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We’ve built HubSpot on the belief that you earn attention by being of value. That belief is at the very heart of HubSpot’s success; creating remarkable content is what makes a remarkable brand.

We’ve spent the past decade investing in educational content to help all kinds of business builders be successful. Marketing, sales, customer support, customer success, product, engineering, entrepreneurs are all helping to build and grow businesses. And, we’ve provided free education through our blogs, YouTube, Academy, and podcasts to help.

With nearly 114,000 customers now using HubSpot to scale their companies, our ambitions around content have only gotten bigger.

It’s why we’re excited to announce the launch of HubSpot’s Podcast Network, a new audio destination that is home to six great shows that represent a wide range of business topics and backgrounds. Together, this collection covers the scope and mastery every company needs to find success. The inaugural members of the network are:

• Entrepreneurs on Fire, which delivers the inspiration and strategies you need to fire up your entrepreneurial journey and create the life you’ve always dreamed of.
• Business Infrastructure, which provides solutions and real-life stories to owners and operators of fast-growing small businesses seeking practical tips for creating the operations and business infrastructure needed to grow a company.
• Being Boss, an exploration of not only what it means, but what it takes to be boss as a creative business owner, freelancer, or side-hustler.
• The MarTech Podcast, which tells stories of marketers who use technology to generate growth and achieve success by unearthing the successes and pitfalls of industry experts and the tools and tips that they’ve learned along the way.
• The Salesman Podcast, which helps sales professionals learn how to find buyers and win business in a modern, effective, and ethical way.
• My First Million, where the hosts brainstorm new business ideas based on trends and opportunities in the market, and share the stories of how companies made their first million.

Why a Podcast Network?

We believe the popularity of audio will continue to grow. It’s a media format that is continuing to evolve and get better.

Companies like Apple and Spotify are investing more in podcasts, and companies like Clubhouse are innovating in how we consume and connect around audio.

More and more people are listening to podcasts. In fact, more than 116 million people in the USA listen to podcasts monthly — that’s over 61% growth in under three years. Each week more Americans listen to a podcast than have Netflix accounts.

But, one common challenge for people is how to discover great podcasts, ones that can help them unlock their problems and provide them with the inspiration to do better. As the number of podcasts grows, how do you find the ones that are best for you?

HubSpot’s Podcast Network brings together the best-in-class business shows that educate and inspire — all in one place. It will help introduce people to new shows, episodes, and creators who can help unlock their next phase of growth.

The Podcast Network will help us to reach and serve millions of business builders, and we’re excited to keep adding new creators and shows so our audience can get the best content from whoever can serve them best.

What’s Next

We want to continue to be the premier source of education for business builders, but we also want to pair that education with stories that inspire.

We want to shine a light on the experts, brands, and leaders who’ve overcome their obstacles, disrupted their markets, and have remarkable things to say. We want to make sure our audience has the latest trends that matter to them and help them understand what those trends mean for their careers and businesses.

We want to ensure all business builders have the content they need in whatever medium they choose to consume it, whether it’s a blog post, newsletter, podcast, or video.

With the acquisition of the Hustle back in February, and by launching our podcast network, we’re working to ensure our audience gets the best content from HubSpot’s media team, and the creators who can educate and inspire them.

Learn more about the HubSpot Podcast Network here.

Ah, Clubhouse versus podcasts — an age-old debate.

Just kidding. But, while both of these audio tools are relatively new to the business world (in fact, Clubhouse is less than two years old), they’ve both attracted large, engaged audiences.

And, even though each audio tool is vastly different, they serve similar purposes.

Hear me out: Podcasts, at their core, are meant to inspire and provoke interesting conversations around a variety of topics, including crime shows, celebrity interviews, health and fitness, or business and entrepreneurship (to name a few).

Clubhouse operates on a similar principle: to encourage lively conversations and debates around a variety of niche topics. As Clubhouse Founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth have said, “The thing we love most is how voice can bring people together.”

That message — of the importance of voice to bring people together — is just as true for podcasts as it is for Clubhouse.

Which leaves many marketers wondering: Which one is more worth my time?

Here, we’ll explore the pros and cons of investing your time and resources into podcasts vs. audio chat rooms like Clubhouse, and which is ultimately a better long-term decision for your brand.

Since I’m no podcast or Clubhouse expert, I’ve collected the wisdom of various experts on both sides to paint the full picture.

Let’s dive in.

Clubhouse vs. Podcasts: Which Should Marketers Use?

To start, let’s explore a recent survey I conducted on which audio activities people prefer — listening to podcasts, listening and participating in conversations on Clubhouse, or neither:

Data Source

As you can see, the majority of those polled — 75% — prefer listening to podcasts, or doing neither. That leaves Clubhouse as a preference for only one quarter of respondents.

To be fair, podcasts have been around longer than Clubhouse. In fact, the first podcast was created back in 2004, and as of April 2021, there are now over two million podcasts available.

Additionally, one of the major benefits to listening to a podcast is that the content is available on-demand, meaning I can choose when to download and listen — it isn’t live, like Clubhouse. This enables listeners to have complete control over what topics they consume, and when.

A listener might pick-and-choose one pre-recorded crime show episode on her drive to work, for instance, and another episode about parenting on her drive home.

There are a few major benefits to using podcast as a brand awareness or lead generation strategy. Let’s dive into a few of those, now:

• Podcasts enable you to reach a younger audience. 49% of U.S. citizens between 12 and 34 listened to a podcast in the previous month — followed by 40% of people ages 35 to 54, and 22% of people ages 55 and above.
• Podcast advertisements are powerful. A Nielsen report found podcast ads generate 4.4X better brand recall than display ads, and 61% of consumers who heard a podcast ad were more likely to purchase the featured product.
• Podcast provides you with a major reach. 55% (155 million) of the U.S. population has listened to a podcast – up from 51% in 2019.
• Podcast is long-form content. Some of the most popular podcasts are well over an hour long — Morbid: A True Crime Podcast (currently #8 on Apple’s Top Charts) episodes range between one hour and one hour, 45 minutes; Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (currently #18 on Apple’s Top Charts) episodes are roughly one hour, 30 minutes each. This provides you with a ton of opportunity for increasing brand loyalty and, ultimately, conversions.

While these statistics help demonstrate the power of podcast, I wanted to ask a few podcast experts to hear more qualitative insights regarding the “Clubhouse vs. podcast” debate.

Let’s dive into that, now.

Podcast Experts Weigh In: Why is Podcast Better?

To start, I spoke with Matthew Brown, HubSpot’s Senior Podcast Producer.

Brown told me, “One of the key differences between live audio and podcasts are listener behaviors. Live audio is typically a passive engagement, while podcasts are more of an active engagement.”

“On Clubhouse, something might happen at any moment. On a podcast, something should happen at every moment.”

Of course, there’s something tantilizing about listening to live audio — perhaps it’s the authenticity, or the sense that you’re a fly-on-the-wall for a private conversation happening between two people in real time, without the option to edit out any uncomfortableness. But, similar to watching a long, unedited scene of The Real World, it can also get boring. Quickly.

Brown adds, “Clubhouse, and other live audio platforms, just cannot equate to highly-produced and edited podcasts. They’re too dissimilar in almost every way. You know … aside from the whole both involving audio thing.”

Ultimately, if you’re interested in testing out Clubhouse as its own potentially powerful marketing channel, Brown encourages you to consider the needs of that platform as entirely separate from podcasting: “Clubhouse is to podcasts as Twitch is to YouTube. A Twitch streamer takes the best moments of their live stream and packages it up for their YouTube channel.”

“There’s serious benefits in repurposing content. But each channel — and the expectations of creators and audience alike — is fundamentally different. So you need to understand those limitations, and make the best content you can for that given platform.”

There are also some long-term revenue benefits to podcasting. For instance, I asked Zachary Ballenger, CRO at Casted, whether podcasts can ultimately impact a company’s bottom line.

He told me, “Podcasts have the ability to drive real results in terms of leads and revenue. [But] podcasts need to be fully incorporated into your marketing campaigns and amplified across every channel to be effective — including blog posts, social media, landing pages, and ad retargeting.”

