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32% of Americans participate in the same activity on a monthly basis. Any guesses what it could be?

Over the past few months, we’ve had the privilege to share our work through a few different outlets, including the world’s top blog for content marketing. 

While we’ve shared these publications and features across our social feeds, we wanted to give them some additional love and limelight on our own blog. 

NetLine’s Summer 2022 Content Round-Up

It’s always great whenever you’re given the opportunity to write for another platform. Getting the chance to write and/or be featured on these platforms? Most excellent.

Convince & Convert 

Convince & Convert is one of the top marketing blogs in the entire world, so any chance we have to contribute there is a welcome one. 

Here’s what we’ve shared there in recent weeks.

7 Content Marketing Takeaways From 4.6 Million B2B Downloads

Our annual Content Consumption Report is truly one of the best reports available to B2B marketers. There’s no shortage of behavior-based, buyer-level insights found inside its 60+ pages, and for Convince and Convert we chose seven of the most impactful we could find.

Inside this piece, we feature some of our favorite stats, including:

• How B2B Content Demand Has Increased 9% YOY
• That eBooks Accounted for Nearly Half (43.3%) of All Registrations
• Content Consumption is Up…and So is the Time to Consume It
• Long-form Content Registrations Indicate Greater Purchase Intent

Why You Should Read This Piece

If you’re interested in our annual report but don’t have an hour to dive into all of its nuances, this article is perfect for you and your colleagues. Perhaps the best part of this blog is how each stat flows to the next in a nice, neat narrative. Audiences loved it so much it was one of Convince & Convert’s best-performing pieces in Q2!

How to Inform Your B2B Content Strategy with Real-Time Buyer-Level Insights

When you have access to some of the best data on the web, you want to share it with the people. Powered by our Audience Explorer tool, that’s exactly what our latest Convince & Convert guest blog does. 

We’re all quite familiar with building personas that we believe encapsulate who our audiences are. Additionally, honing in on what your audience craves is critical to constructing any viable content strategy. However, while so many marketing departments have content marketing strategies (CMI reports this figure at 77%), not all strategies are created equal.

Inside this piece, go through, in detail, how to use Audience Explorer and how it can benefit your approach and how you can pinpoint what makes your buyers tick via real-time consumption insights reveal actionable behaviors. 

This is a great breakdown for any B2B marketer and you can expect to learn:

• How to use Audience Explorer
• The 7 key questions of content marketing
• Which portions of your audience is most active
• Which topics are most in demand across your segments
• Which content formats are most likely to capture your audience’s attention

Why You Should Read This Piece

Think of this exercise as performing a modern content gap analysis. While content gap analysis typically surveys which keywords, phrases, and topics you’re missing out on, tools like Audience Explorer and Google Trends, when used together can grant you the kind of macro- and micro-trends occurring within your spheres of relevance.

DivvyHQ

Our friends at DivvyHQ have been quite good to us of late. In the past two weeks alone, their blog has referenced our annual report three separate times on some stellar blogs. 

We’ll also have a guest post being published on the DivvyHQ blog in mid-August!

How to Create a Social Media Content Strategy

When’s the last time you revisited your social strategy? Have you ever applied first-party consumption data to your 

“Like any part of your marketing strategy, your social media content strategy needs to start with your target customers. Creating social media posts that resonate and promise to meet their needs is the quickest way to build trust with likely buyers.

But as a new NetLine report discovered, today’s audiences are busier than ever. Your posts’ titles must cut to the chase, providing enough detail that makes reading your post worth their time. […] Chief among the NetLine report’s suggestions is its advice to simplify your content’s language and structure. When you shorten and tighten your copy, you’re more likely to hold onto your audience until the end.

Start with a title that delivers your post’s key information, the report advises. That information should answer these questions:

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?
• How much?”

See? Those 7 key questions are quite trendy!

Integrated Marketing: How to Get Started (and Keep Going)

“Your subject matter experts would be a natural fit for educational content, such as how-to videos and written guides, as well as walkthrough and explainer videos. A new NetLine report revealed that these types of content, along with “101 content,” ranked highest among B2B buyers.”

The people inside your organization that have expertise in a given area are your greatest assets. Take advantage of their knowledge and familiarity and make it easier for your audience to grasp and apply this information for themselves.

9 Content Marketing Stats That Really Matter in 2022

“7. Research Shows eBooks’ B2B Popularity Is 4.8x That of White Papers

A recent NetLine survey of B2B buyers revealed a surprising statistic. Decision-makers were nearly 5 times more likely to request eBooks than formal white papers. eBooks’ informality and accessibility are likely part of the reasons behind that number. For years, content marketers labored under the assumption that business buyers preferred hard facts over brand stories with some emotion mixed in.”

You’ve heard us discuss the importance of eBooks and White Papers for months now since we unveiled our 2022 report. While eBooks get the top-level attention (and boy do they), it’s important to have a breadth of content formats that can appeal to each job level, role, industry, and stage of the buyer’s journey.

Keep enjoying your summer and we’ll keep working in the background on original research and a number of exciting projects.

Remember when we used to wake up bright and early and commute to the office five days a week?

Thinking back, it feels like a distant memory of a time before Covid-19. But for some workers, the days of rolling out of bed and hopping on a computer from the comfort of home could be coming to an end.

With the pandemic winding down, many companies like Apple and Google are going for a hybrid model, asking employees to come in a few days a week. But others, notably Tesla and Goldman Sachs, are requiring workers to come back to the office full-time.

Despite studies showing that workers are happier — and more productive — when working from home, the possibility of a full return to the office looms over remote and hybrid workers.

But will those employees rush back into the office when asked to? We did our own consumer research to find out.

Will In-Office Work be a Dealbreaker for Employees?

When we asked over 200 remote/hybrid workers if they’d consider leaving their job if forced to go back to the office full-time, 54% say they would look elsewhere.  

Why? Workers Crave Flexibility

We found that flexibility in working remotely, a flexible work schedule, and a healthy work/life balance are among the top reasons remote or hybrid workers stay in their jobs.

In fact, flexibility in working remotely is almost as important as pay:

Who’s Still Working Remotely?

You might also be wondering what percentage of workers are currently remote, fully in-office, or using a hybrid model.

Working on-site is the dominant model, with 40% of employees in the office full-time, while 32% are fully remote and 28% are hybrid.

What Business Leaders and Managers Should Keep in Mind

Of course, some work simply can’t be done remotely, but the pandemic proved that even those jobs could have more flexibility than we thought.

While we can’t predict all the effects of making employees go back to the office full-time, it’s clear that doing so when unnecessary could make many employees consider their exit.

If you’re an employer thinking of requiring a full-time return to the office, make sure to proceed with empathy and patience, transparently explain to your team why the work must be done in office, and consider the possibility that some of your talent could move to another company if they prefer flexibility.

