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Instagram is a powerful channel for businesses to reach a larger audience — in fact, approximately 80% of the platform’s one billion users follow at least one business on Instagram.

If your brand is on Instagram, you need to be communicating and engaging with your audience, and Instagram Questions can help you do just that.

Introduced in 2018, Questions Sticker found within Instagram stories is a feature that makes it easier than ever to engage with, and receive feedback from, your followers. Here, we’re going to explore 15 creative ways to use Instagram’s Questions Sticker to engage with your followers. But first, let’s review how to use it.

Table of Contents:

• How to Use Instagram’s Questions Sticker
• Instagram Story Questions Ideas

How to Use Instagram’s Questions Sticker

1. Go to your Stories feature, and either upload a photo or take one (I took one within the Stories feature of my pizza box). Then, click the square smiley face in the top right of your screen.

2. Click the “Questions” module.

3. The default for the Questions Sticker is “Ask me a question” but you can click the text to type a customized question — for instance, I typed “I love this pizza place! What’s everyone’s favorite pizza toppings?” Once you’re done, add filters or any other features you’d like to include.

When you’re ready to post, click “Send To” in the bottom right.

4. Finally, click “Share” beside “Your Story” to post your question to your Story.

5. When you’re ready to see your followers’ answers to your question, open your Story and click the images of the profiles in the bottom left (these are the people who’ve seen your Story).

6. You’ll see “Responses” above the list of people who’ve seen your post. To individually share one to your Story, click on it.

7. Click “Share Response” to share an individual response to your Story for your other followers to see.

8. Next, take a photo or upload one, and the follower’s response you chose will appear on top of the image. When you’re ready to post, click “Send To” in the bottom right.

It’s important to note — your followers will become tired of constantly answering questions on your Story, so use the Questions feature sparingly. You don’t want to overuse the Questions Sticker and risk answer-fatigue from participants.

Additionally, you have a “Poll” feature if you want to ask your followers a binary question, like “Which pizza topping is better, cheese or pepperoni?” Save your Questions feature for more complex questions — and try to make them fun. Remember, your followers are on Instagram for entertainment, so they don’t want to feel quizzed by tough questions.

Lastly, consider what types of questions might actually help you know more about your audience. This will take some trial-and-error, since every brand’s audience is unique, so test a few different formats. For instance, if your brand is in the tech industry, perhaps you want to post a Question asking your followers’ their feedback on an innovative new tech product.

Alternatively, if your brand is in the retail industry, maybe you want to ask more generic questions like, “Do you still follow the no-white after Labor Day rule? If so, tell me why.”

For more inspiration, let’s explore some creative ways influencers, celebrities, and brands use the Questions Sticker.

Instagram Story Questions Ideas

1. Conduct a Q&A with your followers.

Influencers and celebrities often use Instagram Story Questions to conduct Q&As with their fans. For instance, Ali Fedotowsky, a blogger and former Bachelorette, will typically tell her followers to “Ask me stuff :)” at the end of the day.

Her responses are usually fun, casual, and friendly — like “Today? The wine” in response to “Best part of being a mom?”. These Q&A’s enable Ali’s followers to feel like they’re having a casual conversation with a friend. Additionally, the Q&A’s help Ali create stronger relationships with her fans and gear content towards what they want to know.

2. Showcase your brand’s values.

Away, a luggage company with 577K followers on Instagram, used the Questions Sticker to show support for Pride week while engaging meaningfully with followers. In the first post, they wrote “Happy #Pride from all of us at Away”, and followed the post with a question — “How are you celebrating?” to further engage with followers.

3. Conduct a pop quiz.

Companies can use the Questions Sticker to test the audience’s knowledge or ask fun questions related to the brand. Pattern, a company that sells products specifically for curly hair, is expanding its product distribution and asked its audience to guess what the first international retailer will be. 

This approach gets the audience involved in the distribution conversation and helps potential customers in that geographic location get excited about picking up the product at a retailer near them. 

4. Ask followers their thoughts on a new product or service launch.

If done wisely, you might consider using the Questions Sticker to ask your followers what they think about a new product or service — but conduct these Questions sparingly, since they might seem too self-promotional.

Beardbrand, a line of high-quality grooming products for men, effectively used the Questions Sticker to ask their niche audience how they felt about Beardbrand’s new shampoo and conditioner products. Beardbrand also posted their followers’ answers, and used it as an opportunity to demonstrate the brand’s sense of humor — for instance, in response to a follower’s “Crafted by the gods” answer, Beardbrand posted “If you say so” with a side-eye emoji.

If you do decide to ask followers about their thoughts on your product or service, consider posting their answers with funny or unique responses as well.

5. Share information from a thought leader or expert.

Your Questions feature doesn’t just have to feature your own brand — you might also use it to post useful content from other experts in the field, as long as you believe your followers would still be interested in it.

For instance, Eva Chen, an author and influencer with 2 million followers on Instagram, knows a good portion of her followers are mothers as well — which is why she featured her sleep trainer, @thebabycoachofficial, on her Story to answer some of her followers’ biggest sleep-related questions. This partnership helps @thebabycoachofficial reach a new audience and grow her following, while providing Eva Chen’s followers with free, useful tips — a win, win.

6. Use Questions as a lead generation strategy.

Megan Gilmore is a best-selling author and creator of the Instagram account @Detoxinista, which posts healthy recipes as well as Instant Pot tips-and-tricks. When Gilmore conducts “Ask me anything” Q&A’s, her followers typically ask recipe-related questions, which allows Gilmore to organically link to recipes on her blog — for instance, in response to “A good vegetable soup recipe”, Gilmore links to her vegetable soup recipe.

However, it’s important to note Gilmore doesn’t just link externally in her Q&A’s — she also provides useful tips and content from within the Story itself. When followers ask her about an Instant Pot, for instance, she posted the answer right within the Story for other followers to see.

Simply put, you can use Questions as an opportunity to link to your website, blog posts, or other helpful content, but do so sparingly, and ensure some of your responses to your followers’ questions can be found within the Story itself. This can help drive traffic to other content, but doesn’t require your followers to be ready to click-away from your Instagram page if they don’t want to.

7. Share tips from within the industry.

On Instagram, HubSpot’s followers are often other marketers — which is why it’s helpful for @HubSpot to post “What are some of your favorite marketing tips?” and share the responses of some of its followers, so other marketers within the industry can collect tips from a myriad of sources.

Ultimately, you might use Questions as an opportunity to connect with your followers and learn from them, as well. Rather than asking questions directly related to your product or service, consider how you might ask a question that helps your followers learn more about the state of the industry, including tips, trends, and new ideas to improve their own business strategy. Show them their voice is valuable, too.

8. Have fun with your followers!

Reese Witherspoon is an exceptional example of someone who uses Stories and the Questions Sticker, to have fun with her fans.

For instance, during the press tour for Big Little Lies, Witherspoon used the Questions feature to ask her fans for theme song recommendations for the tour. Later, she posted some of her favorites.

Ultimately, the Questions Sticker is a chance to have fun with followers and post lighter, more entertaining content. If your brand is heading to a conference, you might use Witherspoon’s tactic to ask followers a good “theme song for the conference” or “favorite ice breakers to use at a conference”. Plus, posting their responses shows them you’re listening, and might make other followers more willing to partake in future Questions you post.

9. Announce new releases.

Starbucks playfully quizzed their followers with a question that added up fire, chocolate, and sun emojis, and said “The __ _____ is coming back…”. Starbucks then posted followers responses throughout the day, before finally posting one page with the “correct” answer — “S’mores Frappuccino”.

By building suspense (and showcasing some funny followers’ responses), Starbucks successfully created excitement around their new product while quickly (and cost-efficiently) spreading the word. You might consider using a similar strategy when announcing an upcoming new product or event.

10. Survey your followers.

Want to know how your followers feel about a particular topic, or what their preferences are? You can use the Questions Sticker as a feedback form. 

Whether you ask your audience their opinion on a recent event or ask an open-ended question they can provide the answer to, using Instagram Questions can provide insightful qualitative data about what matters most to your online community.

Luggage company Beis used a Q&A session about their newest product to survey their audience about what product they’d like to see next.

11. Play “caption this.”

Want to get a little silly? Post a fun image on your Instagram Story and use a Questions Sticker titled “Caption This” to boost engagement. Share the funniest or best responses you get to your story to keep the conversation going. 

12. Generate new content ideas.

It’s a good idea to use the Questions Sticker as an opportunity to ask followers what they want to see more or less of on your feed — it can help your team brainstorm more content while ensuring you’re making viewers feel like their opinion is valuable to your brand.

Use the Sticker and ask your audience “What content would you like to see more of?” to help guide your content strategy for Instagram, your company blog, or even a podcast.

13. Have your followers submit questions for an upcoming Livestream.

Is Instagram Live part of your content plan? Generate excitement and buzz for an upcoming live by using the Questions Sticker to collect questions ahead of time.

Not only will this boost engagement on your stories, but it could help viewers tune into your live in hopes of getting their questions answered.

14. Ask for recommendations.

You can also use the question sticker to ask your audience for recommendations. Content creator Carissa Stanton hosts monthly book clubs on her Instagram account and uses the Questions Sticker to ask her audience for book recommendations.

If your company is opening a location in a new city, you can use the Instagram Questions Sticker to ask your community what their favorite hot spots are in that city. Or if you host a podcast or YouTube channel, ask your community who they’d like to see featured on your next episode.;

15. Use the questions sticker to facilitate an Instagram takeover.

Instagram takeovers typically involve having a guest post Stories from their perspective for a set period of time. Using the Questions Sticker allows your audience to get to know the guest better and provides a bit more structure to the takeover.

Skincare brand Summer Fridays does this via its “Ask a Derm” Instagram Story segment, where a professional dermatologist will take over the account to answer skincare-related questions from the audience.

Your Instagram takeover guest can use the Questions Sticker to take questions for an “ask-me-anything” session or ask them about their favorite products or offerings related to your brand.

16. Create a weekly content series.

Looking for more consistent content ideas? Use the Questions Sticker as part of a weekly content offering on your Instagram account. Choose a day each week to post the Questions Sticker, with a standing prompt to build engagement and loyalty.

Each week on her Instagram Stories, creator Olivia Noceda hosts a series called “Worth the Hype” where her followers will put a brand or product in the sticker and she’ll share her thoughts on whether the product is worth checking out or not.

Implementing a similar strategy can build a sense of trust with your audience, and gives them a reason to keep coming back to your Stories on a regular basis.

The Instagram Questions feature is a great way to encourage conversation with the people who follow your account, creating a more engaging social media experience.

Ask any successful sports coach how they win so many games, and they’ll tell you they have a unique plan for every single game. The same logic applies to business. If you want to build a thriving company that can pull ahead of the competition, you need to prepare for battle before breaking into a market.

Business plans guide you along the rocky journey of growing a company. Referencing one will keep you on the path toward success. And if your business plan is compelling enough, it can also convince investors to give you funding.

What does a business plan look like? And how do you write one that is viable and convincing? Let’s review the business plan format and sample business plans you can use to inspire your own.

Business Plan Format

Before you start your business plan, you might be wondering, “Where do I start? How should I format this?”

Typically, a business plan is a document that will detail how a company will achieve its goals.

