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Online lead generation is difficult. There’s no way around it. However, you can give your brand an edge by optimizing lead generation pathways on your site.

This article will cover lead generation software and tools that help you reduce friction and increase the conversion rate of website visitors to leads. This will include both paid and free tools.

We’ve compiled a list of the best lead generation tools on the market, including some free options.

The 21 Best Lead Generation Tools in 2022

• HubSpot Marketing Hub
• Intercom
• Proof
• Paperform
• MobileMonkey
• Mailshake
• Qualaroo
• HotJar
• Turnstile by Wistia
• Pointerpro
• Zuko
• ProProfs Quiz Maker
• Clearbit
• Datanyze
• Hull.io
• TypeForm
• Hello Bar
• Hunter.io
• Gravity Forms
• Jotform
• Discover.ly

1. HubSpot Marketing Hub

HubSpot Marketing — and specifically its lead capture tool — can be used for free (then upgraded) and has tons of lead generation that make it easy to capture, store, and nurture leads, including:

• Forms
• Popup Forms
• Live Chat
• Chatbot

… and more. It all plugs naturally into HubSpot’s free CRM, or you can easily integrate with your CRM, email tool, or customer data platform of choice.

Using HubSpot Marketing helps you build an inbound marketing flywheel from start to finish. You create content that allures visitors, capture leads through one of several tools available, and then nurture them through kickback emails.

Eventually, your sales team will have full visibility of the previous touchpoints and can close leads with the full context of their previous touchpoints with your brand. Finally, you can create happy customers with features like free ticketing.

It’s a full suite lead generation machine.

Pricing

Get started with HubSpot for free or opt for one of our paid tiers ranging from $45 to $3,600 per month depending on the size of your company.

What we like:

HubSpot’s Marketing Hub offers a full suite of tools for free and integrates with HubSpot’s CRM making it a great option for those looking for an affordable, but comprehensive lead generation solution.

2. Intercom

Intercom is another product with many components and use cases. You can use their on-site messaging and chat feature to engage with on-site visitors and collect their information.

Once in the system, you can analyze their on-site or in-app behavior and create message triggers to help with onboarding, support, or retention.

They also have an integrated help desk and knowledge base to provide support for current customers.

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Pricing

Pricing starts at $74 per month for small businesses.

What we like:

This is another great tool when you want to accomplish marketing, sales, and support features under one roof.

3. Proof

Proof is an early stage SaaS startup based in Austin, Texas. They make software that helps you rev up your website’s conversion rate using social proof, personalization, and A/B testing.

Have you ever tried to book a trip on a site like booking.com or Airbnb and seen a message that reminds you, “three people have booked this hotel in the last 24 hours?”

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Proof helps you implement social proof messaging on your own website. Here’s a great example of the product in use by LawnStarter (another great Austin-based startup):

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Pricing

Pricing starts at $79 per month.

What we like:

Proof offers a variety of settings to choose from for each campaign and also integrates with HubSpot, Webflow, WordPress, and Zapier.

4. Paperform

Paperform is a digital swiss army knife regarding lead generation forms, surveys, and quizzes. Whether you want to design a harry potter quiz to boost engagement or increase newsletter signup with a popup form Paperform doesn’t limit you to one or the other.

The powerful editor is a no-code solution that eliminates clunky side menus in favor of a word document-like structure. You can add your brand assets straight from Adobe’s Cloud libraries into Paperform and tweak the colors, fonts, and images.

While most form builders are either pretty or designed for powerful conditional logic, Paperform combines both. This is perfect for people looking to transform their business with smart forms and reduce busy work. For more in-depth insights, you can add complex calculations and tailored success pages and gain deep insights with their in-house analytics. Paperform’s versatile SaaS platform helps you create fully customizable, powerful solutions tailored to your unique specifications.

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Pricing

Pricing starts at $24 per month for the Essentials tier up to $159 per month for the agency tier.

What we like:

Paperform is a great option for newbies and small businesses offering customization and professional templates combined with ease of use.

5. MobileMonkey

MobileMonkey chatbots make lead capture, lead qualification, and lead nurturing easier via live chat for your website, SMS text messaging, Messenger for Facebook and Instagram, and other popular chat channels, from one platform.

OmniChat by MobileMonkey is a multi-channel chatbot builder and automation platform that enables you to create chat campaign content once and use it on each of the above channels while unifying customer support chat in one streamlined inbox.

Here are some examples you can get started with to generate leads, sign-ups, and opt-ins using MobileMonkey:

• Add MobileMonkey’s Free Facebook Lead Generator product to your Facebook Page and Posts to automatically capture names, emails, and phone numbers of those who “like” your posts and follow your business.
• Use proactive live chat to engage prospects and customers on your website.
• Setup Facebook and Instagram post autoresponders to capture the contact information of anyone who comments on your content.
• Run a giveaway or contest with Messenger chatbots on Facebook or Instagram.

Then, run remarketing campaigns with interactive Facebook and Instagram Messenger ads to turn those leads into sales.

Lastly, connect the opt-ins, signups, and leads generated from your chat messaging channels to your CRM, such as HubSpot, as well as your email service providers, training & webinar platforms, and other business applications.

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Pricing

Pricing starts at $119 per month for the Startup tier. For the Growth tier, contact for a quote.

What we like:

Mobile Monkey offers a code free option in addition to chat box templates which make getting started quick and easy.

6. Mailshake

Mailshake is one of my favorite solutions for email outreach.Basically, it helps you automate, personalize, and optimize your cold emails.

This is great for many purposes, of course:

• Sales development
• Content promotion
• Link building
• Public relations
• Fundraising

But it’s also great for lead generation. Mailshake’s AI email writer uses data from thousands of campaigns to help write winning copy.

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Pricing

Pricing starts at $58 per month per user for the Email Outreach tier and $83 per month per user for the Sales Engagement tier.

What we like:

One of my favorite parts about the tool is that you have tons of ready-made templates. So even if you’re not a world-class copywriter, you can still get responses.

7. Qualaroo

Qualaroo is an on-site polling tool that can not only collect user feedback (that can be used to improve any part of your product and marketing experience), but you can also collect leads using the tool.

In the best case, you can use Qualaroo to do both.

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In this way, your customer feedback tool can double up as a sort of popup form.

Even if you don’t plan on using Qualaroo for lead generation, I’ve found the tool to be invaluable for collecting user experience and conversion optimization insights.

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Pricing

Pricing starts at $80 for the Essential tier while the Enterprise tier is quote-based.

What we like:

Qualaroo makes it easy to categorize leads and point them in a designated funnel based on what they answer to survey questions.

8. HotJar

HotJar is a customer experience analytics platform with many helpful tools. They’re one of my go-to solutions for conversion optimization research. Some of their features include:

• Form analytics
• On-site polls
• Heat maps
• Session replays

Like Qualaroo, their on-site polls can double up as conversion points. Basically, you can use the opportunity to collect feedback as a double opportunity where you can also collect an email address:

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Pricing

HotJar’s Basic tier is free and starts at $80 per month for its Business tier.

What we like:

In addition to gathering feedback and polling site visitors it pulls double duty as lead generation — allowing you to collect emails.

9. Turnstile by Wistia

Video is a big focus for marketers right now, and I can only see that focus increasing with time. As such, it helps to look at video as a direct lead generation channel in addition to a brand building channel.

Wistia makes a really cool product called Turnstile that allows you to gate videos after a certain time period has elapsed. At this point, the visitor has to enter their email to continue watching.

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Pricing

While Wistia has a free basic tier, in order to get Turnstile, you’ll need to upgrade to the Plus tier which starts at $19 per month.

What we like:

With Turnstile you can have your form display discreetly on hover or pause the video to get the viewer’s attention. You can also enable viewers to skip the gate altogether and control where the gate is placed within the runtime of the video.

10. Pointerpro

Pointerpro (formerly Survey Anyplace) is an advanced survey tool that has all the features to keep your sales machine running. Forms and surveys are often used to collect information from prospective customers, but they are rarely ever used to return something of value.

This tool allows respondents to walk away with a personalized PDF report based on their answers immediately after completion. This can be a detailed offering, the best service or product based on their answers, or any key information you want the respondent to have. Turning them from a cold prospect to a warmed-up lead in a matter of clicks.

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They integrate smoothly with your existing marketing stack, so you can easily transport leads through to your CRM or email marketing tool and start building nurturing campaigns. Bonus, you can use answers given during quizzes to personalize the follow-up.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $49 per month for Pointerpro’s Essential tier while you’ll need to contact them for a quote on the Enterprise tier.

What we like:

Pointerpro offers a code free, customizable templates that can be used as is or with your branding.

11. Zuko

Zuko (formerly Formisimo) capture tool, but it helps you optimize your lead generation forms.

They provide form analytics that, in my opinion, are the most robust in the industry. They work with pretty much every form, and their reports include:

• Form Overview
• Field Drop Off Report
• Most Corrected Fields
• Real Time Report
• Completion Time
• Problem Fields Report
• Fields Before Submission
• Field Times Report

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You can also segment reports based on device, such as desktop, mobile, or table. Additionally, the tool actually gives you ideas and tips for how to improve your forms. You can export and share this data with additional systems so it can be used by other team members.

While they don’t offer a free plan, they have a 7-day trial where you can try out the product.

Pricing

Pricing is tiered ranging from $140 to $700 per month. Enterprise-level organizations will need to contact them directly for a quote.

What we like:

Zuko’s data is viewable live, allowing users to view data in real-time and export it.

12. ProProfs Quiz Maker

Quiz marketing is an effective way to capture leads through website visitors and social media engagement. ProProfs Quiz Maker lets you leverage these leads with visually engaging and highly-shareable quizzes.