Jacob Penn, a Corporate Analytics Manager at iHeartMedia, agrees that podcasting is a more proven strategy for long-term ROI. He says, “Being trustworthy has allowed podcast hosts to build long-term connections with listeners and turn host-read ads into a very native experience. That’s why 53% of podcast listeners actually enjoy hearing ads.”

“Businesses can use podcasts as a vehicle to reach listeners who are in a mindset to new messaging.”

Penn adds, “As of today, Clubhouse is still in their infancy phase and we don’t know how users will interact with this platform in the long term. With podcasts, they have been around for over 20 years and brands are beginning to realize their potential as an advertising platform. That is why over $1 billion in ad revenue is expected in podcasts in 2021.”

Simply put: Podcasts have a proven track record of success for business growth, but only when done effectively. (Interested in starting your own? Take a look at Everything You Need to Know About Starting a Podcast in 2021.)

Holly Shannon, Producer & Host of the Culture Factor 2.0 and author of the book Zero To Podcast, says that podcasting is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to reach new audiences. She told me, “The question I ask leaders is, Are you your industry’s best-kept secret? If the answer is yes, then podcasting could be a way to create content that serves your business in many ways.”

“For one,” She says, “It can highlight you and your team as thought leaders. This allows you to speak authentically and bring your value to the table for all to hear globally, which can result in other keynote speaking opportunities and lead generation.”

Shannon is also a fan of podcasting as an opportunity for content repurposing. She suggests using the podcast transcripts as SEO-optimized blog posts on your website after-the-fact, as well as using pieces of that audio for subsequent social media posts.

A podcast is also a good opportunity to create a sense of community — and you can engage with that community offline, as well. As Shannon suggests, “Podcasting enables you to create a community of listeners, subscribers, and followers. This community can be served later with virtual or live conferences — thus creating a pathway to monetization.”

Can the same be said for Clubhouse? Let’s dive into that perspective, next.

Clubhouse Experts Weigh In: Why Is Clubhouse Better?

HubSpot’s Marketing Manager Chris Eberhardt is in charge of HubSpot’s Clubhouse programming for the HubSpot Marketing Club, so he’s seen first-hand the power of Clubhouse for business.

Eberhardt told me, “Clubhouse can be a good option for a company that wants to create a presence in audio but wants to avoid the saturation and production quality involved in podcasts.”

He adds, “But it’s important to understand that the use case for Clubhouse is actually different than the use case for podcasts. Podcasts are on-demand, whereas Clubhouse is live social audio. It’s an important difference: Podcasts can be scripted and highly-produced, whereas Clubhouse is closer to a live radio show.”

Eberhardt would recommend using Clubhouse for the following reasons:

• You don’t have enough bandwidth/resources to create a high-quality podcast.
• You want to more easily differentiate your brand on Clubhouse (since the podcast marketplace is more heavily saturated).
• You want to form a space to connect with your audience directly, and open up the rooms for audience questions and engagement.
• You want one of your leaders to build their brand in the space.

Eberhardt says, “It’s important you use Clubhouse as a live space for authentic conversation and connection — not to lecture. For instance, perhaps you start a reaction room for a big announcement or product launch, develop a format for a live show that you run on a consistent basis, bring on guests with large followers early to build a presence, or start a club that your brand hosts.”

Benjamin Shapiro, host of the Martech Podcast, agrees that Clubhouse is a potentially powerful option for brand growth.

He adds, “While the interactive social features are unique to the times, my belief is that live-streaming audio services will settle into a medium of content distribution that is most relevant during real-world events.”

Additionally, Krystal Wu, HubSpot’s Social Community Marketing Manager, is a fan of audio spaces as the host of a weekly Twitter Space, and she does see plenty of benefits to audio spaces over podcasts.

Wu told me, “I host weekly Twitter Spaces to connect with marketers. I love it because it’s more of a feature to an enhance a product, versus a product in itself. I’ve found I can have short, random discussions or longer, more in-depth discussions.”

“Either way, it’s real, in-the-moment content that podcasts otherwise can’t offer.”

Wu adds, “I think podcasts is more of an opportunity to educate and listen to other people’s stories while multitasking on other things. Looking to clean my house for 30 minutes? Great — I’ll play a podcast for that 30-minute timeframe so I can match it up … Spaces, on the other hand, is more in-the-moment communication — you don’t exactly know what you’ll get, and that’s what’s neat about it.”

If you’re interested in testing out Clubhouse for your own business, take a look at How to Use Clubhouse: A Step-by-Step Guide.

Why not both?

Of course, there’s one other option we haven’t yet considered: Should you try both?

Any good marketer knows the importance of testing out various channels and iterating on a marketing strategy over time based on those results. So, if you’re unsure whether your audience prefers Clubhouse or podcasts, you might want to test both.

You might even find that both tools work well together to create a more cohesive, powerful marketing strategy. 

For instance, Asad Zulfahri, a Principal Marketing Manager at HubSpot, told me: “I run a weekly room on Clubhouse, and then that session gets recorded to form a podcast. Those who attend live can also participate in the Q&A at the end. I then summarize the Clubhouse content into a blog post as well, for an additional distribution option.”

“Clubhouse can be an easy entry-point to those who are thinking about podcasting. You can practice speaking publicly and then record the session (with permission, of course).”

For instance, take a look at Asad’s Clubhouse live room:

… And then, Asad’s post-Clubhouse podcast episodes:

You might try this for a few weeks, and then iterate if you feel the majority of your audience prefers one channel over the other.

Shannon agrees, saying, “Clubhouse to me does not have to be a zero sum game. I believe it’s highly complementary.”

For instance, she suggests trying to record your podcast interview live on Clubhouse, which enables you to host a Q&A post-interview and engage with your community. (Plus, if you’re not happy with the Q&A portion, you can always cut it post-production.) Alternatively, she says you might do a pre-show where you speak with your audience to crowdsource questions for your podcast guest.

Shannon told me, “Today, you need to be open to where you can find your audiences. Algorithms within each platform fluctuate, and thus change when your followers see your posts. So if you can jump onto new platforms as an early adopter, you get traction. I’m a big advocate of cross-pollinating audiences, and diversifying where your brand shows up.”

Ultimately, Clubhouse and podcasts serve different purposes and meet the needs of vastly different audiences.

As Shapiro asserts, “There will be scenarios where live broadcasts are going to be the most relevant way to engage a community (i.e. interact with a MarTech conference live from your desk). There are also scenarios when on-demand content will be the more relevant medium (i.e. learn about MarTech by listening to a podcast on your morning commute).”

“There is going to be a place in the world for both live and on-demand content in audio, just like with text (blogs versus Twitter) and video (TV versus Netflix).”

If you’re unsure which is best-suited for your brand, consider a few important factors — including your team goals and priorities, the amount of resources you have available for audio recording, and whether you can test Clubhouse or podcasting on a small scale before going all-in on your audio tool of choice.

Listen, learn, and grow with the HubSpot Podcast Network. HubSpot Podcast Network is the audio destination for business professionals who seek the best education and inspiration on how to grow a business.

If you’re anything like me, you take about four minutes choosing a filter for your Instagram photo, and about four hours deciding on a caption.

Worst of all, after much creative effort and advice from friends, I’m usually barely able to write a caption that goes beyond, “Had a fun day with friends!”

And I’m a writer — go figure.

Next time you’re contemplating a witty line of text to go with your Instagram photo, take a look at our complete list of captions that suit any mood or occasion you’ll be sharing with the world. You can also customize these captions to make them perfect for your feed.

Want more inspiration? Check out our Instagram page to see how we incorporate fun, witty, and engaging captions into our social media content. 

You can incorporate many of these captions into an Instagram business strategy (just make sure your audience would find your caption funny, clever, or the right amount of sassy.) 