Most business plans include the following sections:

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary is arguably the most important section of the entire business plan. Essentially, it’s the overview or introduction, written in a way to grab readers’ attention and guide them through the rest of the business plan (which may be dozens or hundreds of pages long).

Most executive summaries include:

• Mission statement
• Company history and leadership
• Competitive advantage overview
• Financial projections
• Company goals

However, many of these topics will be covered in more detail later on in the business plan, so keep the executive summary clear and brief, including only the most important take-aways.

If you’re planning to start or expand a small business, preparing a business plan is still very crucial. The plan should include all the major factors of your business. You can check out this small business pdf to get an idea of how to create one for your business.

Check out our tips for writing an effective executive summary for more guidance.

2. Market Opportunity

This is where you’ll detail the opportunity in the market. Where is the gap in the current industry, and how will your product fill that gap?

In this section, you might include:

• The size of the market
• Current or potential market share
• Trends in the industry and consumer behavior
• Where the gap is
• What caused the gap
• How you intend to fill it

To get a thorough understanding of the market opportunity, you’ll want to conduct a TAM, SAM, and SOM analysis and perform market research on your industry. You may also benefit from creating a SWOT analysis to identify some of the insights for this section.

3. Competitive Landscape

Speaking of market share, you’ll need to create a section that shares details on who the top competitors are. After all, your customers likely have more than one provider to choose from, and you’ll want to understand exactly why they might choose one over another. Performing a competitive analysis can help you uncover:

• Industry trends that other providers may not be utilizing
• Strengths in your competition that may be obstacles to handle
• Weaknesses in your competition that may help you develop selling points
• The unique proposition you bring to the market that may resonate with customers

4. Target Audience

This section will describe who your customer segments are in detail. What is the demographic and psychographic information of your audience?

If your immediate answer is “everyone,” you’ll need to dig deeper. Ask yourself:

• What demographics will most likely need/buy your product or service?
• What are the psychographics of this audience? (Desires, triggering events, etc.)
• Why are your offerings valuable to them?

It can be helpful to build a buyer persona to get in the mindset of your ideal customers and be crystal clear on why you’re targeting them.

5. Marketing Strategy

Here, you’ll discuss how you’ll acquire new customers with your marketing strategy. You might consider including information on:

• The brand positioning vision and how you’ll cultivate it
• The goal targets you aim to achieve
• The metrics you’ll use to measure success
• The channels and distribution tactics you’ll use

It can help to already have a marketing plan built out to help you inform this component of your business plan.

6. Key Features and Benefits

At some point in your business plan, you’ll review the key features and benefits of your products and/or services. Laying these out can give readers an idea of how you’re positioning yourself in the market and the messaging you’re likely to use. It can even help them gain better insight into your business model.

7. Pricing and Revenue

This is where you’ll discuss your cost structure and various revenue streams. Your pricing strategy must be solid enough to turn a profit while staying competitive in the industry. For this reason, you might outline:

• The specific pricing breakdowns per product or service
• Why your pricing is higher or lower than your competition’s
• (If higher) Why customers would be willing to pay more
• (If lower) How you’re able to offer your products or services at a lower cost
• When you expect to break even, what margins do you expect, etc?

8. Financials

This section is particularly informative for investors and leadership teams to determine funding strategies, investment opportunities, etc. According to Forbes, you’ll want to include three main things:

• Profit/Loss Statement – This answers the question of whether your business is currently profitable.
• Cash Flow Statement – This details exactly how much cash is incoming and outgoing to provide insight into how much cash a business has on hand.
• Balance Sheet – This outlines assets, liabilities, and equity, which gives insight into how much a business is worth.

While some business plans might include more or less information, these are the key details you’ll want to include.

Keep in mind that each of these sections will be formatted differently. Some may be in paragraph format, while others will be in charts.

Sample Business Plan Templates

Now that you know what’s included and how to format a business plan, let’s review some templates.

1. HubSpot’s One-Page Business Plan

Download a free, editable one-page business plan template.

The business plan linked above was created here at HubSpot and is perfect for businesses of any size – no matter how many strategies we still have to develop.

Fields such as Company Description, Required Funding, and Implementation Timeline gives this one-page business plan a framework for how to build our brand and what tasks to keep track of as we grow. Then, as the business matures, it can expand on its original business plan with a new iteration of the above document.

2. HubSpot’s Downloadable Business Plan Template

We created a business plan template for entrepreneurs.

Download a free, editable one-page business plan template.

The template is designed as a guide and checklist for starting your own business. You’ll learn what to include in each section of your business plan and how to do it. There’s also a list for you to check off when you finish each section of your business plan.

Strong game plans help coaches win games and help businesses rocket to the top of their industries. So if you dedicate the time and effort required to write a viable and convincing business plan, you’ll boost your chances of success and even dominance in your market.

3. LiveFlow’s Financial Planning Template with built-in automation

This free template from LiveFlow aims to make it easy for businesses to create a financial plan and track their progress on a monthly basis. The P&L Budget versus Actual format allows users to track their revenue, cost of sales, operating expenses, operating profit margin, net profit, and more.

The summary dashboard aggregates all of the data put into the financial plan sheet and will automatically update when changes are made. Instead of wasting hours manually importing your data to your spreadsheet, LiveFlow can also help you to automatically connect your accounting and banking data directly to your spreadsheet, so your numbers are always up-to-date.

With the dashboard, you can view your runway, cash balance, burn rate, gross margins, and other metrics. Having a simple way to track everything in one place will make it easier to complete the financials section of your business plan.

4. ThoughtCo’s Sample Business Plan

If you want to reference an actual business plan while writing your own, ThoughtCo’s got you covered. It created a fictional company called Acme Management Technology and wrote an entire business plan for it.

Using its sample business plan as a guide while filling out your own will help you catch and include small yet important details in your business plan that you otherwise might not have noticed.

5. BPlan’s Free Business Plan Template

One of the more financially oriented sample business plans in this list, BPlan’s free business plan template dedicates many of its pages to your business’ financial plan and financial statements.

After filling this business plan out, your company will truly understand its financial health and the steps you need to take to maintain or improve it.

6. Harvard Business Review’s “How to Write a Winning Business Plan”

Most sample business plans teach you what to include in your business plan, but this Harvard Business Review article will take your business plan to the next level – it teaches you the why and how behind writing a business plan.

With the guidance of Stanley Rich and Richard Gumpert, co-authors of “Business Plans That Win: Lessons From the MIT Enterprise Forum”, you’ll learn how to write a convincing business plan that emphasizes the market demand for your product or service. You’ll also learn the financial benefits investors can reap from putting money into your venture rather than trying to sell them on how great your product or service is.

7. HubSpot’s Complete Guide to Starting a Business

If you’re an entrepreneur, you know writing a business plan is one of the most challenging first steps to starting a business. Fortunately, with HubSpot’s comprehensive guide to starting a business, you’ll learn how to map out all the details of your business by understanding what to include in your business plan and why it’s important to include them. The guide also fleshes out an entire sample business plan for you.

If you need further guidance on starting a business, HubSpot’s guide can teach you how to make your business legal, choose and register your business name, and fund your business. It will also give small business tax information and provide marketing, sales, and service tips.

8. Panda Doc’s Free Business Plan Template

Panda Doc’s free business plan template is one of the more detailed and fleshed-out sample business plans on this list. It describes what you should include in each section, so you don’t have to come up with everything from scratch.

Once you fill it out, you’ll fully understand your business’ nitty-gritty details and how all of its moving parts should work together to contribute to its success.

9. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers several free business plan templates that can be used to inspire your own plan. Before you get started, you can decide what type of business plan you need — a traditional or lean start-up plan.

Then, you can review the format for both of those plans and view examples of what they might look like.

10. Culina Sample Business Plan

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Culina’s sample business plan is a great template to use if you just want to fill in your information. You can also use this template as a guide while you’re gathering important details. After looking at this sample, you’ll have a better understanding of the data and research you need to do for your own business plan.

11. Plum Sample Business Plan

Image Source

This is one of my favorite sample business plans because you can see how implementing visuals can help tell your brand’s story. The images in this template are cutting edge, which makes sense for an innovative company like Plum. When creating your own business plan, make sure the pictures and design you use make sense for your branding.

Additionally, the financial charts included are incredibly helpful if you’re not sure what financial information to include.

12. LiveShopBuy Sample Business Plan

Image Source

With this business plan, the focus is the investment opportunity. This is an excellent template to use if you’re going to use your business plan to receive funding. The investment opportunity section is placed right up front and is several pages long. Then, it goes into more detail about the company synopsis industry analysis.

Top Business Plan Examples

Here are some completed business plan samples to get an idea of how to customize a plan for your business. We’ve chosen different types of business plan ideas to expand your imagination. Some are extensive, while others are fairly simple.

Take a look.

1. LiveFlow

One of the major business expenses is marketing. How you handle your marketing reflects your company’s revenue. We included this business plan to show you how you can ensure your marketing team is aligned with your overall business plan to get results. The plan also shows you how to track even the smallest metrics of your campaigns, like ROI and payback period instead of just focusing on big metrics like gross and revenue.

Fintech startup, LiveFlow, allows users to sync real-time data from its accounting services, payment platforms, and banks into custom reports. This eliminates the task of pulling reports together manually, saving teams time and helping automate workflows.

When it came to including marketing strategy into its business plan, LiveFlow created a separate marketing profit and loss statement (P&L) to track how well the company was doing with its marketing initiatives. This is a great approach, allowing businesses to focus on where their marketing dollars are making the most impact.

“Using this framework over a traditional marketing plan will help you set a profitable marketing strategy taking things like CAC, LTV, Payback period, and P&L into consideration, “ explains LiveFlow co-founder, Lasse Kalkar.

Having this information handy will enable you to build out your business plan’s marketing section with confidence. LiveFlow has shared the template here. You can test it for yourself.

2. Lula Body

This is a good business plan example for service-based businesses such as gyms, boxing, dancing classes, etc. For starters, the plan shows how to budget for the business loan and what to focus on buying first. Everything is well presented, including what to charge the customers in different scenarios and the expected revenue. This is a good foundation from which business performance can be evaluated with time.

Brooklyn Business owner and Pilates instructor, Tara Kashyap, saw a need in her community for a pilates, tissue, and bodywork studio. In response, she opened Lula Body in Crown Heights.

Pictured above is a hypothetical pricing and revenue statement based on Lula Body’s business plan. As you can see, Kashyap breaks down the cost of classes, start-up expenses, monthly expenses, and her monthly sales projection. Everything from equipment costs to loan interest is included in the expenses to give the most accurate picture of operating costs and revenue.

If you’re seeking outside funding for your business, you’ll want to make sure this section of your business plan is as thorough as possible.

3. Patagonia

Sometimes all you need is a solid mission statement and core value to guide you on how to go about everything. You do this by creating a business plan revolving around how to fulfill your statement best. For example, Patagonia is an eco-friendly company, so their plan discusses how to make the best environment-friendly product without causing harm.

A good mission statement should not only resonate with consumers but should also serve as a core value compass for employees as well.

Outdoor clothing retailer, Patagonia, has one of the most compelling mission statements we’ve seen:

“We’re in business to save our home planet.”

It reels you in right from the start, and the environmental-friendly theme continues throughout the rest of their statement.

The page-length open letter goes on to explain that they are out to “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to protect nature.”