ProProfs provides an entire quiz resources library containing 100+ beautiful quiz templates and a massive question bank with 1 million+ ready-to-use questions.

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Pricing

While ProProfs does have a free version, you’ll want to upgrade to one of its paid tiers ($20 to $200 per month) to use the advanced features.

What we like:

ProProfs supports integrations with all the leading marketing tools, such as HubSpot, Active Campaign, and more. This allows you to automate and streamline your lead nurturing to create a high-converting lead management funnel.

13. Clearbit

Clearbit has a forms tool, but they have a broader use case for lead generation no matter which form or lead capture tool you use. They help you enrich contact profile data, which means you don’t have to ask for every little piece of information in a mile-long form.

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All you need is an email address or corporate domain, and Clearbit Enrichment fills other important data (like company size and industry) and appends it to your CRM records, in your product, or anywhere else you need them.

Pricing

For pricing, contact Clearbit directly for a quote.

What we like:

Clearbit’s native integrations with platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, Zapier, and Slack make this tool ready to use out of the box.

14. Datanyze

Datanyze is another data company, though they focus on “technographics.” What does this mean? Basically, Datanyze helps you discover what other software tools your website visitors, prospects, or customers are using.

The lead generation purposes for this are unparalleled if you have a way to personalize your website experience.

Imagine if you knew a website visitor was using a direct competitor. You could change up the copy on a landing page or an offer to reflect that.

Or if you had a WordPress plugin, and if you knew your visitor was using WordPress, you could design a custom CTA to let them know about your plugin.

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Pricing

Datanyze offers a generous 90-day free trial as well as paid tiers ranging from $21 to $39 per month.

What we like:

Datanyze is California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant, ensuring users are collecting business data the ethical way.

15. Hull.io

Hull.io is a customer data platform that helps you collect and centralize all the data you have from different marketing tools. It also helps you push that data out to your marketing tools so you can operationalize it and personalize experiences in real time.

I look at customer data platforms as a core component of a personalization strategy, since you generally need three components to make personalization work:

• Good user data
• An ability to deliver experiences
• Content (the experience itself)

Hull.io, and other customer data platforms, help you collect data and deliver experiences.

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Pricing

Hull.io has a tiered pricing model ranging from $950 to $1600 per month based on your business needs.

What we like:

While this is one of the more expensive options on this list, when combined with a tool like Clearbit — which can give you tons of data points to use — you can really ramp up your personalized lead generation campaigns.

16. TypeForm

TypeForm is a survey tool, but it’s got many real world use cases. It’s also got a beautiful user experience. When I take a survey using TypeForm, I actually enjoy the experience.

While I’ve mostly used TypeForm to send customer surveys to get conversion research insights, I’ve also used it in the context of lead generation.

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Pricing

Tiered plans are available from $25 to $83 per month.

What we like:

As one of the more affordably priced tools on our list, Typeform also scores high for taking a more conversational approach to surveys and forms.

17. Hello Bar

Hello Bar is a CTA and lead capture tool, but it’s got a very specific use case and user experience. Instead of a static web form embedded on a landing page, or an exit intent popup that appears when a visitor is leaving your site, Hello Bar gives you a sticky banner that appears on the top or bottom of the browser.

It looks just like the one on Hello Bar’s home page:

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I find these types of CTAs are great for general campaigns and promotional announcements. Therefore, they’re good for short term lead drives, for things like a webinar coming up shortly or a new product feature announcement.

Pricing

Hello Bar offers a free plan as well as paid options ranging from $29 to $99 per month.

What we like:

Hello Bar is an all-in-one solution for creating CTAs and tracking metrics. Integrations with WordPress, Mailchimp, Webflow, SquareSpace, and Shopify ensure a seamless fit into your current tech stack.

18. Hunter.io

Hunter.io isn’t exactly a lead generation tool, but it helps you find and validate email addresses. If you’re looking to reach a particular person, Hunter is a good way to find their information.

Pricing

Hunter.io offers a free plan, but you’ll need to opt for a paid plan to reap the full benefits of what the platform has to offer.

What we like:

It’s not always perfectly accurate, but it’s free to use, and it’s a good tool to have in your toolkit when you need it.

19. Gravity Forms

If using WordPress, Gravity Forms may be the lead generation tool for you. This WordPress plugin offers payment collection, lead capture and workflow automation in one.

You even have the option of capturing partial forms so that you can use the data to create better conversions.

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Pricing

Gravity Forms offers tiered pricing from $41 to $181 per year.

What we like:

Gravity Forms uses conditional logic so that you can display certain fields, pages, or sections based on user inputs. Additionally the tool offers accessabilty compliant.

20. Jotform

Similar to other options on this list, Jotform is a form builder platform that allows you to collect all kinds of data, including visitor emails.

This tool offers thousands of templates to help you get started quickly in addition to fully customizable survey templates. Jotform integrates with PayPal and Square to help ensure online payments are secure.

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Pricing

Jotform offers a free base tier with paid plans ranging from $34 to $99 per month.

What we like:

Jotform’s drag-and-drop builder is easy to use and allows teams to collaborate with ease as multiple people can edit a form at the same time.

21. Discover.ly

Discover.ly is a lead generation tool that gives you additional information on social media profiles. For that reason, it’s a great complement to other tools on this list, particularly Hunter.io.

When you want to learn more about specific prospects, this free Chrome extension can give you a lot of additional details like their connections and other social profiles.

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Pricing

Free

What we like:

This simple chrome extension is available to anyone, easy to install, and simple to use.

Lead generation software is a big category.

If you want the best lead generation software for your particular business, you may have to try a few of them out.

In my experience, it’s best to have a comprehensive solution like HubSpot to bear the brunt of the workload.

Then you can add in other tools like Pointerpro or Hello Bar to mix things up, and of course, some optimization tools like Clearbit and Formisimo to help you crank up the volume on your results.

This article was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, so keyword-optimizing your videos on the platform is just as important as keyword-optimizing your blog posts for Google. One of the best ways to keyword-optimize your videos for YouTube is leveraging tags, but not everyone knows how to add tags to YouTube videos.

Below, we’ve put together a guide that will explain exactly what YouTube tags are, how to add them, why they’re important, and some best practices to follow.

What are tags for YouTube?

How to Add Tags to YouTube Videos

Why are YouTube tags so important?

YouTube Tags Best Practices

Best YouTube Tag Generators

Now you know what tags are, so let’s get into how you can leverage them in your videos.

How to Add Tags to YouTube Videos

Adding tags to your YouTube videos is easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio by clicking on your account’s icon in the top right corner. Then select the tab that says “YouTube Studio.”

2. Upload your video if you haven’t already done so. Do this by clicking the “Create” button and then “Upload Video.”

3. If your video is already uploaded, go to the menu on the left, click “Content,” and select your video.

From there, scroll down until you get to the option to add your tags.

4. If your video is uploading, scroll down and click “Show More,” then add your tags.

Why are YouTube tags so important?

YouTube tags help YouTube grasp your video’s content and context. This way, YouTube can understand your video’s topic and category, and associate it with similar content — which can amplify your video’s reach. The rise of semantic search has made YouTube tags less important over time, but they’re still a strategic element you can use to your advantage.

YouTube tags are especially important in cases where your target keyword is commonly misspelled because you can tag the misspellings without including them in your title and description.

As a secondary benefit, tags even help you organize and find your own content if you do self-reference tagging (e.g. “Ireland trip 2022”).

YouTube Tags Best Practices

To leverage YouTube tags to their fullest potential, check out these tips and tricks.

1. Make your first tag your target keyword and order the rest by importance.

YouTube heavily accounts for your video’s first few tags when ranking content in their search results, especially the first tag. So make sure your first tag is the exact keyword you want to target.

2. For other tags, use some broad keywords that describe the overarching topic your video falls under.

Using broad keywords as other tags helps YouTube understand your video’s context. For example, if you’re creating a video called “How to Hit a Baseball”, you’d want to add “Baseball” as a broad tag to indicate to YouTube that your video’s overarching topic is baseball.

3. Use some specific keywords that describe the topics covered in your video as other tags.

Using specific keywords that describe the topics you cover in your video as other tags will help YouTube understand your video’s content. For instance, in the same “How to Hit a Baseball” video, adding “hitting off a tee” or “hitting batting practice” as specific tags would indicate to YouTube the exact topics your video covers.

4. Keep most of your tags between 2-3 words.

While you should certainly include long-tail keywords and a few broad match variations, YouTube seems to prefer 2-4 word phrases (Briggsby).

5. Do not go overboard with tags.

The point of tags is to help the algorithm understand what your video is about so it can surface it to users that are looking for a video like yours. Using too many keywords can cause confusion for what your video is actually about. Research suggests that the optimal number of tags is between 31 and 40 — when used correctly, of course. More than that dilutes their power.

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6. Get inspiration from videos that are currently ranking.

If you know what you want to rank for, take notes from those who are already ranking on the topic. Their keyword tags might give you a good starting point for research and inspiration.

7. Get inspiration from YouTube auto-suggest.

Auto-suggest is a feature to help users find what they need. YouTube isn’t surfacing these suggestions for no reason. These keywords are suggested likely because they are commonly searched terms for that topic, so don’t be afraid to draw inspiration from auto-suggest.

Best YouTube Tag Generators

To discover the keywords you can tag in your videos and help them rank higher in YouTube’s search results, here are three of the best YouTube Tag Generators to try.

1. Keywordtool.io

After plugging your target keyword into its YouTube search bar, Keywordtool.io will provide you with suggested keywords, their search volume, and how they’ve trended over the past 12 months. The tool will also suggest questions, prepositions, and hashtags that include your target keyword.

