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Remember when social media was all about keeping up with your friends and family?

For better or worse, those days are gone as more social platforms are now focused on keeping you connected with an endless stream of products you can buy without even leaving the app.

In other words, social media is the next frontier of e-commerce, and DMs are the future of customer service.

That’s the bold claim we made after running our survey of 500+ Instagram marketers earlier this year — but Instagram recently announced a big change confirming our theory.  

In July, Instagram revealed that the app will let shoppers place and track orders directly in their DMs.

What Instagram’s DM Shopping Feature Looks Like

Instagram’s new DM features are similar to the messaging features of WhatsApp payments. Rather than going to a brand’s online retail store or Facebook/Instagram Shop, prospective customers can now shop and search for products with help from brand representatives on messenger.

Meta’s announcement notes that businesses that enable the feature can:

• Chat with customers in real-time to answer questions and confirm purchase details.
• Create a payment request with item description and price.
• Request and collect payment.

Below is a preview of what this messaging feature looks like:

Source

Why This Could be Big for Businesses

Why is this a big deal? For starters, our Instagram Marketing Trends Report shows that using the app’s shopping tools and leveraging DMs for customer service are the highest ROI strategies on the platform.

But while these tools may be working for marketers, are people actually buying products on Instagram and turning to DMs for customer service?

The results of another recent consumer trends survey we ran might surprise you:

• 28% of social media users age 18-34 have bought a product directly in a social media app in the past three months

• 1 in 4 people age 18-24 have used social media DMs for customer service in the past three months
• 33% of social media users age 18-24 have bought a product based on an influencer’s recommendation in the past three months
• Social media is Gen Z’s preferred channel for discovering new products. 57% of Gen Z have discovered a new product on social media in the past three months
• Social media is also Millennials preferred channel for discovering new products. 1 in 2 Millennials have discovered a new product on social media in the past three months

While this data isn’t specific to Instagram, the app is currently at the forefront of the shift into e-commerce happening across social media platforms. YouTube just announced integrations with Shopify and Twitter is testing new shopping features, but Instagram seems to be slightly ahead of the curve.

That’s why Instagram is currently the best social media platform for selling products online. We even published a guide to Instagram’s various social media shopping tools and which perform best, based on our survey of 580+ Instagram marketers.

What’s Next for Social Shopping?

Social shopping isn’t necessarily new, but it’s being implemented and adopted in real-time by both consumers and marketers. Looking forward, we can confidently say that you’ll see Instagram continue embracing the shopping experience, and other social channels will likely follow suit.

When it comes to how marketers and consumers will interact with these shopping tools, it’s too early to tell. While social shopping shows huge potential based on our data, users might flee social media platforms as they become less about connecting us with the people we know and more about selling products.

Regardless, Gen Z and Millennials spend around four hours a day on social media, and social media is their preferred way of discovering new products, so there’s no better way to reach them.

As social selling evolves, we’ll be running our consumer trends survey bi-annually to keep track of how quickly social media users embrace these changes and keep surveying social media marketers to see if using these social shopping tools remains a top strategy.

In 2022, video is more important to consumers than ever before.

Each day, we stream our favorite shows, watch YouTube videos to learn something new, or follow events, Q&As, and interviews via live video.

While video isn’t going anywhere, it’s always expanding, changing, and evolving to fit consumer preferences and new platforms — and marketers must keep up.

Here, we’ll highlight five research-backed ways video consumption habits are changing and how marketers can respond strategically.

How Video Consumption is Changing in 2022

1. Increasingly, consumers are relying on marketing videos from brands.

In the past, consumers would visit websites, look at online reviews, watch commercials, and maybe watch a few YouTube videos to learn about a product. Now, with video being accessible on every major social media network, they are learning to rely more heavily on this type of content in their research phase.

According to HubSpot Blogs research, 66% of consumers have watched video content (i.e., product demos, reviews, FAQs, unboxings, etc.) to learn about a brand or product.

The trend is clear: in 2022, consumers increasingly expect to see video content from brands. Why? Videos give consumers the opportunity to see how a product or service works in real life, discover any flaws before purchasing the item, and identify perks that they might not learn about in the text-based description.

Further, this content might also appear to be more authentic than a heavily edited product shot, which can boost a consumer’s trust in a brand or offering. 

2. Escapism is the name of the game.

In the past, older generations might have turned on their favorite TV sitcom or gone to the movies to escape from the stresses of daily life. While the platforms have changed, the need for relaxing or entertaining content hasn’t.

According to HubSpot Blogs research, consumers say they primarily watch videos to “help me relax and unwind.” Additionally, people cited, “To laugh or be entertained,” as the second most common reason.

Even if you’re creating informative marketing videos, you should consider experimenting with funny anecdotes or adding other entertaining qualities. Interested in adding fun elements to your next marketing video? Get inspired by major brands that effectively used humor in their marketing.

3. Consumers lean into their passions.

Aside from looking for escapism, YouTube viewers are motivated to watch content that teaches them new things, especially when related to their passions, interests, hobbies, or social causes. In fact, according to HubSpot Blogs research, 13% of consumers watch videos to “explore an interest or passion,” while 11% want to “learn something new.”

Odds are your product relates to someone’s interests, hobbies, passions, or career. This is the type of person you’ll want to watch and enjoy your videos.

Creating a buyer persona and target audience around this type of person will help you identify video topics that they’ll value, benefit from, and remember..

4. Production quality is becoming more important. 

36% of consumers feel production value is “somewhat important,” while 28% feel it’s “very important.” But fear not — this doesn’t mean you need to rent a high-priced studio or enlist A-list celebs. 

Instead, there are plenty of ways to produce an affordable video with solid quality from any home or workspace. And remember, oftentimes the success of a video relies on the value it provides. In other words, fancy lighting alone won’t cut it.

Additionally, video software like Vidyard, Bonjoro, and TwentyThree make it easy to record and send short video messages – like pitches, welcome videos, and more — to customers without needing a Hollywood budget.

5. Consumers prefer shorter videos.

Thanks to the rise of TikTok — and the wave of short-form content that followed — consumers are seeking quick, snappy videos. Specifically, videos under three minutes fall into a sweet spot.

If you’re new to video, starting with short-form videos can help you get your feet wet — and tell you what resonates with your audience. 

You also need to set the right pace for your video content. Before you put a marketing video online, re-watch it from the point-of-view of a somewhat busy consumer. Then, ask yourself, “Does this video pull viewers into the action quickly and keep their attention?”

If you’re worried that parts of your video seem dull, you might want to shorten it. But, if your team thinks it’s entertaining or informative the entire time, you can experiment with publishing your longer-form video and learning from its results.

Navigating Video in 2022

With each new generation, the video world will continue to evolve.

However, at this point, the video landscape is changing in favor of marketers. Not only do consumers prefer to learn about brands via video content, but they use it as a necessary tool in the information-gathering phase of their buyer’s journey.

Additionally, the vast majority of video consumers now strive to learn something new about an interest or hobby, rather than just using video to entertain themselves. This means marketers can harness educational videos in their strategy and offer consumers content that relates to their niche, while also marketing a brand or product.

Back to You

Video isn’t going anywhere, but it is always expanding, changing, and evolving to fit new consumer needs and new platforms.

As this content continues to evolve with each new generation, marketers should continue researching video consumers’ interests, hobbies, and behaviors.

The line between marketing and digital marketing has blurred. Offline marketing was once considered “traditional” compared to online or digital marketing. However, with many tactics living in the digital sphere, marketing changes as fast as technology does.

Traditional marketing, which ranges from radio ads to billboards and magazine spreads, simply adjusted to the new era. Radio ads became podcast sponsorships, billboards turned into web banners, and magazine spreads changed from ink on paper to pixels on a screen.

The benefits of this digital transformation are countless. The ability to target the right audience and engage them into action – subscribe, consume, or buy, are just a few examples.

Digital Marketing Specialties Are Endless

Inevitably, as with any constantly evolving field, specializations change. Today, being a digital marketer is only the beginning. Once you are familiar with the basics, you can find your specialty and niche.

Based on your interests and strengths, you can develop niche specialties like SEO, content strategy, or performance marketing. Within those specialties, you can become an expert in SEO for real estate platforms, a pharmaceutical content strategist, or an e-commerce performance marketer. Each specialty requires knowledge of different platforms and tools and familiarity with various technologies.