Click one of the following links to jump to a section:

• Funny Instagram Captions
• Clever Instagram Captions
• Sassy Instagram Captions
• Song Lyrics for Instagram Captions
• Business Instagram Captions
• Holiday Instagram Captions
• Seasonal Instagram Captions
• Selfie Instagram Captions
• Vacation Instagram Captions

 

Funny Instagram Captions

1. [Employee]’s favorite exercise is a cross between a lunge and a crunch … S/he calls it lunch.
2. I need a six-month holiday, twice a year.
3. We tried to be normal once. Worst two minutes of our lives!
4. There are 16-year-olds competing at the Olympics and some of us still push on “pull” doors.
5. That awkward moment when you’re wearing Nike’s and you can’t do it.
6. I’m just a girl, standing in front of a salad, asking it to be a cupcake.
7. What if we told you … you can eat without posting it on Instagram?
8. We know the voices in our heads aren’t real, but sometimes their ideas are just too good to ignore.
9. We don’t know what’s tighter: Our jeans or our company culture.
10. Friday … Our second-favorite F word. 
11. We don’t care what people think of us. Unless they’re our customers. We definitely care what customers think of us.
12. All you need is love … and investors. All you need is love and investors.
13. Hi, we’re [company name]. We build amazing apps and eat amazing apps.
14. They say “Do what you love and money will come to you.” Let’s see what happens, I just ordered tamales.

Clever Instagram Captions

1. Patience — what you have when there are too many witnesses.
2. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s the Clarendon filter.
3. “Life is short.” False — it’s the longest thing you do.
4. Happy Sunday! There may be no excuse for laziness, but [I’m/we’re] still looking.
5. Rejection is just redirection.
6. Better an “oops” than a “what if.”
7. You have stolen a pizza our hearts.
8. The world is changed by your example, not your opinion.
9. Seven billion smiles and these are our favorite.
10. Stop working hard and start working smart.
11. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When [company name] gives you [type of product], you make money.
12. Imposter complex is just a byproduct of success.
13. Life is simple. It’s just not easy.
14. The best times begin at the end of your comfort zone.
15. When nothing goes right, go left.
16. “Success is making those who believed in you look brilliant.” — Dharmesh Shah
17. “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” — Harry Truman
18. The world changes by your example, not your opinion.
19. It’s always a good idea to be on the right side of history.
20. When you learn, teach. When you get, give.
21. Don’t quit your daydream.
22. Legend has it that if you look hard enough you’ll see the weekend approaching!

Sassy Instagram Captions

1. What’s a queen without her king? Historically speaking, more powerful.
2. Be a little more you, and a lot less them.
3. We’re an acquired taste. If you don’t like us, acquire some taste.
4. Well-behaved people don’t make it into history books.
5. Be sunshine mixed with a little hurricane.
6. We got 99 problems, but an awesome marketing team ain’t one.
7. Sometimes you just need to do a thing called “what you want.”
8. You can’t do epic stuff with lame people. And we got the best in the biz.
9. It’s not called being bossy, it’s called having leadership skills.
10. You did not wake up today to be mediocre.
11. A bad attitude is like a flat tire. You can’t go anywhere until you change it.
12. We’re entrepreneurs. They call us dreamers, but we’re the ones who never sleep.

Song Lyrics for Instagram Captions

1. “I’m gonna live like tomorrow doesn’t exist.” — Sia, “Chandelier”
2. “I live for the nights that I can’t remember, with the people that I won’t forget.” — Drake, “Show Me a Good Time”
3. “I hope you never lose your sense of wonder.” — Lee Ann Womack, “I Hope You Dance”
4. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” — John Lennon, “Imagine”
5. “If you give, you begin to live.” -Dave Matthews Band, “you Might Die Trying”
6. “Outlining my findings, using life as a stencil.” — Kero One, “In All the Wrong Places”
7. “Feeling good living better.” — Drake, “Over My Dead Body”
8. “Say oh, got this feeling that you can’t fight, like this city is on fire tonight.” — OneRepublic, “Good Life”
9. “Time makes you bolder.” — Fleetwood Mac, “Landslide”
10. “If I fail, if I succeed, at least I’ll live as I believe.” — Whitney Houston, “The Greatest Love of All”
11. “The rest of the world was in black and white, but we were in screaming color.” — Taylor Swift, “Out of the Woods”
12. “Lightning strikes every time she moves.” — Calvin Harris, “This Is What You Came For”
13. “We aren’t ever getting older.” — Chainsmokers, “Closer”
14. “Sing with me, sing for the years, sing for the laughter, sing for the tears.” — Aerosmith, “Dream On”
15. “Life is good.” — Future & Drake, “Life is Good”
16. “Life without dreaming is a life without meaning.” – Wale, “Aston Martin Music”
17. “But like the sun, know you know I find my way back ‘round.” — J. Cole, “Crooked Smile”
18. “I will overcome any hurdle or obstacle that’s in my path.” — OutKast, “Knowing”

Business Instagram Captions

1. Good evening, [city]! We’re in town for [event] at Booth [#]. Stop by and say hi!
2. “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.” -Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
3. Our [#]-person squad completed the [road race name]! And we did it all for the post-run sneaker selfie. 👟
4. We got product in the pipeline … check back for an exciting announcement on [date]!
5. Diversity isn’t a recruitment metric — it’s an ingredient for success. At [company], we thrive on the unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of our people.
6. Spot the CEO. 😉
7. At [company name], our best asset is our people.
8. We had a great time with our customers at [meeting/event]! @[client/partner], you guys rock.
9. Thrilled to have [customer] at our office today! Come back any time. 😊
10. [Company name] is off for [holiday]! We hope you all have a safe long weekend.
11. Big things have small beginnings. [Company]’s HQ began right here.
12. “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” -Herman Melville
13. How many [company name] employees does it take to spell “TEAM”?
14. Want to work with these awesome people, working on a lot of awesome things? We’re hiring! Click the link in our bio to see our current openings.
15. Check, check, one, two … is this thing on? [Company name] is now on Instagram! Follow us to learn about our culture, product, and (awesome) people. 

Holiday Instagram Captions

New Year’s

1. “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” — Abraham Lincoln
2. Didn’t make it to midnight.
3. Resolutions are made to be broken.
4. Ringing in the new year — like a bell.
5. “Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.” — Brad Paisley
6. New year, same me.
7. Time to show off my bubbly personality.
8. Any excuse to wear glitter.
9. Starting off the year on the right foot.
10. There are 12 months ahead of us to make a difference.
11. Day 1 of 365
12. Sip, sip, hooray!

Valentine’s Day

1. Roses are red. Violets are blue. Consider this post my Valentine to you.
2. Don’t tell me you love me. Tell me you’re outside with pizza.
3. All I need is you. (And maybe wine + chocolate too.)
4. “You can’t blame gravity for falling in love.” — Albert Einstein
5. 99% of my socks are single, and you don’t see them crying about it.
6. I will do anything for love. Except that. And that. Or that. Or…
7. Sorry, I’m in a relationship with tacos.
8. “All the single ladies…” — Beyonce, “Single Ladies”
9. In love with my best friend.
10. I’m better when I’m with you.

Halloween

1. Creepin’ it real.
2. I brake for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
3. “When the spooks have a midnight jamboree, they break it up with fiendish glee…” — The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
4. You’re just my (blood) type.
5. How to eat candy corn: don’t.
6. #squadghouls
7. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
8. Driving me batty.
9. “Scary hours” — Drake

Thankgiving

1. I’m wearing my elastic pants.
2. “For those of you who cannot be with family this Thanksgiving, please resist the urge to brag.” — Andy Borowitz
3. On a veggie diet this Thanksgiving: Carrot cake and pumpkin pie.
4. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” — Oprah Winfrey
5. I think, therefore I cran.
6. Bad day to be a turkey.
7. Need fuel for Black Friday.
8. “Okay, guys. I have exactly 28 minutes before I have to baste again.” — Monica
9. Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.
10. Who made the potato salad?
11. There’s always something to be thankful for.

Christmas & Hannukah

1. You sleigh me.
2. Fa la la la llama.
3. “O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, your ornaments are history.” — The Cat
4. “It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters. It’s who’s around it.” — Charles M. Schulz
5. Dear Santa, let’s not talk about this.
6. Rebel Without a Claus
7. Doesn’t Santa have anything better to do than watch us while we’re sleeping?
8. All I want for Christmas is you (and wine would be nice).
9. To all you cotton-headed ninny-mugginses out there.
10. Drop it like a top.
11. Wishing you a latke love this Hanukkah.
12. I want to eat 8 latkes for the calories of one.
13. One little candle can light up an entire room.
14. Keep calm and spin that dreidel.
15. Deck the halls with matzo balls!
16. It’s Christmas time and I’m the gift.
17. The best gift is to be present with the ones you love.

