Why Marketers Should Implement User-Generated Content: 23 Stats to Know

As a Boston-based young professional, the biggest product I've had to invest in was an over-priced apartment.

And this year, with apartment tours going fully virtual, I've found it even harder to do the extreme research needed before committing to a lease. Now, as I research apartment after apartment online, my new process feels like an intense buyer's journey.

In my research phase, I spend hours on end scouting listings, looking up addresses on Google Maps, researching neighborhoods, skimming through Yelp reviews of prospective property managers, and analyzing photos or video tours for potential problems that an unseen apartment could have.

Ultimately, I've found that the apartment listings I'm most drawn to have links to video tours filmed by current tenants.

When I've watched tours filmed by tenants, they'll explain what they like about their apartment, note major pros and cons, and give tiny -- but authentic -- details that the average salesperson might not offer. For example, in one video, a tenant honestly revealed one pro and one con about a bathroom by saying, "The bathtub has a great jacuzzi, which makes up for the lower water pressure."

After viewing a pleasant and seemingly trustworthy virtual tour, I feel like I've gotten an in-depth and authentic look at the product, as well as thoughts from a previous customer who is an expert on the product. Additionally, because the tenant often voluntarily offers their time to host the create video or virtual tour, I also get the sense that they are willing to help a trusted landlord find a new tenant.

Ultimately, I'm more likely to respond to an apartment listing with a great tenant-generated virtual tour than a listing with over-produced images or videos edited by an outsider.

When it comes to smaller purchases, I feel the same way about promotional content created by customers. This content shows me what the product is like in real life and proves that customers are delighted enough about their experience to promote a trusted brand.

And, I'm not the only consumer (or marketer) who thinks this. An estimated 90% of consumers say user-generated content (UGC) holds more influence over their buying decisions than promotional emails and even search engine results.

Below, I'll highlight more stats, facts, and figures that demonstrate the benefits of user-generated content.

23 User-Generated Content Stats to Know in 2020

Benefits of User-Generated Content

• Consumers find UGC 9.8x more impactful than influencer content. (Stackla, 2020)
• 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions, (Stackla, 2020)
• 48% of marketing professionals believe that content created by customers can help humanize their marketing. (TINT, 2018)
• 34% of TINT users surveyed and 45% of marketing professionals agreed that UGC helps increase key social media KPIs. (TINT, 2018)
• 42% of marketers say user-generated content is a vital component of their marketing strategy. (TINT, 2018)
• Ads featuring UGC garnered 73% more positive comments on social networks than traditional ads. (Jukin Media, 2018)
• 31% of consumers say advertisements that feature UGC content are more memorable than traditional ads without it. (Jukin Media, 2018)
• 28% of consumers say ads with UGC content in them are also more unique than ads without this type of content. (Jukin Media, 2018)

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UGC Tactics

• 50% of marketers have utilized user-generated content in email marketing, (TINT, 2018)
• Meanwhile, 58% of marketers have implemented UGC in ad campaigns. (TINT, 2018)
• Nearly half of marketers use UGCto support their overall marketing campaigns. (TINT, 2018)
• 41% of marketing professionals ranked content engagement as their top KPI for tracking user-generated content. (TINT, 2018)
• The most common types of UGC are photos, videos, social media content, customer reviews or forums, and content created with branded AR filters. (IAB, 2019)

Brand Authenticity

• 60% of consumers believe UGC is the most authentic marketing content. (Stackla, 2017)
• 75% of marketers believe user-generated content feels more authentic than other types of content. (TINT, 2018)
• Although 92% of marketers think they're creating authentic content, 51% of consumers think their favorite brands offer authenticity. (Stackla, 2020)
• 57% of consumers think that less than half of the content brands create resonates as authentic. (Stackla, 2017)
• Consumers are 2.4x more likely to say user-generated content is authentic compared to brand-created content. (Stackla, 2020)
• 56% of internet users say they find out about products from friends or acquaintances while 32% rely on customer reviews. (Statista, 2020)
• On average, 20% of consumers have unfollowed a brand on social media because they felt their content was inauthentic. (Stackla, 2017)
• 70% of the time, consumers are able to distinguish between consumer-created content and brand-created content. (Stackla, 2017)

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UGC Audiences

• Demographically, more Gen Z YouTube viewers prefer UGC to professional videos more than older generations. (YouTube, 2020)
• Globally, Gen Z and millennial generations watch more user-generated content than Gen X and Boomer generations. (YouTube, 2020)
• More than 30% of millennials have unfollowed a brand due to inauthentic content. (Stackla, 2017)

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Defining a User-Generated Content Strategy

As you can see from the stats above, user-generated content not only saves you production time, but it can also make your brand more authentic and trusted.

If the data above has persuaded you to implement UGC in your marketing strategy, here are a few next steps you can consider:

• Get inspiration from other brands: Seeing successful examples of UGC from brands in a similar industry will give you an idea of which customers to reach out to and how to amplify their positive thoughts about your product. For a few great UGC examples, check out this blog post.
• Determine how you'll get the content: Will you encourage fans to send you videos on social media, host a content-related contest, or directly ask your clients to promote a product via email? For tips on this step, read this post,
• Be authentic: Remember, the biggest strength of user-generated content is that it allows audiences to see an authentic view of your product. Don't be afraid to promote UGC that might be lower quality but highlights all the best features of your brand or product.

To learn more about how to leverage user-generated content in your marketing, click here.

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How to Create a Social Media Report [Free Template]

Social media is an undeniably powerful channel for marketing in 2020.

In fact, social networks are the biggest source of inspiration for consumer purchases, with 37% of consumers finding purchase inspiration through social channels.

However, if you're using social media as a tool for organic exposure and brand awareness, rather than just a channel for paid ads, it can be difficult to track the success of your efforts.

As any social media manager knows, successful implementation of a social media strategy is contingent on countless factors — and all companies prioritize different channels, metrics, and criteria for success.

For example, is paid more important than organic to your business, and if so, to what extent?

Is more importance placed on audience engagement, or audience growth?

Has a posting cadence been directly tied to revenue?

With so many areas of focus for social media marketers, it's crucial to choose, analyze, and report on your key social media metrics with a social media report.

A social media report can help you clearly convey what factors your social media team prioritizes, why those factors matter, and how you're performing against those goals.

In this post, we'll highlight the importance of a social media report, list the metrics you should consider including in one, and walk through a step-by-step process for building a social media report yourself.

For a quick and easy solution to your reporting woes, click here to download HubSpot's Free Social Media Reporting Template.

Why Use a Social Media Report?

A social media report is the best way to distill the key metrics your social media team is tracking on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and/or annual basis.

Since social media encompasses so much, gathering and reporting on the data and channels that you've determined are most important for your business provides a lens of focus for your social media marketing team, and delivers a necessary high-level overview for leadership.

Social media doesn't just affect marketing. Prospects ask questions, customers write reviews, and thought leaders follow you for company news. Because social media coincides with nearly every aspect of your organization, gathering and distributing the state of your social media channels is a move that shows transparency and encourages cross-company alignment.

You can also use a social media report to report on campaign-level analytics. If your social media account is serving as a cog in a larger company initiative, this report shows to what extent social media contributed to the project's success.

Featured Resource: Free Social Media Report Template

HubSpot's free social media report template has pre-made slides for you to report on all of your predominant social media metrics. Download the template today and simply plug in your own metrics to customize a social media report for your organization.

Social Media Metrics to Report On

Your business likely values some metrics over others when it comes to social media reporting. Likely, these metrics also vary between your channels — since LinkedIn doesn't let you retweet, and Twitter doesn't let you click a cry-face button.

Before you start reporting on your social media channels' performance, read through this list of options of social media metrics so you can determine which ones you should include in your report.

1. Audience Size and Growth

This metric tells you how large your reach is and how quickly that reach is growing. This is typically seen as the core social media metric, as it shows how large of an audience you can leverage with your posts and content.