If you’re looking for flexibility, a career in digital marketing is a great choice. LinkedIn’s 2022 Marketing Jobs report shows a 121% YOY increase in a remote marketing job share with the most in-demand occupations in digital marketing and social media.

Where do I start?

With so much information and learning opportunities available online, candidates can gain in-demand skills and gain experience even without a formal education.

Deciding where to start can be difficult. While any updated knowledge that comes from a reliable source is valuable, a helpful rule of thumb is to look for an accredited source. Having a brand name behind the course or certificate not only promises a nice detail to add to your resume but also that the knowledge and skills you learn will be valuable and, hopefully, profitable.

Get A Certificate

A good place to start is the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate. This certification does not require any previous experience, and with less than 10 hours of learning a week, you can become job-ready for a role in one of the most in-demand industries. In fact, this certificate is endorsed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) and the American Advertising Federation (AAF).

This certificate’s curriculum is extensive and includes everything from digital marketing and e-commerce foundations to marketing analytics and measurement. One of the things that makes this certificate so valuable is that you’re not only learning the theory but also getting the opportunity to practice while following the course. For example, as part of the certificate program, you will set up automated email campaigns on HubSpot, and design a mock e-commerce store using Shopify.

This is also one of the few courses out there that don’t just teach you digital marketing, it also provides you with the tools to specialize in e-commerce marketing management.

Why should you specialize in e-commerce marketing?

According to Fit Small Business, as of 2022 over 263 million American consumers shop online. That’s 80% of the population. It would be safe to assume that some of those shoppers are finding their way to online stores simply because they know what they are looking for, but in most cases, the funnel starts way before.

In 2021 alone, retail e-commerce sales were worth about 4.9 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide and this figure is expected to reach 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025.

E-commerce marketing can be considered a combination of marketing and sales. You’re not only advertising and engaging with potential customers, but you’re also encouraging them to make a purchase. As a digital marketer specializing in e-commerce, you will conduct marketing research, analyze traffic, and set up email marketing campaigns. In addition, you’ll design online stores, write product descriptions, and track store performance, to optimize conversion.

Working in e-commerce means you’ll be doing everything from driving traffic to online stores to converting that traffic into paying customers and retaining them using inbound marketing methodologies – attracting, engaging, and delighting people to grow a business that provides value and builds trust.

One of the distinguishing factors of the Google certificate in digital marketing and e-commerce is that it sets you up for your job search. Once you complete the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate, you will have the opportunity to connect with over 150 employers that are currently hiring. More details can be found here.

With roughly 15 million active content creators on YouTube, it feels like almost everyone has a YouTube channel these days — so how can you make your channel stand out from the rest Fortunately, there are always new viral challenges that can help you find your audience, boost your engagement, and showcase your unique personality as a content creator.

Some challenges can be done on your own and a few will need involvement from friends, family, or partners, but many challenges are interesting and fun to complete. Here are some of my favorites:

YouTube Challenges You Can Do Alone

Things Only 1% of People Can Do

Good Things Challenge

Surviving on a Penny Challenge

Buying the First Five Things You See Recommended in Ads

YouTube Challenges You Can Do With Friends or Family

Who Wore It Better

Whisper Challenge

Best Friend Challenge

Who Knows Me Better? Partner or Best Friend?

YouTube Challenges to Do as a Couple

Extreme Couple vs Couple Challenge

Spend 24 Hours Handcuffed Together

Wheel of Dares

Best YouTube Challenges

The best YouTube challenges are entertaining and simple enough that almost anyone can participate. Whether it’s trying a new look, completing DIY projects in record timing, or asking your loved ones silly questions, the challenges I’ve listed are straightforward for most people to do. So at the end of each challenge, don’t be afraid to ask your audience to try it themselves and tag your account. This can boost engagement and raise awareness for your channel.

Of course, safety should always be a priority, so don’t do anything that can put you, your loved ones, or any participants in danger. Viral numbers should never be put ahead of well-being. With that in mind, here are the best challenges you can complete to bring views to your channel.

YouTube Challenges You Can Do Alone

If you don’t have time to gather some of your favorite people to participate, these challenges are easy to do by yourself:

1. Things Only 1% of People Can Do

Can you lick your elbow or touch your nose with your tongue? According to this challenge, only 1% of people can. Why not test yourself and try to do the nearly impossible on your own? Just remember — safety first! Once again, do not do anything that can put you in harm’s way.

What We Like: The challenge is a simple but effective way to share your hidden talents with your audience — or discover talents you never knew you had!

2. Good Things Challenge

To complete this challenge, film yourself doing at least one act of kindness. It could be working at a charity, volunteering at a shelter, helping a person in need, or anything charitable that benefits your community. Afterward, you can nominate another content creator or your audience to do the same and tag your channel.

What We Like: Content creators sometimes get a bad reputation for being self-involved, but this challenge proves it’s possible to use your platform to promote positivity and giving back to the community.

3. Surviving on a Penny Challenge

In this challenge, you start with just one penny. You then have to increase your money by as much as possible in a given amount of time. In Trahan’s case, he started with one penny before trading that penny for a pen and trading the pen for a dollar. He then used the dollar to buy a bottle of water and then sold the water for $2. This constant trade up went on for 30 days.

What We Like: This can push you as a content creator to be clever and creative in how you live off just one penny. It will also be entertaining for the audience to see your journey from having nothing to gaining more items and wealth over time.

4. Buy the First 5 Things You See Recommended in Ads

We’re constantly bombarded with ads everywhere we go online, so why not use it to our advantage? YouTuber Safiya Nygaard did this by buying and testing the first five products she saw in TikTok ads.

What We Like: We’ve always wondered if the products we see in ads actually work. You may find yourself with interesting items that make your life easier and you’ll help your audience discover products they may enjoy. At very least, you’ll help them steer away from products that aren’t worth the investment.

YouTube Challenges You Can Do With Friends and Family

Do you have a best friend with an eccentric personality? Or maybe an aunt who has the most hilarious reaction to everything? These challenges are a great way to get your loved ones involved and to let their personalities shine.

5. Who Wore It Better

In this challenge, you and one other person would wear the same outfit or clothing items and see who wore it best. This challenge is popular among sibling content creators — particularly twins — but can be done with anyone.

 

What We Like: This challenge can be customized to make it more unique to your channel. For example, instead of seeing who wore an outfit better, you and a friend can see who can rock a certain style better — like goth, punk, or bohemian.

6. Whisper Challenge

The whisper challenge consists of one person listening to loud music via headphones and another person reading a random phrase. They could whisper the phrase or say it out loud so long as the headphones are too loud for the other person to hear them. The person with the headphones has to guess what’s being said.

What We Like: The challenge is very simple and doesn’t require you or anyone else to buy anything. As long as you have something to read off of and working headphones, you’re good to go.

7. Best Friend Challenge

How well do you really know your best friend? This challenge puts your friendship to the test by having you and your friend ask each other questions and guessing each other’s answers. It’s a popular challenge used in celebrity interviews and its popularity doesn’t look like it’ll wane anytime soon.

What We Like: This challenge allows your audience to get to know you a little better. Questions about your favorite hobby, music, or food are very common in challenges like this.

8. Who Knows Me Better? Partner or Best Friend?

In this challenge you ask your significant other and your best friend a series of questions about yourself to see who knows you best. This challenge is very simple and can be modified to make it stand out from other videos. For example, YouTuber Daniel Gizmo modified the challenge to include a shopping trip to Target where Gizmo and his girlfriend’s best friend were tasked with finding the perfect gift.

 

What We Like: As I said earlier, it’s a very simple challenge to modify to make it more your own. You can challenge your partner and best friend to create an outfit you’ll like, buy you the perfect gift, or just stick to the simple question-and-answer format. The possibilities are endless.

YouTube Challenges To Do As a Couple

Speaking of partners, there are plenty of YouTube challenges you and your significant other can complete together. Here are a few of my favorites:

9. Couple vs Couple Challenge

Think of this challenge as a double date mixed with a bit of competition. Couple vs couple challenges simply mean you and your partner compete against another couple. The competition can involve trivia, battles of strength, or whatever you want. As long as everyone is having fun, it’s sure to be entertaining.