Seasonal Instagram Captions

Spring

1. Hello, spring!
2. “And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.” — Louis Armstrong
3. April showers bring May flowers.
4. I think I just experienced all the seasons in a single day.
5. I love allergy season, said no one ever.
6. Currently soaking up the sun and smelling the roses. Please leave a message after the beep.
7. I owe a lot to the inventor of flip-flops.
8. “Here comes the sun, and I say… It’s all right.” — The Beatles
9. “Warm winds in the springtime” — SZA, “Warm Winds”
10. Springing into the new season.

Summer

1. “Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. Life’s a beach.
3. School’s out, sun’s out, guns out.
4. “A little bit of summer is what the whole year is all about.” — John Mayer
5. 90% happy, 10% burnt.
6. Girls just want to have sun.
7. “Summer lovin’ had me a blast, summer lovin’ happened so fast.” — Grease
8. Happiness is a cold popsicle.
9. Life is better by the pool.
10. “Summertime and the livin’ is easy.” — Ella Fitzgerald, “Summertime”
11. “Here comes the sun, and I say… It’s all right.” — The Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun”

Fall

1. My favorite color is October.
2. “Wild is the music of autumnal winds amongst the faded woods.” — William Wordsworth
3. Sweater weather.
4. It’s never too early for pumpkin spice.
5. Meet me in the corn maze.
6. Crisp air. Apple cider. Flaming foliage.
7. Pumpkin spice and everything nice.
8. “Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day.” — Shira Tamir
9. Leaves are falling, and autumn is calling.
10. “Days in the sun and nights in the rain. Summer is over, simple and plain.” — Drake & Majid Jordan, “Summer’s Over”
11. Falling never felt so good.

Winter

1. “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus
2. If it’s snowing, I’m not going.
3. Cozy nights. Good books. Hot chocolate.
4. Do you want to build a snowman?
5. Running on caffeine and holiday cheer.
6. “Winter is not a season; it’s a celebration.” — Anamika Mishra
7. Merry and brrrrrrright.
8. Having snow much fun.
9. ‘Tis the season to be freezin’.
10. “Timb’ laces get tighter and parka hoods flip up.” — Drake, “Come Winter”

Selfie Instagram Captions

1. Me, myself, and I.
2. Be yourself, there’s no one better.
3. It’s the happiness for me.
4. Smile! The happiness is right under your nose.
5. My favorite filter is reality.
6. Self-care selfie!
   Conquer the world one smile at a time.
7. It’s a great day to have a great day.
8. The greatest gift you can give someone is a smile.
9. Self-love is the best love.

Vacation Instagram Captions

1. A chance to get away from the everyday.
2. Work. Save. Travel. Repeat.
3. Staycation loading…
4. Collect the moments, not the materials.
5. Another destination off the bucket list.
6. An adventure to fill the soul.
7. The scenic route is always better.
8. I need a six-month vacation, twice a year.
9. Be back never.
10. Catch flights, not feelings.

Capture the Feeling with an Instagram Caption

Even though an image is worth 1,000 words, a well-written caption couldn’t hurt. These days, the caption can make just as much of a statement as the image! For all of the occasions that are worthy of a post to your feed, use one of the quotes from this list and customize it to make it your own.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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

This morning, when I scanned my Twitter feed, I did a few MTs and PRTs, asked a follower to TMB, and left SMH at some trolls I found, so I said BFN to Twitter.

Didn’t understand what I just said? Don’t worry — that used to be gobbledygook to me, too.

Twitter has become a social network with its own unique language — and rightfully so. After all, when you only have 280 characters to say what you mean, every word counts.

And don’t just take our word for it. For the best engagement results, Twitter recommends keeping tweets short and conversational, too.

This, my friends, is why marketers need to be well-versed in the language of Twitter.

When I found myself heading for Google every time I checked out my Twitter feed, I knew it was time to start writing some definitions down so I could learn the language myself, so that’s exactly what I did. And what kind of inbound marketer would I be if I didn’t share this great content with you too?

Here are some of the most popular Twitter slang terms you should know. As you find a few to sprinkle into your next batch of scheduled Tweets for your Twitter marketing campaign, try to avoid the temptation to use them all at once — a little goes a long way.

@mention

When you want to “tag” someone in a tweet or direct message on Twitter, you can do so by mentioning them using their Twitter username. Add this mention in and they’ll get a notification that you’ve done so in the “Mentions” section of their account. Essentially, this is used to have conversations with people on Twitter.

#

While known as the pound key on your phone, on Twitter, this symbol is a hashtag, and it’s used in front of other words in a tweet to provide context or to make it easy for users to search for specific topics on Twitter. But be careful not to over-hashtag your tweets — one or two is probably enough.

Bots

Forbes defines bots as “a social networking account powered by artificial intelligence.” Bots are different from trolls because they aren’t people — they’re scripts written by people, waiting to pounce. But every once in a while, you’ll stumble across bots that are created to do some pretty cool stuff.

DM

A “DM,” or “direct message,” is a private message between two Twitter users. It’s different from a public @mention because, in order to send a DM, the recipient must follow you.

Feed

Your Twitter “feed” (HubSpot customers know it as their “Timeline”) is any list of tweets that constantly updates when new tweets that fit the specified criteria pop up. Your home feed updates every time someone you follow tweets.

FF or #FF

#FollowFriday started as a way to recommend other Twitter users to your followers. It happens on Fridays, and you can search Twitter for the hashtag on Fridays to watch the kudos pour in.

Follower

A “follower” is someone who follows you on Twitter and sees your updates on their home feed. Just because someone follows you doesn’t mean you have to follow them back, the way some other social networks work. But if you want to find some insightful marketers to follow, here’s a helpful list to get you going.

Period before @mention

This is the one mistake almost everyone makes on Twitter. If you tweet @username without a period, only your mutual followers (in other words, people who follow both you and @username) and the person your tweeting to

will see it in their streams. Add a period before @username, though, and all of your followers will see your tweet in their streams.

PRT

A “partial retweet” is similar to a modified tweet, but it lets the reader know you’ve taken out some of the original ideas of the tweet, either to save space or to add your own two cents.

Reply

When you reply on Twitter, you’re responding to a particular tweet someone has tagged you in with a @mention. Unless it’s a direct message (DM), a reply can be seen by anyone and everyone, regardless of whether they follow you or not.

RT

A retweet is the basic form of currency on Twitter. When you see “RT” in front of a tweet, it means the person found the content valuable enough to share with their followers. If the original tweet is yours, way to go!

Trolls

Beware! Trolls are people on Twitter who abuse the service by spamming users with off-topic tweets and other erratic behavior. Trolling is a form of internet harassment, so if you think someone is trolling you on Twitter, you can learn how to take action here.

Tweeps

Tweeps are Twitter folks that follow each other from one social network to another. It’s not uncommon for the people you’re friends with on Facebook to also follow you on Twitter — they would be your Tweep. It’s a Twitter-ized version of “peeps.”

Tweet

Arguably the most common Twitter term. Every update you post to your followers on Twitter is called a tweet. Every tweet has a 140-character limit, and remember: Your tweets are public and searchable by anyone on Twitter, even if they don’t follow you. Heck, even CEOs may be listening to your tweets.

Trends or Trending Topic

Any person, place, thing, or idea that a lot of people are tweeting about at once is considered a trend. You can find trends on the left side of your Twitter homepage, and you can even tailor what trends you see based on your location and who you follow.

Tip: Are you a local business? Connecting with users who are in your same geographic location is a great way to get more business value out of Twitter.

Tweeple, Twerson, and Twitterverse

Literally, the people (or person, in the singular) that make up the vast Twitterverse (universe!) of Twitter users.

Unfollow

Just like someone can unfriend you on Facebook, people can choose to unfollow you on Twitter so your tweets stop showing up in their feed. Be careful about aggressively following or unfollowing users, though — it’s a great way to get yourself banned from Twitter.

