also allow you to add a call-to-action to the post. When the boosting period is over, the CTA will stick around. 

Over to You

More and more brands rely on creators to expand their reach and boost engagement. While collaborations and branded content are nothing new, Facebook is making it easier than ever to experiment with different features and drive results.

Marketing is all about meeting people where they are — and more often than not, they’re on social media. For this reason, it’s the perfect vehicle for product discovery.

Of course, not all social media platforms are created equal, especially when it comes to product discovery. So, if you’re looking to pinpoint the platforms consumers use the most for product research, you’ve come to the right place.

Here, we’ll dive into:

• The top social media channels consumers use for product discovery
• What types of content consumers watch and engage with
• Social media research habits
• Which platforms you should market your products on

Let’s dive in.

Shopper research is critical for a better understanding of the customer journey from initial searches to website visits and eventual purchases. Plus, the advent of digital- and mobile-first interactions has made this research even more important as the customer journey now includes multiple paths and touchpoints from start to finish.

For example, prospective buyers might hear about your brand from a friend, do their research on social media, and then interact with your ecommerce store through their mobile device.

Understanding all touchpoints along this journey can help companies create more seamless and streamlined experiences for consumers and increase overall ROI.

The Top Social Media Channels Consumers Use For Product Discovery

22% of consumers prefer to discover new products via social media, according to HubSpot’s 2022 State of Consumer Trends Report. Let’s take a closer look at the channels they leverage for product discovery:

Gen Z

57% of Gen Z have discovered new products on social media in the past three months, and 71% say it’s where they most often discover products.

Almost half (49%) of Gen Z consumers prefer to discover new products via Instagram Stories. This isn’t too surprising when you consider 90% of people follow a business on Instagram. On top of that, Gen Z ranks Instagram as their favorite social media app.

In second place, 41% want to discover new products through a short-form video — such as a TikTok or Instagram Reel. Since these platforms pull a younger audience, this adds up.

Millennials

Millennials prefer to discover new products via feed or story posts. This could be anything from an Instagram Story to a Facebook post. Facebook, in particular, is the social app Millennials visit the most, followed closely by YouTube.

On top of that, Millennials also like to discover new products through short-form videos (36%).

Gen X

Gen X discovers new products on social media more frequently than any other channel, even though it isn’t preferred. Like Millennials, they’re most likely to find new products via feed or story posts.

Interestingly, this age group likes to discover new products through short-form videos (41%) in equal measure to Gen Z. It’s clear that short, snackable content is appealing to this demographic. In fact, 36% of TikTok users in 2021 were between 35 and 54 years old, a 10% increase from the year before.

Baby Boomers

Social media falls flat for boomers —  a slim 17% have discovered a product on it in the past three months, and only 4% have purchased a product on a social app in that time.

That said, of those who use social media, 42% prefer to discover new products via feed posts. The platforms they visit the most are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

What Types of Product Content Do Consumers Watch or Engage With?

If you’re looking to leverage social media, it’s a good idea to know what types of branded content consumers enjoy.

Nearly half of consumers (48%) find funny content the most memorable, followed by relatable content. Additionally, making content that showcases your product or service — such as a demo, review, or tutorial — is also highly memorable to 36% of consumers.

Social Media Research Habits

To learn more about the social networks people prefer to surf for product research, I conducted a poll of 304 people using Lucid Software.

Source: Lucid Software

At first glance, the survey data seems simple: Facebook is far and away the market leader when it comes to product research and eventual purchasing, followed by YouTube.

But that’s not the whole story. Part of the reason Facebook and YouTube rank so highly is because of their massive user base — for example, Facebook has three times the user base of Instagram, despite being owned by the same company.

It’s also worth noting that while Facebook marketing appeals to a broader audience, volume alone doesn’t guarantee conversion. Users on Pinterest, TikTok, and Reddit tend to be much more engaged with their social community — meaning that if your brand can capture their attention you can create substantive consumer loyalty.

LinkedIn, meanwhile, relies on authenticity and authority to inspire confidence, while Twitter is all about what’s trending right now.