To help your employees transition back to the office, while still retaining a healthy level of work-life balance, you could also consider alternatives like:

• Flexible office and home hours on light meeting weeks.
• A company-wide meeting free day each week (Our HubSpotters love our Meeting-Free Fridays!)
• A few more vacation days in summer or during the winter holidays.
• Extra time off for work anniversaries. (An example of this would be HubSpot’s 5-Year Sabbatical Program)
• Additional family, sickness, or mental health leave options when possible

Lastly, if remote and hybrid work are doable for your marketing department or business, but you or other managers on your team have less experience with a remote workforce — don’t let that hold you back from building great virtual strategies. To learn the ins and outs of remote or dispersed team management, with tips from HubSpot leaders who’ve mastered it, check out this ultimate guide. 

More Insights on Trends That Matter

The data in this article came from our bi-annual trends survey where we asked 1,000 people about topics ranging from the metaverse to shopping habits, online communities, and the great resignation.

To learn all about the key consumer trends that could impact your business or marketing strategy in the next six months, check out our upcoming State of Consumer Trends Report.

Video marketing isn’t “quick.” On average, it takes 2 weeks to create a video from start to finish.

To get the most traction out of your work, it’s essential to pick the best video marketing channels to leverage. However, since most social media channels are pivoting to video, it’s hard to know which ones are worth your time.

Here, we’ll list the best video marketing channels for your long-form, short-form, and live videos — based on ROI, engagement, and lead generation.

Best Channels for Long-Form Video

1. YouTube

In the social media sphere, YouTube feels like a steady ship in choppy water. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to talk about video marketing without mentioning the behemoth that is YouTube.

Launched more than a decade ago, YouTube has kept a competitive edge against new players in the field, like TikTok and Instagram. But it’s not just an entertainment hub — it’s a powerful marketing tool.

According to a HubSpot Blogs report of 500+ video marketers, almost half (48%) of marketers plan to increase their investment in YouTube this year.

Participants also ranked YouTube as the second best platform for ROI. While many marketers find success on YouTube for different reasons, its large user base (2.6 billion active users, to be exact) and advanced ad targeting certainly help.

If you’re looking for the best place to host your long-form videos — like product demos, Q&As, behind-the-scenes content, and more – YouTube may fit the bill.

Check out this article to see how brands are getting creative on YouTube in 2022, plus this guide on YouTube marketing 101.

2. Instagram Video

Video marketing is no small feat — it’s an investment in time, money, and effort. So if you’re looking to get the most bang for your buck, here’s one stat you need to know: 65% of video marketers say Instagram has the best ROI of any other platform.

Here’s more good news: 64% of video marketers say Instagram also has the best engagement and lead generation out of any other social platform. 

All this to say, if you’re looking to engage with your audience, build a community, and nurture brand loyalty with video, Instagram deserves a chance on your marketing roster.

Best Channels for Short-Form Video

1. TikTok

Since launching in 2016, TikTok has seen a meteoric rise, cementing itself as a powerhouse for short-form video while keeping more mature platforms, like YouTube and Facebook, on its toes.

Despite its popularity, some marketers initially dismissed TikTok as a platform for lighthearted dancing and lip-synching — and nothing more. But in 2022, things have changed.

According to a 2022 HubSpot Blogs report of 500+ video marketers, participants ranked short-form videos as the most engaging and effective type of content today — and TikTok is their platform of choice. In fact, 54% of marketers plan to increase their investment in TikTok this year.

When it comes to engagement, TikTok secures third place behind YouTube and Instagram — which is impressive considering its relative “newness.” Also impressive: the average user session on TikTok is 10.85 minutes — far exceeding any other social platform. In short, users are engaged.

TikTok also falls into third place for ROI, closely trailing YouTube and Instagram.

Despite its quirkiness, TikTok has become a viable marketing option for those willing to get creative — and these stats prove it. To learn more about TikTok marketing, check out this helpful guide.

2. IG Reels

Instagram’s answer to TikTok is here, and it’s called Reels. Reels are short videos that users can film, edit, and share on the app.

While you can create short-form content on a number of platforms, Reels has one major advantage: its discoverability. They appear on the platform in various places, from the Explore page to a user’s feed.

Since Reels are heavily promoted on the platform, the feature is almost unavoidable — sometimes to the chagrin of users. In fact, 91% of active Instagram users say they watch videos on Instagram at least once a week.

For marketers, Instagram is a great option if you want to play with multiple content formats — like carousels, Reels, Lives, and Stories — while capturing the attention of an already engaged audience.

Best Channels for Live Video

1. YouTube Live

With its massive user base, reach, and diverse audience, YouTube Live is an appealing option for your streaming needs.

It’s also a great time to get started: YouTube is currently expanding its live stream features, including Super Chats and Super Stickers, membership gifting, and more. These features enable greater engagement with your audience and additional monetization avenues.

YouTube also provides powerful analytics on live videos. Check real-time analytics like concurrent viewers, likes, and chat rates, as well as post-stream stats like new subscribers, total watch time, and more.

2. Instagram Live

Did you know Instagram captures 13% of all live stream viewers on social media? 

With Instagram Live, you can stream from anywhere — and invite guests to join your stream. There’s plenty of opportunity for engagement: viewers can send emojis, write comments, and send donation badges.

Additionally, when you go live on Instagram, your followers receive a notification to tune in so your stream won’t get lost in the crowd — which is more likely to happen on YouTube or Twitch.

3. Facebook Live

Like YouTube, Facebook boasts a massive audience spanning multiple age groups, although Millennials take up the largest share.

Facebook Live is an excellent option if you’re already active on the platform and have a healthy following. But if you’re still growing an audience, fear not — you can go live from a personal profile, page, or even a group.

With Facebook Live, you can edit previously recorded streams, chat with users using the live chat feature, and schedule your streams in advance. However, keep in mind that Facebook limits your stream length, and your monetization options aren’t as robust as other platforms.

But what about Twitch?

It feels odd to exclude Twitch from a conversation about live streaming. That said, marketers report low engagement and ROI on the platform, and only 10% of marketers plan to leverage Twitch for the first time this year. Additionally, Twitch is highly saturated with gamers – so if that’s outside your niche, it’s worth exploring other options.

Back to You

It takes time, money, and energy to create videos — making it imperative to find the best home for your content. Start by defining your goals — such as lead generation, engagement, or brand awareness. Once you nail down your goals, it’s easier to pick the platform that can achieve them.

YouTube has experienced explosive growth since it was founded in an office garage in 2005 and has since opened up avenues for brands and content creators alike.

Check out these 2022 YouTube stats about the platform’s mobile usage, demographics, subscriber growth, ROI, and history.