Via

This term is sometimes used in place of “RT” as a way to let people know where your content is from and to give credit to the original content creator.

Twitter terms are helpful for anyone who’s new to the platform or building a profile for their business. Twitter slang, however, is helpful to be aware of so that you can connect with your audience better. By knowing some common slang terms used in tweets, you can join the conversation with your followers without sounding out of place.

atm

Giving status updates is a common reason for many of the tweets we see on our timelines. As a result, you may have seen the acronym “atm” used in the context of something other than money. This stands for “at the moment” and shouldn’t be confused with an automated teller machine.

atp

Some Twitter users enjoy telling stories on their timelines and a transitional phrase used in those narratives is “at this point”. Of course, with just a limited number of characters per Tweet, users abbreviate words anywhere they can, so “atp” might take the place of that phrase.

BFN

If you’re having a Twitter conversation, one polite way to sign off is to say this, which stands for “bye for now.” It lets the other person know you’re signing off and that any further tweets may go unanswered for a period of time.

BR

Just like in email, there’s something to be said for social media etiquette, and “best regards” is another nice, commonly used sign-off when leaving a conversation on Twitter.

Canceled

Cancel culture has been around for nearly half a decade and it’s very popular on Twitter. It’s usually reserved for high-profile members of society like celebrities, politicians, and influencers. If these individuals behave in a way that disturbs expectations (whether reasonable or unreasonable) they can be canceled by “cancel culture twitter.” There are varying opinions about cancel culture.

Crank Tweet

Remember when you used to make prank phone calls? (C’mon, don’t be shy — everyone’s done so at one point or another.) Well, crank tweets are the new prank calls, except in written form. They’re misleading tweets, tweeted on purpose.

EM

This one’s simple enough: It’s short for “email me.”

FTW

When someone comes in to save the day on Twitter, they might get praised with tweets that mention them directly followed by “FTW!” This stands for “for the win” and is derived from sports games where the commentator announces the name of a player who scored the game-winning point.

Fub free

Fub free means “follow, unfollow, block” free. Some Twitter users add this phrase in their Twitter bio to let followers know that they won’t be upset or retaliate if a follower unfollows or blocks their account. This is commonly used for Twitter accounts that tend to post spoilers to movies or temporarily post content their followers may otherwise not want to see. These followers might block or unfollow the account for a period of time and return later when the undesirable content has ceased.

HAND

You should smile if you see this tweeted at you. Why? Because someone on Twitter is telling you to “have a nice day!”

HT

A “hat tip” is usually followed by someone’s Twitter username. Using HT means you aren’t quoting or retweeting them directly, but instead acknowledging that the user gave you the idea for the content you’re tweeting.

ICYMI

This acronym for “in case you missed it” can be used when someone is tweeting about big news or a trending topic a few days after the fact, or they’ve already tweeted about it. Searching “ICYMI” on Twitter is a great way to catch up on what you’ve missed if you’ve been off the Twitter radar for a few days.

IDK

When 280 characters is your limit, shortening words is a must. Thus, typing “I don’t know” is sometimes too long to include in a tweet, believe it or not.

IFYKYK

“If you know, you know” is a term used by people who want to maintain some exclusivity to their Tweet. An underground artist, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, or even another acronym may all be adorned with a tweet that reads “IFYKYK”. And if you didn’t know, well now you know.

IJS

“I’m just saying” might seem redundant, but the acronym gives some tone and context to a tweet. Perhaps the user wants to introduce a difference of opinion to the conversation, or maybe they don’t want to be held responsible for the consequences of what they just said. Regardless, you might see “ijs” pop up on your timeline every once in a while from an opinionated Twitter user.

IMO or IMHO

You’ll usually see “in my opinion” or “in my humble opinion” when someone wants to agree or disagree with a piece of content they’re sharing. That way, the reader knows it’s opinion, not fact.

MT

This means “modified tweet,” which is a retweet that you had to clip to save space. However, it should still hold the meaning of the original tweet.

NTS

“Note to self” is a good way to mark tweets that you want to go back to later. It’s also used when someone is trying to be sarcastic or funny. For instance, I might tweet: “NTS: Pizza is way better cold — especially when it’s for breakfast.” (Which we all know is true, of course.)

OOMF

If you don’t want to mention one of your followers directly, but you want to say something about them, you might use the acronym OOMF which means “One of my followers.” This term can be used in a neutral way or in a passive-aggressive tone if you’re subtweeting your follower.

SMH

“Shaking my head” usually accompanies a tweet when someone can’t believe or doesn’t understand the content they’re sharing. It’s a total mimic of real-life body language.

Stan

If you’re familiar with fans of celebrities, you’ll catch on quickly to Twitter stans. These are overzealous and slightly obsessed fans of celebrities or influencers. The term is a combination of “stalker” and “fan.” There are mixed opinions about whether stan culture is healthy for the stan or the celebrity.

Subtweet

Occasionally, people Tweet about other Twitter users without mentioning them using the @ symbol. This can be done passive-aggressively or even in a flirtatious manner. There are two types of subtweets: overt and covert. An overt subtweet may still mention the person by name but without mentioning their Twitter with the @ symbol so that it is tied directly to them. A covert subtweet won’t mention names at all, but will instead give subtle hints about who the subject of the tweet might be.

TBH or TBQH

This is shorthand for “to be honest.” You may see a “Q” pop in there, for “to be quite honest.” (Fancy, we know.)

TFTF

You always want to say thank you, so “thanks for the follow” is a nice way to recognize that someone has decided to add you to their Twitter feed.

TMB

If you see “tweet me back” when someone mentions you on Twitter, they want you to literally tweet them back with an answer to or your opinion of their tweet.

Twitterati

The “Twitterati” is a group of A-list Twitter users that have a big number of followers and are famous in Twitter circles (and sometimes outside too).

Should your business use Twitter slang?

Twitter slang isn’t a good fit for every tweet, but just about every business can benefit from shortening a word or phrase to meet the character limit. Before you rule out Twitter terms and slang altogether, take a look at this list to see how you can make your statement short and sweet. After all, people want to hear from people, not brands, so speak like your followers do and start a genuine conversation on Twitter ASAP.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Today’s B2B buyers rely on digital channels through every stage of their journeys — even long after in-person sales interactions with reps.

As a result, commercial organizations’ efforts to identify, nurture, and pursue opportunities “serially” — first through digital engagement via marketing, followed by a hand-off to sales for in-person interaction — is failing to support the way customers actually buy.

Instead, the best companies must evolve a “parallel” commercial engine, where digital and in-person strategies complement each other at every stage of the buyer’s multi-channel journey.

In other words: We have all worked hard to create for our organization a “seamless view of the customer.” Now, it’s time to build a seamless view of our organizations for customers.

To get there, most suppliers will have to re-think — and ultimately, re-design — their websites, as customers aren’t just buying digitally. They’re relying heavily on suppliers’ websites to do so.

In fact, we found suppliers’ websites to be the most frequently-consulted digital channel for customers at every stage of the purchase process.

And yet, the vast majority of B2B websites aren’t designed to support that kind of buying behavior. Instead, they’re primarily designed to “broadcast.”

Specifically, we’re all seeking to tell the world three things: (1) who we are, (2) what we do, and (3) how we help.

To help buyers buy, however, B2B websites will have to meet three critical — and very different — design principles moving forward.

For inspiration on how the best B2B websites are built to impress, check out this video.

1. Give customers an entry point on their terms.

After reviewing hundreds of B2B websites across every major industry, we found only a handful that purposefully invite customers into a conversation. To do that, suppliers need to stop talking so much about themselves.

Rather, they should provide customers with an opportunity to share something about who they are, and what they’re looking to do — on their terms.

Really, it’s no different than common courtesy at a cocktail party. No one wants to be stuck talking to the person droning on about who they are and what they do. Yet that’s precisely what the vast majority of B2B websites do.

Not only is that kind of self-centered approach disengaging, but it also leaves the buyer wondering, “Do they even know who I am? Or what I actually do?” Or worse, “Do they even care?” It’s impersonal at best, and off-putting at worst — fostering questions rather than connections, and distance rather than assistance.