1. Facebook

Facebook has a whopping 2.7 billion active daily users and has been around since the early 2000s. Its audience includes multiple age groups and spans the globe, making it a solid place for most brands to market themselves.

Most importantly, 78% of US consumers discover new products on Facebook, more than any than other platform.

When it comes to marketing your product, you have many free and paid options on Facebook. Here are a few examples of each.

Free Promotion

By now, you probably know that any company can create a Facebook Business Page. Once you create a business page, you can share posts about your products and offerings. If you have happy customers, you can even ask them to review your business on Facebook so prospects researching you can see how you’ve pleased your customers in the past.

Aside from creating a page to highlight your brand, you can also post your products in Facebook’s Marketplace. Marketplace listings can include product shots, pricing, product specifications, and purchasing information. Although individual users often use the Marketplace to sell items they no longer want to other people, Facebook Business pages are also eligible to use this feature.

You should also consider talking about your products or offerings on Facebook Stories. This might take a little extra effort because it will require you to film or create content in the Story format, but it can help you better connect with prospective buyers who want a better sense of what your brand is about.

Paid Promotion

Because Facebook’s feed algorithmically favors posts from individual accounts over businesses, you might decide that you want to put money into Facebook Ads.

Facebook Ads has a solid track record. It’s estimated that 10 million businesses were advertising on the platform in 2021.

With Facebook Ads, you can create advertisements with a certain goal in mind, such as conversions or in-store foot traffic. The detailed ads software also allows you to target specific audience demographics.

As a Facebook advertiser, you can either promote a post you’ve already created to ensure that it shows up on feeds of users in your demographic, or you can create native ads that might show up in feeds or on Facebook’s sidebars. While promoted posts look like an average post with a simple tag stating they’re promoted, the native ads look more like traditional ads to make it clear to users that the content they’re seeing is paid for.

If you want to launch video-based ads, Facebook also allows you to promote video content or buy in-stream ad placements that appear in Facebook Live videos or longer videos that other users have uploaded.

2. YouTube

If how-tos or video tutorials are part of your content marketing strategy. YouTube will be a natural fit for your brand. This is because YouTube users are three times more likely to prefer watching a YouTube tutorial video compared to reading the product’s instructions.

YouTube is also popular across multiple age groups. In the last three months, 83% of Millennials have visited YouTube, followed by 81% of Gen Z, and 79% of Gen X. For Baby Boomers, YouTube is their second favorite social media app, just behind Facebook.

With a branded YouTube channel, you can publish video content such as demos, tutorials, or customer testimonial videos that give insightful details about why your product is valuable. By filming your own videos, you can insure that you’re highlighting all the great aspects of your product that make it stand out from its competitors.

Alternatively, if you don’t have time to create your own videos, sponsoring an influencer’s content, tutorial, or review related to your product allows you to tap into that content creator’s audience as they tell their followers more about your offerings.

Aside from creating your own account or hiring an influencer to give a review or tutorial, you could also consider paid advertisements. YouTube offers a few ad styles including TrueView, Preroll, and Bumpers.

These ads allow you to submit a short video ad to YouTube which is then placed at the beginning or in the middle of videos with metrics and demographics that match your brand’s target. To learn the ins and outs of setting up an ad and determining which style is right for you, check out this guide.

3. Instagram

Although Instagram ranked in third place in the poll above, you shouldn’t disregard it — especially if you’re targeting Gen-Z or millennials who make up the platform’s primary audience.

For years, Instagram’s visual layout has made it a hot spot for influencer marketing. Influencers regularly post sponsored photos and videos about their experiences with products. Like YouTube, these influencers also regularly publish video posts or Stories that present tutorials, reviews, and unboxings related to a product.

Aside from influencer marketing, many brands also promote their products on Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, and through standard video or photo posts on Instagram Feed.