• General
• Content
• ROI and Usage 
• Mobile
• Demographics
• Subscriber Growth
• Usage
• History

YouTube Stats Every Video Marketer Should Know in 2022

General YouTube Stats

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• Over 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. (Statista)
• Over one billion hours of videos are watched on YouTube every day.
• “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong Kids’ Songs & Stories is the most watched video on YouTube, with over 11 billion views since 2016.
• YouTube has more than 2 billion users.
• Based on a custom Nielsen meta-analysis, a full-funnel YouTube strategy drives 10% higher ROI compared to awareness advertising alone. (Think with Google)
• A recent study shows that YouTube advertisers see Awareness formats driving 28% of their conversion assists. (Think with Google)
• 75% of people surveyed say advertising in YouTube videos makes them more aware of new brands or products,1 while 70% of them say they bought a brand as a result of seeing it on YouTube (Think with Google)
• A 2021 Google study found that on average, YouTube full-funnel advertisers see their awareness campaigns drive reach that is 75% more incremental than their action campaigns. (Think with Google)
• 51% of U.S./UK consumers use YouTube to research or find products to buy. (GWI)

YouTube Content Stats

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• 65% of Gen Z agree that content that’s personally relevant to them is more important than the content that lots of other people talk about. (YouTube)
• There were more than 65 billion views of videos related to ASMR in 2021. (YouTube)
• 76% of Gen Z agree that YouTube has the most content that lets them deeply explore topics they are interested in. (YouTube)
• 82% of Gen Z have used YouTube to watch content in order to feel nostalgic. (YouTube)
• 83% of Gen Z have used YouTube to watch soothing content that helps them relax. (YouTube)
• 78% of people agree that they use YouTube because it serves them with content that’s personally relevant to them. (YouTube)

ROI and Usage by Marketers

• YouTube channels with 100K-1M followers have the highest engagement rate. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• On most social platforms, engagement rates usually trend down as follower count grows. On YouTube, the opposite is true. The average engagement rate on YouTube for content creators with over 1 million followers is 4.06% while the average rate for those with 1K to 5K followers is only 2.04%. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• 77% of video marketers use YouTube to host videos. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• When asked which social media platform offered the highest engagement rate, 500+ marketers ranked YouTube second highest. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• YouTube is the most widely-used platform among video marketers used by 88%. (Wyzowl)
• 56% of marketers surveyed in 2022 say YouTube offers the biggest ROI, ranking #2 behind Instagram. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• Marketers plan to invest the most in YouTube in 2022. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• 27% of marketers surveyed in a Video Marketing Report say they plan on investing in sharing videos on YouTube more than any other platform. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• YouTube ranks second highest in generating leads when sharing marketing videos behind Instagram. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• 44% of influencers leveraged YouTube for their campaigns in 2021, up 8% from 2021. (Influencer Marketing Hub)

YouTube Mobile Stats

• 21.2% of the global traffic on YouTube in 2021 came from mobile devices. (Statista)
• More than 70% of YouTube watch time is generated from mobile devices.
• In Q2 of 2021, mobile devices accounted for 63% of YouTube viewing time worldwide. (Statista)
• In 2020, YouTube was the fourth most popular IOS app after ZOOM, TikTok, and Disney+.
• in December 2021, 72% of respondents aged 18 to 34 years used their smartphones to watch online video content weekly. (Statista)

YouTube Demographics Stats

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• Millennials trust YouTube more than any other generation. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• 81% of U.S. adults say they use YouTube in 2021, up 8% from 2019. (Pew Research)
• YouTube attracts the most visitors from India, the United States, and Indonesia. (Statista)
• YouTube is the second most visited website in the world. (Hootsuite)
• 82% of U.S. adults who identify as male report using YouTube. (Pew Research)
• YouTube is available in more than 100 countries.
• YouTube is available in 80 languages.

YouTube Subscriber Growth Stats

• YouTubers collectively earned a record-breaking $300 million in 2021, up 40% from the previous year. (Forbes)
• T-Series, a Hindi music channel, is the most popular YouTube channel with 171 million subscribers, followed by PewDiePie with 109 million subscribers.
• The most popular branded YouTube channel is LEGO, which has over 10.04 billion views. (Statista)

YouTube Usage Stats

• YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. (Search Engine Journal)
• Viewers are four times more likely to use YouTube to find information about a brand, product, or service (versus other platforms). (YouTube Ads)
• YouTube is the second most visited website behind Google.
• YouTube users collectively watch over 1 billion hours of content daily.
• The majority of the most popular YouTube videos are music videos.
• 70% of viewers say that YouTube makes them more aware of new brands. (YouTube Ads)
• Viewers say they’re twice as likely to buy something they saw on YouTube. (YouTube Ads)

YouTube History Stats

• “YouTube.com” was activated on February 14, 2005.
• “Me at the zoo” was the first video uploaded to YouTube on April 25, 2005.
• Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion on October 9, 2006.
• YouTube launched InVideo ads in December 2007.
• YouTube streamed the United States presidential debates for the first time in 2012.
• One of the youngest successful YouTubers is Ryan ToysReview, who is a 8-year-old boy who makes $22 million a year and has 22 million subscribers.
• The song “Gangnam Style” which surged in popularity in 2014 broke the video’s view counter.
• The first YouTube video to reach 1 million views was a 2005 Nike ad featuring football star, Ronaldinho.
• The YouTube video that received the most views in 24 hours is BTS’s “Dynamite” music video, which attracted 101.1 million views in a single day.
• The most liked video on YouTube is the music video for the song “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee, with over 49 million likes.
• YouTube’s own YouTube Rewind 2018 video is the most disliked video on the platform. It has received over 19 million dislikes and owns an 86.60% dislike percentage.

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

With a fiercely competitive market, marketers everywhere are wondering how to make their brands stand out? Niche marketing strategy might be the answer they’re looking for.

Discover what a niche marketing strategy is, how to develop one, and examples of these strategies in action from popular brands.

Developing a Niche Marketing Strategy

1. Know your competition.

Developing a niche marketing strategy is impossible without scoping out your competition.

That’s because it’s crucial to understand your unique selling proposition — what you do that makes customers choose your company over another.

Maybe you design ceramic dishware that can’t be found anywhere else, or maybe you’ve developed a tool that makes it easier for marketers to send emails.

Whatever is it, find your specialty and craft a story around it.

2. Narrow down your niche market.

Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky is famous for saying, “Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.”

Put simply, it’s better to reach a small group of people who sing praises about your company, rather than a large group who thinks it’s just okay.

You can do this by honing in on the right niche market for your business. While this takes time and thought, it’s worth the effort to find loyal customers who will gladly choose you over competitors.

For instance, Thirdlove is the first underwear company to offer bras in half-size cups. Through its inclusive sizing options and emphasis on body diversity, they’ve built a loyal community of over 327,000 Instagram followers.

3. Go where your buyers are.

If your ideal customer spends all of their time scrolling on Facebook, it wouldn’t make sense to develop a niche marketing strategy around email campaigns.

This is where the value of market research comes in.

You already know who your buyers are, but research helps you go deeper to find out where they shop, how they find products, and what influences their purchase decisions.

Once you have that information, you’ll get the most return for your marketing dollars.

4. Listen to the word on the street.

Everyone has problems that need solutions.

If you listen to people’s thoughts about a certain product or service, you can find opportunities to fill in the gaps.

David Barnett did just that when he engineered a solution for constantly tangled headphones. What started out as two buttons glued to the back of a phone case quickly turned into Popsockets, a company that brought in $169 million in revenue just seven years after its founding.

5. Create a unique brand.

Once you’ve defined your unique selling point, outlined your buyer persona, found out where to reach them, and listened to their problems — all that’s left is to build a brand identity.

A well-defined brand will help you develop a niche marketing strategy that’s authentic to you and attracts ideal customers.

For instance, Etsy’s position as the marketplace for independent artists has attracted more than 138 million buyers.