2. Rapidtags

Entering a seed keyword into Rapidtags and then hitting the button will generate a number of related tags for your YouTube video. Best of all, there’s a copy button for you to easily pull the text without entering it manually.

3. YTube Tool

This tool helps you extract the tags from a competitor’s YouTube video. All you have to do is enter the URL, and the tool will then return your results.

4. Keyword Keg

Using Keyword Keg, you can enter your target keyword into the tool and it’ll serve up its search volume, cost-per-click, competition, on-page difficulty, off-page difficulty, SEO difficulty, CTR scope, keyword power, trends, and suggested keywords. You can also filter your results by country and language.

5. VidIQ

VidIQ will display your target keyword’s related keywords, related score, search volume, search score, competition score, and overall score. The overall score is a combination of a keyword’s related score, search score, and competition score.

Now that you know what YouTube tags are, how to add them, and the tools available to generate them, you’re well on your way to getting your content found on YouTube. Continue optimizing other elements of your videos as well and monitoring your channel’s growth.

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

When you get a recommendation from someone you respect and admire, you may feel honored and want to return the favor. But figuring out how to write a LinkedIn recommendation that is specific, honest, succinct, and helpful isn’t easy.

Most people get stuck. You might not know how to start or what to say. But with some simple templates and tips, you’ll be writing stellar testimonials on LinkedIn for your favorite people.

Keep reading to learn how to write a LinkedIn recommendation. Then check out some recommendation examples and a quick recommendation letter template.

You can use these tools to write authentic and useful LinkedIn endorsements that can help move someone’s job search in the right direction. Let’s get started.

1. Explain the nature of your professional relationship.

That sounds really serious, but it’s simply a helpful piece of context that acts as an intro for your recommendation. Whether it’s a coworker you’ve worked closely with for years or a recent agency point of contact, it sets the stage for the reader to learn why you’re writing this recommendation.

For Example:

I’ve worked alongside Lisa for close to two years now.

2. Offer details about the position this person is working toward.

Are you recommending this person for their work in one position? Or are you writing about their work across multiple jobs they’ve held while you worked with them?

Either way, a great next step is to explain some of the notable parts of their job. It may feel strange — kind of like you’re listing out their job description. But this is helpful for anyone reading the recommendation, looking to get a feel for what they did in their job.

Resist the urge to create a laundry list of their job duties. If they’ve really worn that many hats, I recommend contacting them to see if there’s a certain part of their role they’d like emphasized over others.

For Example:

In those two years, I’ve seen her not only excel at the core elements of her job — like copywriting and copyediting — but also learn other tasks that extend well beyond the scope of her role. These include email marketing, event planning, and even championing our company’s internal communications.

3. Explain how they’ve grown at the company.

If this person reports (or once reported) to you, this aspect of a LinkedIn recommendation can go a long way. Explaining how the person you’re recommending has grown — either in their role or from one role to another — can show an ability to adapt as the organization expands.

Just be careful not to overstate any low points in the person’s career that can dilute the value of the growth you’re trying to highlight.

For Example:

Lisa has grown as quickly as our business has, and her willingness to learn and take on these new responsibilities is something sought-after in any professional.

4. Show how their contribution helped grow the team or company.

This could be an explanation of how their performance helped hit hard metrics. You could also talk about contributions like leading their teammates or fostering new initiatives.

For Example:

Lisa’s mastery of both her core role and extra projects have been critical to the company’s growth. In fact, her taking on internal company communication aligned with a sharp increase in employee happiness.

5. Explain what these achievements reveal about that person.

By now, you’ve included some specifics — so let’s explain what those specifics mean for the larger theme of your recommendation. Do the examples you’ve detailed reveal that person is hard-working? Ambitious? Great for team morale? Connect their accomplishments with their attributes.

For Example:

This rare mix of productivity and ambition sets a great example for the rest of the team. It also explains why everyone loves working with Lisa — no matter where they fall on the org chart.

6. End with a note about the personal aspect of working with them.

In this section, hit the message home with a mention of how you felt working with the person, your hopes for their career, or a prediction about their future.

For Example:

Lisa’s work has continued to pay dividends long past her tenure here and I still miss working with her every day. I can’t wait to see what she does with the next step in her career trajectory.

LinkedIn Recommendation Examples

Recommendation From an Employee

According to a 2021 SHRM report, over 40% of employees are looking for a new job. And according to a 2022 Gartner survey, 50% of employees have different employer expectations than they did before the pandemic.

Employee recommendations show that a stakeholder respects the opinions of the people they manage. It also shows how they lead from the bottom up.

In the recommendation below, a person discusses how their supervisor progressed at the company and how this person mentored them so they too could grow as an employee.

Example 1:

Why we like this LinkedIn recommendation:

This recommendation shows how the relationship between employee and manager evolved over time. Work relationships that shift from peer to manager can be tough. They can sometimes create power struggles, miscommunication, and more. But this LinkedIn recommendation example highlights mutual respect, care, and professional growth.

Example 2:

Why this is a good LinkedIn recommendation:

Soft skills can be difficult for recruiters and employers to assess. So the recommendation above is valuable because it talks about a manager/employee relationship that was essential to this employee. This gives them a sense of how this manager might engage their new team.

Example 3:

Why we like this LinkedIn recommendation:

An authentic recommendation is much more useful than a form letter. The letter above shows how this manager balanced kindness, critique, and composure on his team.

Recommendation from an Employer

Employer recommendations may be a replacement or a complement to the job requirements for many positions. This makes employer recommendations an important LinkedIn addition. Unlike most standard letters of recommendation, LinkedIn letters are usually short and to the point. Instead of a full page, most are short but dense paragraphs like the examples below.

For example, in this recommendation, an employer explains how an employee progressed and executed projects that made a big impact on their company.

Example 1:

Why we like this LinkedIn recommendation:

This letter jumps immediately into specific job functions, technical skills, and soft skills. A quick scan of this letter can show any employer what this person does best and how those skills can translate to other jobs or employers.

Example 2:

Why this is a good LinkedIn recommendation:

Connecting actions to outcomes can make it easier for prospective employers to understand the value an employee can bring to their team. This quick letter clearly connects what this new hire did, how she approached changes and the results that came from her actions.

Example 3:

Why we like this LinkedIn recommendation:

This recommendation letter uses industry-specific terms to show the activities and outcomes this employee was responsible for. This makes it easy for employers to understand how that performance could translate to their business and team.

Recommendation from a Coworker

Over 20% of LinkedIn users are 18-24 years old. This means that many LinkedIn users are recent graduates who might have limited job experience.

Employers are looking to LinkedIn for a sense of your commitment, engagement, and soft skills at work. Coworkers are a great source to highlight these areas. Let’s look at some excellent coworker recommendations from LinkedIn.

Example 1:

Why we like this LinkedIn recommendation:

This letter quickly highlights how long these two have worked together, what they did, and what this candidate’s strongest soft skills are. It stays positive but also showcases how this person responds to pressure.

Example 2:

Why this is a good LinkedIn recommendation:

A recommendation full of job-specific details that emphasize abilities is always useful. At the same time, this letter shows off qualities that may not come into a job interview, depending on the role. By outlining teaching skills and continuing education, this recommendation shows potential employers how this candidate is preparing for the future.

LinkedIn Recommendation Sample (for a Manager)

Now, writing a LinkedIn recommendation can seem easy, but it’s not. What if the employee you’re recommending is your superior? This can make it more difficult to recommend the person — even if you’re saying stellar things about them.

Here’s a sample LinkedIn recommendation — written in full — that a manager would be proud to receive.

I’ve worked for Lisa for two years. During that time I’ve seen her quickly take on new responsibilities while making time to teach these new skills to her employees.

By inheriting tasks like campaign analytics and email A/B testing — both of which extend beyond the scope of our team — she’s made our department much more agile and set me up for promotion last month. Lisa is a great person and manager, and her next employer will be lucky to have her.

Now proofread, and hit send. Remember, the person you’re writing your recommendation for can review and request changes. So, you’ll have a chance to make changes and submit a recommendation that they’ll appreciate.

Write a Recommendation on LinkedIn Today

LinkedIn isn’t just job hunting and your professional reputation. It’s about building relationships. The sooner you start writing recommendations with the steps above, the better your professional relationships can be.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

A business requirement document (BRD) is a starting point for any software project or business solution. This document aligns team members on what to build, why to build it, and how to get it done.

This article explores the basics of business requirement documents. That includes why you need one, how to write one effectively, and more. We’ve also included the 5 coolest BRD examples from big-name companies.

Keep reading for the complete guide.

Table of Contents

What is a Business Requirement Document
Why is It Important to Document Business Requirements
How to Write a Business Requirement Document in 9 Easy Steps
Examples of Business Requirement Documents

 

BRDs capture every step of product development, from an executive summary to expected outcomes. Business requirement documents often include:

• Current pain points and project objectives.
• What resources a company needs.
• The delivery stages and milestones of a project.
• The functional requirements of a new solution (technical and non-technical).
• Project constraints (everything that may slow down or hinder the progress of a project).
• Stakeholders.
• Risks.
• Expected ROI.

The structure of business requirement documents may vary depending on the project type. For instance, you’ll cut off technical functional requirements if the solution you aim to build isn’t software.

We’ll explain how to write a BRD in full. You can see a sample template below.

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Why are Business Requirement Documents Important?

BRDs paint a complete picture of a potential project. These documents bring together all the teams involved in a project launch and ensure successful project delivery.

In fact, the Project Management Institute discovered that teams without prior planning fail projects two times more frequently than prepared teams. PMI also revealed that planning helps teams meet 77% of their goals, versus 56% for those with low project management maturity.