Here’s an example where Kylie Jenner, the CEO and Founder of Kylie Cosmetics, films a Story-based product tutorial for her company’s Instagram account:

Along with free strategies, Instagram now offers Shoppable posts. With Shoppable posts, you can promote a product in an Instagram post that links to your Facebook Catalog. Here’s an example of what a Shoppable Post looks like:

To be eligible for Shoppable posts, you must have an Instagram Business page that’s linked to a Facebook Catalog. This feature is also only for businesses selling physical goods.

Here’s a blog post that goes into detail about how to use and optimize Shoppable posts.

4. Pinterest

Pinterest encourages people to pin image-based posts that inspire them to digital boards, mimicking the process of creating a physical inspiration board.

Because people come to this platform to be inspired to do something, such as travel or home decorating, they might find themselves pinning all sorts of product-oriented images to a themed board. For example, someone who wants to redecorate their office might create an “Office Inspiration” board and pin photos of furniture or decorative items that they’d like to buy.

Here’s an example of what these boards look like:

To make it easier for people to find your products, you could consider starting a Pinterest account and making a few boards to highlight your products. For example, if you’re marketing a travel company, you could make a board for each country that you offer packages to. On each board, you could place images of trip activities that link to your website.

Then, if someone is trying to plan a trip to a country you sell a package for, they might come across one of your posts and pin it to their own “Travel Inspiration” board.

To give you a real-world example of how brands use Pinterest, below is a Wedding Registry board created by Target which features images of products that a bride and groom might want to add to their gift registry.

Each of Target’s pinned images links to the company website so users can share the pin on their own Pinterest board, or click straight through the post to buy or register the product.

If you have an advertising budget, you can also consider launching pay-per-click ads on Pinterest. Pinterest Ads enables your posts to be seen by people in a specific demographic that matches your own. The platform also allows you to A/B test photos and target ads to Pinterest users on your contact lists.

Want to learn more about Pinterest Ads and effective experiments to run? Check out this blog post from a PPC and Pinterest expert.

5. Reddit

Reddit encourages users to create discussion threads in themed online communities, called subreddits. As the platform has evolved, many users have created both threads and subreddits devoted to talking about products, like fast-food restaurants or video games.

Below is an example of a subreddit, or online community, that Reddit users created to talk about all things related to Xbox One.

However, because comments with promotional language in them often get downvoted or buried in feeds by more engaging Reddit threads, you’ll need to be creative if you want to engage with audiences on this platform.

While you might want to keep an eye on Reddit or experiment with it, don’t put all of your time and resources into it — at least right now. As it evolves, the platform may become an easier platform to market your brand on, but at the moment, Reddit marketing strategies still require more brainstorming and time than tactics on other social platforms.

Although this platform has been called one of the “trickiest” for marketers to crack, some bigger brands have figured out how to reach the platform’s discussion-oriented users.

For example, some brands will create subreddits related to their product, while others will interact by commenting on threads related to their industry.

Aside from creating content for free on Reddit, you can alternatively pay into sponsored posts or ads, similarly to Facebook or Twitter. These ads will appear in a user’s feed or as a promoted comment in a thread or subreddit.

To learn more about the ins and outs of Reddit marketing, click here for tips and examples of how other brands have cultivated the platform.

6. LinkedIn

LinkedIn’s platform, which emphasizes networking and career-related chatter, might be well-suited for product marketing in B2B, academic, or professional industries. People who do product research on this platform might be looking for a service, tool, or software that can either escalate their careers or make their workdays easier.

If you’re marketing products like software, online courses, business-related publications, or anything that can help a professional or student do their job better, LinkedIn will be a great fit for you. However, if you sell more general, consumer-facing products like makeup or home decorations, you might want to put more marketing effort into other platforms on this list — like Facebook or Instagram.

While the professional nature of LinkedIn and its audience might not be suited for all brands, the platform still offers a variety of opportunities for brands to leverage it. For example, research shows that 80% of B2B leads come straight from LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is very similar to Facebook in that you can post about your product or service for free, or purchase ads or post promotion to get information about your business front and center on feeds. To see a few great ad examples, check out this post.