Their mission statement is compelling and detailed, with each section outlining how they will accomplish their goal.

4. Vesta Home Automation

This is the kind of business plan you need when applying for business funds. It clearly illustrates the expected future of the company and how the business has been coming along over the years.

This executive summary for a smart home device startup is part of a business plan created by students at Mount Royal University. While it lacks some of the sleek visuals of the templates above, its executive summary does a great job of demonstrating how invested they are in the business.

Right away, they mention they’ve invested $200,000 into the company already, which shows investors they have skin in the game and aren’t just looking for someone else to foot the bill.

Get Started Writing Your Business Plan

When you’re first getting started on your business plan, it can be daunting. The business world moves fast, and it’s full of ambitious companies scrambling to gain the majority of their industry’s market share.

That’s why it’s important to make sure you understand the value your business provides and can communicate that through a properly formatted business plan.

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

Shopping on social media has become increasingly popular over the past few years.

In fact, 57% of consumers report social media as their preferred method for discovering new products — over television ads (56%), YouTube ads (49%), and retail stores (42%), and only surpassed by “searching on the internet” (58%).

And as someone who now purchases the majority of her skincare products from “Swipe Up to Buy” links, I can attest: Social media shopping tools are effective.

Here, let’s explore how three companies have grown their revenue using shopping tools from Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

1. Facebook Shops and Pink Tag Boutique

According to HubSpot Blog Research, Facebook is the most popular social site for purchasing products, with 36% of consumers reporting they’d purchased a product directly from the platform.

In 2020, Facebook launched Facebook Shops, a free ecommerce tool designed to “create a mobile shopping experience for their audiences.” Essentially, it’s an online store that enables you to highlight products or specific collections of items, and customize fonts and colors to ensure it matches your brand.

Pink Tag Boutique, a Kentucky-based clothing and accessories boutique, saw immense growth on the platform. In fact, they attribute $44,448 in incremental sales from Facebook Shops, and have seen 66% greater average order value from buyers on Facebook Shops compared to those who bought directly from the website.

Beyond Facebook Shops, Pink Tag Boutique has also tested out Live Shopping events, which is a live broadcast in which people can learn more about your products and interact directly with you.

Facebook Shops could be a good opportunity for your brand to create its own digital storefront. Rather than requiring users to click-through to your website to purchase products, Facebook Shops allows you to make the process easier by enabling consumers to purchase directly from the platform.

2. Instagram Reels & Headway

HubSpot Blog Research found 44% of consumers prefer to discover new products on social media through ads or sponsored content — followed by 34% who prefer to discover new products via a feed post, and 32% who prefer social media marketplaces (like Facebook Marketplace), and 28% who prefer social media shops where purchases happen in-app (like Instagram Shop).

Additionally, 26% of consumers prefer discovering new products via short-form videos like Instagram Reels. As video continues to dominate in terms of most popular content format, it makes sense to test out leveraging video ads or Reels to engage with consumers.

For instance, Headway, an educational technology app that provides personal growth content, saw a 15% decrease in cost-per-acquisition with Reels ads, a 10% increase in video views with Reels ads, and a 10% increase in trials with Reels ads.

As Headway’s Head of Marketing, Vlad Strykun, told Instagram, “The Reels placement gave us the opportunity to expand our audience and reach new customers with new types of ad content—video explainers. The fall in cost per acquisition and the rise in conversions are convincing enough for us to continue working in this promising Reels area.”

Reels ads, which are full-screen and vertical, appear in-between content creators’ Reels within the app. The videos can be up to 30-seconds long, and people can comment, like, view, save, and share these videos.

It’s equally important to note — There are plenty of other Instagram ecommerce opportunities if Reels doesn’t seem like the best fit for your brand. The most popular tools leveraged by marketers include Instagram Shops (47%), Instagram Live Shopping (44%), Instagram Feed Post Shopping (40%), and Instagram Guides Shopping (39%).

3. TikTok and Abbott Lyon

With over 1 billion monthly users, TikTok is an undeniably powerful platform for reaching large audiences. Additionally, TikTok is used the most by Gen Z (26%), followed by Instagram (23%) and YouTube (22%) — so if your brand’s target audience is Gen Zers, it makes sense to test out TikTok’s ad capabilities.

Abbott Lyon, a fashion accessories brand, tested out TikTok’s Value-Based Optimization (VBO) bidding strategy, which allows brands to deliver ads to users who have the potential to become high-value customers. Additionally, the brand used In-Feed Ads and SparkAds.

The campaign was a major success for the brand, resulting in an increased return-on-ad-spend by 31%, and an increased order value by 13%. Abbott Lyon also reduced cost-per-acquisition by 20%.

Ultimately, the Shopping Tools you consider using will depend upon which platforms your target audience prefers, and which tools make the most sense for your business goals. But social media shopping isn’t going anywhere, so now’s a good time to test out all the social media shopping tools at your disposal to determine which makes the most sense for your company.

Short-form videos are everywhere nowadays. And, now, as platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Google, LinkedIn, and Pinterest expand their short-form offerings, brands are continuing to take notice.

In the HubSpot Blog’s 2022 Marketing Industry Trends Survey, we found that more than half of marketers (51%) who use short-form video plan to increase their investment in 2022. Meanwhile, 38% plan to continue investing the same amount.

What’s more? Short-form video has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy as 30% of social media marketers plan to invest in it more than any other trend in 2022.

So, how can you join in on the short-form video action to grow your business? And what are some trends to look for in the next year? Learn what HubSpot marketing experts advise, below.

• What are short-form videos?
• How do short-form videos fit into your content strategy?
• Short-Form Video Trends to Look Out For

Brandon Sanders, former digital marketer for HubSpot Academy, highlights that what’s considered short-form can also depend on the platform.

“With the rise of platforms like TikTok, Reels, and Vine, short-form video is actually getting shorter and lending itself more to 60-second to two-minute videos,” he said.

“I think the perception of short-form content on platforms like YouTube is actually around that 10-minute sweet spot because content on YouTube tends to be more comprehensive and longer.”

So, when you’re thinking of short-form videos, Youtube is the exception, whereas TikTok and other growing short-form platforms are the rule.

How do short-form videos fit into your content strategy?

A 2020 study by Wyzowl reported that people share videos at twice the rate than any other form of content. It also found that 84% of people were convinced to buy a product or service based on the brand’s video.

So, we already know video content is increasingly becoming an important part of every brand’s content marketing strategy.

But when we look at short-form video specifically, the data (gathered from the HubSpot Blog’s 2021 social media trends report and 2022 video marketing report) speak for themselves.

• Short-form ranks #1 for lead generation and engagement.
• Marketers will invest in short-form video more in 2022 than any other content format.
• Nearly half (47%) of marketers surveyed believe short-form videos are most likely to go viral.
• 54% of marketers surveyed say their companies leverage short-form videos.

Sanders says short-form videos give creators an innovative way to showcase their content.

“The growth of social media is causing the human attention span to become shorter and shorter,” he said. “So, leveraging the power of short-form content will give you a leg up on your competition and help engage your audience.”

Aside from length, one thing that sets short-form video apart is the trend culture.

TikTok, for instance, is run by dances, sounds, and social challenges. So, to get on the “For You” page on TikTok — which is equal to the “Explore” page on Instagram — brands must often join in on the fun.

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As with any new trend or platform, former HubSpot Senior Content Strategist Amanda Zantal-Wiener says you should always consider your audience first.

“It all goes back to a very old question: Which channels are your audiences using and for what?” she said. “And therefore, for which channels does it make the most sense for your business to create this short-form content?”

This means that while short-form video is often known for its entertainment value, you can adapt it to align with your brand.

Short-Form Video Trends to Look Out For

1. Brand Challenges

When short-form videos first gained popularity, it was through viral content based on dances, songs, and sounds.

Today, brands can make their own sounds, filters, and challenges go viral.

According to our social media trends report, 20% of marketers surveyed leveraged branded challenges and 42% said they performed better than expected.

In addition, marketers rank them among the most effective social media trends of 2021.

Short-Form Video Example: Colgate

To celebrate Mother’s Day, Colgate launched the #MakeMomSmile challenge, which encourages users all around the world to share videos in which they did something special for their mothers.

It’s also a great play on words, as Colgate is all about providing beautiful smiles to its customers.

2. Influencer Ads

Brands have been leveraging influencer marketing for years, that’s nothing new.

However, we’re seeing more brands use them in short-form video content.

HubSpot Blog Research found that 66% of marketers’ companies work with influencers on TikTok. They also rank it #5 in ROI when working with influencers.

For instance, popular TikTok influencer TiffFoods was recently in an ad for food brand Fly by Jing to promote its latest product.

Short-Form Video Example: Fly by Jing

With short-form content lending itself well to native advertising, brands can create videos that are more likely to generate conversions.

3. Product Teasers

Think about the average commercial you see: It’s usually anywhere between six seconds to 60 seconds. This also happens to be the average length of a short-form video.

Because of this, brands can leverage short-form video platforms to promote their products organically.

It can be incredibly effective because it doesn’t require a large budget, it has the potential to go viral, and it builds anticipation around your brand.

Short-Form Video Example: KaseMe Design

To build anticipation for its newest product launch, KaseMe Design posts a video using a popular TikTok sound and a cleverly deceptive low-battery sign.

It creates suspense by getting users to be even more invested in the launch as they wonder what the reveal is.

4. More User-Generated Content (UGC)

Consumers generally love UGC. In fact, it influences their purchasing decisions more than brand- or influencer-generated content.

According to HubSpot Blog research, UGC also offers great ROI, with 40% of marketers surveyed ranking it a high-ROI format on social media.

Our research also suggests it’s popular with Gen-Z, which is the biggest demographic on TikTok.

Why is UGC a winning strategy? Well, without using up too many resources, brands can publish videos that evoke emotion. It’s also budget-friendly.

Short-Form Video Example: Chipotle

This is a great example of how you can leverage user-generated content in your strategy. In this instance, Chipotle collaborated with these content producers to create a fun, viral-worthy video.

One of Chipotle’s target audiences might be young, college students looking for inexpensive meals. This video features two creators who reflect the audience they may want to attract. Brands should keep this in mind when considering UGC and ask, “will my audience relate to this?” If the answer’s “yes,” move forward.

5. More Behind-the-Brand Videos

Consumers seek out authenticity and transparency in brands. With short-form video, you only have a few seconds to connect with your audience.

So, how do you do that? Well, there’s no exact science to it, but consumers tend to feel more connected to brands that show the people behind the brand.

In one Sprout Social study, 70% of consumers said they felt more connected to brands whose CEO is active on social media platforms.

So, going into 2022, brands should pull back the curtain and engage with their audiences on a more personal level.

Our social media trends report revealed that 36% of marketers surveyed currently leverage the authentic, behind-the-scenes content that’s so popular on short-form video platforms like TikTok.

Those who do use it rank it third in ROI, with 68% of marketers saying it’s the most effective content behind funny and interactive content.

Short-Form Video Example: Sierra Nicole

Trendy? Check. Informative? Check. Prompts action? Check! This video works because it has all the ingredients for an effective short-form video.

It first grabs the viewer’s attention by including a popular song and dance. The content addresses pain points viewers may be facing. Then, the call-to-action (CTA) in the caption rounds out the video by turning viewers into potential leads.