In a 2020 TV commercial, the brand touched on the pandemic and used emotional marketing tactics to encourage support for small businesses that sell through the platform.

8 Niche Marketing Strategy Examples

1. Malenki Shoes

Malenki Shoes was born after its founder noticed a gap in the market for fashionable shoes for petite women.

This company empowers petite women with fun, stylish heels and sandals instead of being limited to children’s flats at their local shoe store.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Kierstin Cifelli (@funsized.nutrition)

As a niche brand, Malenki Shoes has leveraged the power of influencer marketing to raise its brand awareness.

By partnering with influencers showcasing petite fashion brands, they not only benefit from the credibility of those influencers but also reach wider audiences.

2. TomboyX

Despite all the progress made surrounding gender fluidity, finding gender-neutral clothing clothes is still difficult for many.

This is the problem TomboyX’s founders aimed to solve and the niche market they entered by creating a gender-inclusive clothing brand.

The brand caters to all, with products ranging from compression tops and soft bras to biker shorts and swim trunks.

As part of its marketing strategy, TomboyX created a #TomboyTuesday content series, in which they interview self-identified tomboys about their lives and journeys toward self-love.

Former pastry chef. ✅
Makes TikToks on her days off. ✅
Recently sold her house to travel the world. ✅
Coolest Newfie we’ve ever met. ✅

Get to know Jennifer Cross.
We guarantee there’s no one else like her. https://t.co/BkjsCFXbgK #TomboyTuesday pic.twitter.com/Nzsoce5Cdm

— TomboyX (@tomboyx)
July 12, 2022

This strategy allows the brand to highlight community members, create content that resonates with its audience, and further grow its brand.

3. DryBar

A few years ago, traditional salons offered women packages – usually a wash, blowdry, haircut, and iron – a lengthy process that could have you at the salon for several hours.

Then came DryBar, which offered one service: blowouts. This niche service changed how consumers viewed a salon experience.

How did they spread the word? One way was through its simple yet effective tagline: “No cuts. No color. Just blowouts.”

This simple tagline allowed consumers to understand quickly what DryBar was about and what it offered. From there, their brand awareness grew considerably, earning them news coverage all over the U.S.

4. Flylow Gear

With 9.2 million skiers and snowboarders in the U.S, the pool of potential customers seems wide enough for all to share.

But popular brands like Patagonia and The North Face can be found in almost every sports shop, making it hard to convince customers to seek out smaller brands with fewer offerings.

Flylow Gear figured out how to fight through the noise. Instead of targeting all customers interested in winter gear, their niche marketing strategy focuses on backcountry skiers looking for no-nonsense, quality gear.

Their products are featured in all the right places — like Powder magazine — to reach their ideal buyers. Even their confirmation emails share that they’re a small, mountain-based crew of dedicated skiers.

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5. Octavia Elizabeth Jewelry

For ethically-minded consumers searching for jewelry, the most important factor is knowing about raw materials sourcing and product creation.

That’s because this $300 billion dollar industry has come under fire for using child labor and causing extensive environmental harm.

Octavia Elizabeth understands the need for responsible jewelry. The company’s commitment to fair working conditions, legitimate living wages, and ethical production is clearly stated on its website.

Not only has Octavia Elizabeth honed in on customers looking for sustainably-sourced, handmade jewelry who are willing to pay a higher price, but the brand has also elevated its niche offering by associating itself with celebrity clientele.

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6. Natural Dog Company

According to a Statista study, Americans spent over $123 billion on their pets in 2021 alone.

So how can a pet-focused business stand out amongst the thousands of memory foam beds, custom carry-on bags, and dog-friendly ice creams saturating the market?

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Natural Dog Company caters to a very specific kind of pet owner: the eco-conscious consumer who pampers their pooch.

By giving their organic and all-natural skin care products names like PAWdicure Pack and offering discount codes for free dog treats, they put pups first — which is exactly what their customers do.

7. Pimsleur

Learning a new language can be a struggle, and the options for doing so are definitely overwhelming. Will you really be speaking like a Parisian after spending $1,000 on a program?

Rather than making promises of perfect grammar and flawless accents, Pimsleur focuses on conversational skills.

To promote its product, Pimsleur works with polyglot influencers who can vouch for its efficacy for learning new languages. 

Through its affiliate marketing program, it can reach new consumers regularly and gain customers. 

8. Photographers Without Borders

It’s one thing to entice people to buy a product, but it’s another thing entirely to attract donors to a nonprofit.

While this type of organization may not seem like the right fit for a niche marketing strategy, it’s essential for bringing in donations and volunteers.

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Photographers Without Borders has partnered with major organizations like Adobe, Sony, and Patagonia by honing in on a particular marketing technique: storytelling.

By prioritizing ethical storytelling, whether in a social media post, email newsletter, or online webinar, the organization has built a reputation for producing high-quality work that addresses the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and UNDRIP.

Plus, their Code of Ethics makes it clear what type of community members and partners they’re aiming to attract.

Creating a niche marketing strategy that drives growth for your business is more than creating a social media ad or sending a weekly email promotion.

If you take the time to learn about your customers and differentiate your brand, you can develop a strategy that attracts the right buyers and helps you hit your growth goals.

If you’re interested in pursuing a podcast advertising strategy to connect with millennial or Gen Z customers but aren’t sure if the right opportunities exist for your company, check out this list of podcast advertising stats.

With these tactics, you can identify podcasters with a price-point and audience target that makes sense for your brand. Then, you can work with them and leverage their expertise by sponsoring the content they’ve made. Alternatively, you could also create a native ad that aligns with their discussion topics.

We’ll cover podcasting’s biggest marketing opportunities, where podcasting is headed, and the demographics who tune in the most.

Table of Contents:

Podcasts and Advertising

Podcast Demographics

Podcast Growth

Podcast Listener Behaviors

Podcasts and Advertising

• In 2022, 82% of marketers plan to continue investing the same amount or increase their investment in podcasts or other audio content. (HubSpot)
• Podcast ad spending is expected to hit $1.74 billion this year. (Statista)
• 39% of Information Technology companies plan to leverage podcast advertising in 2022. (HubSpot)
• The average podcast ad slot costs between $10 to $50, with additional premium fees for shows with high listenership. (HubSpot)
• 18% of U.S.-based companies plan to leverage podcasts and audio content in their marketing strategies. (HubSpot)
• 54% of podcast consumers say that they are more likely to consider the brands they hear advertised on podcasts. (Edison Research)
• 38% of marketers working for retail companies say podcast advertising is the media channel with the biggest ROI. (HubSpot)
• Podcast advertising revenue is expected to pass $2 billion in 2022. (IAB Podcast Ad Revenue Report)

Podcast Growth

• In 2021, there were over 2 million active podcasts. (Podcast Insights)
• By April 2021, there were over 48 million podcast episodes. (Podcast Insights)
• Monthly podcast listeners grew by 6.1% to 125 million listeners in 2022. (eMarketer)
• 73% of Americans age 12 and up have listened to podcasts in the past month. (Buzzsprout)
• Between 2021 and 2022, the number of people over the age of 12 in the U.S. who listened to podcasts increased from 57% to 62%. (Edison Research)