Image Source

7. Twitter

Twitter has approximately 200 million daily users from a variety of backgrounds, geographic locations, and industries. Its broad demographic might provide solid marketing opportunities to many different types of businesses. Because of its broad user base, you might want to create an account on Twitter and post regularly for brand awareness.

If you’re interested in video marketing, you can also experiment with Twitter’s live video feature and use it to film a tutorial or Q&A related to your product.

Aside from posting about your product for free, you can also pay into targeted ads or promoted tweets. Twitter claims that its advertising ROI is 40% higher than some other social channels.

While the ROI of Twitter advertising and its user base sounds promising, you might be wondering why it ranked so low on the poll shown above.

Ultimately, what might make Twitter rank last is its trend-oriented nature. The platform encourages people to connect with each other and post tweets or comments about current events, trending hashtags, or their thoughts on other specific topics.

Brands and product discussion are both prevalent on the platform, but users might go to Twitter to learn more about what’s going on in the world, rather than new products. When people are asked to pick which platform they do the most product research on, it’s not surprising that Facebook or YouTube might seem like a more obvious choice than Twitter.

While you should be on Twitter due to its sheer user base and advertising ROI, you’ll want to keep its audience’s need to stay trendy and informed in mind as you’re creating posts and advertisements for the platform. This might help you make social content that both engages these audiences while still weaving in information about how valuable your product is.

Identifying the Right Platforms for Product Marketing

While running ads and product promotions on any social platform can help drive conversion, it’s a good idea to focus on platforms with audiences that already align well with your brand.

For example, broader audiences are actively looking for products or researching brands on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest while Reddit and Twitter users tend to be more trend-focused. Similarly, if you’re marketing a B2B company, you might see a better ROI from ads on a professional network — like LinkedIn — than ads on a more consumer-friendly platform like Instagram.

Use the information provided above, and start leveraging social media for lead conversion and product marketing.

When we hear the word enterprise in the context of business, it’s common to associate it with large-scale, multi-billion dollar corporations with hundreds or even thousands of employees. Perhaps, then, you’d be surprised to know that any for-profit business or company is defined as an enterprise but isn’t usually used to describe small businesses. 

Enterprise-level organizations typically have many moving parts, consisting of a number of disparate systems, strategies, and goals. That’s quite a bit to manage. To keep each of these pieces straight, businesses turn to ERP systems. 

What Is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)?

ERP is an acronym for enterprise resource planning—a software suite that encapsulates all facets of an organization to manage and integrate crucial business data. 

Many ERP software applications assist businesses implement resource planning by integrating all of the processes needed to run their companies (i.e. planning, purchasing inventory, sales, marketing, finance, human resources, etc.) through a single system. ERP software can be a very useful tool used across an organization to increase transparency, promote collaboration, and improve data-driven decisions. 

Despite the various capabilities ERP software covers, vendors don’t always have vision into which challenges or features drive purchase.

Fortunately, this is something that NetLine has insight into. 

The Challenge

• How can Marketers at ERP software vendors better understand the needs of their target buyers beyond the personas they’ve built and learnings they’ve gleaned from their existing customer base?
• What kind of obstacles are operations professionals facing that ERP software users resources-specific software vendors can solve or simplify?
• How can Demand Generation Marketers for these vendors operationally leverage insights into those obstacles to drive more personalized and contextual dialogue with prospects?

The Goal

• Identify and understand how leading ERP decision-makers use or intend to use ERP software and whether they intend to increase their investment any further within the next 12 months and beyond.
• Such observations should exclusively be captured via first-party interactions with ERP decision-making buyers as they voluntarily registered and consumed related content.

The Questions

To answer the questions, we engaged nearly 11,000 senior-level IT decision makers to assess their:

• Top priorities with ERP software
• Greatest challenges managing and using existing ERP software
• Desire and Timeline to invest in ERP software

Here’s a sampling of some of the insights we uncovered from their responses.