BRDs also allow your team to:

• Monitor the overall project’s health.
• Bring stakeholders and team members together to create consensus and collaboration.
• Hedge the risk of unexpected project changes.
• Understand your budget and anticipated ROI.
• Understand your project constraints and find an optimal solution to address them.
• Foster accountability among your team by setting clear, transparent goals.

How to Write a Business Requirement Document

Here, you’ll learn what to write in every section of a business requirement document. To make the process easy to understand, we’ll explain every step in an example.

So to start, imagine that your company wants to create a content management system for TikTok specialists. What you have now is a mess of Google Sheets and notes on paper. Your goal is to plan, manage, and measure TikTok performance in one place.

With that in mind, let’s start outlining our business requirements.

1. Start with your executive summary.

Executive summaries describe a project concisely for your execs or other parties involved (e.g., business partners). This section offers a high-level statement of project purposes. An executive summary should capture the following:

• Current pain points and how they affect the business.
• What you offer as a solution.
• Relevant data, like expected ROI.
• A deadline for the project.

Your executive summary should be easy to understand. Your readers should learn why the project is important and worth investing in just by reading this section.

For our TikTok CMS project, the executive summary would read as follows:

Our organization is seeking a TikTok content management system to measure the TikTok team’s performance. We aim to analyze campaigns, ad spending, and ROI to scale the most beneficial campaigns.

We expect the product to be built by the end of the third quarter.

2. Communicate business objectives.

List the business objectives you hope to achieve with the project. HubSpot’s SMART system offers a simple goal-setting method. Your objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-Bound.

Let’s set objectives for our TikTok CMS:

• Increase the ROI of TikTok ads by 10% in November.

• Speed up post creation to publish 2 posts daily.

• Build an analytical report to access and analyze TikTok metrics in one place.

• Define TikTok’s best-performing campaigns to scale them.

If you cannot specify the numbers or it’s hard to predict them, detail specific results that you hope to achieve from the full implementation of the project.

3. Explain the project’s background and why it’s needed.

Name a few urgent issues you aim to solve with the project. Provide data and research to support your statement. For instance, you can compare current and expected spending. Be sure to include a summary of past experiments or projects in this section.

Here’s the background for our TikTok example:

Our team has no detailed record of our TikTok ROI. A TikTok CMS will help to cut the costs of TikTok campaigns and increase ROI. We will also determine the best-performing campaigns in terms of ROI.

4. Set your scope of work.

This is the most important part of your BRD. This section should include:

• A detailed overview of project objectives.
• Milestones.
• Project deliverables.
• Acceptance criteria.

Your scope of work identifies what needs to be done within a specific period. Be sure to clearly communicate the project requirements for every step of development. This fosters clear communication between stakeholders and team members who will be working on the project. You’ll also mitigate the risk of the project veering off course.

5. Define the project’s functionality requirements.

List all the features and necessary functionality of the product. This section includes what needs to be built and any features your new project requires. You can also describe this section under the Scope of Work.

For our TikTok CMS, we’ll need:

• A calendar task view for content management.

• Reporting features.

• Monthly performance analytics for a stand-alone post and a group of posts.

• Filtering by different campaigns.

6. Identify your key stakeholders.

This section of your BRD lists key stakeholders for your project. Take the time to outline each person’s roles and responsibilities. Make sure to include both internal and external parties.

Let’s dive into our example.

• Chief Marketing Officer: Approve TikTok CMS creation.

• Project managers: Responsible for decomposing the project, assigning team members, and ensuring the project is completed on schedule.

• TikTok team lead: Responsible for making content and gathering performance metrics.

7. Communicate project constraints.

It’s essential to specify the existing boundaries that affect project development. Your constraints can be anything from your budget, current toolkit, technical limitations, team availability, or dependencies.

Here’s a great example of project boundaries for a technical product:

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8. Set a schedule.

Work hand in hand with your project managers to specify deadlines for each phase of your initiatives. BRDs for external clients should include final deadlines and estimated delivery dates around milestones.

For our TikTok CMS, here is our schedule.

• Phase 1. Complete X by December 2022

• Phase 2. Develop and conduct quality assurance of X feature by March 2023

9. Summarize your cost-benefit analysis.

A cost-benefit analysis determines whether the project’s benefits outweigh its costs. Create a spreadsheet that outlines current expenses and budget lost by inefficiencies. Forecast the amount of money and other benefits a company will gain.

Your goal is to convince executives that a new project is worth the investment. Bolster your case by presenting facts and figures.

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5 Outstanding Business Requirement Document Examples

We’ve gathered a collection of 5 business requirement document templates. Look through each and choose one that fits best with your project. Be sure to adjust each template to meet your project requirements.

PandaDoc BRD Template

This is a fantastic template if you want to prepare a BRD for product development. PandaDoc provides straightforward examples of what text you should put in each section. You’ll also find best practices for every entity mentioned in the template.

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TechWhirl BRD Template

This template is designed specifically for new technology solutions. TechWhirl includes 17 sections that detail the project summary, scope, business process overview, business requirements, and more. You can even include data in charts and graphs.

Best for: Explaining complex business processes and dependencies.

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Asana BRD Template

Asana provides a free BRD template that you can edit in real-time. This compact template includes only necessary fields, and each section has tips on what to write. This template is best for getting buy-in from internal stakeholders.

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Smartsheet BRD Template

Smartsheet offers a one-size-fits-all BRD template. You can use it for small internal projects and for complex, expensive projects for external vendors. Every section is complemented by a short description or example of what should be written.

Want to see more templates? Here are 10 free BRD templates from Smartheet (all follow the same pattern).

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ClickUp BRD Template

Looking for a simple BRD to guide your projects? Try this template from ClickUp. There are only basic sections (with sheets) that you can easily fill out online. Marketing and sales teams can use this template to get buy-in for CRM tweaks, API connectors development, etc.

Best for: Small inner projects with few requirements and deliverables.

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Writing Your Business Requirement Document

No matter the scope of your project, a business requirement document can help you keep the process tidy. With this document, you’ll have a clear plan to guide your project. Plus, you’ll have a compact summary of the business case fueling your initiative.

If you’re looking to pitch your business as a whole, explore HubSpot’s free business proposal template. We’ll walk through how to summarize your solutions, share pricing, and set timelines.

Facebook is an undeniably powerful platform for advertisers.

In fact, HubSpot Blog Research found Facebook is the most popular social media network for advertising in 2022, with 62% of companies currently leveraging it.

Additionally, Facebook has proven to be the social media platform that generates the biggest ROI. 

But getting started on Facebook advertising can be intimidating — particularly with a limited budget. You don’t want to waste all your ad spend before you’ve identified a strong, effective long-term advertising strategy.

Here, I sat down with Tarcisio Ribeiro, Meta’s Director of Ads, to discuss his three tips for getting the most out of your Facebook ad strategy. Let’s dive in.

Tips for Creating Powerful Facebook Ads, According to Meta’s Director of Ads

1. Keep it simple.

When you’re first getting started with Facebook ads, you might feel overwhelmed by the amount of options available. For instance, you can create a boosted ad, a video ad, a poll ad, or a carousel ad (to name a few).

Ribeiro advises against getting too complex when you’re first starting out. As he puts it, “One challenge I’ve seen with new Facebook Ads users is that they see the numerous capabilities we have in our Ads Manager, and without fulling understanding how everything works, they try to play with everything. As a result, they end up wasting money because they’re either not being targeted enough, or they’re using the wrong capabilities.”

In other words: Don’t try to do too much, too quickly.

Start by identifying your objective — awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion, or sales. And, rather than creating a more complex video or carousel, start with a boosted post, which is an easy opportunity to start discovering your target audience. (More on that, next.)

From there, consider taking the time to explore the resources that can help you create an optimized ad. Ribeiro suggests that new Facebook Ads users take the time to take the Meta Blueprint trainings.

2. Know your audience — including the details.

Ribeiro told me it’s imperative you understand the audience you’re going to target — in other words, who is most likely to become a consumer.

And, equally importantly, you need to be willing to iterate over time to ensure your target audience becomes more refined.

“For instance,” Ribeiro says, “Perhaps you sell baby strollers. But beyond that, you have certain characteristics that pertain to your target audience — maybe it’s a higher-income market, or parents who are very mobile and need a lightweight stroller to take on trips. In the beginning, you may have a cohort of ten different kinds of profiles who might buy your stroller. But, over time, you’re going to see that 20% of those audiences are the ones who are most likely to purchase your product.”

Facebook ads can help you identify a more specific and niche audience to target. If we use the example mentioned above, perhaps you’d expected parents in the suburban areas surrounding Boston to purchase your strollers, but you find in your Ads analytics that most of your consumers are metro-based. As you begin to discover who your true consumer is, you can refine your ads strategy accordingly.  

Once you’ve identified your target audience, you can also leverage Facebook’s Lookalike feature to ensure your ads are capturing the attention of people who match the same characteristics as your current buyers.

Already a Meta customer? Click here to get 20% off HubSpot products. 

3. Pay attention to the creative.

“One of the first things users notice and react on is going to be your creative,” Ribeiro told me, “so it’s important you pay attention to how you’re designing your ad.”

For context, an ad creative is the visual attributes of the advertisement, whether it be an image, video, or another format.

Consider, for instance, the fun, lighthearted, and bright designs in the Blue Bunny Ice Cream creative, shown below:

The ad itself needs to grab the attention of your users. If you’re unsure what type of creative will resonate best with your audience, try A/B testing different styles to identify what works best.

Additionally, the type of ad you create is equally important to consider. Ribeiro says, “Video always performs best because it’s the most engaging. But you don’t need a big budget or sophisticated equipment for video. If you’re a small business and you only have pictures, you can actually convert those pictures into a video in our Ads Manager through our partnership with Vimeo.”