6. More Explainer or Educational Videos

In 2022, brands will likely focus on educational content in their short-form videos – think how-to’s, DIYs, and explainer videos.

A 2020 Wyzowl report found that viewers want to see more of this video style from brands.

Wondering where we currently stand? 32% of marketers surveyed in our social media trends report say they currently leverage educational content and 57% of those who do say it’s one of the most effective content types.

Educational videos are great added-value content because they help audiences in their day-to-day lives. Brands that make education a priority in their marketing strategy can improve lead generation and build stronger brand loyalty.

Similarly, explainer videos target users who are at the decision-making stage of the buyer’s journey and, if done right, they can turn decision-makers into customers.

It’s a win-win situation: Brands get to address their audience’s pain points and offer solutions, which is (surprise!) them. Not sure what I mean? See the example below.

Short-Form Video Example: Soy Yo Candle

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by SoyYo | Candle company (@soyyocandle)

Soy Yo Candle used this formula to create this short-form video. Presumably, one of the biggest struggles of owning candles is making them last.

In just a few seconds, the brand presented a problem, offered a solution, and promoted its product. It can be as simple as that.

Another highlight in this video is that it caters to viewers who may be discovering the brand and those who already know it. Because of the value it offers, the brand can reach a broader audience organically.

Takeaways for Video Marketers

Social Media Content Manager Kelsi Yamada says it’s a low-commitment and engaging way to connect with your audience.

“You can get a good laugh or learn something new in a minute or less on TikTok or Reels,” said Yamada.

“On the flip side, it’s also relatively easy to create, which means there are more people who can share their humor or points of view. Because of this, brands should figure out what their unique point of view is, and how they can stand out in the noise.”

The desire to be on-trend is always tempting. But Yamada stresses that brands should be selective about which trends they partake in.

“Not every viral TikTok sound or meme format will align with your content strategy or brand, so don’t force it,” she said.

“Focus on catering to your niche and staying authentic first. Don’t be afraid to make something completely from scratch – trends have to start somewhere!”

With this in mind, it’s all about finding the balance between what’s trending and what’s on-brand for your business.

1. TikTok

With at least 47% of its users between 10 and 29 years old, TikTok is definitely the platform for the Millennial and Gen Z population.

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The TikTok homepage features a timeline of videos separated into two tabs. The “Following” tab with videos posted by the user’s followers, and the algorithm-driven “For You” page based on user behavior (what they like, comment on, scroll past, etc.)

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The “Discover” tab on TikTok highlights trending topics and hashtags, a great resource for marketers to generate new content ideas.

B2B marketers have been wary of using the platform, but it could be because success on the platform relies on emotional appeal. Yet, that emotional appeal may be exactly what they need.

According to a LinkedIn study, B2B strategies that appeal to emotions are seven times more effective for revenue generation than “rational messaging.”

Still not quite convinced TikTok is a viable marketing platform for your business? Check out this video explanation of how TikTok has grown into one of the most go-to platforms for short-form content today.

Now, it may be time to start practicing those dance moves.

2. Reels

Some call it TikTok 2.0, but Instagram Reels is proving to be its own beast.

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The Reels tab on Instagram is a scrollable video timeline, similar to what users see on their Explore page. From this page, users can click on the music the account used to see what other Reels feature that sound.

With over 1 billion active monthly users, Instagram already had consumers’ attention. When they launched Reels back in August of 2020, it became another marketing tool for brands and a worthy opponent for TikTok.

Instagram caters to a broader age demographic than TikTok. And when considering their other marketing features, Reels is another way for brands to expand their reach in a minute or less.

3. YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts is Youtube’s latest attempt to turn its long-form video platform into one that also houses short-form content.

YouTube first started testing it in September 2020 and it is now available to users globally.

When using YouTube’s mobile app, you’ll see that Shorts now have their dedicated tab on the platform. Users can create Shorts up to 60 seconds and, similarly to other short-form video platforms, can edit the videos directly within the app.

4. Triller

Triller is Tiktok’s musical theater friend (or rival), the one who bursts into song anytime, anywhere without cause or notice.

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Triller’s homepage looks similar to other short-form video platforms. However, They have made music a prominent feature on the app by making top and trending music the main tab.

The platform is popular among musical artists and allows users to edit 60-second videos within the app. This includes music, filters, effects, and transitions. Triller grew in popularity earlier this year when there was some uncertainty surrounding a TikTok ban in the United States.

With music playing a key role on the app, marketers should use music as a storytelling element in their videos. For instance, the song “You Got It” by Vedo, a song about unlocking your potential, made its rounds on Triller last year.

A recruiting firm could’ve used that sound to create a short video targeting job seekers. The song would also work great as a backdrop for a business coaching company advertising its services. The limit does not exist.

5. Hippo Video

If you want to take short-form video content beyond social media, there’s Hippo Video.

The video marketing platform gives brands a one-stop-shop to produce, distribute, and analyze their video content. Users can also embed forms, CTAs, and annotations within the video, making conversions easier.

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For example, let’s say a SaaS company is launching a new product and the marketing team is using Hippo Video for the email campaign.

On launch day, they can send a product teaser video to current customers and include a “Schedule a Demo” CTA, leading users to a meeting scheduling page.

During the campaign, the team can track key metrics like total plays and average watch rate — taking video analytics to another level.

6. Magisto by Vimeo

Vimeo recently acquired Magisto, a video editing software that makes video marketing easy through artificial intelligence (AI).

The first step is uploading your videos. The software will then analyze the videos and put them together based on the video editing style you’re looking for. They have over 10 editing styles ranging from real estate and fitness to Facebook and YouTube ads.

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Once you select the style you’re looking for and the video is complete, you can distribute it on social media platforms and track the analytics.

This platform is ideal for brands that don’t want to spend too much time or too many resources on video marketing. This app does it so you don’t have to.

7. Lately.ai

If your brand is short on time and resources but wants to leverage short-form video, consider Lately.ai.

This software, powered by AI, takes long-form audio, video, and text and atomizes it into snackable posts for social media. How does it know what will work? That’s where the AI comes in.

It looks at what content your audience is most likely to respond to based on historical data and creates from there. It’s a great tool for brands who are dipping their toes in short-form content and want to build from their current library.

8. Wistia

Wistia is a leader in the video hosting industry, helping more than 300,000 businesses manage their video content and grow their audience.

When using this platform, you can build a customizable video player that matches your brand, use lead generation tools, and track your videos’ performance to gain insights.

You can also create custom ad audiences for search and social to ensure your content reaches the right audience and use integrations to sync all your tools.

There are hundreds of ways to incorporate short-form videos into your marketing strategy. But no matter which trends come and go, it will always come back to your audience.

Try a few approaches, and listen to where the data tells you to go next.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in Jan. 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

It’s a question almost every fast-growing company runs into: should we hire a PR firm or build an in-house team? And if you wrestle with this question long enough, it quickly spirals into an endless back-and-forth (“on the other hand…“).

The truth is, depending on your specific goals, resources, and budget, one path may make more sense than the other. We’ve rounded up some helpful advice from PR pros at HubSpot to help you make the right call.

Let’s dive into the key benefits and drawbacks of hiring an agency, explore how to make the right decision for your business, and cover five PR tasks you can manage in-house.

Reasons to Hire a PR Firm

1. You know what you want.

Hiring a firm without knowing what you want is like driving to a new destination without a map. Chances are, you’ll get lost — quickly.

“Hiring a PR firm can be a significant investment, so before doing so, you need to be clear about your goals and what you’re hoping to achieve through PR,” advises Ellie Flanagan, Manager of Product & Corporate Communications at HubSpot.

Your goals are your compass. They influence your budget, timeline, and even the tactics you want to employ. Just as importantly, they give you a clear picture of what you need from an agency.

2. You’re ready to “feed the PR machine.”

PR is not a “set it and forget it” activity — even if you hire an agency to do the heavy lifting.

Mia MacKinnon, Head of Brand & Public Relations, APAC at HubSpot, echos this point, telling me, “If, as a founder or business leader, you don’t have capacity to invest in supporting your agency or in-house lead with developing and approving narratives, supporting launches, prepping for media interactions and events and being available for speaking opportunities, it’s going to be tough to see results.”

She continues, “If an agency’s drip-fed information, with little visibility of your business strategy and the challenges you’re facing, they’re going to have an incredibly tough time delivering results. You get out what you put in with public relations and my best agency partners have been ones where the team we’ve worked with have become an extension of our in-house team.”

In other words, you play a huge role in setting up your agency for success. If you treat your agency like a true partnership, you’re more likely to see great results.

3. You want to extend your media reach.

When you hire a PR firm, you not only access new ideas, perspectives, and expertise — you also work with people who have relationships with key contacts in the media. And when it comes to media outreach, you’re only as strong as your relationships.

Flanagan adds, “Building relationships with reporters is a core component of successful PR. If you do decide to go the agency route, it’s important that they have a day-to-day contact at your company that can bring them information and help them connect to internal stakeholders.”

That said, your budget may get in the way here. If that’s the case, fear not. Flanagan advises: “If you have a limited budget, hiring an in-house PR person to focus on relationship building can be a better investment. In-house teams also have better access to internal resources and spokespeople.”

4. You need specialized knowledge.

They say all press is good press — but that’s up for debate. Regardless, when a crisis situation comes a-knocking, most small businesses and start-ups are not equipped to handle it. Even negative feedback and disgruntled customers can impact a brand’s reputation and image.

All this to say, if your business needs crisis communication — or any specialized PR knowledge — it’s better to leave it to the pros. PR firms are more experienced and specially trained to handle (and prevent) these types of situations.

Now let’s explore some red flags you should consider before moving to the next step.

Reasons Why You Might Not Need a PR Firm

1. Your in-house team is closer to the information.

Your in-house team only has one client: you. Meaning they can give their complete and undivided attention, whereas an agency has to spread its time across multiple clients.

As Flanagan tells me, “In-house teams also have better access to internal resources and spokespeople.”

Whereas you need to educate an outside agency about the ins and outs of your business — and monitor their work for accuracy — your in-house team already has a strong grasp of internal company knowledge.

Additionally, with tools like HubSpot’s Marketing Hub and Hootsuite, working on PR-related tasks — like sending promotional emails and social monitoring — has never been easier.

2. You haven’t found a good fit with an agency.

When hiring an agency, never underestimate the importance of finding a good fit.

MacKinnon tells me, “There are many moving parts to finding the right agency — industry specialization, B2B versus consumer, agency size and how they structure their teams, how flexible an agency is, their model — are they pure media relations, or are they more integrated, and which of the two do you need?”

For small businesses that are new to the PR game, MacKinnon suggests looking for agencies that offer flexibility:

“Agencies who have a flexible model and can adapt to suit your businesses needs are often where smaller businesses find a great fit — until you have a set model of working, it’s important that the agency can flex to align with you — this might be a big launch one month, and a quiet period the next, as you prepare for your next campaign.”

Additionally, reputation is paramount in the PR world. Don’t hesitate to ask around for recommendations from others.

MacKinnon explains, “Exceptional agencies tend to be known and talked about — ask for recommendations from businesses whose public relations campaigns you admire, from businesses in an industry similar to yours, or who face similar challenges when it comes to awareness, perception and trust.”

