How To Use Twitter for Beginners

Twitter, launched in 2006, is a microblogging social media site where users create short-form content, known as tweets, to share with others. Users who have an account can post their own tweets and interact with others. 

Unlike other social media platforms, Twitter is often where breaking news is shared by individual users, rather than notable businesses. Users take to their personal accounts and tweet about their experiences, like when a 5.9 earthquake struck Virginia in 2011. It was first reported by individuals on Twitter who sent out 40,000 tweets related to the incident, all in less than a minute. 

Twitter is also known for being the home of countless viral memes, like one from Carter Wilkerson in 2017. He asked Wendy’s, a fast-food chain, how he could use the power of Twitter to get free nuggets for a year. 

He didn’t meet their 18 million retweet requirement, but they granted his request after achieving 3 million. Wilkerson has since used his Twitter experiment as an example of social sharing engagement for his marketing course. Others have since used this format, like this user, who asked The New York Mets to let her take prom photos on their baseball field if she reached 500,000 retweets. 

Considering that Twitter has significant power in influencing trends and generating engagement, some brands have taken to the platform as a means of social media marketing. If you’re just starting on Twitter, this post will outline how to use its essential features and go over best-practices for marketers using the app. 

All social media platforms have site-specific etiquette and best practices that marketers should know. Let’s look at eight tips for Twitter beginners to use when adopting the platform into their marketing strategy. 

Featured resource: How to Use Twitter for Business

Understand Twitter Language

If you’re going to use Twitter, you need to understand commonly used terms within the app. 

Hashtags

Hashtags, written as a pound symbol (#) followed by a specific word or phrase, are keywords on Twitter that are used to incite discussion. #food is an example of a hashtag that is commonly used on Twitter, and all tweets that use the #food hashtags are aggregated together. Hashtags can often go viral, and users around the world put them within their own tweets to add their opinions into discussions and engage with topics that they care about. 

They are also a valuable marketing tool for generating exposure, as any Twitter user who views and searches through a hashtag may come across the tweets you’ve made. Tweets with hashtags also get 100% more engagement. Hashtags can be added to tweets with videos, photos, gifs, and links. 

Handle

A handle on Twitter is your username. It appears at the end of your account URL and is unique to the brand or business your Twitter account is dedicated to. For example, HubSpot’s Twitter handle is @HubSpot. 

A Twitter handle is not to be confused with your Twitter profile name, which is the name of your Twitter account. For example, if you’re using Twitter for a personal account, your name is Sam Cruz, your profile name could be Sam Cruz while your handle might be @redtomato. Twitter handles can be unique, whereas everyone in the world named Sam Cruz can set that as their profile name. 

Handles are essential for marketing, as they aid in brand recognition when they’re related to your business. For instance, say you run the Twitter profile for a pants business called Reds. If your Twitter handle is @pantsbusiness, nobody will be able to pick you out from the crowd of other pants businesses on the platform. 

However, if you make your handle business-specific, like @redspants, customers that come across your tweets will recognize that your profile belongs to the business that sells their favorite pair of pants. 

Retweets 

Retweet, sometimes written as RT, is how people share content on Twitter. If someone tweets something you like, you’d click the retweet button (shown below) to share the Tweet onto your own Twitter feed. The content you RT is visible to your followers and also displayed in your Twitter profile.

Retweets can also be quote tweets, or QT, where additional commentary is added to the original tweet. Here’s an example of a QT. 

If you like what you've seen with HubSpot reporting so far, just wait till you see what the team has coming up. I'm biased, but it's awesome! https://t.co/xw3k5HArwi

— dharmesh (@dharmesh) November 2, 2020

When you generate a following on Twitter, using the RT button to share tweets where your followers mention you and how much they love your business is a valuable strategy for building brand authority, as social media users value user-generated content (UGC). In fact, consumers trust UGC 9.8x more than influencer content or paid advertisements. 