What We Like: You, your partner, and another couple can get creative with the kinds of challenges you include. From extreme yoga to pop culture trivia to DIY projects — any task can be used to modify this challenge to your liking.

10. Spend 24 Hours Handcuffed Together

The challenge is simple — you and your partner will spend 24 hours handcuffed to each other and will have to find a way to go about your day as normally as possible.

What We Like: Handcuff challenges have been popular among content creators for years and for good reason. It’s hilarious to watch couples try to have a normal day and complete simple tasks while stuck together.

11. Wheel of Dares

In this challenge, couples take turns spinning a wheel that dictates the dares they have to complete. You can either make the wheel yourself with dares of your choice or you can find one online. Just remember to be safe and not complete any dares that can put you or others in danger.

What We Like: This challenge is very spontaneous since the dares are assigned at random, making the game entertaining for the participants as well as the audience. You can modify the game to only be between you and your partner, or you can bring on more couples for added fun.

No matter what challenge you choose, just make sure you’re having fun. Your audience will enjoy seeing you and your loved ones laughing and being creative with the challenges. YouTube challenges are an excellent way to let your personality shine, expand your audience, and spread joy through your content.

Last summer, as physical businesses began to reopen, analysts predicted one of the largest summer slumps we’d ever seen.

And, when analyzing over 130,000 businesses, we certainly saw dips in engagement and conversion that affected some industries more than others.

This year, we’ve seen a lot more of the economy open back up. But, unfortunately, businesses have still worried about which direction they’re going due to the rising costs of inflation and continued economic uncertainties. At this point, many business owners could be asking, “How do I stack up to others in my industry?”

To help you, we collected data from more than 150,000 businesses to see how web traffic, conversions, and inbound leads were trending up or down MoM and YoY in July.

Here’s what we learned:

Editor’s Note: These insights are based on data aggregated from 150,000+ HubSpot customers globally between July 2021 and July 2022. Note: Because the data is aggregated from HubSpot customers’ businesses, please keep in mind that the performance of individual businesses, including HubSpot’s, might differ based on their own markets, customer base, industry, geography, stage, and/or other factors.

Overall Outlook

While some businesses are seeing heavier dips in traffic MoM and YoY, they’re still increasing performance YoY when it comes to Inbound Leads and Web Conversions. This shows that while we might be seeing signs of online seasonality, business could still be increasing from 2021 when COVID-19 still played a major role in economic uncertainty.

Next, let’s dive into some more specific metrics.

Inbound Leads

Overall inbound leads were down 1.68% MoM, but up 14.04% YoY in July. So while companies might be seeing a bit of seasonality, they might not need to call it a summer slump just yet.

Noted in the chart below, three MoM and YoY increases worth noting were in Financial Activities (12.4% MoM and 23.22% YoY), Leisure and Hospitality (11.46% MoM and 20.41% YoY), and Education and Health Services (8.27% MoM and 9.26% YoY)

While Leisure and Hospitality’s growth is not too surprising given the opening of economies and the summer months, there seems to be a lot more interest in Financial Activities as well as Education and Health Services.

But where do these leads come from? Two common areas businesses gain conversions and contacts from are their website and email marketing strategies. So, let’s dive in and see how different industries compared in July.

Website Traffic and Conversion Rate Trends

Across industries, July web traffic was down 5.2% month over month (MOM) and 11.44% year over year (YOY). This trend was seen across all industries.

While it isn’t uncommon to see lower web traffic in the summer (a theme we saw last year), the 11.44% annual drop across all industries is quite interesting as more and more people are connected to the internet, have web-enabled mobile devices, and even have multiple social media accounts. Although this dip could be due to even more time outside of the house than in 2020 and 2021, we’ll have to continue watching these themes to gain more context.

While you don’t necessarily need to panic if your traffic is dipping this summer, you should still take steps to optimize the web content and URLs you have. Here’s a data-driven report on how web managers around the U.S. track and optimize site traffic.

The good news? Overall contact conversion rates were up 3.76% MOM and 8.89% YOY in July. While this is good news for those involved in web conversion optimization, you should still take this data with a grain of salt as conversion rates can go up when traffic dips down.

Two industries that did not see a monthly increase in contact conversion rates were:

• Technology, Information, and Media: down 1.45% MOM
• Trade, Transportation, and Utilities: down 2.49% MOM

These data points aren’t super shocking as these industries have been historically susceptible to summer slumps and economic uncertainty. If you’re a marketer in one of these spaces, it’s important to continue aiming for the highest traffic possible, while still taking dips during the summer with a grain of salt.

Email Engagement Data Trends

Although more and more marketers are leveraging email marketing each day, inbox clutter might be getting lighter for subscribers this summer.

In July, most industries sent 5.61% fewer emails than in the previous month. But, in the scheme of things, email seems like a more active channel with 19.26% more sends year over year.

Email Send Changes by Industry
Industry	MOM	YOY
Construction	5.89% increase	24.57% increase
Education and Health Services	4.27% decrease	7.25% increase
Financial Activities	0.11% increase	28.74% increase
Leisure and Hospitality	1.8% increase	12.87% increase
Manufacturing	9.25% decrease	21.69% increase
Other Services (except Public Administration)	5.69% decrease	11.9% increase
Professional and Business Services	13.59% decrease	14.48% increase
Technology, Information and Media	8.38% decrease	1.77% decrease
Trade, Transportation and Utilities	7.95% decrease	1.49% decrease

Along with the number of emails sent MoM, nearly all industries saw a MoM open rate decrease in July, Leisure and Hospitality (up 1.42% MoM), Manufacturing (up 2.6% MoM), and Professional and Business Services (up 1.51% MoM).

This data could demonstrate that businesses are increasingly investing in email, but are adapting to send fewer emails during summer when engagement could be lower.

If you’re noticing dips in summer engagement and aiming to create an email cadence that works for your brand, without encouraging unsubscribes, check out this guide.

For email data and best practices directly from email marketers, read this post with even more original HubSpot Research.

More Resources and Research

Want to learn even more about the latest marketing trends, themes, challenges, and opportunities? Check out our State of Marketing Report below, plus this post which offers you a few of the major highlights we found from more than 1000 marketers.

Every day, we’re on the receiving end of a direct marketing campaign. We just might not know it.

In this article, you’ll learn the benefits of a direct marketing strategy, how it works, and the benefits of leveraging it.

The Benefits of Direct Marketing

There are several key benefits to implementing a direct marketing strategy:

• Personalized messaging: With direct marketing, you can send highly personalized messages to your target market, increasing the likelihood that they’ll take action.
• Increased ROI: Because direct marketing is so targeted and specific, it often has a higher ROI than indirect marketing.
• Measurable: This approach is also measurable, which allow you to gain valuable insights on what worked, what didn’t, and what to do in the future. 

How to Create a Direct Marketing Strategy

Now that you know the benefits of direct marketing, it’s time to learn how to create a direct marketing strategy. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Define your target market.

Creating a direct marketing strategy can be a bit daunting, but step one is always to identify your target market.

This will help you determine what type of medium to use for your campaign as well as what type of message will resonate.

Start by asking yourself who your ideal customer is. What are their demographics? What do they like and dislike? What motivates them?

Keep in mind that your target market shouldn’t be everyone. In fact, the more specific you are, the better your strategy will be as it will resonate with a specific type of consumer.

By narrowing your focus, you can create a stronger connection with your audience and see better results from your marketing efforts.

Once you have a good understanding of your target market, you can start to craft a marketing strategy that will reach them directly.

2. Research your competition.

Once you know who your target market is, it’s time to research your competition. This will give you a good starting point for your own campaign.

See what type of direct marketing campaigns they’re running and what’s working well for them.

What are they doing that’s working well? What could be improved? Understanding their strengths and weaknesses will help you develop a stronger strategy of your own.

From there, you can brainstorm how you can make it better.

3. Choose your direct marketing channels.

When creating a direct marketing strategy, one of the most important steps is to choose the right channels.

There are a variety of options available, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

To make the best choice, you’ll need to consider your target audience, your budget, and your goals.

Some common direct marketing channels include:

• Email
• Social media
• Text messages
• Websites/landing pages
• Print ads (newspapers, magazines)

One popular option is email marketing. This can be an effective way to reach a large number of people quickly and relatively cheaply.