Whether you’re ready to get started with Facebook Ads or take your ads strategy to the next level, hopefully these three tips have enabled you to focus in on what matters most.

The power of Facebook Ads is in the large variety of tools and features it offers businesses — but it’s imperative, for your own purposes, that you start simple; take the time to identify your correct target audience; and design a creative that will compel your audience to take action.

Video content accounts for over 82% of all online traffic — and YouTube is the most popular video platform with more than two billion active users.

Because video is an essential channel for marketers, it’s important to know how to leverage YouTube for your own business.

This article will cover everything you need to know about creating a YouTube channel so you can start uploading your own videos and growing your audience today.

Can’t create a new channel?

If you’re seeing a “This action isn’t allowed” message when you try to create your channel, you may be using an outdated version of the YouTube app.

Here are your options to move forward:

1. Update the YouTube app on your device.
2. Create your YouTube channel using a browser on your computer (following the steps outlined in more detail below).

How to Create a YouTube Channel

Creating a well-managed YouTube channel with consistent content can help businesses grow better, but doing it right is just as important. Here’s how to do it step-by-step.

1. Sign in to your Google account.

You’ll need a Google account to watch, share, create, and comment on YouTube content. Go to youtube.com and click “Sign In” in the upper right-hand corner. From there, you’ll be taken to a Google sign-in page.

1. If you have a Google account, you’ll be prompted to sign in.
2. If you have multiple Google accounts, be sure to select the one you want to be associated with the YouTube channel.
3. If you do not have a Google account, click “Create Account” and follow the prompts to register for one.

2. Create a new YouTube channel using your Google account.

Once you’re set up with and signed into your Google account, it’s time to create a channel. Click your user icon in the upper right-hand corner. This represents both your Google account and your YouTube account (as YouTube is owned by Google). You’ll see a drop-down menu, where you’ll want to click “Settings.”

From there, you’ll be taken to your account overview. Click “Create a new channel” under “Your channel.”

The first step is to create your new channel name. It can be whatever you want, and doesn’t have to be the same name that you used to create your Google account — but we do recommend that it reflects the brand the YouTube Channel will represent.

After you enter the channel name, you might be asked to verify the account via text message or voice call. If that happens, enter the code you receive from the option you choose.

Once you’ve verified your account, you’ll be taken to the dashboard for your channel. Now, it’s time to start customizing it.

3. Navigate to the Customize Channel page.

We’ll start with the fundamental details about your channel. From your channel dashboard, click “Customize channel.”

From there, you’ll be taken to the channel customization page.

You’ll notice three tabs: “Layout,” “Branding,” and “Basic info.” These three tabs will help you optimize your channel for viewers.

4. Add Basic Info to your channel for discoverability.

Start by clicking “Basic info.”

Here’s where you’ll enter some basic information about your channel, like the language your videos are in, as well as a description that helps people discover your channel when they enter search terms that describe what videos they’re looking for. These keywords can include what your channel is about, the problems it helps solve, the people and products featured, your industry, and more.

You’ll also be able to add links to sites you want to share with your viewers. These links will be displayed over your banner image (more on this later) like so:

5. Upload branding elements to your channel.

In addition to the descriptive details you’ve added, there’s another element of customization for a new YouTube channel: The visuals.

Under the “Branding” tab, you’ll be able to add your profile picture, banner image, and video watermark.

Profile Picture

Profile pictures help YouTube users identify the creator of a video when browsing video content. You’ll see this image appear beneath YouTube videos on the play page, as shown below. YouTube recommends using a picture with dimensions of at least 98 x 98 pixels.

Banner Image

The banner image is a large banner displayed at the top of your channel page, and it’s a big opportunity to convey your brand to your viewers. YouTube recommends using an image that’s at least 2048 x 1152 px and 6MB or less.

Video Watermark

The video watermark is displayed at the bottom right of every video you post (see below). You’ll want to choose a logo that best represents you sized at 150 x 150 px.

6. Customize your more advanced layout options.

Click the “Layout” tab.

From here, you’ll be able to specify certain details about how you want your content presented on your channel’s page. You’ll have the option to designate a video spotlight and organize your channel page with featured sections.

7. Add videos and optimize them for search.

To upload your first video to YouTube, click the “Create” button in the top-right corner and follow the prompts.

Optimizing your channel for discoverability is just the beginning. Once you start adding videos, you’ll want to optimize them for search, which in turn helps users discover your video.

But this goes beyond giving your videos accurate, clear, and concise titles — though that is important. Below, we describe some of the most important things to optimize on YouTube.

Title

When we search for videos, one of the first things that our eyes are drawn to is the title. That’s often what determines whether or not the viewer will click to watch your video, so the title should not only be compelling but also clear and concise.

Description

This should be limited to 1,000 characters — and remember that your viewer came here to watch a video, not to read a lot of text. Plus, YouTube only displays the first two or three lines of text, which comes to about 100 characters, so front-load the description with the most important information.

Tags

Using tags doesn’t just let viewers know what your video is about — they also help YouTube understand your video’s content and context. That way, YouTube can associate your video with similar videos, broadening your content’s reach. But approach with caution: just as with your title, don’t use misleading tags because they might get you more views. In fact, Google might penalize you for that.

Category

Choosing a category is another way to group your video with similar content on YouTube — but that might not be as simple as it sounds. YouTube’s Creator Academy suggests that marketers “think about what is working well for each category” you’re considering by answering questions like:

• Who are the top creators within the category? What are they known for, and what do they do well?
• Are there any patterns between the audiences of similar channels within a given category?
• Do the videos within a similar category share qualities like production value, length, or format?

That’s it — you’ve officially not only created a YouTube channel but now also know how to optimize its content for discoverability. For more information on how to best leverage YouTube for marketing, check our entire collection of resources.

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

The question “what is a KPI?” comes up at many meetings. If you want to scale your company, you might be wondering about KPIs and how they can help your business grow.

Reviewing performance through key performance indicators (KPIs), tells your team when you’ve met the mark or fallen short. But how do you pick the right KPIs for your business?

In this post, we’ll walk you through what a KPI is, which KPIs you should focus on, and how you can hone in on the metrics that matter most for your business.

Keep reading, or jump to the section you’re looking for:

• What is a KPI?
• Why are KPIs important?
• Types of Key Performance Indicators
• KPIs vs. Metrics
• OKR vs. KPI
• How To Determine KPIs
• KPI Examples
• How To Measure KPIs

Whether a KPI is for a one-off campaign or a long-term initiative, it can help teams track their progress, improve results, and stay on track.

Businesses use KPIs to figure out whether they are reaching their top goals. These KPIs usually track the overall health and performance of the organization.

Departments use KPIs to show the value of their efforts to the business. These performance indicators help teams work toward set outcomes and solve issues that stand in the way of those goals.

And employees use KPIs to understand how their individual efforts contribute to project, team, and organizational goals.

KPIs can also help track the effectiveness of:

• Projects
• Processes
• Campaigns
• Strategic changes

A KPI is also useful for cross-departmental collaboration, as it makes it simple to see what other teams are working toward at a glance. KPIs tell companies if their hunches are right and if what they are doing is working.

Important note: KPIs should measure your most essential indicators.

For instance, your social media team may have a ton of data points that can serve as KPIs. However, they should only choose the ones that align with the broader business goals. Let’s say it’s brand awareness. In this case, follower count, post reach, and impressions will likely be the social media KPI metrics to measure.

With that in mind, having KPIs means narrowing your focus to a few vital metrics that will influence your business the most.

Why are KPIs important?

People around the world generated and consumed 64.2 zettabytes in 2020. And according to Statista, that number should reach 181 zettabytes by 2025.

How much is a zettabyte? One billion terabytes. And how much is a terabyte? About one trillion bytes. That’s a lot of information. That means that your business is processing more information than ever before.

As you process that ever-growing mass of data, it can start to feel overwhelming. For example, this post on sales metrics outlines over 140 metrics that one sales manager might track in a month. These are valuable metrics that can help salespeople excel. But add in weekly metrics, and it’s no surprise that 80% of workers are suffering from information overload.

Enter the KPI. When you select a KPI for your business or team, it narrows the focus of your efforts. This one strategy can help your team rally around what’s most meaningful. It can push teams to get results faster, be more productive, and make useful changes when they’re needed.

A KPI is more than a number. It’s a message, a story that quickly shows your team whether you are moving toward the goals you’ve set together. Key performance indicators can help:

• Keep high-level goals top of mind
• Convert abstract ideas into manageable targets
• Cut down on data overload

Strong KPIs can help your business save time, get critical insights, guide management, and keep your business on a long-term path of growth.

Because KPIs are so critical, it’s essential to set the right KPIs for your business. The wrong KPI can disrupt even the strongest team.

For example, say your marketing team is selecting a KPI for its growth goals. Ranking in search engine results is important for a blog, so the amount of #1 keyword rankings could seem like a good KPI.

But what if your blog’s top-ranking keywords don’t relate to your business goals? What if those keywords have low traffic volume or don’t connect to qualified leads? In this situation, organic traffic is probably a better KPI.

Choosing the right KPI might take some extra research, so let’s talk about the different types of KPIs.

Types of Key Performance Indicators

While there are many different indicators of performance that a business can measure, most fall under two categories:

Quantitative KPIs

A quantitative KPI uses numbers to measure progress toward a goal. The majority of KPIs are quantitative, like the number of closed sales, customer service tickets, or annual revenue.

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Qualitative KPIs

A qualitative KPI tracks non-numerical data, like customer comments or employee engagement. While there are ways to get quantitative data from qualitative research, these KPIs focus on non-numerical data.