While there are three top priorities when it comes to ERP investment, the answers are quite evenly split, with no categories dipping below 9.13% or exceeding 25.52%. The themes at the top appear to be that centralization and clarity are the driving factors for businesses, with Moving to a Cloud ERP Solution (25.52%), Management Reporting is Cumbersome-Reporting Streamlining is Needed (21.26%), and New Compliance Requirements (18.58%) making up this trio. 

It’s worth noting, with Moving to a Cloud ERP Solution accounting for more than a quarter of the responses, it’s quite possible that these professionals have yet to use an ERP solution. 

While this is merely an educated guess, answers to the second question (What are your top challenges in managing and using ERP software?) resulted in 45.05% of respondents saying that Adequate Training (24.97%) and Commitment from Top Management (20.08%) were their greatest hurdles. It’s not a stretch to think that a significant number of respondents in that 45% would like to use an ERP tool but feel unsupported by management when it comes to the investment of capital or time. 

Some of the other notable insights include the following:

• 9.13% of respondents said that “Replacing Existing ERP Infrastructure” was their top priority, the least selected priority.
• Respondents in the Biotech and Pharmaceuticals field were 33.64% more likely to say that Moving to A Cloud ERP Solution was their top priority.
• Respondents in the Transportation and Logistics field were the most likely to state that Replacing Existing ERP Infrastructure was their top priority at 16.67%, making them 82.6% more likely to say this than the average respondent.
• Respondents in the Real Estate field were 44.7% more likely to say that New Compliance Requirements was their top priority.

On the whole, ERP investment timelines have accelerated slightly.

Since the end of Q1 2022, the number of respondents stating that their timeline extended beyond the next year decreased from 72.5% to 69.3%. While small, this acceleration was spread out across the board, with responses of Under 3 months increasing the most from 6.9% to 8.38%. Responses expecting investment between 3-6 months (7.29%) and 6-12 months (15.03%) each rose less than one percent, respectively. 

At 15.69%, Real Estate professionals were the most likely to state that they’d be investing within the next 3 months, making them 87.16% more likely to say this than their peers. Conversely, Biotech and Pharmaceutical professionals were most likely to state that their investment timeline extended beyond 12 months.

• Professionals working in an Operations role (COO, Sales Ops, Marketing Ops, Legal Ops, etc) only stated that they’d be looking to invest between 6-12 months (42.11%) or past the 12 month mark (57.89%).
• C-Level respondents were 21.5% more likely to say that 6-12 months was their expected timeline for investing in additional ERP software. This same group was also 16.5% less likely to say that they’d be investing over the next 3-6 months.
• Respondents in the Travel/Hospitality/Entertainment industries were the least likely group to state that they’d make an investment past the one-year mark; in fact, they were 21.74% less likely to say this compared to their peers.
  
  This is good news for vendors, however, as these professionals were the most likely group to make an investment over the next 3-6 months—not to mention 132.08% more likely to invest than the average respondent—and were the third most likely group to invest within the next 3 months.

While it’s encouraging to see a progression toward more immediate ERP investment, we need to recognize that more than two-thirds of respondents said they wouldn’t be making any decisions for the next 12 months. A big reason for this, undoubtedly, has to be the sizeable investment required—from every corner of the business—to make a wise choice. For instance, how many organizations do you believe would like to spend half a billion dollars without anything to show for it?

Around 2011, German grocery chain Lidl decided to replace the 90 different systems they were using to power their business with one, centralized ERP. By 2018, however, they’d terminated the entire project and reverted back to their previous systems. The grocer failed to make key, necessary adjustments to their existing processes—and without that willingness to change the blunder cost Lidl €500 million (US $584 million). Talk about a clean-up on aisle one.

According to SoftwarePath’s 2022 ERP Report, the average cost per user is $9,000. While the overwhelming majority of businesses in the US are comprised of 1-4 employees, 18.15% of respondents work within organizations employing 50,000+. Enterprise-sized businesses spending $450 million on the deployment of an ERP solution might seem astronomical, but clearly, it’s not that farfetched. 