However, it can be difficult to stand out in someone’s inbox, and there’s always the risk that your message will be ignored or deleted.

Another option is direct mail. This can be a more personal way to reach your target audience, and it can be very effective if done correctly.

However, it can be more expensive than other methods, and there’s no guarantee that your message will be seen.

Ultimately, the best way to choose direct marketing channels is to experiment with different options and see what works best for your business.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, so don’t be afraid to try something new.

4. Develop your offer and create your assets.

Your offer is what you’re promoting to your target market. It could be a discount, a free trial, or something else entirely.

Whatever it is, make sure it’s valuable and relevant to your target market.

From there, you can move on to creating your assets.

This is the ad, email, flyer, or other that you’ll be using in your campaign. If there’s no budget to hire a designer, leverage tools like Canva to create a high-quality, on-brand design. 

5. Test, measure, and refine.

Once you’ve launched your direct marketing campaign, it’s important to test, measure, and refine it to ensure maximum effectiveness.

Today, direct marketers now have access to a wealth of data that can be used to measure the success of their campaigns.

By analyzing this data, you can optimize your approach and improve your results.

You’ll want to focus on how many users converted as well as where they dropped off in the conversion path. That could indicate a point of friction that you’ll want to address, like a long form, vague copy, or missing CTA.

Direct Marketing Examples

Here are a few examples of direct marketing in action:

• A postcard in the mail from a company offering a discount on their products.
• An email from an online retailer with a special offer for subscribers.
• A text message from a cell phone company about a new plan.

As you can see, direct marketing can take many different forms. The important thing is to choose the right medium for your target market and offer them something that they’ll find valuable.

If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to reach your target market, direct marketing is a great option.

With a little planning and creativity, you can create a direct marketing campaign that will generate results.

Duplicate data is costly, it skews reports and leads to wasted marketing resources. Here’s how to remove duplicates in Excel spreadsheets:

Let’s run through it with an example!

Note: If you want to see duplicate data before removing them, scroll down to learn how to find and highlight duplicates in Excel. Also, make a copy of your worksheet so you still have your original data if you delete something important.

How to Remove Duplicates in Excel

1. Select the cells you wish to remove duplicates from.

Click on a cell and hold down the left mouse button. Then drag the cursor over the other cells you want to select.

Or, use the Shift + arrow keyboard shortcut to select the range you want.

2. Click on the “Data” tab at the top.

3. Click “Remove Duplicates” to reveal a pop-up.

You should see a pop-up that looks like this:

4. Uncheck any columns with data you want to keep. 

5. Click OK to delete the duplicates.

Excel will keep the first occurrence of the value by default.

How to Highlight Duplicates in Excel

Sometimes, you want to see the duplicate data before you delete it. Here’s how to find duplicate data in Excel:

1. Select the cells you wish to check for duplicates.

Click on a cell and hold down the left mouse button. Then drag the cursor over the other cells you want to select.

Or, use the Shift + arrow keyboard shortcut to select the range you want.

2. Click “Conditional Formatting” from the home tab to reveal a drop-down.

First, navigate to the home tab if you’re on a different tab.

Click on “Conditional Formatting” to reveal a dropdown.

3. Hover over “Highlight Cell Rules”

4. Choose “Duplicate Values” from the options.

5. Pick the formatting option you want and click OK.

You’ll find all duplicates highlighted in the formatting style you choose.

Now you know how to find and remove duplicates in Excel! 

Want more Excel automation hacks? Excel templates are a good place to start. They come pre-formatted with formulas that help you automate projections and more.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in [Month Year] and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Are cover letters necessary? I’m not in HR, but I’ve been approached by applicants who wondered whether their cover letter would actually be read. My answer is one not many of them wanted to hear: “sometimes.” Sometimes it will be read. Other times, you can get away with just sending in your resume — like when you network your way into applying for a position.

The truth is, you can’t really predict on a case-by-case basis — and you’re better safe than sorry. For the most part, having a cover letter will give you an upper hand in ways your resume doesn’t. It allows you to show off your writing skills, provide details that you couldn’t fit on your resume, demonstrate your passion, and show your willingness to put in as much time and effort as possible.

If you’ve ever rolled your eyes or balked at an application that required a cover letter, this guide is for you. We’ll go over how to write a cover letter and provide cover letter templates to help you perfect your own.

Seems fairly basic, right? Cover letters can hold different levels of importance to an employer depending on the industry you’re in and the job you’re applying for. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 49% of recruiters say sendign a cover letter along with your resume boosts your chance of landing the role.

If you do plan to write a cover letter, keep in mind there are certain qualities it should have that are not included in the definition above.

What to Include in a Cover Letter

So, what should you include? We’ll let the 11 templates below this list do most of the talking. No matter which one you download, pay attention to the following elements — all of which should shine through in the letter you send to your future manager.

1. Contact Information

Cover letters shouldn’t just carry your contact information, but also that of the company to which you’re applying. Contact info includes your phone number, email address, and any social media accounts you’re willing to share and receive connections to.

Home addresses aren’t required, but they can be a helpful reassurance to the employer that you already live nearby and would have no trouble coming into the office.

Avoid offering phone numbers, email addresses, or actual addresses that belong to your current employer. Using your personal Gmail address over your work email, for example, ensures your correspondence with recruiters remains separate from all of your current work communication.

2. A Personal Address Line

For as often as you see “to whom it may concern” at the top of cover letters today, do your best to avoid writing this exhausted line.

Address lines that specify a person or company grab your reader’s attention much more quickly, and show the employer that you’ve taken the time to tailor your application letter to them. Don’t have the name of the hiring manager? “Employers at [company name]” will do just fine.

3. A Hook

A “hook” is a clever introduction that “hooks” your reader into wanting to learn more. Think about yourself as a job candidate — what makes you unique? What about your career might a recruiter be intrigued by that you can package into an interesting first sentence?

4. Why You’re Qualified

It’s a no-brainer that you should summarize your professional experience in your cover letter. However, today’s best applications describe why this experience qualifies the applicant for the job they’re applying for. For example, don’t just state that you spent three years writing for a company blog. Explain that this type of work lends itself to managing your new potential employer’s content calendar every week.

5. General Knowledge of the Business

Grammatical errors could mean your application is thrown in the trash, but that’s not the only thing that could get your letter tossed aside. Using a generic “one-size-fits-all” cover letter — especially if you forget to change the name of the company — will also hurt your chances of landing an interview.

So, if you take the time to write a cover letter, take the time to comment on the business itself. Why are you applying to this company? What about their business stuck out to you as a professional?

Now, let’s take a look at an example cover letter, what makes it effective, along with 11 templates you can download or draw inspiration from.

Cover Letter Example

Image Source

The example above illustrates how to write a marketing cover letter using the elements we listed.

Besides the contact information and the address line, the first few paragraphs explain why the candidate is qualified for the position. This example uses specific data to show why they would be a good fit.

Additionally, in the second to last paragraph, the candidate discusses why they’re interested in the specific company, demonstrating general knowledge of the business.

By combining all the elements to a cover letter, this is a great example to use for inspiration.

Featured Resource:5 Professional Cover Letter Templates

Download These Templates for Free

14 Free Cover Letter Templates for Your Next Job Application

Template 1: Basic

Image Source

The example above is a basic (but great) cover letter. The numbered sections are explained in more detail below.

1. Header

The level of formality your header has will depend on the company to which you apply. If you’re applying to a formal business, it’s important to use a formal header to open your cover letter, like in the sample above. Put your address, the date, and the company’s address. But if you’re applying to a company that isn’t as formal, you don’t need to include yours and the company’s addresses. You can still include the date, though.

2. Greeting

Using “To Whom It May Concern” is okay, but you may want to take the time to research the name of the recruiter or hiring manager online. If you do your research and aren’t confident you found the right name, then you should definitely use the generic greeting — but if you are sure, then it shows you put in the effort to find their name and it will catch the recruiter’s eye.

If you have the recruiter’s name, do you greet them by their full name, or by their courtesy title (i.e. Mr., Ms., or Mrs.)? Similar to the header, it depends on the company’s level of formality. If you’re applying to a corporate business, you may want to consider using “Mr. Snaper” instead of “Jon Snaper.” If you’re applying to a start-up or a business with a more casual culture, you can use “Jon Snaper,” as shown in the example.