2. Cadence of Posts

A rather self-explanatory example, this metric represents how many times you posted in a given time period. This metric is usually compared alongside other metrics — such as engagement rates — to help you determine the right cadence for your audience.

This metric should also be channel-specific, because it makes sense to post more frequently on some channels than others.

3. Post Engagement

Post engagement measures how your fans and followers are reacting to your posts with likes, comments, and shares. A healthy post engagement suggests you have a loyal audience — and that your content is reaching them.

You can also track engagement as a percentage of your audience to determine engagement rate.

4. Mentions

One metric you have a little less control over is mentions. You can track mentions from customers, prospects, and even news outlets to gauge perception of your business and brand online.

5. Clickthrough Rate

When a post links to a page on your website, you can measure how many people and what percentage of your audience clicked through to the page. A strong clickthrough rate shows you're sharing website pages that your audience finds relevant.

6. Conversions & New Contacts

Conversions comes into play if you're using social media to generate leads, subscribers, or even customers. If you want to attribute contacts to your social media team's efforts, make sure you're using proper tracking and setting reasonable goals, as it's rare in some industries to go straight from social media to becoming a customer.

7. ROI

Directly tracing ROI (return-on-investment) to social media efforts can be tricky. However, if you determine it's worth reporting on this metric, make sure you have proper expectations set and attribution models established.

8. CPM / CPC

This metric is essential for monitoring the performance on your social media ads. If you're solely reporting on organic social metrics, you can ignore this one.

9. Competitor Metrics

To provide a benchmark, consider analyzing the aforementioned metrics for your competitors. Obviously, these metrics can vary drastically based on publicity, paid budget, and the size of the company, but it's still worthwhile to make the comparison.

How to Make a Social Media Report

Step 1: Choose Your Presentation Method

For consistency and clarity, make sure you're using a social media report presentation, spreadsheet, or memo template. This way, each time you update your metrics, you'll simply need to copy over your most up-to-date metrics onto that template rather than reinventing the wheel every time.

We suggest using a PowerPoint or Google Slide Deck template, because you can share it with your team via email, use it for an in-person meeting or presentation, or both.

Need a template to get started? Try this one.

Step 2: Determine the Metrics You'll Be Reporting On

Like we've established, different companies and different social media teams value different social media metrics.

It's your job to choose the metrics that matter most to your team and your organization.

Using the list from the section above, narrow down the essential metrics you believe are worth presenting to your team at large. Remember, you can change which metrics you report on for each of your organization's social media platforms.

If your social media report is campaign-specific, reach out to the project stakeholders to see if they're hoping to see reporting on any certain metrics in the social media report.

Pro Tip: For your first few ongoing social media reporting presentations, ask your peers which metrics they'd like to see, or which ones they need clarification on. Making these changes sooner rather than later helps you keep your team informed and engaged.

Step 3: Gather Your Data

Once you know what you're reporting on and how you're reporting it, it's time to start collecting data.

When you're first setting up your social media reports, create bookmarks for your data sources. Make a folder for the analytics page for each social media channel you're analyzing and/or your social media reporting software for an all-encompassing view.

If you're tracking click-throughs to your website, make sure you're analyzing from a single master location, such as your tracking URL builder or your traffic tracking tool like HubSpot or Google Analytics.

Step 4: Add in Some Visuals

A chart of numbers on a slide deck is, well, pretty boring.

While a numerical chart is important for sharing as much info as possible in an organized way, using visuals is a better way to convey the growth and success metrics of your social media performance. Try incorporating one or all of the following into your social media reports:

• Linear graphs to show followers over time.
• Pie charts to show clicks to different pages of your website (blog pages vs. case studies, for example).
• Bar graphs to show number of engagements on each platform.

These examples are more eye-catching than numbers on a slide and further illustrate what you want your team to walk away with. If data visualization is new to you, check out our Guide on Data Visualization for Marketers.

Step 5: Think of Your Story

A running social media report should always remind people about where you came from and where you plan on going. That said, make sure your reports make reference to how your numbers have changed since the last period of time on which you presented, in addition to why numbers have changed.

Did follower growth as a percent increase drop last month? Maybe that's because one of your posts from the month before went viral and resulted in unprecedented growth that was impossible to match. Make that clear and add context to the numbers.

Additionally, each report should contain clear action items about how you plan to continuously improve your social media performance. Social media is constantly evolving, so your approach and strategy for it should, too.

Now that you're equipped with the knowledge to build, design, and share your social media report, download your social media report template and get to work!

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12 of the Best Marketing Techniques for 2020

When content marketing was gaining steam, there were really only a few techniques you could leverage.

On a typical day, you'd write a blog post, hope it ranked on Google, send it to your email subscribers, and post it to your social media profiles.

That was pretty much it.

This is still the main strategy most marketers use nowadays, but since content marketing has exploded in popularity since its early adoption, it has developed into a much more nuanced and complex type of marketing with many techniques for reaching and resonating with an audience.

To help you learn about the most effective marketing techniques around today, we've rounded up the best ones to add to your content marketing arsenal.

1. CTA Copy Test

Every company has a different set of customers, so there's no one-size-fits-all formula for designing the most optimal CTAs. To figure out which CTA copy will produce the best results for your company, you must discover what your unique set of customers prefer.

With A/B testing, you can run an experiment between two variables, like a red and blue CTA, and identify which one produces better results. A/B testing shouldn't be confused with multivariate testing, though, which allows you to simultaneously test many variables.

To conduct an A/B test, you can use HubSpot's A/B testing kit. With this kit, you'll get guidelines for A/B testing, learn what variables to test, and gain access to a simple significance calculator to track your results.

2. Email Preview

Did you know that more than 50 percent of U.S. respondents check their personal email account more than 10 times a day, and it is by far their preferred way to receive updates from brands.

This means that there isn't a lot of room for error when you send an email. To avoid any issues, a great marketing technique to implement is to begin previewing your email in different email providers before sending.

There are plenty of tools you can use to preview your emails such as HubSpot's free email software. With an email preview tool, you can test your emails before you send them and see how they look in every service provider.

3. Blog Post Title Test

When you write a blog post, do you use the first title you came up with or do you write a few?

Most marketers write several headlines before deciding which one to use. However, it's not always easy to decide.

To make this decision, you can run an A/B test and see which types of titles work best for your audience.

Additionally, you can use tools like this headline analyzer to see what you can do to improve your headline.

4. Brand Storytelling

In the neuroscience field, researchers have proven that storytelling is the best way to capture people's attention, bake information into their memories, and resonate emotionally with them. The human brain is programmed to crave, seek out, and respond to well-crafted narrative -- that'll never change.

So just like your favorite Netflix show, you can craft a series on YouTube to entice your viewers subscribe to your updates. This can get your audience more excited for your show's newest season than they currently are for the latest season of Stranger Things.

Before you green light another slew of listicles, how-to posts, and ultimate guides, remember how powerful storytelling is and consider crafting a YouTube series, podcast, or social media hashtag chock-full of conflict, surprise, and emotion that your viewers will relate to your brand.

5. A Topic-Based Content Strategy

Since people heavily rely on Google to provide accurate and relevant answers for most of their questions today, Google needs to understand the intent and context behind every single search.

To do this, Google has evolved to recognize topical connections across users' queries, look back at similar queries that users have searched for in the past, and surface the content that best answers them. As a result, Google will deliver content that they deem the most authoritative on the topic.

To help Google recognize your content as a trusted authority on marketing, sales, and customer service topics, consider implementing the pillar-cluster model on your blog.

Essentially, the pillar-cluster model is a topic-based based content strategy. This means that you generate and organize ideas for your blog by topic.

By creating a single pillar page (an ultimate guide, for instance) that provides a high-level overview of a topic and hyperlinks to cluster pages (subtopic blog posts) that delve into the topic's subtopics, you can signal to Google that your pillar page is an authority on the topic.