Podcast Demographics

• Roughly 79% of people over the age of 12 in the U.S. are familiar with podcasts. (Edison Research)
• 53% of podcast listeners are men. (Edison Research)
• 41% of millennials listen to podcasts weekly. (Jam Street Media)
• 53% of men and 46% of women listen to podcasts in 2022. (Edison Research)
• 66% of podcast listeners have a college degree and an average income of $75,000 per year. (Buzzsprout)
• The biggest increase in podcast listenership in the past year has come from those in the 12-to-34 age group. (Edison Research)

Podcast Listener Behaviors

• 38% of people listen to podcasts monthly while 26% of people listen to podcasts weekly. (Edison Research)
• While 49% of podcast listeners tune in from home, 22% listen in the car. (Podcast Insights)
• Roughly 30% of people learn about podcasts from online search while about 20% of listeners say they hear about them from other friends or word of mouth. (Buzzsprout)

Source

• Podcast listeners are more likely to own a smart speaker. (Buzzsprout)
• Podcasts are the number one audio source by time of consumption among podcast listeners. (Edison Research)
• 50% of podcast Super Listeners agree that podcast ads are the best way to reach them. (Edison Research)
• Millennials and Gen Z are 5% more likely to listen to podcasts for professional reasons than older generations. (EX-IQ)
• Roughly 50% of customer service reps have listened to a podcast at work. (EX-IQ)
• While 39.2% of people who listen to podcasts at least monthly listen via Apple Podcasts, 26.4% use Spotify. (Buzzsprout)
• More than half of millennials listen to educational podcasts. (EX-IQ)
• 62% of podcast listeners say they’d be more likely to share podcasts with friends if they were able to share one short segment or highlight of it, rather than an entire episode. (EX-IQ)
• In 2021, dynamic ad insertion accounted for 84% of podcast advertising revenue. 40% of podcast ads were host-read. (IAB Podcast Ad Revenue Report)
• The amount of branded content in podcasts increased by nearly 82% between 2020 and 2021. (Chartable)

• In 2021, 55% of podcast ads were 16 to 30 seconds. (IAB Podcast Ad Revenue Report)
• More than 38% of podcast advertisements are sold and purchased on a quarterly basis. (IAB Podcast Ad Revenue Report)
• Nearly 94% of podcasters charge for ads with cost-per-mille pricing. (IAB Podcast Ad Revenue Report)
• NPR notes that 75% of its podcast listeners will respond or take action after hearing sponsored content. (National Public Media)
• Pre-roll ads increased in revenue share from 22% in 2020 to 32% in 2021. (IAB Podcast Ad Revenue Report)

Considering podcast advertising?

As you’ve seen from the stats above, podcasting is growing in popularity — especially among younger generations. And while it is often considered a form of “entertainment,” podcast content can be incredibly versatile.

For example, although millennials or Gen Z listen to podcasts that feature interviews with big celebrities, they’ll also listen intently to smaller shows that educate them about new trends or news that impacts their life or career.

Because there are so many podcasts, and so many listeners with buying potential, you might want to consider podcast sponsorships in your future advertising plan.

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

While it’s a great source of entertainment, YouTube has also proved itself to be a valuable tool for marketers. With a global user base of more than 2 billion people, it’s also safe to assume that your target audience is on the platform.

In this post, we’ll go over key YouTube statistics you need to know in 2022 to help you succeed in your marketing efforts.

• YouTube Demographics
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Geography

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

2022 YouTube Demographics

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

General YouTube User Demographics

• 81% of U.S. adults say they use YouTube in 2021, up 8% from 2019. (Pew Research)
• YouTube is the second most visited website in the world. (Hootsuite)
• YouTube accounts for more than 25% of total worldwide mobile traffic. (Sandvine)
• YouTube has 2+ billion users, making up almost one-third of the entire internet. (YouTube for Press)
• In 2021, 36% of U.S. adults say they visit YouTube several times a day. (Pew Research)
• These 2+ billion users are present in over 100 countries and consume content in 80 different languages. (YouTube for Press)
• 70% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing content on YouTube. (Google Ads)
• 49.3% of all YouTube viewing time in 2022 will be mobile. (eMarketer)
• YouTube is the top video streaming app, and the average user spends 23.2 hours per month watching content. (App Annie)
• The most popular YouTube video is Baby Shark Dance with 10.41 billion views. (Statista)
• YouTube TV ended Q3 2020 with 3 million subscribers. (Alphabet)
• 70% of people used YouTube to exercise in 2020. (YouTube)
• Livestreams on YouTube grew 45% in the first half of 2020. (YouTube)

YouTube Age Demographics

• Millennials trust YouTube more than any other generation. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• 56% of Gen Z, 54% of Millennials, 48% of Gen X, and 26% of Boomers say they discover new products most often on YouTube. (HubSpot Blog Research)
• In 2021, 95% of U.S. adults between 18 and 29 years of age said they use YouTube (the age demographic with the highest percentage) while only 49% of U.S. adults who are 65+ years reported using it. (Pew Research)
• As of 2022, 20.2% of YouTube’s advertising audience is between 25 and 34 – the largest group – and 15.5% is between 35 and 44. (Hootsuite)
• In 2020, 80% of U.S. parents with a child age 11 or younger say their child watches videos on YouTube, and 53% of those children use the platform daily. (Pew Research Center)
• 84% of parents who use YouTube or YouTube Kids agree that YouTube makes learning more fun for their children. (Oxford Economics)

YouTube Gender Demographics

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

• 82% of U.S. adults who identify as male report using YouTube. (Pew Research)
• 80% of U.S. adults who identify as male say they use YouTube. (Pew Research)
• 45.8% of YouTube’s total advertising audience identifies as female. (Hootsuite)
• 54.2% of YouTube’s total advertising audience is male. (Hootsuite)

YouTube Geography Demographics

• As of February 2021, 16.6% of YouTube site visits come from the United States, 9.4% comes from India, and 4.9% comes from Japan. (Alexa)
• YouTube has launched local versions of the platform in more than 100 countries. (YouTube for Press)
• 74% of U.S. adults living in rural areas,, 81% of those living in suburban areas, and 84% living in urban areas report using YouTube. (Pew Research)

What Different Generations Watch on YouTube

What Gen Z Watches on YouTube

• According to a 2021 report, 83% of Gen Z have used YouTube to watch soothing content that helps them relax. (YouTube)
• 85% of teens use YouTube, making it the most popular among teens. (Pew Research)
• 82% of Gen Z say they’ve used YouTube to watch content that will make them feel nostalgic. (YouTube)

Takeaways for Video Marketers

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

What Millennials Watch on YouTube

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

Takeaways for Video Marketers

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

How to Target the Right Demographic on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

There’s more scope for automation in your business than ever before. With automation, you can schedule emails to be sent at the perfect time, follow up with leads that have abandoned their cart, sync data between apps, and notify team members of new tasks.

However, these options can be overwhelming, especially if your business isn’t a huge corporation with a lot of budget and resources to throw at automation.

You might be wondering:

• What types of automation will benefit my business the most?
• What should I stay away from?
• How can I easily implement these while keeping life simple?