3. Introduction

Your opening paragraph should, in 1-3 sentences, state why you’re excited to apply and what makes you the perfect candidate. Get right to the point, and don’t worry about explaining where you found the posting or who you know at the company. This isn’t a place to go into detail about why you’re a great candidate — that’s for the second paragraph. Here, simply list a few key reasons in one sentence to set up the rest of your letter. Keep in mind that the recruiter may cross-reference your cover letter with your resume, so make sure the two sync up.

4. Paragraph 2: Why You’re a Great Fit for the Job

Next, sell yourself and your experience by choosing one or two concrete examples that show why you’re a great fit for the position. What did you do at a previous company that gave you relevant experience? Which projects have you worked on that would benefit the new company? How will your prior experience help this company grow? Stay humble in your explanation of credentials while still showing that you would be an asset to the team. Use this paragraph to show you’re genuinely excited and interested in the position.

5. Third Paragraph: Why the Company Is a Great Fit for You

While it’s certainly important you’re a good fit for the job, it’s also important that the company is a good fit for you. “A cover letter typically describes why you’re great for a company — but how will you benefit from getting hired?” asks former HubSpot Team Development Manager Emily MacIntyre. “We want to know why our company appeals to you, and how it will be a mutually beneficial working relationship.”

In the third paragraph, show you’re serious about growing and developing your career at this new company. What impresses and excites you about the company? Is there something that you feel strongly about that aligns with the company’s goals? For example, the candidate in the sample letter used this space to show his personal commitment to environmental causes aligns with the company’s green initiatives.

6. Strong Closer and Signature

Don’t get lazy in the final few sentences of your cover letter — it’s important to finish strong. Be straightforward about your interest and enthusiasm about the new position, and tell them you’re available to talk about the opportunity at any time. Be sure to include your phone number and email address. At this point, the ball is (rightly) in the recruiter’s court to decide how to follow up.

Last but certainly not least, thank them for their time and consideration. Use a formal sign-off like “Best,” “All the best,” or “Sincerely,” and finish by typing out your full name. You don’t need to sign it with a pen.

Template 2: Data-Driven Marketing Cover Letter

Get it here.

When applying to a data-driven position, it might be tempting to inject your cover letter with, well, the data to describe what you’ve done for other employers. But in an application letter — particularly for the marketing industry — how you convey this data is just as important as the data itself.

The cover letter template above, which we created here at HubSpot, can help you present the data that’s most important to you as a candidate such that it’ll matter to your future employer.

Notice the three bullet points near the center of the letter above, preceded by the statement: “… I’ve developed a strategy that has helped the company achieve …” This setup is important, because while you can add as many statistics as you want to this template, your data points should describe how your current/former business benefited from your work, rather than how you, yourself, benefited.

Template 3: Straight-to-the-Point Cover Letter

Get it here.

Harvard Business Review contributor David Silverman hailed the above cover letter example as “The Best Cover Letter I Ever Received.” For context, Silverman believes there are only a handful of times when writing a cover letter is actually necessary:

1. When you know the name of the hiring manager.
2. When you know something about what the job requires.
3. When you’ve been referred to the job personally.

Under those three circumstances, a straight-to-the-point cover letter like the one above could be your best bet. Because it’s so concise, however, make a point to add your own letterhead above the message itself. It might be easy for a recruiter to sift through a short and sweet cover letter like the one above, but it’s just as easy for it to get lost in the shuffle of their application list without a unique design or format.

Template 4: Referral Cover Letter

Get it here.

Just because a friend or colleague recommended you for a job doesn’t mean the company is all set to hire you. Therefore, the cover letter template above is written specifically for referrals. We made this one here at HubSpot. Download it here (it comes with four other cover letter templates, too).

As you can see in the picture above, the first paragraph of the cover letter is dedicated entirely to acknowledging the circumstances of your applying: You know someone who works there — no harm in that. But there might be harm in not mentioning it to the hiring manager. Telling the reader about your connection at the company shows you’re aware and confident of the actions you take to get the opportunities you’re interested in.

Ultimately, it’s better than the recruiter hearing about your employee connection from somebody else.

As for the rest of the cover letter, treat your message the same way you would if you had applied with no connection from within. Your skills and successes are no less important because of your internal referral.

Template 5: Photo Letterhead Cover Letter

Get it here.

The cover letter template above was designed by Microsoft Office, and as comprehensive as it looks, it’s completely free to download and modify.

As it looks right now, this cover letter contains about half photo, half text. Feel free to shrink (and change) the image to give yourself more room to tell your story. Of course, a nice washed-out image that expresses who you are can be part of that story …

Template 6: Digital Creative Cover Letter

Get it here.

This sixth template is perfect for the applicant who wants to emphasize the many different digital channels they areon. This template goes well with a resume of the same format.

As you personalize this letter with your own experience, make note of the social networks and industry software included in this template. You’ll see there’s additional space along the top to add your LinkedIn and personal website to fill with your own information.

You can improve upon this template by formatting your most important highlights and accomplishments with bullet points. This will make the document easier to read for the hiring manager and emphasizes the value you provide.

Template 7: Marketing Manager Cover Letter

Get it here.

Our seventh cover letter comes from Monster.com. This cover letter, shown above, is focused specifically on a marketing role.

Notice how the writer includes references to important marketing metrics and terminology. If you’re applying to a data-driven role, you might not want to fill the page with a story of your experience in paragraph form, like Template 1 does at the beginning of this article. Instead, consider highlighting three (or four, or five) of your successes that you believe the hiring manager would resonate most with, in bulleted form.

As a marketing professional, breaking up your letter with bulleted details like the ones above shows a respect for the hiring manager’s limited time — a mentality that all marketers must understand when communicating with a brand’s audience.

Template 8: Career Day Follow-Up Cover Letter

Get it here.

This is a unique kind of cover letter from Princeton University.

LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Monster, and Indeed might take the lion’s share of your job searches online, but still some employment opportunities come out of a trade show, job fair, or similar networking event. For those occurrences, you have the follow-up cover letter template above.

This cover letter has everything you need to help an employer recall a conversation you had with him/her at a career fair. As you can see in the second paragraph, the letter is particularly useful to people who are about to graduate college.

Template 9: Logo and Watermarked Cover Letter

Get it here.

Here’s another cover letter template from Microsoft Office. This one has a light touch of color in the design just above the letterhead, but make no mistake — the template caters to any professional looking to make a good first impression on their future employer.

Don’t let the logo space on the top-right of the page confuse you. This can be the logo of the company to which you’re applying — to quickly get the attention of the recruiter — or your own logo. Perhaps you freelance on the side or simply like branding yourself. This cover letter template is meant for customization.

Template 10: Data Scientist Cover Letter

Get it here.

This is our second template from Princeton University. While this is focused on a data scientist role, it is an excellent template to use for students applying to jobs prior to graduation.

The text emphasizes how the applicant’s academic research and projects makes them an ideal candidate for the position. The format is also simple enough to submit as a pdf, as text in an email message or an application text box.

Template 11: Business Cover Letter

Get it here.

The cover letter template above is perfect for entry- and mid-level marketers who want to show a little extra professionalism in their opening note to a potential employer.

The multi-colored header (you can change the color if you wish) shows just the right amount of creativity and can go quite well with a resume of the same style. If you don’t have enough experience to fill the entire page, don’t worry. Feel free to write to a length you think is representative of who you are and what the hiring manager wants to see.

No matter how long your final cover letter is, the above template is your opportunity to show your attention to detail — from your contact information in the top header, to the personalized address line where you can include the name of the hiring manager. Like we said, “to whom it may concern” is pretty outdated, anyway.

Template 12: Entry-Level Cover Letter

Get it here.

The cover letter template above, written by HubSpot, is specifically designed for entry-level applicants.

When you only have a few years experience, it’s important to display how you gained your skills and what you learned from your education or internships. Additionally, it’s important to mention why you want to work at the company you’re applying to.

No matter your experience, the template above will help you decide what skills you want to highlight and flesh out in your cover letter.

You can download it here (it comes with four other cover letter templates, too).

Template 13: Healthcare Cover Letter

Get it here.