Needless to say, selecting an ERP solution is a major decision that is not taken lightly. Any indication that a business is looking to move in the next few quarters should be seen as an organization that’s done a good deal of internal homework. While 95% of businesses have found improvement in some or all of their processes after ERP implementation, 100% would say that being on the same page before massive investment is made is crucial. 

The Results

For ERP vendors and/or those considering adding or upgrading their ERP solution, you now have a more complete and accurate understanding of where your potential clients/peers are in their unique buying journey. 

To further emphasize this, Intent Discovery identified:

• While 9.13% of respondents said that “Replacing Existing ERP Infrastructure” was their top priority, the least selected priority, Manufacturing and Transportation and Logistics professionals had it at the top of their lists. Given how exacting and automated these fields are, having modern, up-to-date infrastructure is critical.
• Respondents in the Legal field were 309.7% less likely to say that Adequate Training was their greatest challenge. Instead, these professionals said that Implementation Costs (22.47%) and Sufficient Testing (14.61%) were more challenging.
• 15.49% of Finance professionals stated that Implementation TIme was their top challenge in managing and using ERP software, making them 24.4% more likely to make this statement than their peers.
• 21.05% of Agriculture professionals stated that Maintenance Cost was their top challenge in managing and using ERP software, making them 207.41% more likely to make this statement than their peers.
• 100% of State/Local Government professionals said that moving to a Cloud ERP solution was their top priority. (Thank goodness for the ever-evolving state of cloud-based securities.)

How Intent Data Can Help You Better Understand the Needs of Your Audience

As we move into an era of economic uncertainty around the world, insights like these are more valuable than gold. Having tangible, contextual information regarding the needs of your prospects that removes the guesswork opens the door to more productive and more fruitful interactions, relationships, and, hopefully, sales.

NetLine’s Buyer-Level Intent Discovery offers a glimpse (if not the full view) into what your buying audience craves. The product helps businesses accelerate its sales cycle by capturing first-party intent data by intercepting and engaging the buyer with customized validation questions with this one-of-a-kind product

Become a B2B Marketer that’s leveraging first-party insights for immediate activation and seamless remarketing/sales acceleration today.

How This Data Was Captured

By tapping into dramatic scale beyond the limitations of their own content, our customer leveraged NetLine’s Intent Discovery product to secure first-party sourced intent-rich data squarely aimed at accelerating sales outcomes. Empowered by NetLine’s entire universe content, the client put to good use all 13,000+ assets, billions of data points, and the 35,925,120 different ways of filtering buyers actively performing research.

Unlike traditional intent data, Buyer-Level Intent Discovery helps you better understand the challenges, priorities, and purchase timeline of your ideal targets. Nothing is hidden behind obfuscated datasets and/or black box proprietary scores. 

Perhaps most importantly, Intent Discovery acts as an always-on monitor of all B2B content consumption behavior as professionals are actively researching content specific to their challenges. Monitoring activity is then mined on a real-time basis and intercepted once a buyer has met or exceeded each element required to define intent—capturing custom, intent-rich, customer-specific insights directly from the prospect.

Since the start of the pandemic, working from home has become the new normal for many employees and companies. While working outside the office has its benefits — no more long, gas-guzzling commutes, for instance — there is still one downside many employees face: remote work loneliness.

Before the pandemic, it was normal to make friends around the office, crack jokes in the break room, or participate in fun, in-person team-building activities. However, those things aren’t possible when you’re working from home and your coworkers are scattered around the country. So, working from home can feel isolating.

Fortunately, there are strategies you can implement to protect your mental health and feel less lonely as you work from home or remotely.

5 Tips to Avoid Loneliness When Working From Home

I asked fellow HubSpotters and professionals across different industries for tips on avoiding work-from-home loneliness. Here is what they had to say:

1. Schedules ‘get to know you’ calls.

Jen Bergren, Head of Operations at Remotish, says “get to know you” calls are an important part of her team’s onboarding process.