Let’s explore the best types of business automation so you can start implementing a strategy in your own organization.

20 Ways to Automate Your Small Business

1. Set up automated email campaigns.

When you think of automation, email marketing automation might come to mind first. It’s not only one of the most popular types of automation, it’s one of the most accessible, too.

Types of email automation:

• Triggering emails based on actions, such as webinar sign-up confirmations or abandoned basket notifications
• Email drip workflows that send content at set intervals
• Delivering content or requested information after filling out a form
• A/B testing content and automatically send the best performing version of the content
• Personalizing each email you send
• Segmenting groups based on data and automatically sending the right email to each group

A good way to get started with email marketing automation is to have a look at the automation capabilities that your email marketing platform already has and think about how you can use them to execute your strategy.

All popular email marketing tools have built-in automation functionality. However, if you haven’t picked an emailing tool yet, pick an option with enough automation functionalities to meet the needs of your business.

2. Create standard operating procedures (SOPs).

How many processes within your business are documented? Whether you’re a solopreneur or lead a small team, having standard operating procedures (SOPs) is critical for a healthy business. 

SOPs are detailed instructions that outline how to complete processes within your business. As your company grows, having SOPs on hand makes it so much easier to onboard new team members and delegate tasks to others. The faster team members can get up and running, the greater the impact they can have on your business. 

3. Upload contact data to a CRM for a centralized database. 

Is your customer data hidden across various messy spreadsheets? Is it hard for your team to decipher a contact’s status, or when the last interaction with them was? If so, your business could benefit from customer database automation.

To automate your customer information, you can use a CRM as a centralized database, and sync contact data between apps to automatically make updates as soon as anything changes on a customer account. This reduces the manual work done by your team, and improves relationships with your contacts and customers.

4. Implement a lead scoring system.

Does your team have a process for determining which leads are more viable? If not, you may want to consider implementing lead scoring. 

With lead scoring, key attributes of leads will generate numerical values making it easier for you and your team to prioritize working with leads who are most likely to buy from your business. This saves you and your team precious time and allows you to engage with leads who are more likely to become paying customers.

5. Use a social media scheduling tool.

Any social media manager or content creator can tell you how time-consuming social media can be, especially when posting on the fly. That’s why using a social media scheduling tool is a game-changer for busy marketing teams. 

With the right social media scheduling tool, your team can create meaningful content in advance, and schedule content to automatically post to your key platforms. 

6. Immediately respond to customer service requests.

How well your company responds to customer service inquiries can make all the difference in keeping customers happy and coming back for more. Response time and first response resolution rate are key metrics driving customer satisfaction, and it can be hard for customer service teams to meet demands while carrying out all customer service manually.

Automation is not about removing the human element from one-to-one interactions. In fact, it’s about making more time for these and providing a better experience for your customers.

You can automate notifications to let you know when it’s the right time to reach out to a customer, meaning you can engage in targeted outreach for better results. Customer satisfaction surveys can also be automated to alert you when a customer needs quick attention to reduce the risk of churn.

Your team can also leverage chatbots or knowledge bases with built-in AI that can quickly answer simple questions, or route a customer to the best support rep for their inquiry if that doesn’t fix it.

Automation enables your customer care staff to manage a higher volume of customers more effectively, without burning out or diminishing the quality of one-to-one interactions.

7. Automate SMS marketing messages. 

Increased screen time due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a resurgence in SMS marketing. 

Your marketing team can consider adding automated SMS marketing to your company’s strategy to reconnect with leads and convert potential customers. Potential SMS marketing automation includes:

• Meeting and event reminders
• Restock alerts for products the contact has expressed interest in
• Empty cart abandonment messages
• Promotional messages for special deals and discounts

8. Review and automate your sales process.

Sales automation is about managing your sales process more effectively, reducing friction, and increasing conversion rates.

Benefits of sales automation:

• Stay on top of a busy pipeline
• Better calendar management
• Identify and focus on the most sales-ready leads
• Collect and act on data insights
• Sync the latest data across all apps
• Create a strong bridge with marketing
• Pass new customers to onboarding
• Avoid spending time on bad-fit leads

To get started with sales automation, first look at any built-in automation functionality that your CRM offers. You can then look into adopting and integrating other apps to automate more powerful workflows.

9. Automate repetitive tasks.

Are there any tasks on your team that are repetitive, must be done frequently, or require a similar skill set to complete? If so, these tasks are the ideal candidates for automation. 

Consider using a task automation tool such as Zapier or Make to take some of the work out of repetitive tasks. Let’s say your team manually sends a promotional tweet every time your company publishes a blog post.

You can set up an automation in your tool of choice that will publish a tweet with a link to your new blog post every time your company’s blog publishes a new post. 

Similar processes can be implemented to sync data across applications in your tech stack to reduce duplicative work.

10. Outsource key tasks to experts.

When you’re first starting a business, you’re usually responsible for all the tasks and responsibilities that make that business run. While that can be good for the bottom line, it’s not good for scaling and automation.

Once you’re able to afford it, outsourcing tasks to new team members, assistants, and specialists can really help your business go to the next level. 

Let’s say you’re a small business owner who has handled all of your own email marketing while juggling various other duties. Unless you are an expert email marketer, you may not be giving this area the attention it deserves and the quality may suffer. 

When hiring a contract email marketing expert, they can set up the necessary workflows and funnels that can help your email marketing run on autopilot, potentially resulting in more sales. 

Go through the tasks you’re currently doing for your business and look for areas you can outsource to someone else to save you time and drive better results. 

11. Implement a task management system.

Are your to-do lists on random post-its and scribbled on miscellaneous notebook pages? 

Do you give your team tasks in passing and don’t follow up with them until it’s supposed to be due?

Do you and your team have a hard time tracking who does what?

If so, it’s time to implement a task management system with automation. Using task management software such as Asana, ClickUp, or Trello can help you and your team stay organized and accountable. With a task management tool in place, your team knows exactly where to look for their next action item and when it’s due. You’re also able to see their progress so you can support them if they get off track.

Automation can help take your task management system to the next level. You can use Zapier to turn line items from a spreadsheet into a task in your tool of choice, or automatically create tasks from Slack messages.

I use Asana to manage tasks, and love using the Gmail integration to turn emails into tasks with the click of a button.  

With solid task management and automation in place, you and your team will save time hunting down tasks and will have more time to actually complete them. 

12. Use drop shipping to automate fulfillment for e-commerce businesses.

Running an e-commerce business can be a lot of work. Between tracking inventory and managing fulfillment, a lot has to happen behind the scenes to get products to your customers. 

If you don’t want to manage inventory, consider drop shipping. With dropshipping, you can work directly with a supplier who will fulfill and ship your orders so you can focus on other areas of your business without worrying about the risks and logistics of having all of your inventory on hand.

13. Centralize your internal communication efforts.

Automating your communication processes is about streamlining and clarifying human-to-human interactions. As a business owner, these automations can free up your time to look after your team and support their growth.

Types of communication automation:

• Automate team reminders to prep for meetings
• Automatically follow up on tasks after set intervals
• Sharing onboarding materials with new hires
• Collecting daily feedback on wins and blockers
• Self-reviews and performance tracking
• Reporting dashboards
• Syncing data with meeting slides

Gmail, Slack, and Asana are tools you might already be using that also offer great automation functionality to make communicating with your team easier.