What stands out to me in this cover letter is the direct, straight-to-the-point bullet points that reference the job posting. The cover letter, created by The Balance Careers, cuts down on repetition by following the “I have” statement with six bullet points that highlight the applicant’s strengths, including “I have … practical knowledge of creating and implementing care plans” and “I have … a proven track record of compassionate, effective care”.

Additionally, phrases like “I’d love to put my skills to work for your clinic” and “Please contact me at your convenience and let me know how I can help you” focus on what the business will gain as a result of hiring the applicant, rather than what the applicant is looking to gain.

Template 14: Freelance Cover Letter

Get it here.

If you’re looking for freelance work, your biggest goal is to get your strengths across quickly, so busy clients won’t pass by your cover letter entirely. Additionally, if you’re sending out multiple cover letters to different clients, you’ll want to target each one to that client’s unique goals.

For instance, if one client is looking for SEO-optimized content related to marketing, you’ll want to highlight past experience writing marketing content; this will change if, for instance, the client is looking for fitness content.

For this reason, it’s a good idea to structure your cover letter so you start with a) past credentials or references, and b) bullet-point information related to the client’s goal, as shown in the cover letter above.

Template 15: Director Cover Letter

Get it here.

If you’re applying for a Director position, you’ll want to start by explaining how you’ve either successfully handled a similar role in the past, or why you believe you’re qualified and ready to handle new responsibilities for the first time.

In the cover letter above, the candidate does a good job outlining how she succeeded in a leadership role previously: “For the past five years, I have successfully developed and maintained all data systems, including schedules and records for a business employing more than 100 people.”

You’ll want to demonstrate how your skills align with a Director position — both through organization and leadership — and, when possible, where you received recognition for your hard work (i.e. “I earned an award for Most Valuable Administrative Staff Member”).

Write a Winning Cover Letter

Writing a cover letter is easier said than done. Don’t hesitate to spend a lot of time writing and editing it. Or, ask a friend or family member to read it over and give you feedback. If the recruiter does end up reading it, you’ll be thankful you did.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Like many people, I discovered Twitch through my love for video games,watching YouTubers play and review some of my favorites. Most of the YouTubers I watched promoted their Twitch accounts where they would broadcast live play-throughs, and I eventually started to wonder — what is Twitch?

Ultimately, Twitch is a streaming platform, but is there more to it? In this post, we’ll explore what Twitch is and how you might use it to engage with prospects and increase brand awareness.

When you visit Twitch, you’ll see a screen very similar to the image below. The homepage is curated based on previous activity, so while this screen is covered with gaming content, streamers don’t have a limit on what they produce.

What is Twitch Used For?

Twitch is mainly a platform for gamers to watch and perform live play-throughs and commentary. However, there are other programs such as talk shows, cooking shows, sporting events, and gaming conventions that also pop up on the site. Twitch enables fans to connect with streamers, and it allows users to watch content they’re interested in on a platform that supports long-form, live broadcasts. In fact, it’s common for streams to last for an hour or two.

The platform also has its own convention called TwitchCon — a bi-annual event celebrating the streaming industry as well as a chance for the platform’s broadcasters to connect with their fans and peers in person.

Fans can attend sessions led by their favorite streamers and buy branded merchandise from a slew of vendors and event sponsors. For example, Doritos is a proud sponsor of TwitchCon.

Though the streamers produce the content, Twitch has a dedicated fanbase that expands across the globe. To get some perspective on Twitch’s users, we’ll take an in-depth look at Twitch’s primary audience.

Who uses Twitch?

According to research by SimilarWeb, 79.62%% of Twitch’s users are male as of May 2022, and the bulk of the platform’s audience (about 37.11%) are between the ages of 18 and 24 years old.

When SimilarWeb studied the web behavior of Twitch users, they found primary keywords this audience searched for were “video games consoles and accessories,” “games,” “software,” and “news.” From that information, we can infer that the majority of Twitch users are interested in games and the technology needed to play them.

In the same report, it was also noted that 21.41% of traffic comes from the U.S., making it the country with the most representation on the platform — with Germany, Korea, Russia, and France not too far behind.

Though the audience has a large young male presence, that demographic isn’t the entire platform’s user base.Twitch’s most popular female streamer, Pokimane, has 9.2 million followers — making her one of the platform’s top 10 most popular streamers.

Still, as marketers know, those numbers could be an essential part of your target audience.

If, by now, you are mulling over a few ideas about how you can fit Twitch into your marketing efforts, let’s talk about how brands are using Twitch, next.

11 Ways Brands Use Twitch

Brands use Twitch to increase brand awareness, target specific audiences, produce branded streams, and leverage influencer marketing. The site is powered by visual content, so let’s explore some examples to back up these goals.

1. PepsiCo

Tactic: Sponsorship Marketing

To promote a limited time Brisk product, PepsiCo sponsored an off-season video game tournament for the game Rocket League. Company-sponsored tournaments aren’t a new phenomenon, but PepsiCo’s sponsorship allowed the beverage company more control than most other sponsorships.

Ads for Brisk ran throughout the tournament and a Brisk-themed car was released into the game for players to use. Viewers could also cheer for the live commentators to drink Brisk, and the phrase “Take the risk, drink the Brisk” formed organically among participants and became a meme for the brand.

2. EA

Tactic: Micro-Influencer Marketing

Video game company EA teamed up with streamer RoryPlays to promote The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs. The campaign was pretty straightforward — RoryPlays played the game live on Twitch and included an EA logo overlay. She also promoted the game and brand verbally on her platform.

It’s snowing at EA Play! Standing here playing #TS4Seasons and it’s AAAMAAAAAAZING!!!

If you’re coming to EA Play, come by @TheSims booth to get HANDS ON Seasons!! pic.twitter.com/LYABmWHDiH

— RoryPlays (She/Her) 🏳️‍🌈 ♿️ (@RoryPlays_)
June 9, 2018

RoryPlays is a micro-influencer with a smaller following of about 14,000 people, but micro-influencers with a smaller following can still pose a huge advantage for brands. That’s because micro-influencers often have a closer relationship with their followers and a more dedicated fanbase. This makes promoting content to their audience much easier. Think about it — that’s 14,000 more people who are aware of the game and how it’s played.

3. The Hershey Company

Tactic: Influencer Marketing

To promote Reese’s Pieces chocolate bar, Hershey partnered with multiple influencers, like Ninja and DrLupo, who have millions of followers on Twitch. During the campaign, those influencers ran livestreams while tasting the new product.

Through the campaign, millions of people were introduced to the new candy bar via their favorite streamers enjoying the candy live.

4. Lexus

Tactic: Content Marketing

Luxury car maker Lexus partnered with popular video game streamer Fulsie for the company’s “All In” Twitch campaign. During the campaign, 23,000 Twitch users voted on how to modify and customize the 2021 Lexus IS sedan. Twitch users wound up designing the ultimate vehicle for gamers and included a 3D-printed controller inside the car as well as gaming consoles.

AHHH I am so excited to reveal the new @Lexus Gamers’ IS that we designed together last month! Lexus took their sport sedan to the next level and built our dream gamers’ IS. Join the stream – I’ll be giving you guys a detailed tour of the car 😀 https://t.co/0e3xBSXNSH #ad pic.twitter.com/I1LPVPtfoZ

— leslie (@fuslie)
February 17, 2021

5. UberEats

Tactic: Influencer Marketing

UberEats partnered with Ninja to offer subscribers a 25% off coupon. The promotion came in the form of a challenge. Every time Ninja “killed” a character in Fortnite, he would win fans 1% off their UberEats order. The catch was that there was a time limit — Ninja could only take part in the challenge from the moment he ordered his food with UberEats until the food arrived at his door.

By the time the challenge was over, Ninja won his fans 25% off their order and the offer had been used to its maximum capacity.

6. 1,000 Dreams Fund

Tactic: Brand Awareness

The 1,000 Dreams Fund is a non-profit devoted to providing 1,000 university women with grants to help them achieve their dreams. The non-profit provides new grants every academic semester, and the people behind 1DF partnered with Twitch to bring the program to streamers.

Through the Twitch partnership, the fund provides financial assistance to female streamers currently attending college. The fund is meant to help with their school expenses. Twitch might provide financial aid for conventions like TwitchCon, conferences, new hardware, or educational programs that are devoted to creative pursuits.