Hyperlinking all of the cluster pages to the pillar page also spreads domain authority across the cluster, so your cluster pages get an organic boost if your pillar page ranks higher, and your cluster pages can even help your pillar page rank higher if they start ranking for the specific keywords they're targeting.

6. Growing Email Subscriptions

As of now, subscribing to your favorite online publications through email is the best way to keep up with their latest stories and news. And since it takes an average of six to eight touch points to generate a qualified sales lead, persuading people to subscribe to your emails and, in turn, constantly consume your content will generate more leads and revenue for your business.

Growing an engaged, loyal subscriber base also speaks volumes about the quality of your content and its emotional resonance. Even though hoards of content saturate the internet and most people's inboxes today, people are still actively engaging with your content, which is a clear sign that they actually value it.

To build your email list, you'll want to use an email marketing software like HubSpot. This way you can create, personalize, and optimize marketing emails without needing a developer.

7. Historical Optimization

In 2015, HubSpot made a revolutionary discovery about our organic monthly blog traffic -- the overwhelming majority of it came from posts published prior to that month. In fact, 76% of monthly blog views came from these old posts.

Today, the groundbreaking revelation rings louder than ever -- 89% of our monthly blog views currently come from posts that were published at least six months prior, and we've developed an entire strategy dedicated to refreshing and republishing these historical pieces of content.

These types of blog posts are called "updates", and they comprise 35-40% of HubSpot's editorial calendar. By refreshing posts with new information and effectively republishing them as new blog posts, HubSpot can build upon its existing organic value that these posts have accumulated through backlinks and user engagement and double or even triple their traffic. This process also helps HubSpot optimize our blog for efficiency, decreasing the amount of new content we have to create while increasing our organic traffic and conversions.

8. Podcasting

According to a content format study conducted by Edison Research and Triton Digital, people age 12 and older are listening to online audio content at unprecedented levels. On average, people spend 17 hours per week tuning into their favorite podcasts, online radio shows, and audiobooks. There are also 14 million more weekly podcast listeners this year compared to last year, which is more than Guinea's entire population.

The demand for audio content has exploded, but that doesn't mean people will listen to your branded podcast just because it's a podcast. In reality, they'll only listen to it if it can hold their attention and, ultimately, entertain them. Otherwise, producing yet another interview-an-expert podcast like everyone else will only add to the noise flooding the internet.

9. Link Building

Earning high-quality inbound links from websites and pages with high authority scores is crucial for boosting your domain authority. But, unfortunately, "If you write it, they will link to it," is not a viable SEO tactic.

An effective method for earning high-quality links is by asking other websites that have the same or higher domain or page authority score than you to link to your top content. You should also make sure your content is relevant to the referring website's content.

Another way you can earn quality backlinks is by using Backlinko's skyscraper method. The skyscraper method is an SEO strategy where you find content that ranks well for keywords you want to rank for and then create content that's better than the top ranking posts. Then, you use SEO tools to find all the sites that have linked to your competitor's content and ask the most relevant sites to replace your competitor's link with a link to your improved content.

10. Social Media Based Public Relations

Today, over 30% of time spent online is dedicated to social media. Needless to say, people spend more time on social media than ever before. And public relations professionals are pivoting their strategy from solely focusing on placing their stories in news outlets' publications to concentrating on driving traffic to their social media profiles too.

In order to successfully pitch your stories to journalists and news outlets nowadays, you need to account for the content that performs well on their social media profiles and their publication. So before you pitch your story, make sure it's relevant and interesting to the news outlet's social audience.

11. Audience Segmentation

In a world overflowing with digital noise, creating irrelevant or unwarranted content won't catch anyone's attention.

To create personalized marketing campaigns for each slice of your target market, consider leveraging audience segmentation, which separates your target market into specific, accessible groups of people based on personal attributes like their demographics, psychographics, and behavioral information.

To properly implement an audience segmentation strategy, you can use a marketing software like HubSpot. For example, with HubSpot's marketing software, there's a lead collection and tracking feature where you can segment and nurture your leads. This makes it easy to build an email list, automate campaigns, and expand your database.

12. Brand Extensions

Big companies often extend their brand to develop new products in industries that they don't have any market share in. These initiatives are called brand extensions, and they allow companies to leverage their brand awareness and equity to create more revenue streams.

Historically, the most successful brand extensions are the ones that closely tie to the company's flagship product or core brand, like Gerber's baby clothes and Dole's frozen fruit bars. So by entering tangential markets that can preserve your brand's unique associations and perceived quality, you can develop new products that consumers intuitively understand the benefits of, even though they've never seen them on a shelf.

On the flip side, a company can also exploit its brand, and, in turn, damage it. If they develop a product in a market that isn't closely tied to their flagship product or core brand, audiences might attach undesirable associations to a brand, weaken its existing associations, and hurt its established products' perceived quality.

When you're developing a new marketing plan, it's important to consider new marketing techniques. Don't forget to continuously innovate on your strategies.

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

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What is Latent Semantic Indexing & Why Does it Matter for Your SEO Strategy?

If you're anything like me, you probably read the title of this post and thought, "Latent semantic indexing ... wait, what is that?"

Latent semantic indexing (LSI, for short) can be an overwhelming and confusing term for anyone hearing it for the first time.

Luckily, although it sounds like something that requires a degree in computer science, it's actually a concept you're already probably familiar with — particularly if you have some basic knowledge of keywords and their close relationship with search engine optimization (SEO).

In this post, we'll define LSI and how the process can potentially benefit your overall SEO strategy, take a closer look at ways to find LSI-driven keywords, and outline how to add these keywords into your content.

Let's dive right in, shall we?

Access Now: Technical SEO Glossary

What is latent semantic indexing?

Latent Semantic Indexing, also known as latent semantic analysis, is a mathematical practice that helps classify and retrieve information on particular key terms and concepts using singular value decomposition (SVD).

Through SVD, search engines are able to scan through unstructured data and identify any relationships between these terms and their context to better index these records for users online.

Before SVD, it was rather difficult for computers to try and grasp differences between synonyms or semantic changes.

To help paint a picture, take the words "silly" and "string". When separated, these words represent two very independent definitions, but when brought together, their formation creates a brand-new concept: "silly string".

If you work for an e-commerce company that sells silly string, you don't want your content arising for the word "silly" alone — in that case, you'd need to use LSI keywords to help let search engines know for which searches it should serve up your content.

As technology adapted, the quality of user search was highly improved due to stronger patterns in relevancy. Through "stemming", computers began taking into account the various forms a word could represent on a page.

Depending on the site's content, search engines can serve up results based off relevancy (not using mind-reading, but instead using LSI keywords).

Search engines use LSI keywords to help add context to pages in order to provide better search results.

As LSI became more sophisticated, the ability to group thematically came into place, which for many rank-driven content writers meant synonyms became your best friend.

So ... the more ranking LSI keywords, the better your overall position, right? Well, it depends.

What are LSI keywords?

LSI keywords are based off the idea that using similar keywords throughout your content to strengthen your topic or theme can help boost your overall SEO performance.

After all, if you end up ranking for one keyword, the possibility of you ranking for a related keyword sounds reasonable.

However, that isn't necessarily always the case. There is quite a bit of contradictory analysis challenging how much LSI truly boosts your content.

As Google and other search engines have become more sophisticated and advanced, we have learned there are many outside factors that influence overall ranking.

In fact, there is no certainty behind the idea that LSI is a part of Google's ranking algorithm. LSI is a practice dating back to the 1980s and in this day and age, we know Google's too smart to rely on just synonyms to retrieve and index information.

So the power of "LSI keywords" comes into question. However, some argue that even if Google isn't using LSI, there is no damage done in adding synonyms to your content, so long as they are not overstuffed and used naturally.

So what are a couple ways to help boost SEO that doesn't rely on LSI?