That said, we found a handful of websites that do, in fact, actively invite customers to engage on their terms. Square, for example, asks customers to identify their business sizes and types as a first step to entering the site. It’s the first — and nearly only — thing a visitor encounters upon landing on the home page. That information allows Square to offer customers what feels like a much more customized web experience.

Another example is vAuto.com. A division of Cox Automotive, vAuto sells enterprise software to auto dealers around world. Among those dealers are both used and new car sellers, along with wholesalers — some franchise-based, and some independent.

Those distinctions matter — not only for finding the appropriate vAuto solution, but they help to identify how that customer thinks about themselves.

vAuto has designed the front page of its website to allow buyers to self-identify along the dimensions most important to them, prior to going any deeper. The customer’s first choice upon landing at vauto.com is declaring, “I’m New Car,” “I’m Used Car,” or “I’m Wholesale.”

Notice that even the pronouns are specifically chosen to position the website as a learning and buying tool for customers, rather than a broadcasting tool for the supplier.

Questions to ask yourself:

1. How do our customers define themselves?
2. In their minds, which aspects of their identity most affect the way they look at suppliers like us?

2. Signal your solutions in customers’ language.

Just as the best websites invite customers into a conversation, they also guide buyers to supplier solutions using the language of customer outcomes — rather than supplier capabilities.

The best companies take the time to understand the specific business objectives customers are seeking to achieve, then organize their sites using language immediately recognizable to customers along those particular outcomes. That way, customers don’t have to translate.

Here’s another place where vAuto excels. The company employs actual customer-articulated business problems as the organizing framework for diving deeper into their broad solution set. It organizaes this information around headings like, “No one’s buying my inventory,” and, “The internet is killing my profits.”

At every step, the goal is to make online learning and buying as easy and as resonant as possible — all through an easy-to-follow path of breadcrumbs leading directly to vAuto’s unique solutions.

Questions to ask yourself:

1. What help are customers seeking from a supplier in your category?
2. What specific language would best resonate with your customers to describe that help?

3. Help customers do what they are on your site to do.

Finally, the best websites identify and then facilitate the specific tasks that customers come to your website to complete.

Take something like a cost calculator embedded directly into a website. A tool like that enables customers to independently calculate the costs of (in)action, rather than relying on sales reps to make the case for change. It’s a simple, practical idea, but it’s deployed with single-minded purpose: to allow the buyer to easily progress along the journey, while remaining in her preferred channel of choice.

Questions to ask yourself:

1. What specific buying tasks are your customers coming to your website to complete?
2. How easy is it to find support for those tasks on your site right now?

There’s a great deal to be learned from the handful of world-class websites we found as part of our work. For a more detailed discussion, check out this video, where you’ll also find examples and a practical worksheet to plan next steps. 

Whether you’re a full-time blogger or a social media marketer who’s occasionally tasked with writing social media copy, I’m willing to bet you’ve experienced the temptation to procrastinate in the middle of your writing process.

Maybe you type your introductory sentence and then open Pinterest. Perhaps you finish a section of your post and then, losing steam, decide to wash your dishes, instead.

Whatever it is, we’ve all been there. Writing is a tough and tedious process, and there are plenty of moments where procrastination is much more tempting than writing one more sentence.

But if you’re on a tight deadline, it’s critical you’re able to stay focused. Here, Henneke Duistermaat, founder of Enchanting Marketing, dives into strategies writers can use to avoid procrastination the next time they’re on a tight deadline and can’t afford to spend any more time refreshing their Pinterest feeds.

Let’s dive into the strategies you can use to stop procrastinating during your writing process — and how to become a more joyful writer, instead.

As a blogger, you want your website to reflect your unique voice and style. You also want visitors to have a positive experience navigating your site — that is, reading posts with ease, searching for topics of interest, and discovering other content that makes them excited to return.

A WordPress blogging theme can help you achieve the exact look, feel, design, and layout you envision, without the need for coding.

We’ve curated this list of our favorite free WordPress themes for bloggers like yourself — in no particular order — to consider using for your website.

1. Astra

Astra is a fast and lightweight theme that’s suitable for a variety of use cases. This flexible foundation makes Astra a quality option to consider when building a blog. The theme comes with several ready-to-use blog websites that can be imported, modified, and used out of the box.

Many bloggers get by just fine with the limited customization options for backgrounds, typography, and spacing within the free version of Astra. But for several advanced features like auto-loading previous posts, adding author sections, and removing featured image padding, you’d need to opt for the Pro or Agency plan.

Astra is one of the fastest themes available, and its compatibility with all major page builders (such as Elementor, Beaver, and Brizy) make it a great option for bloggers.

2. Kadence

Kadence is a lightweight and fully-featured WordPress theme that makes creating beautiful fast-loading and accessible websites a breeze. It features an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop header and footer builder to build any type of header in minutes.

For bloggers, Kadence stands out because of its clean blog styling, including featured image placements and sticky sidebar options. Additionally, Kadence has a deep integration with the core block editor, so your content will match what you see in the admin panel.  

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3. Blog Way

Blog Way is a simple and professional theme. It’s clean, well-coded, and has a modern layout. Blog Way is especially great for blogs, news sites, and travel sites. It has multiple customizable features and ensures high-quality performance to help boost your site traffic. Blog Way also comes with an option to change the color of your entire site and offers social links for you to connect your site with your social accounts.

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4. Simple

Simple is a free WordPress theme developed by Themify and built for, well, simplicity. Simple is designed so customers can buy items directly from your WordPress website without being redirected to Shopify, but you can run a regular blog on it as well. Creating your design or online store is easy with the drag and drop interface through Themify Builder, which comes with the theme. 

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5. Mesmerize

Mesmerize is all about giving you customizability without the hassle. Start with a pre-built homepage and use the five header designs, slideshow capabilities, gradient overlays, and more to make the look and feel your own. In addition, there are 30 ready-to-use content sections for you to build pages quickly and easily… not to mention the helpful drag-and-drop features. It’s mobile-responsive, and it works well with WooCommerce should you ever need to set up a store.

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6. Kale

Kale is built for food bloggers. You can choose from a number of feed displays to organize your written content and images of the dishes you’re featuring. The built-in social media sidebar menus and icons make it easy for your visitors to locate, view, and follow your accounts.

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7. Avant

Avant comes with seven different header styles, three footer styles, five blog layout templates, full site color settings, and much more built neatly into the WordPress Customizer. Avant integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce and page builders like Elementor or SiteOrigin.

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8. Blossom Feminine

Blossom Feminine is a free WordPress theme that you can use to create a fashion, lifestyle, journal, travel, beauty, or food blog. The theme is mobile-friendly, search engine optimized, and fast. In addition, the theme is WooCommerce compatible, translation ready, and comes with regular updates.

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9. Blossom Fashion

Blossom Fashion is perfect for building a stylish blog without spending a penny. While free, the theme offers premium features like WooCommerce compatibility, font choosing options, an advertisement widget, Instagram section, and more. The theme makes sure it is easy to use and comes with extensive documentation, and there’s always support if you need more help.

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10. Blossom Travel

Blossom Travel is a fast-loading and mobile-friendly WordPress theme for travel blogs. The theme blends accessible design with extensive features like social media integrations, theme color options, and lightbox image styling. Moreover, Blossom Travel has an Instagram section, email subscription section, and social media widgets so visitors can easily connect with you. Best of all is its HTML map section so that your visitors can visualize where you’ve traveled.

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11. Blossom Pin

The Blossom Pin theme features a Pinterest-style design, using a vibrant masonry layout with three posts/page layout options. Its infinite scroll lets visitors browse without distraction. The theme is SEO-optimized and easily customizable: Choose from many different colors and hundreds of Google fonts.

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12. Elegant Pink

Another dynamic Pinterest-like layout, Elegant Pink is a free and beautifully designed theme combining soft colors with a simple and clean layout to present your blog to the world. Elegant Pink also has a slider section above the masonry-design post on the homepage.

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13. Writee

Writee is ideal for photography or image-heavy blogs — the theme has a slider hero image feature which allows you to include several full-width images. Writee also makes managing an online store simple with its WooCommerce integration.