During Women’s History Month, Twitch’s Facebook account ran an ad that supported the fund, bringing awareness to 1DF and what it does for women streamers.

This gave an entirely new audience an introduction to the non-profit. It also showed Twitch’s diverse user base and highlighted a cause the company supports.

7. WildEarth

Tactic: Target Specific Audiences

WildEarth (WE) is a broadcaster that shows the day-to-day lives of animals — led by expert zoologists in Johannesburg, Australia. Recently, the site’s leaders decided to expand their broadcast to Twitch in order to broaden their audience.

The streams are short, which is unusual for Twitch, but makes sense for WildEarth. Content includes a sunrise safari led by expert Lauren, in which she focuses on animals she sees on her drive and provides information about them.

Source

WE is aimed towards younger viewers, so it’s no surprise that broadcasts have expanded to Twitch and YouTube. Some clips even have kid-friendly titles with emojis and current slang to attract these younger viewers.

8. Nissin Noodles

Tactic: Lead Generation

Streamer Pokimane plays mostly role-playing fantasy games. Recently, she partnered with Nissin Foods to produce a branded League of Legends broadcast.

The broadcast featured her making the instant noodles during a stream. To keep the content fun and engaging, Pokimane added a ‘Slurp Meter’ graphic on-screen that measures the volume of her eating her meal.

Source

Nissin’s branded stream has been seen by over 11,000 of Pokimane’s fans. This marketing technique cemented Nissin as a brand associated with her community, showing how their product fits into the gaming lifestyle.

9. PSD Underwear

Tactic: Influencer Marketing

Ninja is one of Twitch’s most-followed streamers with 18.3 million followers. To get those followers interested in their brand, and to celebrate TwitchCon 2018, athletic underwear brand PSD gave the streamer a bus:

Hitting the road and heading to TwitchCon with our newly wrapped @ninja bus! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/AHKDI1ocVC

— PSD Underwear (@PSDunderwear)
October 25, 2018

PSD’s marketing campaign used TwitchCon to build brand awareness with its ‘Ninja Bus’ and corresponding Twitter post.

This partnership is a change for PSD, which usually partners with basketball, football, or wrestling athletes. A video game athlete partnership could be part of a strategy to attract audiences on a different platform. It also shows the flexibility of the product.

10. Indeed

Tactic: Paid Advertising

In a similar practice to Facebook and YouTube, Twitch plays video ads before their streams, also known as pre-roll ads.

This Indeed ad shows a case study about how a Twitch streamer and digital artist used Indeed to connect. The streamer was looking for a designer to make her streams more engaging and found her talent on Indeed, a career search engine.

Source

The ad paints a picture of how gamers, streamers, developers, and creatives can use Indeed to find support for their work on Twitch. It shows how a streamer can leverage Twitch to find talent — and how talent can find work.

11. Wendy’s

Tactic: Lead Generation

Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out in March 2020. Marketers at Wendy’s knew Twitch would be flooded with Animal Crossing streams upon the release, so they decided to capitalize on that.

The campaign is simple: a gameplay broadcast following the Animal Crossing adventures of the store’s mascot Wendy. There are several clips and streams on the account, and most of the titles include “Free Delivery” to remind Twitch users that they don’t have to leave the site to eat Wendy’s.

Source

Notice the extra steps the campaign takes for the branded stream. In the bottom left, there’s an advertisement for free delivery from Postmates and GrubHub. At the top is the title of the campaign, ‘Choppin’ Trees & Free Deliveries,’ as well as the logos of participating brands.

Should your brand leverage Twitch?

Multiple companies use Twitch to promote their brand by catering to a young audience. If your company has a similar goal, then Twitch might be a great asset to you. Twitch is especially useful if you’re looking to leverage influencer marketing. Influencers have a very loyal fanbase and can use their following to expand your audience by endorsing your brand. We saw this with Pokimane’s noodle stream as well as with the collaborations between Ninja and multiple companies.

Another benefit of leveraging Twitch is boosting leads with ads. For example, shampoo brand Head & Shoulders used Twitch to market its new men’s styling creams. This was achieved by partnering with the platform to run a contest in which Twitch users could win 100,000 Bits, which is the site’s virtual currency.

Source

The target audience for this campaign is men, so the team behind the campaign knew they would have an audience on Twitch thanks to its largely male demographic.

Alternatively, if your audience is using Twitch as part of their web behavior, you might look into investing in Twitch content. While you don’t have to create a Twitch account and start uploading numerous streams, you can go the Indeed route and use an ad that relates to Twitch’s users.

For instance, maybe the company you work for sells computers. A great way to leverage Twitch in a product marketing campaign is by making an ad that shows a popular PC game on the platform right now, like League of Legends, and how it works with the computer you’re aiming to sell.

Twitch is an expansive platform where creatives can engage with subjects that interest them. You can leverage Twitch in multiple ways and reach an expansive audience by doing so. As a casual Twitch user, I look forward to seeing what you come up with for your Twitch campaign.

You’ve likely heard of Meta Business Manager, formerly known as Facebook Business Manager. Meta describes this as their tool to “manage ad accounts, Pages, and the people who work on them — all in one place.”

If you haven’t heard of it, or if you don’t know much about it, Meta Business Manager is a valuable tool if you have more than one ad account, if you need to track separate clients’ ads or pages and create reports for them, or if your company uses Facebook for different services related to your business.

In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about Meta (Facebook) Business Manager and how to use it to generate brand awareness on Meta’s social platforms.

Essentially, Facebook Business Manager helps your team stay organized and focused while monitoring, creating, and publishing ads, pages, and other business assets on Facebook.

Here, we’ll delve into how to create a Meta Business Manager account; how to add your business pages, ads, and people; how to use the analytics tools in your account; and how to extract the most value from the ads manager tool.

For the purpose of keeping this article easy to follow, we’re going to assume your business is interested in using Business Manager for your own pages and ads rather than for your client’s pages and ads. We’ll also use the names “Meta Business Manager” and “Facebook Business Manager” interchangeably.

Is Meta Business Manager different from your Facebook account?

While Meta Business Manager isn’t tied to your personal account, you do need a personal Facebook account to use Facebook Business Manager.

Don’t worry. Your personal Facebook account won’t be visible. Facebook Business Manager only shows you your business assets, including ad accounts, pages related to your business, and advertising or social media analytics. It doesn’t have a newsfeed and won’t send you notifications from your personal account.

Setting up your Facebook Business Manager account is simple. The Facebook Business Manager account is a different set-up process than a personal Facebook account. The Business Manager set-up simply requires your business name and email to begin. It’s an easy four-step process that took me approximately two minutes.

Here’s what you do:

1. First, go to business.facebook.com and click the blue “Create Account” button.

To create a new Business Manager account, click the “Create Account” button next to or below the “Log In” button. If you have not already logged in to your Facebook account, you’ll be prompted to log in. You’ll also need your business information ready to enter in the next pop-up screen.

2. Next, fill in your business name and email in the pop-up, and click “Submit.”

You’ll be asked to enter your business name and email on this pop-up screen. Since you are logged in to Facebook already, your name will already be populated in the box.

You’ll want to make sure you are using a business email that your employees recognize, as this is the email you’ll use to invite and assign roles to your employees. Meta does not allow the use of special characters in the business name field, so you’ll want to leave those out.

3. The pop-up screen will then ask you to confirm your email. Go to your inbox and open the email with the subject line, “Confirm your business email.”

After entering your information and submitting it, Meta will ask you to confirm your business email. The pop-up screen will direct you to check your email.

You will see an email that reads, “Confirm your business account.” If you don’t immediately see this email in your inbox, be sure to check your junk, spam, or social folders.

4. Open the email from Facebook and click “Confirm now.”

When you click the “Confirm now” button, a new Meta Business Manager window will open. This window will give you access to your Business Manager account. If it looks intimidating at first glance, don’t worry, Facebook Business Manager is actually pretty intuitive.

Let’s delve into how to add pages and ad accounts to your Business Manager account.

How to Add Facebook Business Pages to Your Meta Business Manager Account

On your Meta Business Manager homepage, you’ll immediately see an Ad Account Performance module. You may need to scroll down to see the Pages module in your Business Account.