3. You’re looking for a quick fix.

PR isn’t a “quick fix.” The PR seeds you plant today need time to grow, especially considering the nature of public relations is all about building real relationships. As a result, the relationship you have with your agency should feel like a true partnership — not a short-term investment.

If all that sounds daunting, the agency route may not be the answer.

MacKinnon echos this, saying: “One of the biggest learnings I’ve had in my career working in-house, and something I share with my team, is that once you find your agency, you have a huge role to play in setting you both up for success, and that’s to treat them like a true partner.”

5 PR Tasks Your In-House Team Can Manage

1. Press releases.

In today’s world, businesses have to generate their own buzz. Whether sharing a new product drop, an upcoming event, or changes in your organizational structure, a well-written press release can get the word out about your business. Check out this helpful guide on how to write a press release that stands out from the crowd.

2. Social media communications.

What people say about your business on social media can impact your overall reputation. Every in-house team should have their “ear to the ground” monitoring these conversations.

Social listening tools — like HubSpot’s Social Media Management Software, Sprout Social, and Buffer — track mentions of your brand, relevant keywords, and direct feedback through hashtags and DMs. Additionally, many of these tools will allow you to respond to mentions on your social media accounts directly from the dashboard.

3. Blog writing.

Community outreach is a pillar of public relations. A great way to engage with an audience is through owned channels, like a company blog. When it comes to developing a well-rounded blogging strategy, your in-house team may need to divide and conquer — one person creates an editorial calendar, another person looks for guest contributors, while another person writes blog content.

4. Promotional emails.

Thanks to tools like HubSpot’s Marketing Hub, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact, it’s easier than ever to manage, design, and send emails to customers. However, in order to send emails, you first need people to send them to. Therefore, building a healthy email list — and making it easy to opt in — should be a long-standing focus for your in-house team.

5. Employee communications.

Employee communications, also known as internal communications, has quickly become a major focus in PR. After all, employees can be a company’s harshest critics or most passionate advocates.

Employee communications involve sharing info through various channels, like email or an internal forum. In-house PR teams can share company news, project updates, and more. When employees feel “in the loop,” they’re more engaged, connected, and empowered at work.

Back To You

Ultimately, no one knows your business — and its needs — better than you. If you’re deciding whether to hire a PR firm or not, start with the advice in this article. And remember, as long as you factor PR in your business strategy to some capacity, you’re already headed in the right direction.

Digital advocacy efforts are vital for enabling nonprofit organizations to cut through the noise and win campaigns.

Without digital advocacy, it can be difficult to measure the success of your campaigns — or even know if you’re winning, at all. In fact, 94% of advocacy campaigners believe the opposing side is winning, and 86% believe they should embrace more impactful tactics.

It is time we step up our digital advocacy efforts.

Whether you’re a seasoned campaigner looking to go back to basics or are completely new to digital organizing and don’t know where to start — you’re in the right place.

Here, let’s explore five questions you’ll want to ask when starting a digital advocacy campaign.

5 Questions to Ask for a Successful Digital Advocacy Campaign

1. What is your goal?

Before starting any digital campaign, it’s important to understand what you’re trying to achieve. 

Think about what you want to accomplish. Do you want to turn the tides on a policy decision currently on the table? Do you want to help de-stigmatize an issue in your community? Do you want to mobilize your supporters to publicly support your issue ahead of an upcoming election?

Marshall Ganz is a scholar at Harvard and activist who has studied powerful movements and what led to their success. Through his research he found a framework for setting goals.

Ganz determined that effective campaign goals should:

• Be measurable and tangible to improve the lives of your supporters. You should be able to clearly measure the incremental progress towards the goal.
• Focus resources strategically to achieve your goal. Consider what you have in your back pocket– can you put your organization’s skills and strengths to use to achieve a single outcome?
• Build capacity for your organization internally. For example, when working towards this goal will you recruit and engage volunteers? Will you gain valuable experience or resources, exposure and clout that will help you with your next goal?
• Use points of leverage where you can use your communities strengths and/or capitalize off of your opposition’s weakness
• Focus on a single motivational issue that has a direct impact on your supporters’ lives.

2. What is your theory of change?

It is incredibly important to show your supporters that their actions can have an enormous impact.  

In our research report on Full Spectrum Engagement, we found that it’s essential to show how change is possible. Providing a blueprint for that path — and showing how you get from A to B — will help supporters understand the steps it takes to win, and they’ll directly see their role in that change. 

Google’s research into civic engagement attitudes shows that those who do not take action are held back in part because they didn’t believe their actions would have an impact. When people see how their small action plays into a larger strategic plan, they will be more likely to join.

Here is how the #StopAdani illustrated their theory of change:

The giant #StopAdani campaign used this graphic to illustrate the theory of  change of their campaign to stop a new coal mine in Australia.

3. Who are your targets?

Now that you have a goal, ask yourself, who are the key decision-makers in charge of making your goal become a reality? Who do you need on your side to make it happen? A good exercise for narrowing in on decision-makers is called power mapping.

To conduct power mapping, follow these steps:

• Brainstorm: List all of the people involved in your campaign, including stakeholders, influencers, decision-makers, and constituents who are directly affected by the issue.
• Power Map: Next, place them on a grid and map them based on how much power they have over your issue, and how sympathetic they are to your cause.
• Pick a Target: Once everything is on the grid, you can see who might be the best person to target in your campaign. Remember — it doesn’t have to be the most powerful person. Depending on how long you have, you may go for a more sympathetic person first, or even do an assessment of the most powerful person’s network. You need to analyze the pathways and relationships that can get you access to these decision-makers, and how to put pressure on them through a larger network.

Here is an example of a power mapping brainstorm. The goal is in the pink sticky note, and all of the actors related to the goal are in yellow sticky notes and have been mapped:

A Screenshot of a power mapping board. The campaign goal is to eliminate proof of immigration status when enrolling in school so they process aligns with the statewide sanctuary policy. The vertical axis maps the level of influence/power each actor has over the decision related to the campaign. The horizontal axis maps the level of support each actor has for your campaign. Template inspired by Anita Tang’s work at The Commons 

To get more in depth instructions on power mapping please check out our Advocacy Targeting with Intention Manual to give you step-by-step instructions and great prompting questions for your brainstorming.

4. How will you reach your goal?

You have determined your goal and your theory of change … but how will you put this plan into action?

New/Mode provides a platform for supporters to reach decision-makers and for their voices to be heard. We offer multiple avenues and channels to reach decision-makers.

Reaching a CEO or a bank? Perhaps they would be more receptive to the public and a hashtag on Twitter calling them out.

Need to reach a local representative? They have staff dedicated to opening, reading, and responding to their constituents. New/Mode has built-in datasets that automatically match supporters with their elected officials so none of the manual work falls on your shoulders.

Check out the types of digital advocacy tools you can use to achieve your goals:

Tweet Storm

Use Tweets to build a powerful public narrative, grow support, and make your campaign go viral.

Learn how the Regional Transportation Authority used the tweet storm to win funding for transit.

Letters to the Editor

Make the headlines! Encourage supporters to write letters to local publications and provide a platform for your collective story… decision-makers will be sure to notice!

Learn how organizations such as the Warren Democrats, Stand Up America, and New Hampshire Democratic Party have used this great tool.

Targeted Emails

Input multiple email subject lines and messages into the system to increase deliverability and open rates. Create conditional messages that are dependent on the decision-maker’s current vote or position. Give your supporters an appropriate script for the given situation.

Learn how Defund the Police campaigns all over North

America used email actions to give their supporters a strong voice.

Personalized Calls

Call your local, state/provincial, and federal officials, and candidates and tell them what matters most.

Learn how BattleForTheNet used the call tool to advocate for open internet for all.

Petitions

Give your supporters something to believe in! Provide an easy way for them to take action and get in touch with local decision-makers.

Learn how Safe Passage used a combination of the petition, tweet and letter to the editor tool to reunite families.

5. What is your follow-up plan?

Campaigning is a long and dedicated effort. In your digital advocacy campaign you are developing and furthering a relationship with both your supporters and decision-makers. You must have a plan for both of these relationships.

How to Nurture your Relationships with Supporters

You will have a list of supporters who take part in your advocacy campaign and you will have an opportunity to deepen your relationship with them.

Using New/Mode in tandem with a customer relationship management software is really effective to keep track of and nurture relationships. Once an action-taker uses New/Mode, their contact information will sync to HubSpot. In HubSpot you can see who has taken an action, and how many actions they’ve taken.

With this information you can start to follow-up with those people every couple of months and ask them to participate in an action they’re ready to take. For example, if someone starts with a low-barrier action such as a petition, you could ask them to do another simple action like sending an email to a representative or ask them to escalate their action and ask them to Tweet at their representative.

A helpful way to visualize this is a pyramid of engagement/ladder of engagement which is used by campaigners and organizers to define a series of tasks for supporters, usually escalating in difficulty or commitment required.

Different advocacy tools might be better depending on which level a supporter is at, as shown in this picture:

For more tips on how to engage your supporter base, check out this Campaign Engagement Checklist, developed from decades of experience leading advocacy campaigns across the globe.

How to Nurture your Relationship with Decision-Makers

Once your supporters contact their decision-makers you need to be ready to follow-up with them, make your ask again, and/or hold them accountable. You should ask supporters to notify you of the response they get so you can keep track of how receptive the decision-maker is.

Depending on how responsive the decision-maker is you may want to ask them for a meeting and invite supporters along so you can make your asks and demands face-to-face. If they’re not responsive, perhaps it’s time to try another communications channel if they are not receptive to the first request.

If they are not responding to emails, would they be more attentive if they saw their name in thousands of tweets or in the newspaper? If you do receive a commitment from a decision-maker, make note of this and come up with a plan to check in and hold them accountable.

Time to Get Started

You are officially set up for success because you now have a goal in mind, a plan to get there, targets to reach, a way to reach them and a plan to follow up on your efforts.

Good luck, and happy campaigning.

At New/Mode we are providing technology to help leading social good organizations cut through the noise and win campaigns. We provide digital advocacy software that is designed to turn engaged supporters into advocates that achieve tangible wins for our communities.

We support hundreds of cause-based organizations and so far have facilitated over 17,000 campaigns and 60 million civic messages to decision-makers with our software– we know what works and want to share the top five questions you should ask before launching your campaign to ensure you have a successful one.

It’s getting difficult for marketers to ignore the popularity and influence of TikTok. Brands on TikTok are reaching younger audiences, increasing brand awareness, and going viral — all by leveraging the power of short-form video.

Of course, it also helps that TikTok has over 1 billion active users and a fantastic engagement rate — far exceeding any other social platform today.

In this post, we’ll discuss why you should leverage TikTok marketing in 2022 and how smaller companies can build a scalable, fun, and creative strategy on the platform. We’ll also cover eleven brands that have gone viral on TikTok.

Table of Contents

What is TikTok Marketing?

Why Brands Should Leverage TikTok Marketing in 2022

11 TikTok Brands That are Winning at Marketing

TikTok Marketing Tips

What is TikTok Marketing?

Although TikTok might feel like a hub of strange posts, its popularity and video-driven content provide a variety of unique marketing opportunities.

Marketers can leverage TikTok in three main areas:

1. Influencer Marketing

A great way to leverage TikTok is by engaging with the influencer community. Because influencers have a solid understanding of the platform, they can transform stiff brand messages into fun and creative videos. This type of marketing is particularly effective at opening your content to a new audience and boosting brand awareness.