14. Streamline your accounting and expense system.

Managing small business finances is a job of its own. If you’re still managing this yourself, consider using an accounting and expense system with automation capabilities. 

A tool such as QuickBooks Online can be helpful for tracking your business financials. You can even connect this tool directly to your CRM so your records can accurately reflect which contacts have purchased from you. 

Having an accounting and expense system in place can also help with receipt management by automatically categorizing receipts that come to your inbox to corresponding charges on your financial statements.

15. Use trigger/action workflows to publish data between apps. 

Do the platforms within your tech stack talk to one another? Using automation to share data between apps can save you hours of manual entry. 

Let’s say you have a potential customer fill out a Typeform survey to learn more about what they’re looking for in a product. Instead of manually creating a new contact entry in your CRM, you can set up a workflow that creates a new contact in your CRM any time you receive a response to that specific Typeform survey. 

You can use a trigger/action workflow to connect various tools and cut down on administrative work.

16. Automate your onboarding processes.

Onboarding tasks are perfect for automation because they are repetitive. After all, many new employees in an organization will undergo the same training and need similar reminders. 

Examples of ways you can automate your onboarding process include:

• Automatically generating and sending legal and compliance forms for new employees to sign electronically.
• Having accounts and access to key tools and systems automatically created.
• Sync employee data across necessary systems to reduce manual entry.

By automating as much of the back-end process of onboarding as possible, you’re creating less busy work for your HR team and creating a smoother experience for new employees.

17. Enlist a tool to make scheduling meetings easier.

There are few things more frustrating than a back-and-forth email chain to determine a meeting time. Optimize this process by using a meeting scheduling tool such as the HubSpot Meeting Scheduler or Calendly that automatically syncs with your calendar, and allows contacts to schedule time to meet with you when you’re available.

These tools can also integrate directly with your CRM so your contact list is always up-to-date with your latest interactions.

18. Email contacts who abandoned their shopping carts.

Most people who use the internet have abandoned an online shopping cart or two. Whether they get distracted when placing an order, have second thoughts after they see shipping prices, or want to spend a little more time thinking about their purchase before pressing “buy” there are various reasons customers may abandon an online shopping cart.

To help your business convert these shoppers, you can use email automation to send a message to contacts who still have items left in their carts after a certain period of time. With 50% of users who click through abandoned cart emails coming back for their purchase, it’s a worthwhile automation to try.

19. Use a password manager to share and secure login credentials across your team. 

Chances are your team uses a wide variety of tools to run your business. To keep your company’s information more secure and to make your tech stack accessible to team members who need it, consider implementing a password manager to maintain and easily share login information. 

Tools such as LastPass allow users to generate and store secure passwords and can be used for individuals, small teams, and enterprises. 

20. Leverage AI and machine learning tools. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to unlock $2.6 trillion in value for businesses in the coming years. As a business owner, there are many ways you can leverage AI to streamline and automate your operations. 

For example, AI tools can help streamline data management and reporting, saving your team precious time and helping you gain access to valuable data. 

If you have a marketing team that creates a large volume of content, AI tools such as Jasper can greatly reduce the time marketers spend creating content through its outlining, research, and editing capabilities.

Automation is a long-term strategy: it’s not about trying to change everything at once or creating processes that are overly complex for the stage your business is at.

Take a look at where your business is now. Where are the blockers, manual tasks, and inefficiencies?

Ask yourself how can you start automating these areas to free up your focus for the areas where you have the most impact.

What’s the one thing business owners and their employees, partners and even customers all have in common? Well, at the most basic level, they’re all human. So why is it sometimes so challenging for businesses to showcase this in their marketing efforts?

Perhaps some people don’t want to show any biases that might deter any potential leads. Perhaps some may want to present themselves as strictly professional. Others may not care about their tone at all, but would rather focus on finding the right keywords to implement throughout their platforms. Some may not even realize just how robotic their brand’s voice really is.

Either way, the truth of the matter is: humanizing your brand is no longer an option, it’s a necessity. People like making connections. They enjoy investing their time and money in people they know are on their side and can relate to. So in today’s highly competitive world, it’s definitely in every business’s best interest to find a way to connect to their customers and leads through humanization — no matter what industry you’re in.

Why is humanizing your brand important?

Brands are not humans but customers are. In order to sell, get more conversions, increase engagement and build brand loyalty, it’s importantto first build a relationship with customers. Similar to relationships with new friends, brands need to build a rapportand establish trust in order for the customer relationship to flourish.

Humanizing your brand and adding a level of personalization will help customers connect. All of your marketing efforts and website messaging should be crafted in a way that establishes a connection with your audience. Without it you could be perceivedas a cold, faceless entitythat spawns customer indifference instead of loyalty.

How to Humanize Your Brand

Here are some helpful tips for how to start making your brand’s voice more real:

1. Begin from the inside out.

In other words, start with creating good company culture. Your CEO(s) and upper management have the potential to spread that culture like wildfire throughout your company, allowing your team to be the true advocates you want them to be.

Then, post about it! If your company did a 5K, post a photo on Instagram of employees happily crossing the finish line. If your business’s office is festively decorated according to your brand’s colors and theme, post a video tour of it on your website. Or, if your team has recently completed a certification or won an award, talk about it on LinkedIn.

Showcasing your team members on your website and social media platforms goes a lot farther than just having the basics. And, when your followers/website viewers/etc. are able to see how great it is to work at your company, they’ll be more willing to trust your professional abilities.

2. Make your brand’s tone personal, approachable and engaging.

For many businesses, portraying themselves as industry leaders is essential to generating leads and gaining credibility. And while that is certainly a crucial piece of the puzzle, it doesn’t negate the need for a human element. The reality is, you can still have professional, educational or even highly technical content that still incorporates a fun, caring, or engaging tone.

Look at Dollar Shave Club (or any of the brands mentioned in Kim Speier’s blog “7 Boring Big Brands That Used Humor to Amp Up Their Marketing”).

The company’s ads are known for being witty and silly. But most importantly, they’re smart. They made a traditionally “boring” product and developed a brand voice that was approachable, fun and human. These three attributes build trust, credibility, and eventually brand loyalty. Looking to capitalize on the brand’s following, the company was later acquired by Unilever.

3. Speak in your audience’s language.

You might have more than one group of people that make up your customer base. But none of those groups want to read or hear corporate jargon, sales talk or overly fluffed-up language.

If your company is B2B, communicate to your audience in an educational, informative way. If your company is B2C, strike an emotional chord. The better you are at learning your consumers’ language, the more approachable and “human” you’ll appear to them.

Just. Speak. Clearly. Business and industry-specific jargon is just another way of talking over people’s heads, and although you think you sound super smart and important, you’re really just coming off as inaccessible. Is that how you’d talk to someone in real life? No way. Unless you don’t want any friends. Speak like a human being, and your brand will feel more relatable, too.

4. Write an ‘About Us’ page that’s actually good.

The ‘About Us’ page is one of the most frequently flubbed-up pages on the internet. Which is a bummer, really, because what better way to humanize your brand than a page dedicated to telling people about who you are?