For example, say a company just released a new product online. As soon as the product listing goes live they’ll track quantitative metrics like:

• Product sales
• Abandoned carts
• Product page views

At the same time, the company would also track qualitative data like product reviews and customer surveys. This can help the team figure out how people are responding to the product and how to keep improving it.

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Most businesses use more than one KPI to track performance and may combine KPIs to reach a set goal.

There are other measures that companies use to hone in on their business goals.

Other Key Performance Indicators

Leading KPIs: This is quantitative data that helps a business measure potential responses to a change. For example, if a SaaS business plans to launch a new feature, leading indicators can help it project future results.

Lagging KPIs: These measure results after a change to track whether that change is meeting expectations. These are sometimes also called output indicators. For example, after the SaaS business launch above, lagging indicators will show the actual outcomes of the release.

Leading and lagging KPIs can help teams make corrections early. This can save the business time, effort, and investment over time.

Input KPIs: These track the resources a business needs for a campaign, project, or process.

Process KPIs: Process KPIs track how well a new process is working and help target potential changes. For example, a common process KPI is the time it takes to close a support ticket.

Practical KPIs: These track current internal company processes and how they impact other parts of the business.

Directional KPIs: These KPIs look at overall company performance. They may focus on trends within the company or in comparison to competitors.

Actionable KPIs: Indicators like this track how well a company commits to and carries out internal business changes. Examples include KPIs that track culture changes, employee sentiment, or DEI initiatives. These often measure progress within a set period of time.

KPIs vs. Metrics

When you were in school, you might have learned that a square can be a parallelogram, but not every parallelogram is a square. The same is true of KPIs and metrics.

While a KPI can be a metric, not every metric is a KPI. This is because KPIs track progress toward a specific goal. A KPI is a significant measure of performance.

When your team selects a KPI, they commit to a specific metric and how meeting that goal can lead to business growth. KPIs also narrow the scope of information to data that everyone needs to know — from interns to stakeholders.

This doesn’t mean that metrics aren’t impactful. As your team solves specific problems and creates processes, there are many metrics you will track. In turn, these metrics can help your team meet your KPIs.

KPI Metrics Example

Here’s an example. Say that your team is creating a blog for your sales team to generate more qualified leads. The KPIs for this project are:

• Traffic
• New users
• Leads

Those are the key performance indicators that your team believes will show that the time and effort of launching a new blog is worth it to the business.

At the same time, if you’ve ever started a blog, you know that there are many other metrics to track like:

• Engagement time
• Bounce rate
• Views per user
• Backlinks
• Domain authority

These metrics will help your team solve problems, choose the right blog topics, and make changes that improve the user experience.

Metrics are essential to the team that works on the blog so they can make it better. At the same time, metrics are often too much detail for every stakeholder. In this example, your blog team needs other metrics to help meet its KPIs.

OKR vs. KPI

Objectives and Key Results (OKR) and KPIs are often used interchangeably because both terms refer to goals that are tracked and measured. However, they differ in intention.

Put simply, KPIs show whether your business is hitting its targets. They are often called health metrics as they tell you how the company is doing to meet an objective that’s already set.

OKRs, on the other hand, are broad objectives for your business with the key results that will signify achievement in meeting those objectives. They are aggressive and ambitious goals that speak to the business’s big-picture vision.

For instance, let’s say a technology company has the objective of becoming one of the top 10 providers in their industry in 2021. Their key results could be:

• Acquire 1,000 new customers by Q3.
• Generate 3,000 leads every month.
• Increase annual membership sales by 30%.

While KPIs are ideal for scaling, OKRs are designed for dramatic growth. They’re more ambitious and push teams to stretch their capabilities.

It’s also important to note that while KPIs can be the key results in your OKR, the opposite is generally not true.

For example, your marketing team could have a KPI of 3,000 leads as mentioned in the example above. However, it’s unlikely that any department would list the “Top 10” goal as their KPI as that speaks to a broader vision and has a more flexible timeline.

Before you can measure your KPIs, you’ll need to determine which metrics to track. This will greatly depend on your goals and your team.

Once you narrow that down, set your targets. They’re usually based on a combination of factors, including historical performance and industry standards.

You’ll also have to answer the who, when, and why. Who is responsible for this KPI? Identify the person on your team who is managing this KPI, so they can be the go-to when addressing roadblocks that may affect performance. They will also be responsible for reporting on progress.

As for the “when,” you’ll need to know the timeline to reach these targets. Many businesses set them on a monthly or quarterly basis, but your timeline can be shorter or longer depending on your team.

Lastly: the why. It’s the most important thing to keep in mind when measuring your KPIs. Having your goals clearly identified can help motivate your team and make sure everyone is aligned on the direction you’re going in.

Let’s go over a few steps that can help make this process more simple.

1. Choose KPIs directly related to your business goals.

KPIs are quantifiable measurements or data points used to gauge your company’s performance relative to a goal. For instance, a KPI could be related to your goal of increasing sales, improving the return on investment of your marketing efforts, or improving customer service.

What are your company goals? Have you identified any major areas for improvement or optimization? What are the biggest priorities for your management team?

Answering these questions will bring you one step closer to identifying the right KPIs for your brand.

2. Consider your company’s stage of growth.

Depending on the stage of your company – startup vs. enterprise – certain metrics will be more critical than others.

Early-stage companies typically focus on data related to business model validation while more established organizations focus on metrics like cost per acquisition and customer lifetime value.

Here are a few examples of potential key performance indicators for companies in various stages of growth:

3. Identify both lagging and leading performance indicators.

The difference between lagging and leading indicators is essentially knowing how you did, versus how you are doing. Leading indicators aren’t necessarily better than lagging indicators, or vice versa. You should just be aware of the differences between the two.

Lagging indicators measure the output of something that has already happened. Total sales last month, or the number of new customers or hours of professional services delivered, are examples of lagging indicators. These types of metrics are good for purely measuring results, as they focus on outputs.

On the other hand, leading indicators measure your likelihood of achieving a goal in the future. These serve as predictors of what’s to come. Conversion rates, sales opportunity age, and sales rep activity are just a few examples of leading indicators.

Traditionally most organizations have solely focused on lagging indicators. One of the main reasons for this is they tend to be easy to measure since the events have already happened. For instance, it’s easy to pull a report of the number of customers acquired last quarter.

But measuring what happened in the past can only be so helpful.

You can think of leading indicators as business drivers because they come before trends emerge, which can help you identify whether or not you are on track to reaching your goals. If you can identify which leading indicators will impact your future performance you will have a much better shot at success.

With every business, growth is the goal. KPIs help you track your progress and scale progressively to grow in whichever way that matters to your company.

4. Focus on a few key metrics, rather than a slew of data.

As you begin to identify KPIs for your business, less is worth more. Rather than choosing dozens of metrics to measure and report on you should focus on just a few key ones.

If you track too many KPIs, you might become overwhelmed with the data and lose focus.

As you can imagine, every company, industry, and business model is different so it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact number for the amount of KPIs you should have. However, a good number to aim for is somewhere between two to four KPIs per goal. Enough to get a good sense of where you stand but not too many where there’s no priority.

KPI Examples

Your organization’s business model and the industry in which you operate will influence the KPIs you choose.

For example, a B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) company might choose to focus on customer acquisition and churn, whereas a brick-and-mortar retail company might focus on sales per square foot or average customer spend.

Here are a few examples of some industry-standard KPIs:

While some KPIs are simple, KPIs that can help your business target specific goals can be tougher to create. These examples of key performance indicators for businesses can inspire the right KPI for your business.

Marketing KPIs

KPIs for marketing can help you track the effectiveness of marketing efforts. It can help you figure out the value of specific campaigns and initiatives, and assess different media channels.

For example, this video outlines how to set KPIs for social media:

These are some of the top marketing KPIs:

• Return on Investment (ROI)
• Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV)
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Conversion Rate

For more KPI ideas, check out these resources:

• Marketing KPIs
• Business blogging metrics
• SEO KPIs
• Email marketing metrics
• Marketing KPIs for CEOs
• Content marketing metrics

Sales KPIs

Sales is a numbers-driven activity and this makes KPI selection even more important. Sales KPIs can measure individual, team, departmental, or organizational efforts. They can also help sales teams make shifts and respond to goal and priority changes.

These are some common sales KPIs:

• Monthly sales growth
• Monthly calls (or emails) per rep
• Opportunity to deal ratio
• Average purchase value

For more KPI ideas, check out these resources:

• Field sales leader KPIs
• Sales metrics guide
• Inside sales metrics
• Sales and marketing KPIs

Service KPIs

Customer service KPIs can track the performance of support teams. They also help service managers understand, analyze and optimize the customer experience.

Here are some of the top service KPIs:

• Number of resolved tickets
• Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)
• First response time
• Net promoter score (NPS)

For more KPI ideas, check out these resources:

• Customer service KPIs
• Customer experience metrics
• Customer success metrics
• Call center metrics

Website KPIs

A website KPI can connect the performance of your website to marketing, sales, and service goals. Website data can help businesses understand how to connect siloed departments and fix gaps in the buyer journey. This type of KPI is especially useful for ecommerce sites.

Here are some common website KPIs:

• Traffic
• Traffic sources
• Number of sessions
• Number of transactions

This post also has some great suggestions for website engagement metrics.

Now that you know what a KPI is and how to choose the right KPIs for your business, it’s time to act. Measuring a KPI can be simple or complex depending on your KPIs, your tech stack, and the way your team works.

Some companies end up tracking the wrong KPI because it’s the easiest data to track. This isn’t a satisfying solution, and it can lead to bigger business challenges long term.

Let’s walk through the best practices for measuring your KPIs.