2. Original Content

Although fans of TikTok love original content, you don’t need to spend hours coming up with the next viral trend. Often, the best performing TikToks are ones that replicate or recreate a current trend. Start by exploring the app, its trends, and where your brand can join the fun.

3. Paid Ads

TikTok ads are a relatively new addition to the platform. Powered by their own advertising platform, TikTok For Business, brands can run in-feed ads or create branded hashtags and video effects.

Although many of the first brands to join TikTok were large, well-known companies, it can still be helpful for small businesses to look at why brands of all sizes are joining the platform.

Why Brands Should Leverage TikTok Marketing in 2022

Short-form video is dominating the social media landscape — and TikTok is the leading platform for it. It’s no surprise that more than half of marketers (52%) who use TikTok plan to increase their investment in 2022, which is one of the highest jumps of any platform.

While TikTok is relatively new compared to other social giants like YouTube and Instagram, it’s seeing stellar growth year-over-year. In fact, it was the most downloaded app in 2019 and 2020, racking up over three billion downloads so far. It also boasts 1.2 billion monthly users which experts predict will reach 1.5 billion by the end of 2022.

Additionally, TikTok is the most engaging of all social media apps with an average user session of 10.85 minutes. Its viral nature also deserves a shout out. Unlike other social platforms, even accounts with a handful of followers can spark millions of views on a great video.

If you think TikTok is only for the Gen-Z crowd, think again. While over half of Gen-Z consumers are on TikTok, it’s picking up steam with other age groups. In 2021, 36% of TikTok users were between 35 and 54 years old, a 10% increase from the year before.

That said, since TikTok is quirky by nature, brands need to get creative to gain their audience’s attention. In other words, a simple ad or sponsored influencer endorsement might not cut it on this fast-paced app.

Let’s look at eleven brands who nail TikTok marketing with creative content that draws attention.

1. The NBA

Unlike its Instagram channel, which focuses purely on basketball games and highlights, the NBA’s TikTok posts show a lighter side of the organization. For example, they’ll often post videos of players working out to music, dancing on the court, or answering fan questions.

In this video, Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors busts a move from the sidelines after his teammate scores:

And check out this funny montage of Chris Bosh photo-bombing his teammates (including LeBron James) throughout his career:

Making your brand feel more personal can have a great effect on TikTok. For example, if your restaurant’s TikTok account posts funny videos of waiters dancing, viewers might think the restaurant has pleasant and happy staff. This might make them want to eat there because they can picture themselves having a fun dining experience.

What we like:

While you might expect the NBA to focus more seriously on stats and games, it uses the app to lighten up the branding and make its athletes look more relatable. While the videos still promote basketball, they also fit with other funny posts on TikTok feeds.

2. Fenty Beauty

One of the most popular types of content on TikTok is tutorials. Some brands lend themselves to this more than others, but a great example is Fenty Beauty, which uses TikTok to show makeup tutorials, wear-tests, and product launches.

What we like:

Tutorial-based videos can fit a variety of brands. For example, a clothing store can show how to style certain pieces of clothing. A hardware store can show how to build, restore, or paint something using its tools. Even a gym can offer a demonstration on how to use different equipment.

Start by brainstorming all the ways someone could use your products or services. If you can break a task into steps that last no more than 60 seconds, it may make for a great TikTok video tutorial.

3. Dunkin’

Dunkin’ was one of the first brands to employ influencer marketing on the platform by partnering with TikTok megastar Charli D’Amelio.

Together, they launched new menu items at Dunkin and collaborated on several videos.

After posting content about the partnership, Dunkin saw a 57% spike in app downloads and a 20% sales boost for all cold brew coffees.

However, if you believe you need to partner with a famous TikToker for it to work, think again.

When it comes to influencer marketing, relevance is more important than reach. Rather than partnering with an influencer based solely on vanity metrics (such as follower count), look for micro-influencers who have a niche audience that aligns with your own. Research shows that influencers with less than 1,000 followers receive more engagement than their more popular counterparts.

What we like:

This example highlights the power of influencer marketing on TikTok. By partnering with influencers, Dunkin’ benefits from word-of-mouth marketing while building social proof.

4. Milk Bar

TikTok videos thrive with music, and Milk Bar knows this too well. The bakery chain does an exceptional job at capitalizing on popular TikTok memes, formats, and audio.

Here’s Milk Bar putting a spin on the “Have you ever been in love?” video trend:

TikTok makes it easy to add music to video clips, which could result from having made legal arrangements with major music companies. Maybe this is why it’s nearly impossible to scroll through TikTok without seeing users dancing or lip-syncing to music.

What we like:

Viewers like to see brands joining in on current trends or putting a unique spin on an existing one. When brands take the time to understand TikTok and keep a finger on the pulse of the platform, it becomes easier to join trending topics, challenges, and memes. And if you’re not sure where to start, check out TikTok’s Discovery Page for inspiration.

5. Chipotle

Since joining TikTok in 2018, Chipotle has set the standard for how brands can grow their brand presence while engaging the TikTok community in a fun and authentic way.

Chipotle opts for a more casual vibe, often posting dance challenges and fan-made content, such as videos of people sharing their favorite Chipotle recipes and hacks.

Chipotle also showcases behind-the-scenes footage from real crew members in real Chipotle kitchens. Check out this “vlog style” video of a former Chipotle employee revisiting her job and interviewing her coworkers:

What we like:

If you need a creative way to spread brand awareness quickly, taking a note from Chipotle and sharing personable behind-the-scenes footage might be a great experiment. Also, lean into your brand advocates who may be willing to share their experiences on social media.

6. Gymshark

Gymshark is one of the leading fitness brands on TikTok, reaching 2 million followers in only six months. Gymshark caters to fitness fanatics by posting workout challenges, inspirational health journeys, and relatable fitness humor that makes the gym feel less intimidating.

Here’s one of those relatable fitness videos:

One of the brand’s most notable TikTok campaigns was the 66 Days: Change Your Life challenge, which highlights the fact that it takes 66 days to form a habit. TikTokers submitted videos of their own workout journey in hopes of winning a Gymshark membership.

The campaign was an overwhelming success, with the hashtag #gymshark66 generating 193 million views.

What we like:

Gymshark leverages the power of challenges. Challenges are one of the biggest trends on TikTok, and innovative brands are using them to fast-track their growth and connect with millions of users on the app. Consider creating your own challenge or putting a unique spin on an already existing one.

7. The Washington Post

The Washington Post was one of TikTok’s earliest brand adopters. Those who haven’t seen their videos might be anticipating investigative or serious content. Surprisingly, the newspaper actually uses its account to post comedic skits about the latest breaking news.

These videos fit in perfectly with the platform because they’re funny, timely, and embrace some of TikTok’s weirdest special effects. Check out this skit about Delta Airlines’ PR department struggling to write a press release about the COVID-19 delta variant:

The Washington Post displays how brands can succeed on TikTok by talking directly to its specific audience — young viewers who want to laugh.

Because The Post has a long history of groundbreaking, award-winning, and intellectual journalism, this comedic approach might also attract young readers who want to follow the news but used to worry that content from a newspaper would be too advanced or out of touch for them.

What we like:

Despite its reputation for “serious journalism,” the Washington Post did not shy away from TikTok. If your brand is in publishing, academia, or similar industries, testing out a video strategy that shows off your lighter side could be an interesting experiment. It might make your content and brand feel less intimidating and help you gain attention from newer audiences.

8. San Diego Zoo

Everyone loves a cute animal video. The San Diego Zoo’s TikTok account pleasantly takes advantage of this well-known fact.

The zoo’s strategy is simple: Post videos of cute animals with fun music. And with over 2 million fans, it seems to be working. How could anyone not want to follow them after seeing this video of an adorable red panda?

If that cuteness wasn’t enough, the zoo has also dueted with other animal-friendly accounts, like the Monterey Aquarium:

What we like:

This is a great example of how two similar brands can cross-promote using TikTok features. Because of the zoo’s tagging strategy, this video might be seen by fans of the aquarium and the zoo. This way, zoo followers might gain more interest in the aquarium and vice versa.

9. Duolingo

TikTok is known for its quirky “unhinged” content, and Duolingo has effectively carved out a space in this landscape.

The brand continues to go viral for its funny, trendy, and often chaotic videos featuring its mascot, Duo the owl. Duo can be seen dancing to popular audio, adding sassy commentary to pop culture news, and jumping on the latest trends.

Duo’s antics have successfully humanized the brand and epitomizes their witty brand voice — which also comes in handy when responding to TikTok comments.

What we like:

Your brand voice shapes every interaction you have online — from the videos you create to how you respond to comments. Duolingo has molded a strong brand voice which it uses to tell memorable and entertaining stories.

10. Crocs

While the love-hate relationship with crocs is very real, it’s all love for the brand on TikTok. Its winning strategy includes original music, brand-specific hashtags (like #CrocTok), and colorful, entertaining content.

That said, Crocs really shines at poking fun of itself and the perceived “ugliness” of their shoes. They lean into this by posting outfit of the day (OOTD) videos and tutorials on how to style their shoes with accessories and a great sense of humor.

What we like:

No one likes a brand that takes itself too seriously. At the end of the day, your buyers are people — not robots with credit cards. Humility and humor are two ingredients that can humanize your brand, cut through the noise, and build a connection with your audience.

11. Planet Money

Planet Money is a podcast by the National Public Radio (NPR) with the tagline — “The economy explained.”

It’s hard to imagine a brand covering such a serious (and complex) topic on a platform that’s synonymous with silly, snackable content. But Planet Money manages to infuse educational videos with an entertaining spin.

From inflation to rent control, no topic is too challenging for Planet Money to chip away at in an innovative and humorous way. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at this skit explaining how banks make billions from overdraft fees, which starts with a man trying to buy a burrito:

What we like:

If you feel your brand is too “serious” for TikTok, take a note from Planet Money and approach your brand — or your content — from a different angle. You may find that adding a dash of humor is just what you need to skyrocket on the platform.

TikTok Marketing Tips

While it might be challenging to get your content to go viral like the bigger brands, TikTok could be a great tool for getting in sync with younger audiences.

If you think TikTok might be part of your marketing strategy soon or in the future, now would be a great time to get ahead of your competitors by downloading the app and investigating what similar brands or potential audiences are doing there.

If you’re raring to go on a TikTok strategy, here are a few tips and takeaways that we’ve gained from looking at the brands that have already done well on the app.

• Show a different side of your company. The app is a hub for creativity and humor. Embracing a more personal tone or a behind-the-scenes approach could make your company appear more relatable or trustworthy to potential customers.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment. Unlike platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, there aren’t as many norms, best practices, or rules about what works and what doesn’t. If you think something might be interesting or funny, try it and see if it gets any likes, comments, or shares.
• Engage with your audience. Between challenges, duets, likes, comments, and shares, there are plenty of ways to engage with other TikTok users — even if you don’t know them. Try to come up with videos, challenges, or duets that aim to interact with others. As with other platforms, the more you engage with people, the more your fan base could grow.
• Don’t shy away from marketing your products, but make sure you do it in a creative way. Try your hand at tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to content that showcase the best parts of your products or services.
• Tap into the power of word-of-mouth marketing with influencers. But remember that relevance is more important than reach, so partner with niche micro-influencers who share a similar audience.