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14. Hemingway

Hemingway is a simple two-column blogging theme that keeps your content organized and easy to read. It includes a parallax scrolling feature, which adds an interactive, video-like experience to your blog pages. Hemingway’s translation-ready feature comes with pre-made language files so your website can be automatically translated into a number of other languages with just a click.

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15. Radiate

The Radiate blogging theme offers unique visuals, including a customizable, full-width hero image and primary color options so you can match your branding. If you have a WordPress.com Premium or Business account (that is, if you pay for WordPress), you can take advantage of custom Cascading Style Sheets.

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16. Neve

Neve is a powerful, free WordPress theme from ThemeIsle. It offers a fully responsive mobile-first design and extensive customization options to tailor your blog to your brand image. Neve frequently updates for security and new features, and its theme options panel will help you get started out-of-the-box.

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17. Bulan

Bulan offers multiple homepage layouts for your blog including full-width, boxed, narrow, and multi-column options. There are also a number of customizable sidebar and navigation configurations to enhance your blog-reading experience. Not to mention, you can install custom widgets to increase functionality.

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18. Total

Total is a blogging theme with a masonry-style layout, which places your latest three, six, or nine blog posts in a grid format. There’s also a portfolio section if you want to share some of your artistic work. Total is SEO-friendly, compatible with the most popular page builder plugins, and has a one-click demo import to get you up and running fast.

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19. Spacious

Spacious offers four page layouts, two templates, four blog layouts, and several custom widgets and widget areas to choose from. Building your site with Spacious is a painless process due to their downloadable demo sites that you can use for inspiration and support.

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20. Blog Diary

Blog Diary is meant to be lightweight and minimalistic, perfect for trendy food or travel blogs. It comes with slider functionality and color picking options, and it is easy to get up and running on the fly. In addition, it’s mobile-responsive and compatible with the Gutenberg editor.

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21. Wisteria

Wisteria is a blogging theme with a minimalist design. It includes layouts tailored to a variety of blogs including lifestyle, food, fashion, marketing, and more. Wisteria is retina-ready, meaning all of your images and content will be high-definition to ensure your site has a professional look.

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22. Editorial

The Editorial blog theme is visually engaging, simple to use, and flexible enough to organize large amounts of editorial content in a way that won’t overwhelm readers. Editorial also comes with a variety of convenient widgets that let you easily customize your page sections, no coding needed.

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23. Brilliant

Brilliant is a blog and online magazine theme that allows you to artistically pair your blog posts with photo or video content. You can add or edit your own custom logo on your homepage as well as easily customize your theme’s accent colors to match your branding. Brilliant is also translation-ready, so visitors can read your content in different languages.

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24. Poseidon

If you’re looking to include large, professional-looking photographs on your blog, Poseidon is the option for you — this theme offers a full-width image slideshow on the homepage. The layout is mainly white to create a spacious, organized look. Poseidon also includes completely customizable navigation bars to enhance user experience and improve your site’s configuration.

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25. Author

Author is a straightforward theme suitable for all blog types from business to photography to ecommerce. Its minimalist look helps readers to easily focus on your content. What’s unique about this particular theme is that it was designed not just for readability but also accessibility. 

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A free blogging WordPress theme will help you to create a unique, functional, and eye-catching place for your content. Each theme offers features, layouts, and styling that set them apart, so consider the overall design you’re going for on your blog to help you determine the ideal option for you.

Then, install your theme, begin to add content, and customize your site to create a great user experience that keeps readers returning for more.

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

In midsize to large companies, it’s standard to have business intelligence (BI) analysts generate reports on behalf of employees.

Having a designated team is great, as it signifies you have the resources to process large volumes of data. However, it can be a roadblock to decision-making.

Generating a report can take several days and if your team is already receiving many requests, it can take their focus away from higher priority tasks.

This is where ad hoc analysis comes in handy – you can run your own queries as you need them.

Discover the benefits of generating your own reports and the tools that will help you do it.

Non-technical users – who may be unfamiliar with structured query language (SQL) – can use it to answer questions that require immediate answers.

With the ad hoc model, everyone is empowered to dig into the data and find exactly what they’re looking for, without having to go through someone else. Why is this helpful? It:

• Saves time – When everyone is able to run their own analysis, they don’t have to wait days or weeks for IT to get to it. It also allows your IT team to focus on top priorities without being distracted by one-off tasks.
• Speeds up the decision-making process – This also enables your team to make decisions quickly, as they can access data to support their decisions.
• Empowers your team – Democratizing access to data can help your team feel more invested in your projects and be equipped to share insights.

One potential downside of using ad hoc analysis is the risk of information silos, where team members are not sharing insights and making unilateral decisions.

When using the ad hoc model, it’s important to only focus on answering a specific question. You also want to use it for micro-level decisions, not large scale. Furthermore, share your insights with your team to get everyone on the same page.

Ad Hoc Example

You typically run ad hoc analysis as a response to an event.

For instance, let’s say your marketing team is wondering which channels to invest in for 2021. You could run a report to identify the channels that generate the most and least sales-qualified leads. You could also run a secondary report to identify where potential leads may be dropping off.

Ad hoc analysis is great when you want to:

• Validate a theory.
• Highlight specific data for an upcoming meeting.
• Make a decision quickly regarding an ongoing project.

Ad Hoc Reports

What is ad hoc reporting?

Ad hoc reporting is a one-time report that doesn’t require waiting for the standard analysis cycle. Typically, a report requires large volumes of data and follows specific templates to share with a large audience. With ad hoc reporting, you only pull a small segment of data for you or a small pool of users.

Wondering what’s the difference between ad hoc reporting and analysis? The former pulls the right data for the question you want to answer while the latter focuses on analyzing it for patterns, trends, and insights.

Standard (Canned) Reports vs. Ad Hoc Reports

Standard reports have limited customization options available, as they are usually created for large audiences and sent out on a regular schedule. They are created, managed, and distributed by technical IT users, with the end-user only being able to manipulate select data points.

Ad hoc reports, on the other hand, are much more flexible. Non-technical users can dig through data, pull out what they want and how they want to display it whenever they need it.

In addition, ad hoc reports can be more visual than standard reports, which tend to follow set templates for easy distribution.

Ad Hoc Reporting Tools

When searching for a business intelligence (BI) reporting tool, here are some key features you’ll want to look for:

• Data visualization
• Easy sharing options
• Access to multiple data sources
• Integrations

Here are some top ad hoc analysis and reporting tools available online today.

1. Grow

Grow is a business intelligence tool that centralizes your data and offers no-code solutions. No need to host your marketing data on one platform and your financial data on another. Grow’s powerful integration software removes the need for third-party data warehouses.

You can easily integrate your data from multiple sources, including:

• CRMs like HubSpot
• Social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn
• Ecommerce sites like Shopify
• Payment processors like Square and Stripe
• Ad platforms like AdRoll and Google Ads
• Financial institutions like Chase and Bank of America

The user-friendly dashboard and visualization capabilities, you can quickly get answers to your most pressing questions. For pricing information, contact the company.

2. Easy Insight

Easy Insight is another code-free business intelligence tool that enables non-technical users to run ad hoc reports in a few simple steps.

Whenever you need it, you can create custom reports using a range of filters and visualize them through tables, charts, and a host of other visualization tools.

The platform is highly customizable, allowing you to create your own data sources, import data from other databases, and combine your data for unified reporting. It also integrates with HubSpot to help you leverage your insights to make decisions.

Easy Insight offers six plans for small to large companies. Pricing ranges from $29/month to $1499/month.

3. Wicked Reports

If your team is currently relying on several platforms to gather and analyze data, then consider Wicked Reports. This tool caters specifically to marketers looking to step up their data analytics game.

Wicked Reports helps teams track return on investment (ROI) on various campaigns and improve their customer lifetime value. With the easy-to-use dashboard, any user can run ad hoc reports to assess performance against goals and make quick decisions.

The best part? You don’t need IT to set it up or use it. The platform is accessible to non-technical users who want clean and accurate data.

Starting at $597/month, Wicked Reports is ideal for scaling businesses looking for a reliable analytics tool.

With ad hoc analysis, you can empower your team to easily access the data they need most, freeing up your IT staff in the process.