1. Use structured data! There is nothing Google likes better and will reward more than data that users can understand. For more information on what structured data is and how to add it to your website check out the Beginner's Guide to Structured Data for Organizing & Optimizing Your Website.
2. Practice co-occurrence, which relies on concept relativity, frequency in keyword occurrence, and closeness in keywords across different websites. Search engines will tend to use this method to scan and index websites most closely related. Therefore, if you're looking for a place to start, you should:
   • Identify a long-tail keyword or phrase you would like to rank for
   • Research the top trending articles
   • Find which concepts or keywords they have in common
   • Incorporate and optimize on your findings!

Now, this doesn't mean LSI driven keywords are bad for SEO, it just means it shouldn't be your catch-all. In fact, there are a multitude of ways your content can benefit from LSI keywords. So let's dive a little deeper into how you can use LSI content to your advantage.

Benefits of LSI-Driven Keyword Research

Search engines are constantly hunting for the most relevant and thorough content for a given query. The internet is much like the universe, ever-expansive and well, big. That said, it’s not an easy task for even the best of search engines, like Google, to determine what a page’s content is really about.

Better targeted categorization helps publishers, marketers, and users alike. For example, publishers can boost engagement since LSI-driven content is directed and selected for a specific audience. Online users mutually benefit since the queries they’re searching for are served up quicker and more accurately.

And, at the end of the day, users who find content that answer their questions are happy users, and happy users are more likely to engage or convert.

5 Ways to Find LSI Keywords

You're one step closer to becoming an LSI expert. Congrats! Now that you've learned a little bit on the importance of LSI keywords, let's walk through the various ways you can identify new keywords for upcoming blog posts and content.

1. A Simple Google Search

One of the easiest ways to find LSI keywords is Google itself. When you enter a term in the search query field, it automatically shows the keywords related to the particular query.

Let's use the earlier example of "silly string" again. An initial search of the word provides these results:

Again, there are a lot of pages this particular keyword could point to which is why we need to use LSI to add more context. If you continue to scroll down to the bottom, you'll find a section titled, "Searches related to" and your given query:

Use the list of keywords as a starting point for potential LSI keywords because it reveals what Google already associates with your primary keywords.

The best part? This method is 100% free!

2. Use the Keyword Planner Tool via Google AdWords

If you have access to Google AdWords, you can also use their Keyword Planner tool.

Again, we'll use the "silly string" example. Begin by adding the term into the initial query box. Click "Get ideas" and you'll be redirected to a page that offers related keywords and an idea of how competitive search rankings are for said term.

3. Take Advantage of SERP Stat's Keyword Research Database Tool

Another free tool for you to use comes from SERP Stats. SERP Stat's Keyword Research Database Tool is very similar to Google's Keyword Planner. Simply add your query into the search bar and you'll receive results based on volume of searches and CPC.

4. Use the LSI Keyword Generator

The LSI Graph/LSI Keyword Generator is another free tool that’s perfectly made for identifying LSI keywords. Similar to the previous tools mentioned, it follows the same rinse and repeat process. Add a term into the search bar, click “generate” and choose from a variety of related keywords below.

5. Try Ubersuggest

Lastly, another freebie to discover LSI keywords with is Ubersuggest. I’m sure at this point, you can guess how simple each of these tools are. All you need to do is enter you primary keyword, and Ubersuggest does the rest! From search volume, keyword difficulty, and CPC, you can expect a generated list of related search terms.

How to Select (and Use) the Best LSI Keywords

By this point, it's likely (and normal) to have a long list of potential LSI keywords. The best way to cherry pick the finest keywords is to narrow down your options to those keywords that are most related to your content and have a sufficient search volume. Extra points if you can determine those golden nugget keywords with both high search volume and low keyword difficulty.

Understand the Three Different Types of Intent

It’s vital that your LSI keywords help answer any questions people might have about your primary keyword, so be sure to do some research on your target audience to figure out the types of queries they might put into Google to find your content.

We'll refer back to "silly string" again, this time in the context that it's on a site dedicated to exploring "how silly string works". Below are three different types of intent someone on Google might have when searching for "silly string":

• Informational intent: This type of query is typically on a much broader scale. An example would be, "How does silly string work?"
• Navigational intent: This is a more specific type of query. For instance, someone might want to know who invented silly string, or what it's made out of.
• Transactional intent: This type of query relates to purchasing something. In regards to our example, it could be related to purchasing silly string.

Choose Words That Add Context, But Don’t Overstuff

A misconception some people have is that you should use as many LSI keywords as possible to give your content a better chance at outranking others.

This is called overstuffing your content, and it's a practice you'll want to avoid because it could actually deter you from ranking. The best way to make sure your content isn’t overstuffed is to reread your content once all the keywords are added. If a specific word doesn’t sound natural, leave it out.

Remember That LSI Is Only Part of an Effective SEO Strategy

LSI is just potentially one of many factors that determine how well your content ranks in search engines. To achieve the best results and set your content up for success, an effective SEO strategy should also consist of proper website architecture, relevant backlinks, ongoing optimizations, etc.

With that said, it's definitely worth taking the time to discover and add relevant LSI-driven keywords into your content, particularly since it can help your readers find the most relevant, helpful information to meet their needs, faster.

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How to Write a Great Email Signature [+ Professional Examples]

The average office worker sends 40 emails per day. That's 40 opportunities to market yourself and your business in those individual emails you send, every single day.

A lot of people treat their email signatures like an afterthought, which makes for a real missed opportunity. Those signatures are a chance for you to make it clear who you are, make it easy for people to reach you, and give people a place to go to find out more — either about you, about your business, or about something you're working on.

So, if you're just putting your name and a point or two of contact information in your signature, you're not taking full advantage of the opportunity to connect and engage with the people you're emailing. (Although you don't want to go overboard, either. Jamming your signature full of links and information is just plain spammy and self-promotional.)

So what should go in your signature? Much of this will depend on personal preference, your organization's brand and culture, and even the industry you're in. However, here are some suggestions as you create your own: 

What to Include in an Email Signature

1. First and Last Name
2. Affiliation Info (Such as Job Title and Department)
3. Secondary Contact Information
4. Social Profile Icons
5. Call to Action
6. Booking Links
7. Industry Disclaimer or Legal Requirements
8. Photo or Logo
9. Pronouns

1. First and Last Name

Just like with snail mail correspondence, your name should always be included so that the recipient of your message knows who it was from. This manifests in the email signature, often as the first line of text.

2. Affiliation Info (Such as Job Title and Department)

Closely following your name should be your affiliation information. Your affiliations could include your job title, your company or organization, and/or even your department. Your name should eventually be its own draw, of course, as you build a relationship with the recipient, but providing this information provides more context about the conversation and your role in it. In addition, affiliating yourself with a larger organization lends you more credibility, especially if it's a recognizable organization. This helps you get the attention of your readers so they take your message seriously.

3. Secondary Contact Information

Secondary contact information is important, too, so that the recipient knows how else to contact you. Secondary information might include phone, fax, or any other method of communication you want to emphasize. In situations where you don't want to cough up your direct line, you could take this opportunity to promote your personal website -- a passive way to open the lines of communication without flooding yourself with outreach if you don't want.

4. Social Profile Icons

Your social media presence is a major part of your personal brand because it helps you gain a following in your space and shows people what you care about. You can tell a lot about a person by what they post and how they portray themselves.

That's why it's a great idea to include links to your social media pages in your email signature. It not only reinforces your personal brand, but it also helps people find new ways to contact and follow you.

Even better? It can help drive traffic to your online content if you're posting links to that content on social. So if you do include social icons in your signature, make sure you're keeping your social profiles up-to-date and chock full of interesting, relevant content. (In other words, if you haven't tweeted in six months, you may want to leave Twitter out.)

Why use social media icons instead of simply text links? Because icons are more easily recognizable for folks skimming your signature — and they'll stand out from the rest of the text in there. According to research from NeoMam Studios, visuals shown in color increase a person's willingness to read the rest of the content by 80%. That's a huge advantage. Plus, icons are big space-savers in a place where you might be packing a lot of information.

Even if you have a presence on a lot of social media sites, though, try to cap the number of icons to five or six. Focus on the accounts that matter most to growing your business or building your personal brand.