Mentions

On Twitter, a mention means that someone has used your handle and tagged you in a Tweet. People typically mention users when creating their tweets or when replying to Tweet threads. 

You’ll get a notification every time someone mentions you, and these tweets are displayed in the Notifications tab on the Twitter website and mobile app. You can navigate to your mentions by clicking the bell icon. 

Mentions are beneficial to marketing as they make it easier to find and interact with followers who have specifically used your handle in their tweets. You can also mention other users within your own Tweets, which helps in generating engagement. 

Create a Twitter Marketing Strategy

Like every social media platform, you need to create a site-specific marketing strategy. It doesn’t have to be too different from your overall business marketing strategy, as you’ll carry over elements like your buyer personas. These are the representations of your target audience that you’ll translate into social media target audiences, which will help you identify the customers most likely to interact with you on the platform. 

It’s important to note that your Twitter strategy will need to be in line with Twitter specific elements like live video and hashtags. 

 

Decide What You’ll Tweet

After you’ve created your marketing strategy, you’ll need to decide how you’ll execute that plan with your tweets. Other businesses on Twitter use their accounts to incite brand discussions, create advertisements, or as a means of customer support. 

The image below depicts a Twitter customer support interaction between Comcast, an internet and cable service provider, and an interested customer. Around 59% of global social media users have a of brands that respond to customer service questions on social media, so it is a valuable Twitter strategy to consider. 

The social media target audiences you’ve outlined within your marketing strategy will help you identify how you should use your Twitter account. When you understand your followers, you’ll know what type of content they prefer and what you should be tweeting. 

For example, if you’re a clothing company, maybe you’re famous for launching exclusive products that your customers need to wait in line for. You know they’re likely excited by this exclusivity, so you can use your account to announce product release dates to get them excited. Here’s an example of Adidas, a design company, using their account to promote a highly anticipated brand collaboration on their Twitter account. 

DRIP 2.2 adidas x IVY PARK. Available online at https://t.co/4KfFuDrl5e: NAM 11.17 18:00 EST / APAC 11.18 13:00 CST / EUROPE 11.18 12:00 CET / UK 11.18 11:00 GMT + In stores worldwide 11.19 #adidasxIVYPARK #ThisIsMyPark pic.twitter.com/0FPNmZ3Vqw

— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) November 13, 2020

 

Tweet Often

Like other social media channels, maintaining your Twitter account and keeping your followers engaged on the platform requires consistent tweeting. Research shows that top brands on Twitter send out an average of three tweets per day. 

Twitter feeds are not automatically chronological, so your followers in different time zones will see your tweets no matter what. However, it’s also important to be aware of an additional factor affecting the number of times you tweet: when your followers are the most active. 

They’ll always see your tweets throughout their feed, but tweeting when they are the most active will bring the most engagement.  It also ensures that you can respond in a timely manner to sensitive support questions. Because of this, it’s essential to use analytics data to perfect your tweet schedule. 

Use Data To Make Decisions

After you’ve been on Twitter for at least a month, consider using Twitter analytics data to drive the decisions you make on the app. Twitter offers its own analytics platform, where they give 28-day summaries of account impressions, profile visits, and best-performing tweets. This analytical insight into your followers can help you further perfect your marketing strategy for success on the platform. 

Some of the metrics you should consider tracking are impressions, engagement rates, and reach. Each of these factors explains how Twitter users interact with your account and the Tweets you make. You’ll get a sense of how interested your audience is in your content, how relevant your content is, and the level of social authority your brand has on Twitter. High numbers in each category indicate that you’re doing well, and lower numbers will help you identify elements of your strategy that need work. 

Automate When Necessary

Once you get a sense of your Twitter engagement analytics, you’ll know the best times to tweet, how often you need to tweet, and the steps you need to take to maximize platform engagement. Since you’re likely managing multiple social media channels, it makes sense to join the top 10% of tweeters using automation tools to schedule tweets in advance. 