Ever left something perfectly fine and came back to a total disaster? Any pet owner will probably say, “yes.”

At work, the same can happen when collaborating on a shared document. It’s usually an accidental keyboard stroke that does it. Unless it’s done by your cat, in which case, it’s not accidental – it’s definitely sabotage.

While a mistake like this is understandable, it can be frustrating and time-consuming to fix. When working on shared Excel sheets, you can prevent these mishaps altogether by locking cells and protecting your worksheets.

Whether you’re working on an upcoming report or planning out next quarter’s budget, learn how to prevent anyone from changing or deleting important information on an Excel document.

Can you lock cells in Excel?

Yes, you can lock cells on Excel by following a few simple steps. When you lock a cell in Excel, you restrict users from making changes to your sheets. It’s particularly helpful when working on a project that involves multiple team members.

For instance, let’s say you’re the marketing director and you’ve asked each channel lead (email, website, social) to report their quarterly numbers for an upcoming meeting.

You wouldn’t want someone accidentally deleting important information, or changing formulas or conditional formatting before consulting with key stakeholders. This process ensures that only pre-approved users can edit the cell, which will save you a headache in the future.

Another method is locking your formula cells so that the numbers populate correctly. Jump to that section here.

How to Lock Cells in Excel

1. Select the cell(s) you want to lock.

2. Click on the “Home” tab of your Excel sheet.

3. Click on “Format,” located on the right side of the screen.

4. Scroll down and click on “Lock Cell.”

Once you complete these steps, your cells will be locked but can still be edited. To ensure the cells aren’t editable, you’ll also have to protect your worksheet. Find those steps in the next section.

How To Protect a Worksheet in Excel

1. Once you’ve locked your cells, click on the “Review” tab.

2. Click on “Protect Sheet.”

3. Select which permissions you’d like to allow on the sheet, then click “OK.” You can also add a password for additional protection.

Note: If you don’t add a password, any user can click “Unprotect Sheet” to make changes to the sheet. When you add a password, only those with the code can do so.

4. Confirm that your cells are locked by looking for the “Unprotect Sheet” icon in the toolbar.

You can also double-check that your worksheet is protected by attempting to write something in the locked cells. You should get this alert.

How to Protect Specific Cells in Excel (& Get a Shortcut to Lock Cells)

1. Select the cells you want to lock then press Ctrl+Shift+F (Windows) or Ctrl + 1 (Mac) to open up the “Format Cells” box. Then, click on the “Protection” tab.

2. Select the “Locked” box and click “OK” on the bottom right to finish.

These simple steps offer both a shortcut to locking cells in bulk and a way to protect specific cells in Excel.

How to Protect Formulas in Excel

A green triangle indicates an error in your cell’s formula. The error sign will show up if your formula is unprotected.

Any unauthorized or accidental changes to a formula can alter the integrity of the data reported in the sheet. As such, it’s important to always lock your formulas to prevent mistakes.

Here’s how you protect your formulas in Excel:

1. Click on the cell with the green triangle and look for the yellow triangle warning sign.

2. Click on the warning sign and select “Lock Cell.”

3. You must then protect your worksheet by clicking on “Protect Sheet” under the “Review” tab.

Another way to protect your formulas is by locking each formula cell individually as you build your worksheet (as outlined here) and protecting your sheet once all formulas have been locked.

Whether you’re the person fixing the mistake or the one who made it, following these steps will ensure it never happens again. And your cat will have to find something else to sabotage.

As a marketer, you know how many avenues there are for your prospects and customers to interact with you throughout the buyer’s journey. These avenues refer to channels (e.g. PPC, your website, email campaigns, social media) and touchpoints (e.g. specific ads, blog posts, social media posts, emails). Marketing attribution modeling can help you determine the impact of all of those marketing efforts.

Attribution Modeling

In this blog post, we’ll talk about what attribution modeling is, why it’s important, the different types of attribution modeling, and some tools to help with the process. Let’s get started.

What’s the purpose of attribution modeling?

By assigning credit to your marketing channels and touchpoints, you can increase your chances of converting more prospects by 1) identifying areas of the buyer’s journey that you can improve, 2) determining the ROI for each channel or touchpoint, 3) surfacing the most effective ways to spend your marketing budget, and 4) tailoring your marketing campaigns and content to your unique personas.

Types of Attribution Modeling

There are a handful of common types of attribution modeling. Although all attribution models look at the channels and touchpoints involved in a customer’s decision to convert, each of them weighs those channels and touchpoints differently.

1. Multi-Touch Attribution Modeling

Multi-touch attribution modeling is powerful because it takes into account every channel and touchpoint that a customer interacted with throughout the buyer’s journey, up until they decided to convert. It tells you which of those channels and touchpoints were most influential as well as provides insight into how they worked together to influence a customer.

2. Cross-Channel Attribution Modeling

Cross-channel attribution modeling is often used interchangeably with multi-touch attribution. However, their definitions differ slightly. Cross-channel attribution designates value to each marketing channel (such as paid, organic, or social media) but doesn’t look at the specific touchpoints within those channels the way that multi-touch attribution does.

3. Linear Attribution Modeling

Linear attribution modeling is a type of multi-touch attribution that gives equal credit to all channels and touchpoints that a customer interacted with throughout the buyer’s journey.

4. First-Touch Attribution Modeling

First touch attribution modeling gives all the credit for the conversion to the first channel or touchpoint that was interacted with by the customer.

5. Last-Touch Attribution Modeling

Last-touch attribution modeling is the opposite of first-touch attribution modeling — it gives all the credit to the last touchpoint a lead interacted with before converting.

6. Time-Decay Attribution Modeling

Time-decay attribution modeling gives credit to all of the touchpoints that contributed to a conversion and also considers the time that each touchpoint occurred — the touchpoints that happened closest to the time of conversion are weighted most heavily.

7. U-Shaped Attribution Modeling

U-shaped modeling, also known as position-based attribution modeling, splits the credit for a conversion between the first and last touchpoints.

8. W-Shaped Attribution Modeling

W-shaped attribution modeling gives the most credit to the first touchpoint, last touchpoint, and mid-funnel touchpoint before a conversion — it then gives equal credit to the rest of the touchpoints.

Attribution Modeling Tools

There are a number of tools that have the ability to help with marketing attribution modeling — here are three options to help you get started.

1. CallRail

CallRail is a call tracking and marketing analytics platform. The tool has a number of reports so you can analyze your call data in different ways — one of these is attribution modeling, a report that lives within their cost-per-lead reporting category.

Why do you need attribution modeling for your calls? It offers an understanding of every marketing touchpoint that led to a phone conversation with a prospect. It tells you which sources are leading to the greatest number of phone calls, and therefore leads who are most likely to convert into paying customers.

Integrate your all-in-one HubSpot CRM platform with CallRail.

2. Wicked Reports

Wicked Reports is multi-channel attribution software for ecommerce marketers. The tool calculates ROI and LTV for every channel, campaign, and ad so you can understand the impact of each marketing touchpoint. Wicked Reports maps your attribution models to your unique campaign goals — this way, you can determine the impact of your campaigns throughout the buyer’s journey.

The tool provides in-depth and accurate data across all of your business platforms — including Google, CRMs like HubSpot, marketing software, ecommerce platforms, and Facebook — so you can combine and access your attribution data with ease.

Integrate your all-in-one HubSpot CRM platform with Wicked Reports.

3. Attribution

Attribution is an enterprise multi-touch attribution tool that gives you a clear understanding of the impact of each of your marketing touchpoints. It automates data collection using its many integrations with ad software, CRM platforms, marketing tools, and more. It also accounts for your offline marketing touchpoints as well as your budget.

The process of attribution modeling is also automated for you and you can segment your attribution results and reports by channel, marketing campaign, touchpoint, and more.

Integrate your all-in-one HubSpot CRM platform with Attribution.

Grow Better With Attribution Modeling

Attribution modeling allows you to hone in on the buyer’s journey and understand which parts of it are working best for your customers and what needs improvement. It also offers insight into how your marketing channels and touchpoints are working together to convert your target audience.

Determine which models will provide the information you care most about, identify the right tool for you, and get started with attribution modeling.