If you do include a lot of social media icons, at least try to cut back on the other content if possible so your design isn't too busy. Check out the example below, made using HubSpot's Email Signature Generator.

5. Call to Action

One of the smartest things you can do in your email signature is include a call-to-action. The best email signature CTAs are simple, up-to-date, non-pushy, and in line with your email style, making them appear more like post-script, and less like a sales pitch. Choose a CTA that aligns with one of your current business goals, and update it when those goals change.

Example

Here's a great example from HubSpot's former Social Media Manager, Chelsea Hunersen. She changes her text CTA depending on her current social media goals. A few months ago, she used it to drive people to HubSpot's Twitter account.

Once she created a unique Slack channel for inbound marketers, she switched up her email signature CTA to point people there, instead.

Links to videos can be especially noticeable because in some email clients like Gmail, a video's thumbnail will show up underneath your signature. Here's an example of what that looks like from our own Emily MacIntyre:

6. Booking Links

If you find yourself emailing back and forth with colleagues and clients who want to book meetings with you, make it easy for them by including a link to book your calendar right in your email signature. Here's an example from our own Bryan Lowry, below.

Example

There are many tools out there that'll help people book appointments. Bryan from the example above uses HubSpot's shareable personalized booking link. If you're a HubSpot Sales customer, you can share your personalized meeting link with anyone who you want to book a meeting with and let them choose from your available times. If you want, you can make it so the HubSpot CRM automatically creates a new contact record for anyone who books a meeting if one doesn't already exist.

If you aren't a HubSpot customer, one great meeting tool is Calendly, which is free for Basic and lets you integrate your Google or Office 365 calendar. YouCanBook.me is another booking tool that goes for $7 per calendar per month.

7. Industry Disclaimer or Legal Requirements

Some industries such as legal, financial, and insurance have specific guidelines on email usage and etiquette to protect private information from being transmitted. For this reason, you may want to look into what regulations your industry has in place and include a disclaimer in your signature about email transmissions. Mail-Signatures offers a number of email disclaimer examples, including this one:

"The content of this email is confidential and intended for the recipient specified in message only. It is strictly forbidden to share any part of this message with any third party, without a written consent of the sender. If you received this message by mistake, please reply to this message and follow with its deletion, so that we can ensure such a mistake does not occur in the future."

8. Photo or Logo

An image is a great choice to spice up your email signature. If you want a personal touch so that recipients you've never met can associate your name with your face, consider using a professional photo in your signature. Alternatively, you can use the company's logo to add more brand awareness to the email.

9. Pronouns

While not as common in email signatures and certainly not required, adding your preferred pronouns to your signature is helpful, especially when emailing individuals you've never met. It also takes ambiguity away if you have a name perceived as gender-neutral.

Now that you know the elements you should include, what does a great email signature look like? Here are some tips for creating signatures that are helpful and professional, including a few great examples. You can also use HubSpot's free Email Signature Generator to make your own professional email signature template and easily add it to your email client.

How to Write an Email Signature

1. Emphasize your name, affiliation, and secondary contact information.
2. Keep the colors simple and consistent.
3. Use design hierarchy.
4. Make links trackable.
5. Use space dividers.
6. Include an international prefix in your contact number.
7. Make your design mobile-friendly.

1. Emphasize your name, affiliation, and secondary contact information.

As you might guess, your name comes first. Closely following your name, however, should be your affiliation and where else people can reach you.

Your affiliation could mean your job title, your company, your school, or a similar organization that you deem important to your recipients. Your name should eventually be its own draw, of course, but using a more popular brand name — and even its logo — ensures you get the attention of your readers and they take your message seriously.

Secondary contact information is important, too. You might not want to endorse your personal phone number, but you could take this opportunity to promote your personal website -- a passive way to open the lines of communication without flooding yourself with outreach you don't want.

Example

Here's a sample email signature that hits on all three things described above nicely. Kevin's first and last name are accompanied by his affiliation with the University of Connecticut. He also promotes his personal website so his recipients have another outlet to see his work and contact him for more information.

Want to create a signature like the one below? Use HubSpot's Email Signature Generator.

2. Keep the colors simple and consistent.

Branding is most effective when it’s consistent -- and that includes your email signature. Adding color to your email signature is a nice touch that'll help it stand out from the rest of your email. But if you do choose to use color, be sure to stick to one or two in addition to dark text.

Example

Use subtle highlights to match your logo or branding, like Brittany Hodak does in her email signature, below. Notice how her social media icons are the same blue hue as the ZinePak logo.

3. Use design hierarchy.

Good design is all about presenting your information in an easily digestible manner. Because your email signature is likely more a list of information than it is a compelling story, you'll want to use hierarchy to direct readers' eyes to what they should be reading first.

Example

Scale your name up to a larger font so that it attracts the most attention, like you would on a resume. Then, pick and choose information to bold and color based on importance so you can help guide people's eyes logically through the design, as in the example below.

Image Credit: Envato

4. Make links trackable.

So you put a few links in your email signature, including your CTA and your social media icons. But is anyone actually clicking on them?

To figure out whether the links in your signature are actually attracting clicks and making an impact, you'll want to make those links trackable -- just like you would any other link in your emails.

Follow these instructions to easily make a tracking link that helps you attribute traffic to your website to your email signature. From time to time, you might switch up the format of your signature or the wording inside your signature to see what drives the most clicks.

5. Use space dividers.

Although you never want to jam-pack your email signature for too much information, there are ways to fit a lot of text into a compact area like this one without compromising design.

This is helpful for breaking up different types of information, like your name and contact information, your logo, any calls-to-action you have, or even a disclaimer.

Example

Using space dividers within your design, as in the example below, is one great way to do this. You can also use glyph dividers, which is the vertical bar symbol (i.e., |.)

Image Credit:Venngage

6. Include an international prefix in your contact number.

If you work with people around the world, don’t forget the prefix for your country’s code when you list your contact phone number. Many people overlook this if they aren't used to dialing international prefixes themselves, but it's really helpful for your international colleagues and clients to have it right on there. Here's a list of country codes if you don't know yours.

Example

Here's an example from Kit Smith, formerly of Brandwatch, a company that has offices in both the United States and Europe and works with international clients. Having the U.S.'s country code on their helps make it easier for folks in other countries to reach him by phone.

7. Make your design mobile-friendly.

According to Litmus, Apple's iMobile accounted for 46% of all email opens in June 2018. Not only that, but mobile users check their email three times more often than non-mobile users.

The more people who read email on mobile devices, the more you'll want to keep mobile users top-of-mind when you're writing emails -- including your email signature.

One major way to make your email signature mobile-friendly is to make your signature's design easy to read and clickable for mobile users. This is where scale becomes really important. Make sure your text is large enough to read on small mobile screens, and that your links and buttons are large enough -- and spaced out enough -- for folks to tap on with their fingers.

Example

Check out the example below, and note how much space there is between different clickable elements like the social media icons. These are great for tapping with your finger on a mobile screen so that users don't accidentally tap on the Facebook icon when they meant to go to Twitter.

Image Credit: Canva

Finally, as with any part of an email, make sure your signature looks as good as you think it does by testing it with various email clients. Microsoft Outlook doesn't recognize background images, for example, so avoid using those. Other email clients don't load images by default at all. 

Armed with these email signature best practices, you can create your own signature that aligns with your brand and brings your emails an extra touch of professionalism.

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

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9 LinkedIn Ad Case Studies That Marketers Can Learn From

When you think about social media marketing, what's the first platform that comes to mind? For many marketers, it's probably Facebook or Instagram. But if I were to pick one, I'd go with LinkedIn.

Why? Well, first, LinkedIn is an amazing platform to use for brand awareness. Their Business Solutions offer a variety of ad types, like photo or video. Ads are visible to the platform's 630 million users, and the unique optimization tools, like audience targeting, ensure Ads reach qualified leads.