For example, HubSpot’s Marketing Hub can be integrated with Twitter Analytics to create an automated posting schedule optimized for your engagement metrics. The image below is an example of the Marketing Hub automated social media calendar. 

You can also use the integration to view analytics data for all your social media accounts at once, helping you understand the platforms that bring your business the most success. 

Engage With Your Followers

Just like all other social media platforms, engaging with your followers is crucial. There are various ways you can do this on Twitter, like liking and retweeting mentions from followers, replying to direct messages, posting brand-relevant UGC, or asking followers to respond to Twitter polls.  If you’ve created accurate, relevant social media personas, the way you interact with your followers will likely entice them to continue following and engaging with your account. 

You can use social media management platforms, like Oktapost, to catalog interactions between you and your Twitter followers. The image below depicts a contact record between Liad Guez and Oktopost on Twitter. We can see that they’ve exchanged a direct message with the Twitter account, and this data can be cataloged and tracked. If you notice that you have Twitter followers that consistently interact with you, you can set extra time aside to nurture your relationship with them and entice them to become paying customers. 

Mind Internet Permanency

Just like all other aspects of the internet, everything you tweet is permanent. Be thoughtful with the content you put on Twitter, and ] err on the side of caution. Assume that someone will always take a screenshot of your tweets and that inappropriate interactions with customers will be seen by others (even if you delete them). 

Retweets are a critical part of marketing on Twitter, but be mindful of what you RT and QT, and make sure to give credit where credit is due. You don’t want to get called out for stealing content if you accidentally forget to mention someone, especially in a public forum. Twitter users are known for holding others accountable for misdirections, and they likely won't hesitate to do the same if they noticed you’ve used content that isn’t your own. 

Given this, you can assume that people with public accounts consent to their tweets being shared through RTs, but asking for permission is always a good strategy if you’re re-posting the content yourself. 

How To Post on Twitter

Once you’ve figured out your Twitter marketing strategy and learned best practices for beginners, it’s time to begin posting on Twitter. 

Twitter supports four different tweets on its platform: text tweets, photo tweets, gifs, and videos. Within all of those tweets, you can also include links and hashtags. Within all of those tweets, you can also use links and hashtags. 

When posting a text-only tweet on the Twitter website, you’ll need to click on the box on your home feed that says “Tweet” and click on it. Within the box that says What’s happening? you can create your tweet (up to 280 characters) and click Tweet to display it on your profile. The image below depicts the process. 

On mobile, the steps are similar. Launch the app, select the Write button on the bottom right of the screen. 

Craft your tweet, and click the Tweet button to make it live. 

 

How To Post Videos on Twitter

32% of people say they use Twitter to watch videos. Given this, using Twitter to post branded videos is a valuable strategy to consider. There are three ways to post videos on Twitter: import videos from your mobile device, upload videos from your computer to Twitter's desktop site, and go live within the Twitter app. 

Import Videos on Mobile

To import videos to Twitter from your mobile device, begin by following the same steps you would to create a text-only tweet. Once the Tweet window is open, the app will display a carousel of the most recent photos on your device. If the video is there, you can select it, add your text, and click Tweet. 

If the video isn’t there, you can click the camera photo icon and browse through your photo gallery to select the right video. 

Upload Videos on Desktop

To upload a video on the Twitter desktop site, open the tweet composer to write a text-only tweet and select the image button. 

When you click the button, you’ll be prompted to select the desired video from your computer files. Once you’ve picked it, click Tweet.

Videos on Twitter cannot be larger than 512MB, and the maximum video length is 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Videos in your tweets don’t count towards the 280 character limit, so you can add as much text as you want to your video tweets as further explanations for the videos. 

Going Live on Twitter

Going live on Twitter is a great way to engage with your audience. They can watch you talk about your brand in real-time and ask questions. At the moment, the live function on Twitter is only supported within the mobile application. 

To go live, select the photo icon from the tweet composer. 

The camera function will open, where you select the Live option. Once you go Live, users who follow you will see your live stream within their feed. 