“One of the team’s favorite tasks in our onboarding is for the new team member to schedule a short call with every other person on the team, individually, in their first two weeks for a ‘get to know you’ casual call,” she said. “We also make sure the new team members have at least one real-time human call/connection a day during their first few weeks, which we know is especially important when this may be their first remote job.”

Pro-Tip: Don’t be afraid to schedule regular lunch chats with colleagues you feel have the same interests as you. For example, if you’re on a GTKY call with a coworker and they mention Game of Thrones (your favorite show!), ask if they’d like to schedule a weekly lunch Zoom to talk about the show’s spin-off House of the Dragon. This will give you something fun to look forward to every week, and you’ll feel less alone while working.

2. Start/Join affinity groups.

Jen Spencer, CEO of SmartBug Media, suggests building connections with your teammates by starting or joining affinity groups with your company’s messaging channels.

“Whether it’s our LadyBugs channel, our LGBTQ+ channel, our Parents channel, or even our TheatreBugs — there is a Slack channel/affinity group for everyone at SmartBug,” Spencer said. “No group? Create one! Our Coffee and Tea Lovers group takes ‘Secret Santa’ to new heights by swapping local roaster specialties.

Pro-Tip: Challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone and join groups about unfamiliar topics that interest you. In doing so, you’ll make connections across the company and will learn something new or develop a new hobby.

3. Work outside your home or with others.

HubSpot Advisor Dan Moyle says working from outside the office doesn’t have to mean only working from home, and it doesn’t have to mean working alone either.

“When I’m feeling cooped up I try to work outside of my office in a café, at a park — somewhere with humans,” he said. “And finally, scheduling time to work together while in a video meeting much like you’d work in a conference room, even if you’re not on the same project, can be helpful to feel more connected.”

Pro-Tip: If you want to work outside your home but still avoid distractions, try going to your local library. You’ll be out of the house and around other people, but you’ll also be in a place that prioritizes peace and quiet.

4. Connect with one friend or family member a day.

Lauren Steiner, President of Grant Plus, says she makes a point to contact at least one person a day — in whatever capacity she can muster at that moment.

“I prefer coffee dates/ lunch or phone calls but sometimes a text is all I can manage,” Steiner said. “But I make it a point to connect with at least one person in my personal life every day. It staves off the loneliness like nothing else!”

Pro-Tip: You can also schedule a virtual co-working space with close friends from outside of work — just make sure you don’t discuss or show anything that is confidential to your company.

5. Dedicate time to community service.

HubSpot Executive Dan Tyre says helping others in need is a great way to keep loneliness at bay while also giving back to your community.

“If people are down, sad, or lonely, I tell them to go provide service to people in need. Do more good for the universe,” he said. “Go to a soup kitchen, pet service dogs, spend time at your local school.”

Pro-Tip: Ask your company if anyone would like to get involved in or sponsor any online charity events. You’ll do good for your community and bond with your coworkers over a good cause.

4 More Ways to Protect Your Mental Health When Working From Home

To explore more options for protecting our mental health, I spoke with Dr. Willard, a psychologist, consultant, and author who specializes in mindfulness and positive psychology.

Let’s dive into Willard’s tips for practicing mindfulness during times of stress, avoiding burnout from too many virtual meetings, and finding moments of gratitude even in difficult circumstances.

1. Practice mindfulness to focus on the present moment and feel calm during times of stress.

If you’re anything like me, meditation is on the back burner at the moment. During times of stress and anxiety, I typically take the “white-knuckle and get through it” approach, focusing on happier future times rather than dwelling on the present moment.

Of course, that often lends itself to more stress and anxiety, not less.

Dr. Willard suggests, “Between calls, give yourself a break by taking five breaths, or looking out the window and noticing a few beautiful things. Sip your coffee with all five senses. Notice five sounds you hear. All of these kinds of things really do settle us down and bring us into the present.”

Additionally, he says, “With more time, take a walk around the neighborhood without your phone in hand, or do your calls standing or walking if possible.” You might also practice mindfulness when you’re lounging on the couch or eating a meal.