Second, LinkedIn's Business Solutions are expansive. There's a lot of opportunity for ad customization and budgeting — which is helpful if you’re not quite sure which ad is right for your strategy.

That's where my third reason for loving LinkedIn comes in: case studies.

Case studies often explain the thinking, process, and analysis behind how a team or business uses a product or solution. Marketing case studies usually focus on specific verticals, industries, or solutions.

Want to learn more about LinkedIn Ads? Their case studies are a good place to start. Let’s walk through a few.

LinkedIn Ads Case Studies

These case studies will dive into every ad type LinkedIn has to offer and what those corresponding campaigns look like. LinkedIn offers four ad types: Dynamic, Sponsored, Text, and Message.

Dynamic Ads change based on the interests of LinkedIn members. They come in four formats and offer the most opportunity for personalization. Use this ad type, if you want to create highly stylized Ads for your campaign.

While Dynamic Ads can be shown in a variety of places on LinkedIn, Sponsored Ads are shown only in the main feed. They're similar to other channels in which ads blend into a user's main screen.

Text and Message Ads live on users’ main screens too — just in less obvious places. A Text Ad shows up in a member's right column, where other promoted content lives, while Message Ads are sent directly to inboxes.

Let’s look at a few companies that are at all levels of LinkedIn advertising expertise as well as companies with a variety of budgets.

Are you ready to see them in action?

LinkedIn Dynamic Ads Case Studies

Dynamic Ads use data about LinkedIn member interests to show them personalized Ads. The content of the ad, like copy or photos, changes based on that data. LinkedIn members can configure what's collected by LinkedIn to personalize the Dynamic Ad experience from the main feed.

LinkedIn's Dynamic Ads come in four formats:

It's likely that you've come across one of these ads on LinkedIn before. With so many versions, it's almost impossible not to see a job ad to your right, or a spotlight ad in the middle of the homepage.

If you've always wondered if those ads were successful, here are a few examples.

1. NerdWallet's Follower Ads

Finding top technology talent isn't an easy task — with so many qualified applicants, and even more competition, Companies like NerdWallet, which gives customers personalized financial advice, need help finding prospects.

In 2019, NerdWallet used LinkedIn Pages as a recruiting tool. LinkedIn's emphasis on professional content makes Pages the perfect place for them to promote its company culture.

Follower Ads about the company's self-proclaimed "nerdy" company culture would bring interested LinkedIn members to their Careers Page, where jobs are posted.

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“We're building recognition of our company and talent brand among industry peers. Through LinkedIn, we've even been able to reach VP-level members. That's not easy to do anywhere else," says Vivian Chen of NerdWallet's Brand Marketing team.

Results: NerdWallet's most popular posts usually center around company culture. One of NerdWallet's communication managers notes that employee-centric posts provide a genuine depiction of working there. Visible representatives can recruit those who can see themselves joining a team like NerdWallet's.

Takeaways: LinkedIn allows marketers to use the platform differently from other social media channels. If none of your other social pages allow for work-related content. Consider using Company Pages to spotlight company culture, and Promote them using Follower Ads just like NerdWallet did. These Dynamic Ads will change based on audience interest, so your transparent, company-related content will reach potential talent and followers.

2. ESCP Europe's Spotlight Ads

The World's First Business School, ESCP Europe, wanted to generate applicants for their Masters Degree in European Business in addition to building a global leads pipeline. They used Spotlight Ads, like the one below, to engage prospective students:

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Spotlight Ads offer valuable content with which to target audiences. This ad, giving scholarship information, is perfect for gaining leads from a landing page. ESCP used LinkedIn Spotlight Ads because they’re a great platform for reaching higher education students.

"Precise profile targeting has led to quality results, which have converted in record time," says Rachel Maguer, the Director of Marketing and business Development at ESCP Europe. The company wanted to see a conversation rate of one completed application per 100 leads, in addition to generating at least 250 high-quality leads for their degree program.

Results: So, did ESCP make the grade? As a result of this campaign, ESCP Europe saw over two million impressions from potential students. Additionally, the ads led to a conversion rate of almost 14% — almost twice as much as the intended goal.

In total, ESCP generated 40 more leads over goal and found three countries that topped their qualified leads, solidifying the plan for a global lead pipeline.

Takeaways: Staying customer-focused with ads helped ESCP Europe secure almost 300 applicants. Ads showed images of current students enjoying the beautiful campus. Spotlight Ads accrued the leads, and ESCP Europe nurtured them through to conversion with follow-up calls and interview next steps.

Use Spotlight Ads to identify quality leads in global markets, and nurture them by providing valuable content to audiences in a Dynamic Ad format.

3. Snagajob's Job Ads

Snagajob, formerly known as Snag, is a source for finding hourly work. Because the platform is for job discovery, it's not hard to guess that when opportunities open, Snagajob's team wants people to know. To help, the company turned to LinkedIn for lead generation and ads to capture the attention of their target audience.

The company's ideal customers — business owners and managers — are on LinkedIn. The Job and Video Ads showcased Snagajob's deep understanding of customer behavior: that decision makers often don't have enough time. As a result, ads are short, explain the service's value, and are visually stunning:

Results: Snagajob's marketers had a hunch that Job and Video Ads would be successful for compelling busy professionals, and they were correct. Their campaign saw an 84% rise in converted leads. They earned more applicants and gained quality leads, all while lowering their cost of ad spend.

Takeaways: When targeted Ads are used in a calculated way, like Snagajob's, they're not a waste in ad spend. Additionally, Job Ads let people outside of a member's network know that companies in their industry are hiring.

4. Noodle's Content Ads

Noodle.ai provides artificial intelligence services to businesses, helping them become more efficient. To build brand awareness, Noodle.ai's marketers decided to use Content Ads to connect with their target audience of C-level executives.

In 2018, Noodle used LinkedIn's ad tools to solidify a lead pipeline. Content Ads, which promote downloadable content that automatically generate leads, were an excellent method to reach supply chain executives.

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The Content Ad above promotes an ebook about supply chain management. Noodle.ai's team found that their target audience responds to content that helps executives understand their expertise.

Results: Noodle.ai saw three times better ROI than other marketing methods. In addition, CTR soared to up to three times higher on Noodle.ai's paid content and obtained 40% of qualified leads from the channel overall.

Takeaways: LinkedIn has now become a prime tool for identifying Noodle.ai's leads. By using Content Ads, Noodle.ai's marketing strategy is now a refined, reliable process for team cohesion.

Use Content Ads as a scalable marketing choice — as Noodle.ai grows, their marketing efforts with LinkedIn can grow as well. Remember, Content Ads are only available by contacting a LinkedIn representative.

LinkedIn Sponsored Ads Case Studies

Sponsored Ads appear in the news feed of LinkedIn members. They blend into feeds, but are notated by a supporting headline. Sponsored content includes single image ads, video ads, and carousel ads. Let's look at examples of each.

5. Kate Spade New York's Single Image Ads

Before 2019, designer brand Kate Spade New York (KSNY) never had ad campaigns on LinkedIn.

It wasn't until the company's team identified customers for their smartwatch on the platform that LinkedIn was considered for advertising. Krista Neuhas, senior director of global digital marketing for KSNY, says, "It’s important to us that the message we are sharing with consumers fits on the platform we are using."

Initially, the goal of the campaign was to drive traffic. The team decided to run a single image ad that featured actress Busy Philipps wearing the watch. The supporting copy tells the busy working woman that the new watch does everything they need:

Image Source

The single image ad was used to spread brand awareness and showcase the new launch. It was part of a strategy that aimed to reach the right type of professional with the right messaging, and a simple image did the trick. Let's see how the ad campaign went for KSNY.

Results: The Busy Philipps ad made impressions with 143,000 audience members. It also earned a 2.44% engagement rate and 1.78% CTR. Total engagement numbers reached 5,000. Kate Spade New York hit a home run with their smartwatch ad — In fact, out of four platforms used for the campaign, LinkedIn members produced the highest CTR.