How To Post Photos and Gifs on Twitter

Social media users like engaging with visual content. In fact, tweets that include gifs receive 55% more engagement than those that don’t. Given this, the benefits of using photos and gifs in your tweets are high. Let’s go over how to upload pictures and gifs to your tweets on Twitter. 

Post Photos and Gifs on Twitter

To post a photo on Twitter, follow the first step to posting a tweet on Twitter. Click on the photo icon, and select an image or GIF from your carousel or photo library. You can also click the gif button and choose a GIF from the Twitter GIF library. 

You can select up to four photos to tweet at once, but only one gif is allowed per tweet, and they can’t be included in photosets. The same steps should be followed to post gifs on Twitter via mobile app. 

Just like videos, photos do not affect tweet character count, so you can add text or links to accompany your photo tweets. 

How Many People Use Twitter

To fully understand the benefits of using Twitter in your marketing strategy, let’s take a look at some of the heavy-hitting statistics from the app and what they mean for marketers using Twitter. 

Twitter Statistic	Benefit to marketers
As of May 2020, Twitter has around340 million users. Those 340 million users send approximately500 million tweets per day.	With such a large user base, marketers who create a successful Twitter marketing strategy can stand to expand their follower base.
More than 80% of Twitter's Monetizable Daily Active Users  (mDAUs) live outside the United States.	Businesses on Twitter can reach audiences from around the world. You’re no longer confined to those in your home country or geographic region.
More than 80% of Twitter's global population is under 50 years old, and 44% of U.S. adults aged 18-24 use Twitter. Approximately six of every ten Twitter users worldwide are between 35 and 65 years old.	Brands can use Twitter to market themselves and reach new audiences, as there is a wide range of ages represented within the app.
Twitter users are 38% more likely to post opinions about brands and products than other social media site users.	Aside from your own marketing efforts, your followers will talk about you in their own tweets. This makes it easy to engage with those who do mention you and stand out as a brand that cares for their customers.
93% of people who follow small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) on Twitter plan to purchase from the businesses they follow, and 69% of those businesses have already purchased from a SMB because of something they saw on the platform.	This means that gaining followers is equivalent to generating revenue, as new followers are likely planning to purchase from your business if they haven’t already.

Consider Using Twitter for Business

Since there is such a large number of users on Twitter, making your business known on the platform can be a valuable growth-focused strategy. 

If you spend time engaging with those who follow your account and creating content they enjoy, they’ll reward you by bringing engagement to your Twitter profile and becoming loyal followers. 

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The Top 5 Reasons Brands Make Videos [New Research]

Video is fast-becoming the preferred tool for most marketers to connect with and reach new audiences.

Video marketing is undeniably effective, too — in fact, including a video on a landing page is capable of increasing conversion rates by over 80%, and the mere mention of the word "video" in your email subject line increases open rates by 19%.

But, even if you already know about the importance of video, I'm willing to bet you aren't completely aware of how other brand's are using video … or, more importantly, why.

Each business will use video for a completely different goal — ranging from increasing brand awareness, to boosting SEO.

Here, we dove into new research from Wave.video to explore the top five reasons brands use video. Hopefully, these statistics will inspire you to use video in new, unique ways in 2021 and beyond. Let's dive in.

1. Brands use videos to increase brand awareness.

Video can help your business reach new audiences and attract new viewers to your social media pages and website, which is likely why "increase brand awareness" is the number one reason brands use video.

Take this video from Tasty, a Buzzfeed brand:

Ultimately, Tasty's video isn't meant to sell any products (at least, not directly) — instead, it's simply meant to entertain new audiences and, ultimately, increase awareness of Tasty's brand.

2. Brands use video for new sales.

Consider how you might create entertaining or informative videos with the sole purpose of increasing brand exposure. Ultimately, brand awareness can foster trust and increase brand equity, so it plays a critical role in your company's bottom line.