So, who do you want to be? A faceless corporation? Or do you want to tell people about what you do, who you are, and why you think it might be interesting to them? I went looking for an example to show off here. That’s an extraordinaryexample of someone humanizing their company through their ‘About Us’ page, and thanks to Blog Tyrant, I found an example for you.

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First, I recommend you check out SEOmoz. Their page includes several sections that explain what they do and why they’re valuable, as well as a timeline that explains how their company came to be — written in a light-hearted yet professional way. Giving the backstory of how the company was founded gives readers insight into the founders’ motivations, and also presents it in a way that shows the reader what value SEOmoz brings to the table for their customers.

5. Inject a sense of humor into your content.

It’s easy for B2C companies to create hilarious content — and you certainly should! Everyone loves a laugh. Although this strategy is best for B2C companies, B2B brands can also get into the action. Take this Zendesk tweet describing a sales funnel for example.

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The tweet uses down-to-earth language and emojis to make the brand more relatable to its audience while presenting an ad that explains how its services can help improve your sales funnel.

You can get your point across really well with clear, concise, straightforward copy. That’s fine. But you can get your point across and humanize your brand — even delight readers — if you can infuse a sense of humor into your content once in a while. Frankly, nobody expects it from B2B brands. And if you’re one of the few brands doing it, it makes you look just awesome. Go ahead. Try to make someone crack a smile. What’s more human than unbridled laughter?

6. Focus more on offering resources than making a sale.

If you’re not already familiar with inbound marketing, you know that the statement above is essentially the gist of it. Give your viewers something of value to them (without the sales pitch) and they will seek you out for more. This whole step is about creating relationships through trust that’s built on you providing helpful, credible resources. This can be something as simple as a how-to blog post on an industry topic or industry case study.

Inbound marketing also ties in with speaking your audience’s language. While offering these resources, be sure to do so in a way that most effectively speaks to your audience. You’ll also want to be sure to offer the right kind of materials they will actually want to consume.

No matter what your inbound marketing efforts consist of, try to keep them focused on how it will benefit the end-user, not your company.

7. Keep an active blog on your website.

This is an easy — and most importantly — freeway to show a human side to your audience. Not only does keeping an active blog help with boosting your SEO, staying up to date with topics in your industry and becoming more purpose-driven in your efforts, but it also helps with showing your human side.

It allows readers to see that you’re current, active and educated, giving you more credibility. Plus, as we mentioned in the previous tip, it also helps with your inbound marketing by providing readers with information or educated opinions on topics they’re seeking out. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

8. Showcase your community manager.

If your business has a community manager or similar role, let them take the spotlight for your company by showcasing them on all your online platforms.

Display their Twitter handle or email address so readers can easily access them with questions or concerns. Giving people a face to your community manager will make them feel more comfortable with your brand as a whole and will help build a strong relationship between you both.

9. Engage with fans, followers, and commenters.

But make sure they aren’t all just about your company or industry — although those are important, too. When you venture outside of your usual topics once in a while, it makes people feel comfortable being themselves … because you’re being yourself, too! You can also add more structure to these conversations if you like and periodically host Twitter chats — conversations about a particular topic at a specific date and time, held together by a pre-designated hashtag.

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Additionally you can keep it light like media company Mitú and engage over something fun and seasonal like horcata ice cream. Whatever the topic — if your followers are commenting, reply back.

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10. Publish photos of your team being themselves.

Let your fans and followers get to know your employees a bit better by posting photos of them doing things “out in the wild” or at company events. Displaying these on your careers page, social media, or “About Us” page are all good spots to showcase what working for your company is like for employees.

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The photo above is from Scott’s Cheap Flights. The company adds a human touch by not only giving the spotlight to some of their employees, but also showcasing how knowledgeable they are by having each provide a travel tip and their favorite destination. It’s much more inviting than just using a standard photo and listing their position. With just one to two sentences, customers are able to get to know employees and view them as credible resources.

11. Encourage employees to be social on behalf of your company.

When employees post social media updates about or on behalf of their company, it does a few things:

• It lets people know that person gives a hoot about the company they work for.
• It lets people get to know the names, faces, and personalities behind a company.
• It gives the company’s content much more reach.

While some companies, due to the nature of their industry, may need to keep a tighter lid on their social media networks, most businesses could really benefit from encouraging employees to use their social media accounts to share company content. And yes, they should even be able to do that during work hours! The times, they are a-changin’.

12. Apologize and say “Thank You” when necessary.

As every human knows, we all have our flaws and we all make mistakes. But when it comes to our businesses, we often try to protect our reputations at all costs, even if it’s our businesses that are at fault. And we mustn’t forget that our businesses are, in fact, made up of humans.

So if you’ve dropped the ball somehow, come to your audience with a sincere apology anda potential solution to the problem. People will appreciate you addressing the situation head-on, as opposed to them coming to you with their complaints.

More than that, though, you should be thanking your fans/followers/customers/advocates/etc. often. Something as simple as an Instagram post celebrating reaching 5,000 followers and thanking them specifically for helping you reach that milestone goes a long way.

Or, send out an email to current and past customers (perhaps on Thanksgiving) expressing your gratitude for their business. This is another way of making your audience see you as humans who care about them as humans, not simply a money-hungry company that’s uninterested in building relationships.

13. Be available.

This isn’t just a tip for upper management, nor is it just a tip for your customer service department. It’s for every member of your team and every part of your brand’s online persona.

Humanizing a brand can’t happen without actual humans being available to do it. For example, if someone at your business posts regularly to your social media platforms, he or she should also be available to respond to comments, questions, reviews, etc. Too often businesses simply schedule out their social posts for the month, ignoring the importance of frequent engagement.

This is a great opportunity to show that your business has a human side to it and is willing to help these followers get information, share ideas, and feel good about promoting your brand.

14. Sign your emails with your name. Like, your name.

Not your company name. A company can’t send an email. A person at your company, however, can. For instance, what does your signature look like in your email marketing? Consider including a real person’s name in your email signature, along with their role at your company, and maybe even a small headshot to make the message more personal.

You could also experiment with a more personal “From” field, including the email sender’s real name alongside your company’s name. Your results may vary, so we recommend conducting your own test, but when we A/B tested the inclusion of an employee’s name alongside our company name, the results were fantastic!

15. Take off your marketer hat once in a while.

Ultimately, you’re doing all this to get more traffic, leads, and customers. We know that. But it can be helpful to approach your efforts with a little less of a methodical marketer mindset, and more of a … human one.

It’s okay to throw in something you think your audience would just plain enjoy sometimes — no link to your blog, lead-capture form, or transaction on the other end. The more you get to know your buyer personas as you interact with them every day, the more naturally you’ll be able to do this; the content will practically roll off your tongue! Once you’ve established this natural rapport with your community, your relationship will be more akin to two friends hanging out — and that makes for customers with higher lifetime value (aaaand the marketer hat is back on).

Give Your Brand a Human Touch

All in all, humanizing your brand has a multitude of benefits, including gaining credibility and getting your voice heard. Use these eight simple tips to get started today!

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.