Takeaways: B2C content has a place on LinkedIn. Most audiences are part of the professional landscape in some way, so engaging them on LinkedIn can be useful. Start with a single brand awareness ad, like KSNY, to gauge engagement.

Ultimately though, remember that if framing marketing in the right context, like the smartwatch and its copy, the right customers can be reached.

6. Corporate Visions' Carousel Ads

If you've seen Carousel Ads on other platforms, they're similar on LinkedIn. These Ads allow for multiple images to appear in the same post. Carousel Ads are great for lead generation because target customers see multiple iterations of offerings which helps to pique their interest.

B2B training company Corporate Visions had a large audience on LinkedIn. Their ideal customer is a decision-maker in customer service, sales, or marketing. Even so, the leads they were earning weren’t qualified, and they quickly identified they had a content problem.

To make content their audience would enjoy, Corporate Visions' marketing team used LinkedIn's targeting tools to research their target market's demographics. They identified previous ads that performed well and produced the most high-quality leads: carousels.

With this information, the team moved forward with a carousel campaign. Carousel Ads from Corporate Visions give quick, actionable tips to their audience about the B2B industry, like this one below.

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This campaign was optimized with LinkedIn's Conversion Tracker. This function tracks audience behavior and allows small changes to be made. Advertisers on LinkedIn can target members based on job title, seniority, and company size, so Corporate Visions was able to get very specific with who was seeing their ad.

Results: Corporate Visions saw a doubled increase in ROI after optimizing their Ads and reaching the right customers. The company has also seen a 116% increase in qualified leads year-over-year, making the new carousel strategy a success.

Takeaways: Companies could be leveraging LinkedIn Ads but not optimizing them or tracking conversions. When Corporate Visions learned about customer behavior on LinkedIn, they were able to identify how to earn the most leads with the platform. Look at campaign performance and study the reactions of your audience — is there a way to better reach them?

7. Automation Anywhere's Video Ads

Automation Anywhere builds software bots that do repetitive tasks so humans can spend time in other places. When the time came to advertise the biggest launch in the history of their company, Automation Anywhere sought to use LinkedIn's live broadcasting feature to announce their product.

The goal for the campaign was to build the most awareness possible. Automation Anywhere's Company Page had over 100,000 followers and an active community, so they posted a teaser to test video ROI. Two minutes later, the video had over 300 comments. Their marketers knew they'd made a great choice.

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Automation Anywhere's official LinkedIn Live broadcast included repurposed content, drawing clips from previous videos to attract leads. But how did the broadcast perform?

Results: When the broadcast went live, the response was almost immediate. Within a few minutes, they had 400 comments from interested viewers. At the end of the broadcast, there were one thousand.

Though the product launch announcement ran across multiple platforms, 78% of viewers came from LinkedIn Live.

The team at Automation Anywhere engaged with their community and had meaningful conversations about the product. Having a team of product marketers talk to followers was big for building customer relationships and providing valuable messaging.

Takeaways: Consider hosting a broadcast similar to Automation Anywhere’s. Maybe there's no launch coming up, but consider producing a live Q&A or webinar. Automation Anywhere's team was blown away by the response from their community with a video; Maybe yours will be just as active.

LinkedIn Text and Message Ads

LinkedIn Text Ads show up in the right module of the main feed and give members a bolded CTA as a headline and a supporting sentence. They're easy to create, pick a target audience, and track leads.

Message Ads are a bit different — they're sent to a LinkedIn member's inbox. This gives advertisers the ability to communicate directly with leads, without a character limit. There are also tools to beef up a message's impact, like adding a form into the message.

Instead of a busy email inbox, LinkedIn Messages are less cluttered, leaving messages more room to be seen. And with the Conversion Tracker, keep track of who's engaging with and converting from your Ads.

8. Design Pickle's Text Ads

Let's see how graphic design company, Design Pickle, earned over $1 million in revenue with Text Ads. The company is a subscription service, but instead of food or makeup, customers are set up with professional graphic designers.

As part of a small business that aimed to increase plan subscriptions, Design Pickle's marketers had to keep their strategy cost-effective. The team decided to use Message Ads to retarget website visitors.

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LinkedIn's tools identified a target audience closely matching the company's persona, so the marketers were able to personalize ads for a specific, ideal market.

The emphasis on targeting proved to be effective. Message Ads addressed company stakeholders making buying decisions. Copy like, "Save $37,000 On Design" is eye-catching and grabs a user's attention.

So, did the low-key ads bring high-yield results for Design Pickle?

Results: This campaign led to 463 new signups, 64 of them for premium subscription plans, leading to an estimated $1.8 million in revenue. As for cost effectiveness, LinkedIn provided the lowest average cost per signup by 19% when looking at the campaign across platforms.

Takeaways: Sometimes, it doesn't take a big, flashy ad to make an impact. Design Pickle is a graphic design company and earned over a million dollars with two-sentence ads. When audience targeting and retargeting happens on LinkedIn, companies can reach a large audience and re-engage leads.

9. VistaVu Solutions' Message Ads

VistaVu Solutions is a B2B company that was struggling with brand awareness. We've seen how LinkedIn's unique audience targeting tools impacts visibility for companies, so let's see if that rings true for this company.

In addition to boosting brand awareness, VistaVu's marketers aimed to generate leads and increase brand credibility with compelling Ads. VistaVu's team chose LinkedIn because their niche audience — oilfield industry leaders — was active on the platform.

To make their brand stand out from the competition, VistaVu's marketing managers decided to use Message Ads to amplify their unique company and its value. To make sure the team was targeting the right audience within the oilfield industry, LinkedIn's tools filtered audiences to make that happen.

The message itself was an ebook offer, and included a CTA with a download link. Because there's no character limit, the body text was able to properly introduce the company, its area of expertise, and the ebook.

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Results: As a result of the messages campaign, VistaVu earned a 23.8% conversion rate, and cut ad spend by 75%. Using LinkedIn as opposed to other platforms earned the company five times more generated leads and led to twice as many conversions.

Takeaways: LinkedIn as an advertising platform doesn't limit efforts to just main feeds. Building brand awareness by using Message Ads allows for ample text to introduce a company to prospects.

Case studies can be extremely helpful for a real-life example of strategies you've never tried. You can visualize how a campaign looks and the tools to help you get there.

Be sure to pick a case study that's recent and comes with both qualitative and quantitative data. When it comes to ads, numbers and percentages are important, but so are strategy details. Recent studies will give you the most accurate numbers and processes for advertising.

If I want a relevant case study about social media, I start with the website itself. Every social media platform I've used has a section for case studies. For those that don't, I look at other articles, like this one about Facebook case studies.

Now that you know how to pick out a case study, and what a LinkedIn Ad strategy can look like, maybe for your next LinkedIn campaign, you can conduct your own case study. Try it, and see what you learn.

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How to Be a Better Marketer Through Mindfulness and Meditation

Let’s get this out into the open: I bite my nails. Or at least I did. (Kinda gross, right?)

But a few summers ago, I watched as my then three-year-old son chomped down on his fingernail. That was it. The final kick in the butt I needed to see to finally stop a decades-old bad habit.

Little did I know that in my quest to stop biting my nails, I’d unlock something much bigger for myself -- both personally and professionally. It was mindfulness.

According to the folks at U-Cal Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, mindfulness is about "maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment." 

For me, mindfulness has helped me make better decisions, listen more, and above all, be present. Amidst the chaos of our busy, multi-screen, too-many-browser-bookmarked lives, it helps me return to a more centered self.

More and more, people are embracing both big and small mindfulness tactics. So, what can you do to get in on the goodness? I'll tell you. Here's how I met mindfulness. 

Consulting a Mindfulness Expert

I knew that guided meditation and hypnosis was probably a good bet to kick the nail-biting habit.

So, I reached out to Paul Gustafson, a Boston-area consulting hypnotist. Gustafson helps people -- via guided meditation and hypnotic suggestion -- with anything from quitting smoking to overcoming a fear of flying.