To highlight this point, let's start with an example. Take a look at this video, highlighting Kate Hudson's company, Fabletics, below:

While at first glance it might look like a somewhat-random video of Kate Hudson running through the Aspen wilderness, it's actually an effective example of a video with the purpose of increasing sales — without appearing like, well, an ad.

For instance, while the video portrays Hudson in a range of workout gear from her October Fabletics collection, it also incorporates an exclusive interview with the celebrity to discuss family, nature, and growing up in the mountains. Add in a gorgeous Aspen backdrop, and viewers might be fooled by the true purpose of the video: to sell Fabletics clothing.

Consider how you might also create a unique, compelling video to attract new prospects and even close sales deals.

3. Brands use video to grow a social media community.

Did you know that four of the top six channels on which global consumers watch video are social channels?

Ultimately, many marketers use video to attract visitors to a company's social pages.

Consider, for instance, this #ShaveItOff video by Gillette partner The McFarlands:

@the.mcfarlands

The scruff was getting rough. It was time to ##ShaveItOff and now it's your turn ##GillettePartner

♬ Grammarg - BLVKSHP

While the video is undoubtedly entertaining to watch, it also serves a powerful purpose: to send some of The McFarlands' 2 million followers back to Gillette's own social channels. Best of all, the hashtag #ShaveItOff can be found on Gillette's Instagram page as well, ensuring viewers can find the brand regardless of which social channel they prefer.

4. Brands use videos to educate customers.

Video can be an incredibly effective tool for education.

HubSpot Academy, for instance, often uses YouTube as a platform to educate its viewers. Oftentimes, HubSpot will even collaborate with thought leaders like Seth Godin to add a new perspective on a topic:

Many people learn best through visuals, which is why video can be a phenomenal tool for educating prospects and even customers.

Consider how you might incorporate educational videos into your own content strategy in unique ways – for instance, perhaps you include video demos for interested prospects, or how-to tutorials for new users of your product.

5. Brands use video to build brand authority.

Similar to the reason listed above, the fifth reason brands use video is to build brand authority on a subject, and demonstrate expertise.

Ideally, this means when people are searching for help on a certain topic, your brand will show up. After watching your videos, if viewers feel they've gained unique insight, they'll trust your brand more and explore other offerings.

Consider what happens when I search "How to run a vlookup" in Google. When I click on the video section (since I prefer learning about vlookups through visuals like video), Microsoft is the first two video results:

In this example, Microsoft is demonstrating its brand expertise when it comes to its Excel product — and, more widely, anything related to technology and data. This provides Microsoft with a good opportunity to showcase its brand authority while attracting new visitors to its website.

And that's it! The top five reasons brands make videos. Take a look at The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing to learn more about how you can create a powerful video marketing strategy for your own brand in 2021.

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How to Write About Your Professional Background

A great way to share more about your background is to have a prepared document, like a professional bio.

A professional bio can be shared with prospective employers, your colleagues, included in your social media profiles, used for speaking engagement announcements, or used as an author bio on a blog.

Writing about your professional background for the first time may feel challenging or awkward, but it doesn't have to be.

Here, we'll explore some tips to help you feel more comfortable when writing your own professional bio. Let's dive in.

What is a professional background?

A professional background is a summary of your professional experiences —coupled with any relevant personal information, including interests or passions — that you'll use throughout your career as you network with industry peers, apply for new roles, or seek out thought leadership opportunities. 

This includes previous jobs you've had, successful projects you've worked on, significant accomplishments like promotions or awards, professional networking organizations you belong to, and anything else you'd share with someone who wants to know more about you professionally.

Not only is sharing more about your background a great way to tell more about yourself to others, it's also an opportunity to wholly reflect on your professional journey and the goals you've achieved — plus, what you hope to achieve in the future.

Next, let's dive into how you can get started. 

How to Write About Yourself

1. Don't start from scratch.

If you're having trouble figuring out where to start, try using a professional bio template to guide you. Templates, like the ones featured below, make it easier for you to focus on your personal information and accomplishments, without having to worry as much about the structure.