1. Identify the tools or software you need to measure your KPIs.

KPI measurement starts with your data sources and the tools your business uses to track data. There are a few things you’ll want to look for in the right software.

Integrations

According to 2021 research from Productiv, the average company uses over 200 apps. This means that you’ll need a software solution that connects to a range of tools to pull together accurate data.

Dashboards

Dashboards are also useful for tracking KPIs because they make it easy to visualize insights. Visualization can make complicated information simpler and quicker to understand and act on.

Custom and standard reports

It’s also helpful to use KPI software with both standard and custom reporting. While some KPIs are effective alone, others may need supporting metrics to clarify the story of the data. For example, say your KPI is social media engagement. You may also want to present data on every social media tool your team is using.

Read here if you’re looking for the right data tracking software.

2. Narrow down your final list of KPIs.

Focus is the top reason to limit the number of KPIs you track. If KPIs are the most critical measure of business success, you want to track just two or three KPIs, not 10-20.

First, make sure there is a clear separation of KPIs from metrics. Next, revisit your goals to make sure that the KPIs you’ve selected show clear progress toward that goal.

As you research software you might notice that some KPIs are easier to track than others.

For example, tracking customer lifetime value by marketing channel is easy if your revenue and marketing systems connect. But what if these are two different systems? Maybe your marketing platform shows that most of your leads come from the blog. At the same time, your customer platform analytics show that most of your leads come from a landing page.

This kind of issue leads to a lot of manual work, and a KPI your team can’t trust. Until you can unify your systems, you may want to choose a KPI that you can measure accurately.

Be sure to watch your KPIs in the first few months and take note of how often you check each KPI. Sometimes you’ll need real data to figure out if that performance indicator is useful.

For example, say at the beginning of a co-marketing partnership, you and your partner set a KPI for shared leads. But in the first two months, the only shared leads come from a webinar that your companies host together. At the same time, you both notice increased lead volumes from referral links.

If you want your KPIs to measure the effectiveness of your partnership, you may want to change this KPI.

3. Create standard reports and timing for reporting.

One way to help stakeholders invest in KPIs is to create a consistent reporting schedule and format. You can measure and report on KPIs each week, month, quarter, or year depending on your business needs.

For example, if you have a monthly lead goal, it’s a good idea to track your KPIs weekly. If performance tracks with expectations, you can gather insights into what your team is doing well. If not, you have a chance to ask for resources, troubleshoot, and make changes.

A standard report has the same structure every time. You can often automate these reports and they usually don’t need much manual data analysis. Depending on your industry and KPIs you may want to customize your standard reports. This can help you make sure that your reports clearly show the most useful information.

4. Design visualizations in your dashboard for your most important KPIs.

Scanning numbers is satisfying for some. But most people process and retain visuals best. So, you’ll want to make the most of your data with a visual dashboard that makes your KPIs easier for stakeholders to understand and remember.

As you build your dashboards, there are a few helpful things to think about. First, try to group your KPIs to create audience-specific dashboards. For example, you might want to build one KPI dashboard for C-suite presentations and another for meetings with your team.

Next, keep your visuals simple. Choose the best chart for the information you’re presenting and don’t add small text or extra graphics that could distract from your data.

5. Share KPIs reports with other teams for quality checks.

It may take some time before your KPIs are a reliable source of information. There is a lot that you can do with digital tools, but don’t forget another crucial resource for making sure your KPIs are accurate — your team.

Whether you check in with your friends in Accounting every other day or hold weekly check-ins with people in your department, it’s smart to reach out. Even small issues can lead to big errors over time.

For example, do you want to base your KPI on the average daily call volume of customer service seven days a week or just Monday through Friday? If you don’t talk to your CS team about their structure and schedule, you might pull the wrong data. This can lead to skewed numbers, poor strategic decisions, and more.

The more your business can trust your KPIs, the more benefits they’ll get from them.

6. Choose a reporting cadence for stakeholders.

Most decision-makers in business organize reporting around the business calendar. But you’ll still want to think about the right reporting cadence for your specific KPIs.

For example, a monthly cadence might not be frequent enough to troubleshoot problems. At the same time, a weekly cadence might create information overload. Too frequent meetings can also lead to conversations about metrics instead. This takes the focus away from your key performance indicators.

If you are new to this process, it may make sense to meet more frequently in the beginning, then create more space between meetings later.

You want to build a culture and structure around support for your KPIs. Remember that it’s about the business using this tool to reach your goals.

7. Set new goals and KPIs based on your results.

Some KPIs are forever, but you’ll want to continue to review and update your KPIs based on results. So, schedule time at least once a year to review your KPIs.

As you make updates, organize your data in a way that makes it easy to compare useful KPIs with indicators that aren’t helping.

Next, make some time to plan and research the changes you might want to make. Changing KPIs can sometimes create unintended issues. For example, a slack KPI can show consistent strong results, even if performance isn’t in line with growth goals.

As you make adjustments, keep in mind that KPIs should come from business goals, not the other way around.

Use Your KPIs to Fuel Growth

With every business, growth is the goal. KPIs help you track your progress and scale progressively to grow in whichever way that matters to your company.

Powerful KPI creation and tracking can give you and your business a strategic advantage. They can help you prioritize, focus, and scale processes toward your goals.

Some KPIs are easy. But if you want to push to the next level, you may need to take some extra time to find the exact KPIs that your company needs.

This post was originally published in March 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

When I first noticed YouTube hashtags being featured in videos, I thought they looked silly. At the time, I thought hashtags were only useful for platforms like Twitter or Instagram. It wasn’t until I clicked on a hashtag under an anime clip I was watching that I realized how useful the tags were.

Clicking on the hashtag helped me easily find other anime-related videos and content creators. And when I started my own channel, hashtags helped users find and engage with my own videos.

YouTube hashtags are a simple but effective way to bring more attention to your videos and boost your channel’s viewership. Here’s everything marketers need to know about YouTube hashtags.

What are YouTube hashtags?

How to Add Hashtags to a YouTube Video

Best YouTube Hashtags for Your Video

Popular YouTube Hashtags

Hashtags for Gaming Videos

Hashtags for Food Videos

Hashtags for Beauty and Fashion Videos

Hashtags for Entertainment Videos

Hashtags for Educational Videos

Top YouTube Hashtags

What are YouTube hashtags?

YouTube hashtags are keywords preceded by the # symbol. The hashtags are clickable and allow users to easily find related videos sharing the same hashtag. Using a hashtag also allows YouTube creators to categorize their videos with other content that includes the hashtag. Hashtags can also be used to conduct a search in the YouTube search bar.

Ultimately, hashtags make videos more discoverable — benefiting both users and content creators.

In the example below, Today includes #Emmys #Fashion and #RedCarpet for its video “Fashion Hits and Misses From the 2022 Emmy Awards.”

Image source

If you click on #Emmys, you’ll be taken to a page featuring other YouTube videos using the same hashtag.

Image source

Now you can easily find and click through other videos covering the award show.

How to Add Hashtags to a YouTube Video

Hashtags can be added to a YouTube video’s title or description. Just type the # symbol into the title or description then begin to add the topic or keyword you want to be associated with your video. YouTube will then suggest popular hashtags based on what you typed in. From there, choose a recommended hashtag to promote your video with others using the same hashtag, or create one of your own that fits your content.

The hashtags you used will then link to a results page featuring other videos sharing the hashtag.

Best YouTube Hashtags for Your Video

The best YouTube hashtags for your video will depend on its content. For example, if your video features a celebrity, influencer, or public figure, you can use their name as a hashtag. If your video is part of an ongoing series or playlist on your channel, you can include the title of the series or playlist as a hashtag as well.

In the example below, First We Feast uses the hashtags #Hotones, #Lizzo, and #SeanEvans. Hot Ones is the name of the series on the channel, Lizzo is the celebrity being interviewed, and Sean Evans is the host.

Image source

In this example, using #Hotones in the video is great for the channel because clicking on it takes the viewer to a page showing other videos in the web series.

Image source

Hashtags that align with your niche are also best for your videos. For example, if you’re a fashion YouTuber then hashtags like #fashion, #outfitideas, or #styleinspo will be most helpful for your videos. If your videos are funny then hashtags like #comedy, #lol, or #comedyskit are solid choices.

To find the best hashtags for your video, look up videos of other creators in your niche to see what tags they are using. Or search words in the YouTube search bar to see what other popular words and phrases come up. TubeBuddy is also a great tool for YouTube content creators and has a feature that allows creators to find keywords and phrases that can be turned into hashtags.

Image source

Make sure you don’t use too many hashtags in your videos. According to Google, the more hashtags you use, the less relevant your video becomes. Try to stick to no more than three hashtags per video. If your video contains more than 60 hashtags, YouTube will ignore every single hashtag, and your video may be removed from your uploads or search results.

Your video may also be removed if you’re using irrelevant or misleading hashtags. So, remember — not all trending hashtags will guarantee success for your video. If you see a hashtag trending on YouTube, but it’s not relevant to your video — just leave it alone.

Popular YouTube Hashtags

Here are some popular hashtags for different kinds of YouTube content.

Hashtags for Gaming Videos

#gamers

#games

#live

#gaming

#gameplay

#youtubegamer

#gamereview

#gamer

#livestream

#gamecommentary

Hashtags for Food Videos

#food

#foodie

#cook

#tastyrecipes

#tasty

#healthyfood

#healthydinner

#yummy

#recipes

#homemadecooking

Hashtags for Beauty and Fashion Videos

#beautyhacks

#skincare

#fashion

#grwm (get ready with me)

#fashiontrends

#makeup

#modeling

#ootd (outfit of the day)

#makeuptutorial

#makeuphacks

Hashtags for Entertainment Videos

#funny

#comedy

#lol

#shorts (for YouTube Shorts)

#live

#skit

#music

#comics

#film

Hashtags for Educational Videos

#teaching

#learning

#education

#funfacts

#science

#technology

#literature

#theory

#school

#videoessay

Top YouTube Hashtags

These are some of the top YouTube hashtags that can be applied to most kinds of videos.