I sat down with him for three, 30-minute sessions where he talked me into a deep relaxation and then, as I reached a deep meditative state, he provided guidance and suggestions for me to figuratively cut the cord of my past nail-biting behavior. From there, I kept his guided meditation recording on repeat. 

“The immediate benefit of guided meditation is profound relaxation,” Gustafson told me. 

“It’s impossible to be stressed or to worry while enjoying deep meditative bliss. One of the long-term benefits of meditation is that the relaxation becomes the rule rather than the exception. People who meditate are happier, and often feel less affected by the pace of day-to-day life. They’re healthier and more productive.”

Paul has become an oft-invoked name at my house. My wife, also a marketer, has gone to see him and notes that it’s been entirely transformative in finding her chi, both in and out of work. (After all, anyone with small children can attest to the need for mindfulness.)

How Mindfulness Contributes to Better Marketing

Mindfulness is a terrific asset for today’s marketers ... but you're probably wondering where the data is, right? 

Well, a study conducted by INSEAD and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found that 15 minutes of mindful meditation could help a person make better decisions. That same study shows that mindfulness “can reduce confirmation bias and overconfidence, allowing decision makers to better differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information.”

This isn't the only study that points to how mindfulness can help you in the business world. More recent research suggests that 10 minutes of mindfulness each day can lower stress, improve your mood, and make you more creative.

Considering the vast information available to marketers, having a filter for the superfluous can let you focus on what’s most important and make decisions accordingly.

Gustafson has helped patients deal with stress related to dealing with a boss, or co-worker, too.

“I’ve had many clients come to me because of work-related stress. When someone repeats a stressful response to certain situations it becomes a pattern. Over time, patterns become rooted, and people feel powerless to change the situation. Guided meditation enables individuals to release and become free of unpleasant patterns," Gustafson told me.

Some companies -- like Google, Goldman Sachs, and Medtronic -- have gotten on board the mindfulness train, too. 

I’ve been lucky enough to work for a company that values its employees’ approach to work, rather than just the output.

The HubSpot perk I took full advantage of while in my role was the Nap Room in the Cambridge, Mass. office.

For me, the nap room is a meditation chamber. Just 20 minutes of guided meditation -- or slow, deep breathing as the hammock gently rocks back and forth -- will clear the mind and bring a sense of focus that even the strongest cup of coffee can’t conjure.

But, unfortunately, many companies don't have a Nap Room. Some also don't take time to encourage mindfulness or positive mental health practices. If you're in this type of situation, there are still a number of ways to embrace mindfulness in any environment. 

How to Practice Mindfulness and Meditation

What You'll Need

When you really need to pause, contemplate life, or navigate stress, here's a quick and simple recipe for a solid meditation session:

Mindfulness Ingredients:

• A quiet spot
• An open mind
• 20 minutes each day

Optional:

• Headphones, with guided sessions
• Popular apps for reminders or self-guided meditation

Mindfulness Tips

1. Meditate in the mornings.

Akin to the adage that a trip to the gym in the morning gives you more energy, a trip to mindfulness early in your day sets your mind up for success, too. You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your bed. Just put on the headphones as you awake.

2. Or, try to meditate at night.

At the other end of the day, it’s entirely acceptable and effective to fall asleep as you meditate. If you’re using a guided meditation track, whether you’re awake or asleep, your mind is taking in the information.

3. Block out time for meditation, yoga, or other mindfulness activities.

Set up a recurring daily calendar item so that others don’t cut into your “mindfulness meeting." My colleague  Steve Haase has written quite a bit on meditation and mindfulness. Haase and other colleagues sit in silence for 20 minutes on Wednesday mornings to clear their minds for the day.

4. Practice deep breathing.

Sometimes the biggest rewards come from the smallest of actions. Deep breathing falls into that category. Take deep breaths throughout the day when you feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, or just need to top off the mindfulness tank.

5. Fight distractions while meditating.

The brain is a muscle. And, when you work out any muscle, it can be hard to try doing something that feels unnatural with it. Sitting in quiet is something that is challenging for the brain, especially when you're busy or stressed, but this is something you can train yourself to do. 

For many of us, our instincts when idle -- in line at the grocery store checkout, in the elevator, at the traffic light -- are to fill the void with a few swipes of the screen. Don’t do it. In much the same way that good ideas sometimes arrive whilst in the shower, lying in bed, or even sleeping, simply being present can be the difference in finding clarity or that elusive good idea you’ve been chasing.

6. Practice mindfullness and meditation regularly.

Like any new workout, you might fail the first couple of times you try to meditate. For some, it can be surprisingly hard. And, no matter how much you feel like you've gotten mindfulness down, your mind can still slip on any given day.

Are you going to enter a state of deep bliss every time you sit down to meditate? Probably not. Your mind will wander. Just like some runs or workouts feel better than others, so do meditation sessions. No two are alike.

Mindfulness Apps and Software

While finding a quiet space and trying to clear your mind will provide a good foundation for mindfulness and meditation, there are also a number of digital aids that can ease you into a more mindful state. Here are just a few:

Headspace

Headspace is a mobile app and subscription service which allows you to stream or purchase thousands of guided meditations from mindfulness experts. When search "Best meditation apps" on Google, it appears at the top of the list on a number of blogs. 

Aside from meditations, Headspace also offers sleep sounds and mindfulness workouts that people can try before going to sleep. 

Although you can get a free trial for Headspace, the subscription costs $12.99 per month. At the moment, Headspace is also offering free subscriptions to those who are unemployed. 

Calm

For those looking for a cheaper app, Calm (Roughly $6 a month or $70 perr year) similarly provides guided meditations, mindfulness training, and sleep sounds. The app allows a 7-day free trial before charging users.

When joining the app, you can answer a few questions about why you're looking to learn more about mindfulness and meditations. This will help the software send meditations that fit your lifestyle. 

For businesses and academic institutions that want to embrace mindfulness, managers and colleges can invest in a company Calm membership, which allows employees globally to use the app on multiple devices. This membership price is not specified on Calm's site. 

Ten Percent Happier

If you're skeptic of meditation, but interested in learning scientifically-backed meditation practices, you can consider the paid app, Ten Percent Happier. 

The app takes a realistic approach to meditation. The creators and brand admit that meditation isn't perfect, easy, or an answer to all of life's woes. However, science does prove that it can help you in some areas. The primary goal of the subscription is to make users just 10% happier. 

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Pricing is not directly listed on the app's website, however, a paid membership includes hundreds of guided and daily meditations, as well as access to one-on-one conversations with a meditation coach.

Ten Percent Happier offers both a free trial of the full membership and a limited free version which offers basic meditations and information, stats related to meditation performance, and daily notifications reminding you to meditate. 

Sound Machines or Voice Assistants

While sound machines might offer a plethora of natural relaxing sounds or white noise that can drown out roommates or traffic outside, a voice assistant, like an Amazon Echo or Google Home, might have a number of meditation or sound related skills pre-programmed on the device. Investigate what your voice assistant or sound machine can offer and identify ways to implement these machines in your mindfulness strategy.

Benefits of Mindfulness

Still feeling skeptical about whether or not you should try mindfulness and meditation practices? I'll leave you with just a small handful of benefits to keep in mind:

1. Your mind will become more open to opportunities.

If you expect a lot from yourself, you’ve probably experienced the anxiety of your expectations actually getting in the way of success. With mindfulness, you can open yourself up to the moment. You can focus less on the eventual outcome (though mindful of that goal) and instead be present to new ideas.

2. Stress-management could become easier.

Do I get worked up still? Sure (ask my wife). But more often I can find myself navigating stressful situations with a bit more grace or awareness of solutions rather than focusing on frustrations.

3. Planning things on the spot might get easier.

A less cluttered, focused mind tends to provide more room for planful thought. I’ve found myself able to pull together a thoughtful response or tidy plan in less time.

4. Being present can improve your outlook on life. 

Take it from Bill Murray. We do our best when we’re present. But it’s not easy.

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