Featured Resource: Professional Bio Templates and Examples

Download the Templates

2. Know your audience.

Take into consideration who will be reading your professional bio and cater to your reader.

You may also want to draft different versions of your document to best fit specific audiences. For example, the version you post on your LinkedIn may not be as detailed as the version you post on your personal website, and if your reader is a potential employer, it would help to include details that specifically highlight why you're the best candidate for the role for which you're applying.

HubSpot Founder Dharmesh Shah uses different bios for different platforms. On Twitter, for instance, Dharmesh's bio is short and sweet, which is perfect for Twitter's character limit.

Alternatively, on INBOUND's website, Dharmesh's bio is written in third-person for attendees. This bio makes Dharmesh's current role clear while providing some key background information.

Finally, in his OnStartups bio, Dharmesh's voice is personable since he's speaking directly to the reader. This gives readers more insight into Dharmesh's background directly from his perspective.

The best part about this approach is that you can create as many versions of your bio as you'd like, or simply recycle a general version whenever you need it.

3. Show professional progression.

As you're writing, think about structuring your professional bio in a way that creates a timeline to show your progression. Explain what your different roles were like, and emphasize responsibilities that set you up for success in your latter roles.

It's important to note that your timeline doesn't have to be linear.

"Look for a theme that runs throughout several of the jobs you've held, and present your choices in a way that shows common threads running through each of your career decisions," explains career strategist Jenny Foss.

The goal is to clearly show your audience the different roles you've had, and how all of your experiences have contributed to your overall professional development.

4. Highlight your accomplishments.

One of the best things about writing about your professional background is that it's the perfect opportunity to brag about yourself — and I don't mean humble brag.

Think of the most successful projects you've been part of, the strategies you've helped develop and execute, the deals you've closed, the revenue you've generated, and anything else that stands out as a major accomplishment.

"A former manager once told me to keep a 'brag sheet' in a document on my computer. The idea was to create a running list of noteworthy accomplishments, media mentions, awards, and letters of recommendation that I could reference to make it easier to write about myself. It also doesn't hurt to open up this document whenever you're having a tough day to remind yourself what you're capable of,” Carly Stec, HubSpot's Manager of Channel Monetization, told me.

It's also important to consider how success was measured in your previous roles — and how that might shape the way you write about it.

If success for you tends to be measured in quantifiable metrics include strong statistics, it might look something like this:

• "In my first six months I was able to sign up X amount of customers that generated an average monthly recurring revenue of $X."
• "I helped boost customer retention by X percentage."
• "With the strategy I developed my team was able to lower customer acquisition costs by X percentage."

If your role is primarily measured through qualitative goals, share a highlight that speaks to skills you excel at:

• "I successfully managed executing a major project with strong time management skills and excellent communication with several stakeholders."
• "I was able to complete a project that was projected to take an entire quarter in half the time because of my organizational skills."
• "I was selected to lead a database cleanup project due to my attention to detail and strong team collaboration skills."

5. Be personable.

Timelines and accomplishments are great, but being personable is even better.

Readers should feel like they're getting some sense of who you are from your professional bio. This gives readers the opportunity to know more about you beyond a professional scope. If you have any cool niche hobbies that you enjoy outside of work, this would be the time to share.

Here's a list of prompts to help you brainstorm the right "fun facts" to highlight:

• What TV show are you currently binging?
• Do you have any pets?
• What's something most people don't know about you?
• What languages do you speak?
• What are you most proud of yourself for?
• Share something you've done that bucket-list worthy
• What do you do to relax?
• What are three of your must have apps?
• What would your favorite colleague say about you?
• What's the best advice you've ever received and how do you apply it to your life?

Being personable is also a great opportunity to address any unconventional moments in your professional background. For example, maybe you've made a drastic shift in your career path, or you took a sabbatical at some point.