1. First, scroll to the Pages module and click “Go to business settings.”

Since your Meta Business Manager is new, you will have to connect your Facebook Pages to your account. To connect a Facebook page to your Meta Business Manager, scroll down to the Pages Module. Then, click the “Go to business settings” button.

2. Click the “Add” button in the new window. In the menu, choose “Add a Page.”

When you click “Go to business settings,” a new window will open. In this window, you will be able to connect your Facebook pages to your Business Manager account. Click the “Add” button to connect a page.

3. In the pop-up screen, type the name of your Facebook Page or enter your URL. Then click the “Add Page” button.

This pop-up screen will prompt you to type your Facebook Page in the bar or paste your Page’s URL. If you type your Page name in the bar, your Page should be the first available option. If not, paste the URL. Once you have selected your Page, click the “Add Page” button.

4. If you see this pop-up with a green checkmark, you’re all set! Your page is successfully added.

That’s it! Now that you’ve successfully added your Page, you’ll be able to see it in your Meta Business Suite portal.

How to Add Your Facebook Ad Accounts

Adding your Facebook ad account is an almost identical process to adding a page, but I’ll walk you through the steps here so you can see them in action.

It’s important to note you can only add one ad account at first, and then you’ll be able to add additional ad accounts once you start spending money in your first ad account.

However, you can’t host more than five ad accounts at any one time.

1. Click the “Ad accounts” link on the side panel of your homepage.

Underneath Business settings, you’ll see the side panel. Click on the “Ad accounts” link to connect your Ad account to your Meta Business Suite.

2. Click the “Add” button. In the pop-up menu, choose “Add an ad account.”

After you click “Add an ad account,” you’ll notice three options. You can add your own account, add someone else’s account, or create a new account. For the purpose of this post, we’ll assume you already have your own ad account for your Facebook Page. To add the ad account, click “Add an ad account.”

3. Enter your “Ad account ID” into the box. When you’re finished, click “Add Ad Account.”

To connect your ad account to your Meta Business Manager, you need your account ID. If you do not know your ID, log into your existing Ads Manager. You should see your ID in the dropdown menu of the search bar. This is the ID you’ll use to connect your account to the Business Manager.

Once you have your ad account ID, enter it into the ad account ID box. Double-check that your ad account ID is the correct account and number sequence. Once you enter your ID and connect it to your Business Manager, you cannot delete it.

How to Add People to Your Business Manager Account

For this example, we’ll focus on adding internal employees to your Business Manager Account, not clients or external advisors.

Adding people to your account is easy, and you can limit the amount of access each employee gets.

Limiting access to “employee only” is helpful if, for instance, you want to assign one employee to handle your Instagram account and monitor those analytics, but then you want another employee on the team to manage your ad accounts and those analytics.

1. First, go to the side panel under Business settings and choose “Users.” In the dropdown menu, select “People.”

To add an employee to your Business Manager, locate the “Users” tab on the side panel of the main screen. Then, select “People.” This will open a new screen.

2. Next, click the blue “Add” button highlighted below.

Adding a user is simple. Click the blue “Add” button to start the process. You’ll need to know the email of the employee you are adding to your Business Manager.

3. Type in an employee’s email address (so Facebook can send them an email with access permissions), and then select “on” for either “Employee access” or “Admin access.” Then, click “Next.”

To add an employee, you’ll need to enter their email address. Before clicking “Next,” decide if you will assign the user to “Employee access” or “Admin access.” Setting a user to “Admin access” will give them complete control of your Business Manager account. To assign additional roles, such as Finance Analyst, Finance Editor, or Developer, click the “Show Advanced Options” button.

4. Assign your employee to any of the assets on the right of the pop-up screen. Click on each asset to assign roles and tasks. Once you are finished, click “Invite.”

Here, you have a couple of different options. You can assign your employee to any of the assets on the right of the pop-up screen (Pages, Ad Accounts, Catalogs, Apps, Pixels, and Instagram Account). If you click on each asset tab, you can assign different tasks and roles for the employee within the asset. For example, under the Pages asset, you may task your employee with content creation or task them with moderating comments.

Once you have assigned roles and tasks for your employee, click “Invite.”

5. Now, your employee has been sent an invitation. Click “Done” or “Add more people.”

Great! You’ve added an employee to your Meta Business Manager account. Make sure your employee knows to check their email and follow the instructions in their email to finish confirming their account. If you are finished adding people to your Business Manager, click “Done.” If you have more employees to add to your account, click “Add more people.”

Ads Manager Tools

Now that we’re all set up, you might be curious about some of the additional benefits of creating an ad inside Business Manager.

When creating an ad in Ads Manager, one of the best advantages (as you’ll soon see) is the ability to create a highly-targeted core demographic group with the “create new audience” feature.

You can choose a gender, age, region, and language to reach and dive into the specific interests you want your audience to share.

Then you’re given estimates based on your audience and budget, like how many people you’re expected to reach daily and how many people will click your link. Those performance metrics are critical when deciding whether to increase or decrease audience size or whether your budget is big enough.

Here’s how to create an ad in Ad Manager:

1. On the side panel of the homepage, click “Ads Manager.”

Under the Meta Business Suite logo, you’ll see the side panel. To access the Ads Manager, click the “Ads Manager” button.

2. To create an ad, click “Create Ad” in the right corner of the screen. Or, click on “Get started.”

If you have not previously created Facebook ads, Facebook will prompt you to start. Click the “Get started” button at the bottom of the screen. Or click “Create Ad” in the right-hand corner of the screen. Both buttons will open the ad creation page.

3. Select your goal.

When creating a Facebook ad, you need to choose a goal for your ad. You can create an automated advertisement, drive traffic to your website, promote your Facebook Page, generate more leads, or create an ad to generate inbound messages. For the purpose of this example, we will choose the goal “Promote your Page.”

4. Next, fill in the details to design your Facebook ad.

To promote your Page with a Facebook ad, you need first to write a description for your ad. Next, click “Edit options” to choose a photo for your ad. You can upload an image or select a photo that you already have linked to your pages. The Ad box will give you an idea of what your ad will look like to your audience.

5. Then, scroll down to create your audience. Click the pencil icon to edit the audience description.

In the pop-up window, scroll down to the “Audience” module. Click the pencil icon in the corner of the module to edit the audience description. Fill out the information according to the audience that you wish to reach. You don’t need to fill out all of the information, but the more information you include, the more likely you’ll reach your target demographic.

6. Once you are finished designing your Facebook ad, enter your payment information and click “Promote now.”

Before clicking “Promote now,” review your ad. If you are happy with your ad, you’ve selected your target audience, and you’ve decided on the timeframe to run your ad, enter your payment information in the Payment Method module. Click “Promote now” to finalize your ad.

7. Congratulations! You have created your first Facebook Ad. To review your ad, click on the Ads Manager tab and click on “All ads.”

The Ads Manager tab is the easiest way to review your ads. Click on “All ads” to see a list of your ads. This tab will provide relevant information and analytics such as reach, impressions, cost per result, and relevance score.

Meta Business Manager Insights

Lastly, here’s a general overview of your “Insights” tab and what the Insights page looks like:

We won’t go too in-depth with analytics, or insights, since it’ll vary drastically depending on your business’s advertising goals, budget, and audience.

However, it’s important to note a few significant components of the Business Manager’s insights to ensure you understand the tool’s most impressive functions.

Hot tip: Check out Meta Business’s advertising information page to learn more about Facebook ad functions, read success stories for industry-specific businesses, and get inspiration and ideas to improve your own ads.

Business Manager Insights Functions You’ll Want to Know About

• Facebook Pixel: If you install Facebook Pixel, your website can reach people with ads on Facebook after they’ve visited your site.
• Split testing: Use A/B testing to figure out which ads lead to the highest conversion rate.
• Conversion lift: Use this tool to ensure your ads are actually generating conversions and sales.
• Mobile SDK: If your business has an app, use Mobile SDK to see what actions people are taking within your app and use that information to improve ad campaigns across devices.
• Brand lift: Find out how your ads are impacting your brand image to optimize ads for better brand awareness.

Use Meta Business Manager to Improve Your Reach on Facebook

Meta Business Manager will help you manage your Facebook presence down to the team members who can access your account. Take advantage of this tool to launch effective ads on Facebook, examine your Facebook strategy, and boost your KPIs across Meta’s social platforms.

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