For brands, joining TikTok offers an opportunity to reach younger audiences and increase brand awareness in a highly playful environment. But succeeding on the platform relies on creating exciting content — so prepare to put your creative hat on and experiment with new formats.

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

Many businesses find creating a social media strategy overwhelming. There are so many networks available, and they’re constantly adding new features to learn and integrate into your plan.

If you don’t have a full-time team of social media experts at your disposal, it’s even harder. But the fact is that your success depends on having a sensible and straightforward strategy that fits your resources and goals.

By the end of this guide, you’ll know how to develop a social media strategy that will drive traffic and quell that overwhelming feeling you get whenever you open Instagram or Twitter.

Your social media strategy is your master plan for how you create, post, and engage with your social media content. It encompasses your social content guidelines, posting cadence, social media marketing campaigns, creative plans, and engagement strategy.

Many companies use social media to connect with their customers, provide support, advertise new products and features, and promote special offers.

Social media strategies differ depending on the brand’s voice and positioning, target audience demographics, and social media platform limitations. When you develop your business’ social media strategy, considering these factors will help your message reach the right audiences in the right format.

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For example, T-Mobile’s social media team capitalized on the Mother’s Day holiday to promote their T-Mobile Tuesdays app. The tweet uses humor to gain users’ attention and includes a timely promotion to appeal to Twitter users who haven’t bought a gift for Mother’s Day.

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You can also use social media as part of a larger marketing campaign. For example, Hershey’s posted a short video on Instagram featuring Mindy Kaling, the spokesperson for their “Celebrate SHE” campaign.

Why You Need a Social Media Strategy

The top three challenges that social media marketers face include reaching their audience, measuring ROI, and reaching business goals.

Crafting a social media strategy can help you tackle these challenges and more. Social media strategies also equip you to set goals and guardrails, track performance, and tweak your benchmarks over time. Without a starting point, you can’t measure what’s working and how to shift your activity to hit your goals.

Creating a strategy:

1. Helps you set goals and guardrails.

A social media strategy establishes clear expectations and goals for your business’ social media marketing efforts. Whether you aim to increase brand awareness, create buzz around a promotional event, or launch a rebranding campaign for your business, a social media strategy provides a blueprint that your team can follow to keep your marketing consistent, on task, and relevant to your target audience.

2. Allows you to track goal performance.

It’s not enough to simply have a goal for your business’ social media marketing; you also need to keep track of how you are progressing toward the goal. A social media strategy establishes
key performance indicators that you can analyze to monitor your business’ progress toward its social media goals.

3. Helps you tweak your benchmarks over time.

Benchmarking your social media marketing strategy allows you to track social media metrics and analyze your business’ current social media performance compared to industry standards, your competitors’ performance, and your past performance.

Evaluating your performance against benchmarks helps you determine elements of your social media marketing that need improvement to reach your marketing goals.

A social media strategy also helps you set expectations for broader team involvement and get everyone aligned on what they should and shouldn’t do on your social networks.

Let’s unpack how to start building a social media strategy from scratch.

1. Define your target audience.

If you haven’t already identified and documented your buyer personas, start by defining the key demographics of the audience you’re trying to reach, such as age, gender, occupation, income, hobbies and interests, etc.

Defining your target audience helps you create focused advertising that addresses your ideal consumer’s specific needs.

For instance, the below sponsored tweet by monday.com, a project management platform, highlights the platform’s flexibility and workflow customization feature. The tweet targets business owners and project managers who may feel limited by other project management software.

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Consider your ideal consumer’s challenges and what problems they’re solving daily. Focus on no more than four types of people that represent the majority of your buyers. Don’t get hung up on the exceptions or outliers, or you’ll never get started!

2. Start blogging.

Fresh content is the linchpin of a successful social strategy, so commit to consistently creating new, quality content. Compile a list of common questions from prospects and commit to addressing these questions with at least one new blog post per week.

Combining your blogging and social media strategies can help your content reach a larger audience. For example, you can create a social media post that includes a tip for your followers and a link to a blog post that expands upon the post. The social media post will drive traffic to your blog, making it easy for readers to share the blog post with their followers and expand the blog’s reach.

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This tweet by SellersFunding highlights the main points discussed in the linked blog post. The tweet provides enough detail to pique the reader’s interest and convince them to read the full blog post.

3. Create educational content.

Create downloadable content like ebooks, checklists, videos, and infographics that address your buyer’s pains. If your content is beneficial, people will likely share it on social media and extend your reach.

One example would be HubSpot’s social media trends report, which we offer for free:

4. Focus on a few key social channels.

Most startups and small businesses don’t have the bandwidth to establish and sustain a quality social media presence on every single channel. It’s also overwhelming to learn the rules of engagement on multiple networks simultaneously.

Here’s a video by HubSpot Academy explaining the social channels where you can post content for your business.

Start small. Research key networks to learn where your target audience is spending time. For instance, if your ideal consumers are business professionals, it may be beneficial to post on LinkedIn rather than Instagram.

Focus your effort on building, nurturing, and sustaining a community on the social channels where your target audience spends most of their time before moving on to another channel.

5. Develop a recipe card to guide you.

Social media isn’t an exact science. It doesn’t work the same for every business or industry. To see results for your business, create a recipe card. A recipe card is a posting and engagement schedule that keeps your team on track and helps you post content consistently. HubSpot has a list of 13 social media tools and templates that you can use to plan your content and create a posting schedule.

Develop a reasonable recipe card, one you can stick to and get your team to follow. Set goals for your posting and engagement frequency, and hold yourself accountable for following your recipe.

6. Measure your results.

There are countless things to track on your social media channels. Start by looking at how much traffic your social accounts drive to your website or blog.

Social media platforms offer tools to help businesses track analytics. For example, you can use Facebook’s Page Insights, Instagram’s Account Insights, and LinkedIn’s Visitor Analytics to see what people are responding to and look for trends related to particular topics or keywords that generate more interest than others. Once you get an idea of your average traffic and post performance, set goals for key metrics, and keep a scorecard to measure your progress.

Be sure to choose metrics that are easy to gather, because if it’s too time-consuming to track, you’ll fall off the wagon! Examples of simple metrics include net new fans and followers, number of interactions, and visits to your website from social.

7. Adjust your tactics.

Social media won’t start working overnight. Establishing a following, stabilizing your brand, and seeing the results of your efforts takes time. So experiment to find the right combination of channels, content, and messaging that works for your audience.

Keep track of changes in your post views, audience demographics, and post interactions, and make changes as needed.

Over time, you’ll be able to adjust your recipe card, content, and personas based on the information you’re gathering, which will help you fine-tune your strategy and generate more consistent results.

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social media is a multipurpose business asset. It connects you with your audience and promotes your products, services, and brand. Both functions are equally important.

Building a social media strategy for marketing is different from the process we discussed above. How so? For example, your benchmarks and goals may be more specific to metrics you track for other marketing efforts.

When using social media to market your business, ensure the experience on your social networks is positive and consistent. All imagery and content on your social media accounts should be consistent with those on your website, blog, and any other digital real estate.

Pay close attention to any questions or comments your audience posts, and be quick to address them, as that engagement could make or break a conversion or purchase.

Take a look at these examples of what to stop, start, and keep doing to help your business’ social media marketing succeed.

Lastly, align the content you post and how you post it with marketing campaigns you’re running on other channels (e.g., email or ads).

Social Media Content Strategy

Content is the crux of any social media strategy. Without content, you can’t engage with your audience, promote your products, or measure performance.

The fleeting nature of social media may lead you to believe that you don’t have to plan its content as much as you do for your emails or blogs. That’s not true. Social media content may not be as static as your landing pages or blog content, but it’s still equally important for engaging your audience and representing your brand as a whole.

For that reason, you should also have a social media content strategy. This should include:

• Posting guidelines and specs for each network on which you’re active (e.g., share GIFs on Twitter but avoid them on Facebook)
• Determining the target audience nuances per network (e.g., the younger segment of your audience is more active on Instagram than on LinkedIn)
• Repurposing plans for long-form content from your blog, podcast, e-books, etc.
• Identifying who on your team is allowed to post, and who’s responsible for engaging followers
• Naming the companies, publications, and individuals you’ll repost (and those who you won’t/can’t)

HubSpot’s Aja Frost offers more tips for creating a social media content strategy in this video.

Social Media Strategy Templates

Social media is overwhelming; I get it. Starting your strategy from scratch is even more overwhelming, so we developed 10 free social media templates to help.

In the free download, you’ll receive:

• Scheduling templates for every channel, since social media channels aren’t one-size-fits-all
• A complete calendar of hashtag holidays, so you never forget to participate with new, fun content
• Social auditing template to track your followers, engagement rates, and more
• A social media content calendar to organize campaigns across every channel
• A social reporting template to track your monthly social successes
• A paid social template to help you manage and optimize your paid budget

Download our free social media template bundle to manage, optimize, and create more social content without sacrificing quality.

Time to Get Social

Do you still feel like social media is overwhelming? That’s okay. Although I’m not sure that feeling ever fully fades, you can diminish it by leveraging the tips in this guide and the free templates above. Remember: Tackle one social network at a time, prioritize your audience, and focus on the content that works. You’ll see results and traffic in no time.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

We asked our friends and combed the internet for examples of some of the funniest office pranks, and pulled together this list virtual April Fool’s pranks and in office pranks to serve as inspiration for your own.

Every company has a story about that funny office prank of yore. Whether you’re doing some early April Fool’s Day research, or just feeling a little tricksy, it’s time to get a prank of your own in the books. Here are some ideas.

Remote Pranks for Virtual Teams

The above pranks are awesome, but what about pranks that are inclusive for remote employees or teams that are 100% virtual? These pranks are ideal for the digital office:

1. Flash Mob

Here at HubSpot, we love flash mobs. That’s why Head of SEO Aja Frost and Blog Manager Christina Perricone jumped at the chance of organizing a virtual flash mob for one of our quarterly meetings.

This is a perfect prank for a large gathering but requires a bit of prep — from choosing a song, selecting the dancers, and teaching the choreography. However, the end result is worth it for the shocked and delighted expressions on coworkers’ faces alone.

2. Virtual Background Shenanigans

There’s a lot of pranking potential using the virtual background feature in Zoom and other video conferencing platforms. For example, one Twitter user creates a virtual background with the shocking appearance of a doppelgänger… or maybe a time warp?

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3. Jump Scare

One way to take the virtual background prank to another level is by impersonating a horror movie director and relying on one of the oldest scary movie tricks in the book: the unexpected jump scare. The video below walks through the steps for executing this prank successfully:

Just make sure that you know who you’re presenting to. The wrong audience may not appreciate the humor in this one!

4. You’re Not on Mute

We’ve all heard the horror stories of users who thought they were on mute and went on to say something embarrassing. One prank would be to stage this situation and make your coworkers think that you think you’re on mute. You could enlist someone in your household to say really embarrassing or completely outrageous, the goal being to see how long your coworkers will watch in horror before letting you know you’re on mute.