These types of stories can really help make you more relatable to your audience, and you never know who you may end up connecting with over one of your hobbies or more personal moments.

6. Ask for feedback.

Constructive feedback is key when you're writing about yourself. While many choose to source feedback after completing a draft of their bio, it's just as beneficial to get feedback from your peers at earlier stages of your drafting process.

Oftentimes, our peers can help identify our strengths and where we have opportunities to improve. If you're having trouble developing a clear timeline or pinpointing which highlights you should mention, get together with a peer to brainstorm ideas.

Reflect on successful assignments that you've collaborated on and ask your peer to provide honest feedback about what you did best — and include that feedback in your bio.

If you need help getting started, here's a list of discussion questions to use with your peers to uncover professional strengths you might be overlooking in your own self-assessment:

• What role do you think I tend to play in group work?
• How have I helped you be more successful?
• What do you think my most impressive project has been?
• What was your first impression of me?
• What do you think my strengths are?

Ready to start writing?

Keep these tips in mind as you're writing about your professional bio. Your final product should be a written statement that boasts your most notable skills and achievements. As you continue to progress in your career, take time to update your bio like you would your resume, and continue to impress your readers.

And remember, if you're feeling stuck, don't be afraid to leverage our free professional bio templates to help you get started.

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9 Social Media Trends Marketers Should Watch in 2021 [Data + Expert Tips]

As we near the end of 2020, one thing is certain: We've spent a lot of time on social media this year.

But, our increased connection to social media isn't at all shocking.

In March, as countries implemented stay-at-home orders due to the global pandemic, Statista reported a 21% uptick in monthly social media usage.

Throughout the year, consumers have not only continued to use social channels to catch up with loved ones, but they've also embraced them for product research, the latest news coverage, and hours of mindless entertainment. 

Now, as the world hits 3.6 billion social media users and continues to deal with the pandemic, brands aren't just wondering how they'll engage huge social media audiences next year. They're also asking, "What social media trends should I expect in this constantly changing landscape?"

To learn more about what brands can expect next year, I spoke with HubSpot's Social Media Manager Kelly Hendrickson and dug through research including HubSpot and Talkwalker's Social Media Trends Report.

Below, I've compiled nine expert or research-backed trends social media marketers should watch or leverage in 2021.

1. Brands will continue to take a "less is more" posting approach.

This year, many brands spent less time churning out social media posts and more time producing only content that felt thoughtful, valuable, and in-touch with the world around them.

According to Hendrickson, the trend of "less is more" is likely to continue in 2021. 

"COVID-19 had brands starting to ask a question they may have never asked themselves before: 'Does my audience even want to hear from me right now?'," Hendrickson says.

"I expect we’ll see brands being more thoughtful about when they post. This may even mean posting less -- regardless of algorithms -- because it's the right thing to do," Hendrickson explains. "There will also be more thoughtful ad buys and partnerships."

"Never before has ensuring your audience obtains true value from your brand meant so much," Hendrickson adds.

2. Content value will beat production quality.

When many businesses were forced to go completely remote in 2020, social media and video marketing teams needed develop scalable production processes that could be done from home. 

When consumers still continued to engage with videos, live streams, and other social media content that was clearly made from home offices, marketers realized that content with lower production quality can still be engaging -- if it provides value. 

"COVID19 forced many brands to get scrappy when it came to producing content, especially video work," Hendrickson explains. "Without a production studio or tons of equipment available, production value became a bit more lo-fi and in the end, but also a bit more human."

"The exciting thing for brands is that -- generally -- audiences loved it. If anything, they saw themselves more in the work," Hendrickson adds. "They too were on Zoom, filming things with their phones, or stuck in their homes."

Hendricks predicts that "we’ll see bare bones productions in 2021. But, audiences will continue to appreciate it."

3. Conversational marketing will change its tone.

Conversational marketing isn't new. In fact, most of the big brands we know and love allow you to connect with them via social media messaging channels at any time. 