Alternatively, Dr. Willard mentioned that when we’re stressed our perception is often distorted. If you find yourself overwhelmed with thoughts like “When will this end?” or “Will I get fired?,” try adding the statement, “I’m having the thought that ___.”

This can help you gain some perspective and understand that while your thoughts might be driving you further into anxiety or stress — but they might not be grounded in reality.

Lastly, if you are interested in trying meditation, take a look at apps like Calm or Prezence, which break meditation down into easy-to-digest categories like “5 Minutes for Sleep” or “2 Minutes of Breathing”.

2. Combat virtual meeting fatigue by alternating with phone calls or reading actual books or newspapers.

We all know the feeling of back-to-back Zoom meetings that leave you, within 2-3 hours, absolutely exhausted in a way physical meetings never did.

If you feel alone in your exhaustion toward virtual meetings, you’re not. In fact, Zoom fatigue is common when working from home and there are ways to minimize it.

Dr. Willard suggests a few key points for combating virtual meeting fatigue.

“I think getting out for a bit, or looking away from the computer — for instance, perhaps every 20 minutes, you take 20 seconds to look 20 feet in the distance — can be helpful for alleviating fatigue as a result of virtual meetings,” he said.

Of course, we can’t always take breaks in-between meetings. If you don’t feel like you have much time to get outside or look away, try phone calls to switch things up, as Dr. Willard advises: “Alternatively, instead of all Zoom meetings, perhaps you try phone calls to connect with people, and take a walk as you do.”

He adds, “I’d also suggest reading an actual book or magazine … I got a newspaper yesterday, and I was surprised by how different and better it felt to read it rather than consuming all my news online.”

3. Practice gratitude, and reflect on positive moments with a journal.

If you’re doubtful of the effect of gratitude on happiness levels, I’d suggest giving this TED Talk a watch. Ultimately, practicing gratitude can be critical for maintaining perspective and finding joy in difficult circumstances. Gratitude can be found in minor details and seemingly trivial things, as well. For instance, when was the last time you paused to reflect on how lucky you are to have access to clean water or a warm shower?

As Dr. Willard stresses, “Psychological health, perspective, and happiness can be found through practicing gratitude each day and just reflecting on the few good moments in a journal or with friends or family.”

Additionally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed with a sense of When will this all end?, Dr. Willard says a little consideration for the future isn’t such a bad thing.

“Setting reasonable goals in the morning, and thinking about what you’ll do after this, can help you raise happiness levels,” he said. “Why not plan a vacation? Even if you’re unsure when you’ll take it, research shows it actually boosts your mood.”

4. Reach out to friends and family, limit social media consumption, and set boundaries with people in your life.

Whether you’re working at home for the time being or your full-time job is remote, it’s critical to figure out positive, healthy ways to maintain strong relationships without feeling pressure to over-maintain them.

For instance, while you’re likely craving social interaction, it can become burdensome to feel like you need to be a support system for all your friends and family. If that’s the case, Dr. Willard urges, “Set negative or positive boundaries with roommates, family, partners, parents, or others in your life.”

“Additionally, if you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with, consider who that is,” he said.

Here are some other tips Dr. Willard suggests for relationships:

• Get multiple text threads going, even with old college roommates or colleagues you haven’t spoken to in a while.
• Take a walk and call someone.
• Try writing postcards or starting a pen-pal relationship with a friend.
• Block unhelpful people on social media.
• Join online AA groups, support groups, meditation groups, spiritual gatherings, or partake in online yoga.

Finally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed at this moment, Dr. Willard suggests remembering the CALM acronym, which can help ground yourself and relax tension in your body. All you need to do is squeeze and release the muscles in your Chest, Arms, Legs, and Mouth, which are areas where we tend to hold a lot of tension.

Working from home, especially if it’s your first ever remote job, can be a lot to adjust to. However, it’s important to remember that working from home doesn’t have to mean working alone or cooped up in your home. In a digital world, there are many ways to foster connections with your team virtually and be productive while getting some fresh air.