5. Stolen Identity

If you have a workplace chat system, a simple and effective prank is to “steal” someone’s identity by changing your display name and picture to match theirs. The more coworkers you get to follow suit, the more effective, hilarious, and chaotic this prank becomes. Best of all, it’s easy to reverse at the end of the day: Just revert back to your original display name and photo.

6. Think Outside the Box

With video conferencing apps, we’re limited to our own little square of digital real estate… or are we? This Twitter user subverts expectation by dumping water on a coworker in another square, surprising all the other meeting attendees:

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Funny Office Pranks to Pull on Your Coworkers

7. Caramel Onions

When Halloween is around the corner, these caramel onions are no match for other tricks (or treats). Dip each onion in caramel — maybe some red food coloring first, if you need to further disguise them — and stick popsicle sticks down the center. Your colleagues won’t know the difference, but they will wonder why these caramel apples are making them cry so much…

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8. Nicolas Cage Toilet Seat

Speaking of Halloween, here’s what nightmares are truly made of. Nicolas Cage is easy to come by in the meme community. Print a picture of him at his most, well, enthusiastic — and allow him to greet everyone who takes a bathroom break.

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9. Fish Drawer

There’s something fishy about this office prank… Just be sure to include fish food; experts suggest you should feed this prank twice a day.

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10. Pants in the Stall

Usually, when you see feet underneath the stall, you just have to wait your turn. In this case, you might be waiting forever. Set this guy up in your office bathroom and see how long it takes for people to start talking. We just hope nobody called the paramedics on this poor, empty suit.

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11. Febreze for Days

Tighten the zip-tie, throw it, and run for your life. Or, leave it in your coworker’s office when they’re on break. They’re sure to return to a potent workspace.

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12. Vehicular Sticky Notes

This is the perfect use for those sticky notes that keep piling up — especially if they’re all for someone who just won’t finish his or her tasks. The prank below is a wonderful way to remind them before they take off for the day.

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13. Foghorn Entrance

Haven’t you ever wanted to get a room’s attention the second you walk through the door? Well, the prank below will even get the person entering to stand up straight. This is certainly one way to make sure everyone’s alert before a meeting.

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14. Ballooned Conference Room or Hallway

Hey, at least it’s not glitter? This prank works two ways: You can either surprise the next team who reserves this room, or have a day-long meeting in here without anyone knowing your business. You will of course have some static electricity when you exit the room.

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15. Desk Trolls

For trolls, by trolls. Luckily, you can buy many of these trolls in bulk. Click here if you’re serious about trolling your coworker’s workstation — just keep in mind you will have to buy more than one pack of trolls to make this stunt worth it.

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16. Water Works

Oh look, a budget trip to the beach. This prank gives a whole new meeting to the term, “staycation.” Surprise your coworker when he/she comes back from a beach getaway with, well, another beach getaway. The downside is it’ll be nothing like where they were. The upside is they won’t need a towel.

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17. Tiki Desk

Sick of those open office layouts? Create a tiki-themed hut for jokes and a bit of privacy.

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18. Nailed the Cake

Hey everyone, there’s cake up for grabs in the kitchen! The prank, however, is written in frosting. This is a good gesture to someone who loves the expression, “needle in a haystack.” Happy hunting.

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19. Psychedelic Supervision

“I don’t know, I feel like my boss is always watching me,” your coworker might say. Change their perception of micromanagement when this colorful prank. Suddenly a “quick check-in” doesn’t seem all that bad.

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20. Voice Toast

Simple, yet brilliant. Change the terms of breakfast ever so slightly, and the kitchen becomes the most confusing room in the office. This little note pranks the entire office — a true masterpiece of prank-dom.

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21. Work From Home

As Ron Burgundy from Anchorman says, “I’m not even mad. I’m just impressed.” Help your coworker who loves taking his/her work home, take their home to work instead. As you can tell, you might need to stay late the night before to get this prank just right.

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22. You’ve Been ‘Felined’

This could actually make your cat-loving coworker’s day. Or, it could make for the greatest prank of all time against the coworker who’s violently allergic to cats (that is, as long as they’re not allergic to photos of cats, too).

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23. The Seedboard

Work with your IT department to fertilize this prank perfectly. Soon enough, its user will wonder why their keyboard is growing. We suggest targeting someone who sits close to the window — some pranks just need some sunlight. “You said you wanted to spend more time with nature,” you might say in your defense.

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24. The Ceilings Have Eyes

You could freak out just looking at the photo of this horrifying prank. It might be a little too much for your jumpiest colleague, but for the person who can’t stop talking about scary movies, it’s just the revenge you deserve. (Hint: paper mache, white paint, and a black wig. Done.)

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25. Chair Scare

Similar to the Entrance Foghorn, this prank will probably scare more than just the person who sits down. Of course, it’ll be a lesson to anyone who, I suppose, tries to sit too low at their desk.

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Funny Pranks to Pull on Your Boss

26. No Stalling

For the employee who never has enough time. Or, for the coworker who takes way too many bathroom breaks during the day. Prank them with their very own throne the next time nature calls.

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27. Glitter Bomb

About that whole, “At least it’s not glitter” thing in prank #9? Well, this prank can’t make that promise. For the coworkers who don’t yet know the permanence of getting glitter on yourself, this prank is sure to set them straight.

28. Substitute Worker

Sometimes, you’re not sure how to ask for another day off. For those days where you simply can’t come into work, but don’t have the heart to call out again, the cardboard cut out who looks just like you is the perfect substitute. Or, just put ’em at your colleague’s desk and give them a much-needed identity crisis.

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29. Crushed It

When you finally learn about your colleague’s celebrity crush, make sure they know how much you care.

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30. World’s ‘Best’ Boss

When words just aren’t enough to express your sentiment, give your manager the perfect way to say “thank you” every time they go to take a sip of coffee.

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31. Cup o’ Spiders

“Hey chief, I found a spider on your desk, but don’t worry, it’s been handled.” This prank doesn’t have to have an actual spider in it — the mystery, alone, is all you need to prank your employee.

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32. That’s a Wrap

For the boss who has everything, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

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Show Off Your Prank Skills

All you have to do is find someone who will be in on the joke with you.

Pranking can be extremely good for morale and company culture. After all, why not have a little fun to break up the workday?

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

Did you know that landing pages have the highest conversion rate at 23% than other types of signup forms? It’s true, but landing pages don’t convert visitors to leads all by themselves. If they don’t have attractive and compelling offers behind them, they won’t generate the leads your sales team is looking for.

That’s why it’s so important to create valuable content people want to download, and then package it in a way that’s visually appealing to your readers. An ebook is a practical content choice that delivers so much value to your audience that they won’t mind submitting a lead form to download it.

WP Forms reports that ebooks are the most popular lead magnet amongst subscribers, with 27.7% of marketers using them.

Adding ebooks to your content archive can be a worthwhile effort, but it’ll take work. While every step of creating an ebook is critical, a substantial step of the ebook development process is creating a design that helps tell the story in the copy. A professional and functional design makes the copy more readable to your audience, thus making it more likely that they’ll refer back to it and maybe even share it with a friend.

We know not every team has someone in-house who can (or has time to) whip up a slick, shareable ebook design. But we have good news: You don’t need to be a designer by trade to design beautiful ebooks yourself. With the right resources and approach, you can deliver valuable content to your audience in a fraction of the time.

A few years ago, we created ebook templates to help make this process easier for you. They were so popular that we decided to revamp the offer and include PowerPoint, Adobe Indesign, and Google Slides formats. We hope these templates minimize the time you spend on the details of design, allowing you to concentrate on writing valuable, lead-generating content your readers will love.

Download the Templates Now

Start With One of These Free Ebook Templates

Each of these templates is sure to organize your content into a readable, shareable ebook that your readers will enjoy. Each one is complete with a table of contents, chapter page, copy pages, and a call-to-action page at the end. Here is a preview of some of the ebooks you’ll find in the template bundle:

1. Process Improvement Theme

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The Process Improvement theme is longer and more involved than most of those listed above — it could contain 10, 20, or even more chapters to help describe the specific actions needed to complete a process or achieve an outcome. By combining text blocks with summary sections and detailed highlight pages, this theme is a great way to break down a complex task or process into manageable, repeatable steps.

The Process Improvement Theme Ebook Template is best for:

• In-depth guides to multi-step processes
• Employee handbooks
• Training manuals

2. Conversational Theme

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This theme trends slightly more casual with a conversational approach that helps you connect with readers. For example, the author introduction page starts with a familiar “Hello!”, an image of the author, and a brief description of their expertise. The following pages include plenty of room for author and other expert quotes to help establish your mastery of the topic at hand, without seeming stuffy or distant. This theme breaks up each page with differing text and image placement to help keep user interest high throughout.

The Conversational Theme Ebook Template is best for:

• Social media marketing and campaign guides
• Providing advice or guidance to repeat customers
• Brand storytelling

3. Artistic Theme

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For the marketer, salesperson, or designer who needs to communicate a vision from high-level strategy to detail, the Artistic theme template is a smart choice. This template uses white space to set boundaries between sections, giving your ebook a clean, uncluttered charm. Colorful headers with serif fonts, eye-catching graphics, and stunning images will make your ebook come to life. The Artistic theme includes several unique layout options including light and heavy text pages, photo layouts, and more so that the design is fresh from one page to another.

The Artistic Theme Ebook Template is best for:

• Marketing Content
• Target Audience Personas
• Sales Tips and Tricks

4. Professional Theme

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Appeal to the professional yet bold aesthetic, the Professional theme ebook template. Image-based title pages and thick, bold fonts draw attention to headlines and big ideas while body pages with room for photos make it perfect for a showcase or inspiration guide. The Professional template is made with the visual communicator in mind. Social media experts, event planners, and web designers — this one is for you!

The Professional Theme Ebook Template is best for:

• Social Media Guidelines
• Event Planning
• Web Design Content

5. Honeycomb Theme

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Your ebook is sure to get the crowd buzzing with this honeycomb-inspired design. The hexagonal shapes in the background are neutral-colored in the original ebook template, but adding in your brand colors can make these hives look sweet. Inside, you’ll find page layouts for quotes and captioned photos, making it a good choice for ebooks with a healthy balance of imagery and copy.

The Honeycomb Theme Ebook template is best for:

• Recipe Books
• Customer Service Guidelines
• Technology Best Practices

6. Triad Theme

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Great for educational workbooks that include heavy visual designs, the Triad theme provides plenty of space to organize your content on every page. The triangular shapes in this template give your ebook a sense of direction that keeps the reader moving forward. The bold complementary colors jump right off the page and grab your attention, but this template can be edited to incorporate your brand colors.

The Triad Theme Ebook Template is best for:

• Educational Workbooks
• Educational Presentations
• Seminar Courses

With these polished templates, you’ll be able to:

• Create beautifully designed ebooks without either the cost of a designer or experience with InDesign/Illustrator/Photoshop.
• Choose from six different ebook designs across three different platforms (Adobe InDesign, PowerPoint, and Google Slides), and even add your own brand colors for a custom look.
• Spend more time writing awesome content and less time getting the layout right.
• Use all of the stock images provided in the templates, free of charge.
• Save your ebooks as professional and attractive PDF files that are ready for download.

Start Creating Your Ebook For Free

Ebooks are one of the most popular content offerings available to consumers, but the effort required to make them can deter content creators from starting the process. These templates make designing your ebook simple so you can spend more time sharing your big ideas with the world.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.