#youtube

#youtubers

#viral

#subscribe

#video

#youtubemusic

#youtubechannel

#youtubevideos

#youtubeshorts

#youtubecreator

Using YouTube hashtags will help your videos find the right audience — leading to growth for your channel. Just remember to always use relevant hashtags and not over-tag your content. If you remember these rules, you’ll be able to use YouTube hashtags to your advantage.

TikTok has over 1 billion active users a month, making it one of the most popular social media platforms to date. With so many users, there are plenty of opportunities for brands to create viral content that captures the attention of their target audiences. But a billion monthly users also leads to stiff competition, so it’s important to use hashtags to bolster your content and help it stand out.

If you’re worried about finding the right hashtag for your content, don’t worry! I’ve put together a list of 100 of the best hashtags for TikTok videos. No matter the kind of content you’re creating, these will help guide you in the right direction.

What are the best hashtags for TikTok?

The Best Hashtags for TikTok to Go Viral

Hashtags for Funny Content

Hashtags for Relationship Content

Hashtags for Family Content

Hashtags for Entertainment Content

Hashtags for Pet Content

Hashtags for Food Content

Hashtags for Motivational Content

Hashtags for Beauty Content

Hashtags for Health and Wellness Content

What are the best hashtags for TikTok?

The best hashtags for your soon-to-be viral TikTok video depend largely on the kind of content you’re uploading. However, there are some general hashtags that generate millions (even billions) of views and are vague enough to work with almost any kind of video. The hashtags are:

#viral

#fyp (short for For You Page)

#tiktok

#viraltiktok

#trending

#trendchallenge

#trend

#follow

#viralsound

#repost

Pro Tip: General hashtags like the ones above are great for most videos and topics, but you should also use more specific hashtags that correspond with the content you’re putting out.

The Best Hashtags for TikTok to Go Viral

To find the best hashtags to make your video go viral, check out content from other TikTok creators in your niche to see what they’re using. You can also search keywords and hashtags in the app’s search bar to find hashtags with the most views.

To make finding the right hashtag easier, here are hashtags that gain up to billions of views. Even better — they’re divided by category

Hashtags for Funny Content

#standup (meaning standup comedy)

#standupcomedy

#meme

#memes

#fun

#comedy

#lol

#humor

#funny

#satire

Pro Tip: Use your name as a hashtag and use other hashtags that correspond with the topic of your comedy. For example, the comedy page @donttellcomedy posted a clip of standup comedian Amy Silverberg sharing a story about teaching poetry to her students. Her name is included in the hashtags as #amysilverberg, and other hashtags include #poetry, #englishteacher, and #education.

Using your name as a hashtag, regardless of the content you post, can make it easier for people to find your work on TikTok.

Hashtags for Relationship Content

#relationships

#relationshipgoals

#relationshiptiktok

#dating

#datingtips

#friendshipgoal

#friendship

#couple

#couplesgoals

#couplesoftiktok

Pro Tip: If you and your loved ones go to an event or famous place, include that in your hashtags. For example, the video below says a trip to the zoo is an excellent idea for a first date, and it includes #zoo among other hashtags like #relationship and #date.

Hashtags for Family Content

#family

#familygoals

#familyfun

#familyfitness

#familydinner

#parenting

#parentinghumor

#parentingtips

#parentinghacks

#gentleparenting

Pro Tip: Many famous families on TikTok will create hashtags with their last names. For instance, @nnatalieaguilar is a popular TikTok content creator with 5 million followers on the app. She regularly posts videos about her family and always includes #theaguilars in all of her family-related posts.

 

Hashtags for Entertainment Content

#entertainment

#popculture

#popculturenews

#music

#comics

#booktok

#books

#film

#filmtok

#anime

Pro Tip: Entertainment is a broad niche ranging from books to films to music to comics to anime. The above hashtags are great starters that get up to billions of views, but to hit your target audience you should research other hashtags that are more specific to your niche. For example, many comic book-related content creators on the app use hashtags like #dccomics or #marvel to reach comic book fans.

Hashtags for Pet Content

#pet

#PetsOfTikTok

#pets

#petchallenge

#CatsofTikTok

#DogsofTikTok

#furbabies

#catmom

#dogmom

#animals

Pro Tip: If you have an unconventional pet, like a chinchilla, for example, look for other quirky pet owners on TikTok and see what hashtags they are using. Those hashtags may not be as popular as #PetsofTikTok, but they will help you find your niche on the app and connect with viewers looking for your kind of video.

For example, #chinchillasoftiktok doesn’t get as many views as other pet hashtags. However, it still has over 51.4 million views on the app and is widely used by chinchilla owners and enthusiasts.

 

Hashtags for Food Content

#Food

#FoodTok

#foodchallenge

#foodlovers

#FoodHacks

#Foodie

#Foodies

#tiktokfoodie

#foodietiktok

#yum

Pro Tip: Be sure to tag any restaurants or brands behind the food you’re showing in your content. This can encourage the restaurant or brand to repost your TikTok, leading to more views. If you’re cooking a particular dish, make that into a hashtag as well. For example, if you’re making sushi, include #sushi in your post.

Hashtags for Motivational Content

#Motivation

#motivationalquotes

#motivational

#motivationalvideo

#motivationalspeech

#motivationalclip

#mondaymotivation

#MotivationMonday

#motivationmusic

#motivationalbooks

Pro Tip: If you’re sharing a clip of someone else’s motivational video, speech, or content, make sure to tag that person. It’s good manners (you should always give people proper credit), and that person will be more likely to share or bring attention to the video.

Hashtags for Beauty Content

#beauty

#BeautyTutorial

#BeautyHacks

#BeautyRoutine

#BeautyTips

#Makeup

#MakeupTutorial

#MakeupHacks

#MakeupRoutine

#SkinCare

Pro Tip: Tag the brands you’re using in your beauty content and include them in hashtags as well.

Hashtags for Health and Wellness Content

#health

#Healthy

#HealthyLiving

#healthtips

#healthfood

#healthandwellness

#FitnessMotivation

#Fitness

#MentalHealth

#MentalHealthMatters

Pro Tip: Create a health or fitness challenge and a hashtag to promote it. For example, if your challenge is to do 50 squats a day, a good hashtag could be #50SquatsaDayChallenge.

It seems like there’s a new viral TikTok video popping up almost every day, so there’s no reason your video can’t be the next one. Now that you know the best hashtags to use and how to find the right ones for your video, you’re one step closer to going viral on TikTok.

Remember a few years ago when Instagram launched a Snapchat-like feature to its app? More recently, the brand announced that it will shift to a video-first approach, presumably to compete against short-form video platform TikTok.

Well, today, Instagram is reportedly testing a feature that’s eerily close to the trending platform BeReal. In this article, we’ll talk about what this could mean for marketers.

Is Instagram Becoming a BeReal Copycat?

Before we get into Instagram, here’s a quick refresher on BeReal.

This social media app has been around for a few years but it only took off this year. The app has been labeled the anti-Instagram – encouraging users to strip away the filters and the glitz, and be more authentic.

Here’s how it works: The app uses a dual camera feature – front and back cameras – and at a random time throughout the day, users will be prompted to take a photo in their current environment within two minutes. They can’t upload a picture, it has to be taken from the camera.

Then, once you’ve shared, you’re able to see your friends’ posts who were prompted at the same time.

BeReal’s ad reads “No filters. No likes. No followers. No bullsh*t. No ads. Just your friends, for real.”

The shade toward Instagram isn’t exactly subtle but it does reflect a critique many users have made, including influencers like Kylie Jenner.

There’s even a change.org petition with over 300,000 signatures titled “Make Instagram Instagram Again.”

Instagram has seemingly responded by testing a BeReal-like feature – among other ones. In July, the platform introduced “Dual,” which allows users to post content using both the front and back cameras.

in an apparent attempt to copy the popular app BeReal, Instagram is rolling out its own feature (called ‘Dual’) to take disappearing photos using the front and back cameras simultaneously

left is IG stories, right is BeReal pic.twitter.com/TuOeR3N0PE

— paris martineau (@parismartineau)
July 28, 2022

At this point, the only similarity was the camera aspect.

However, a few weeks later, developer Alessandro Paluzzi discovered that Instagram was testing “Candid Challenges,” a feature using Dual that would also have a timed component prompting users to share on their Story. Sound familiar?

Instagram confirmed this in a brief statement, saying that it’s an internal prototype with no external testing currently.

#Instagram is working on IG Candid Challenges, a feature inspired by @BeReal_App 👀

ℹ️ Add other’s IG Candid to your story tray. And everyday at a different time, get a notification to capture and share a Photo in 2 Minutes. pic.twitter.com/caTCgUPtEV

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a)
August 22, 2022

Should marketers care about Instagram taking on BeReal?

The short answer is it’s still too early to tell.

The first reason is that it’s still not clear whether BeReal is a suitable platform for brands. As it stands, BeReal doesn’t have many (if any) brand-friendly tools.

With Instagram potentially adopting BeReal features, this could give the app the freshness and authenticity it’s been missing lately.

This is good news for brands, as they could continue building on Instagram without having to adjust to and grow on a new platform.

One TechCrunch article suggests that BeReal is still very much in its infancy phase, struggling with glitches that impact the user experience.

While BeReal could threaten Instagram’s dominance, it’s not quite there yet.

For now, it’s worth keeping an eye on both platforms to see how their features evolve and user sentiment along with them.