But, in 2021, with more messaging channels than ever -- and consumers needing more information to make a worthy investment --  the tone of digital conversations might change. 

For example, while past conversational marketing tactics centered around promotions and making sales as quickly as possible, 2021's conversational marketers might be more focused on helping a user with something, educating them about a product, and nurturing them to conversion with a more thoughtful or empathic tone.

"Brands need to be more human on social media, inviting the world to your dinner table for a meaningful and engaging conversation," says Aaron Kaufman, Director of Social Media at Square Enix in our Social Media Trends Report. "You are your fan’s greatest fans and need to embody that no matter what social media channel you live on. Emote, respond, recognize, relate, be engaging. We’re not robots.

So, how will brands deal with more demand for thoughtful conversational marketing? A mix of AI tools and human interaction could help. 

A healthy combination of AI and human interaction could enable brands to run efficiently on social media while still giving consumers the authenticity they need to see to trust a brand and make a purchase. For example, a bot could handle quick message queries, while sales, service, or community management reps could respond to more complex questions and concerns. 

To learn more about scaling up your conversational marketing strategy, check out this guide to building a chatbot or learn how HubSpot increased qualified leads with by mixing human and bots in our conversational marketing.

4. Consumers will crave snackable content.

In 2020, we saw the rise of TikTok and Instagram Reels, continued engagement on Stories content from Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and brands creating other short-form or "snackable" pieces content to educate consumers about their brand. 

As social media attention spans continue to shrink and more people scroll endlessly through feeds while bored at home, don't expect snackable content to lose steam anytime soon. 

To learn more about four types of snackable content your brand should leverage next year, check out this helpful post. 

4. Video will continue to take center stage. 

Early in 2020, HubSpot's Not Another State of Marketing Report found that video was the most commonly used marketing content -- and the second most engaging content type on social media. 

Image Source

As major platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and LinkedIn increasingly amp up their video capabilities, marketers can expect high video consumption to continue and grow in coming years. 

5. More brands will go live.

In 2019, one in five Facebook videos were live. In May of that year, YouTube users cumulatively spent 284 hours watching live video.

In 2020, as many brands were forced to take conferences, events, and other marketing experiences online, it's not shocking to think that 2020 live stream numbers could be higher. 

At the moment, many brands are using Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, and Twitter to live stream events, Q&As, tutorials and other types of content. These types of content keep your followers engaged with your brand by bringing an event they otherwise might not be able to attend directly to their screens.

For example, each year, INBOUND interviews some of its noteworthy speakers and guests in live INBOUND Studio episodes on Facebook. This allows followers who can't join us to get live tips from experts. It also allows followers of interviewed experts to learn more about INBOUND and HubSpot.

To learn more about going live online, check out this guide to live streaming, as well as these tips for marketing your next virtual event. 

6. Social media platforms could double as shopping channels.

As many brands learned how to do business completely online, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok raced to develop more online business marketing solutions.

While TikTok and Snapchat expanded business marketing offerings in 2020, Facebook and Instagram actually brought shopping capabilities directly to their apps. 

With Facebook Shops, Instagram Shoppable posts, consumers can buy a product seen in a post without even leaving the app they're on.

For consumers, this adds convenience. For brands that couldn't build their own ecommerce store, the online shopping tools noted above are providing new opportunities to effectively sell products online. 

8. Social media users will embrace gaming and VR.

In the last year, the number of social media users who identify as "gamers" increased by more than 10 million -- or 32%. Our Social Media Trends Report reveals that the highest uptick in gamer identification happened in COVID-19's heaviest lockdown months.

Now, with Facebook's company, Oculus, launching new VR products, Twitch continuing to expand online game-streaming capabilities, and platforms like Snapchat launching mini-game apps, it's clear that gamification and social media will continue to go hand in hand in 2021. 

As a small to medium-business marketer, gaming-related promotions might be inaccessible now, but with Facebook and other major platforms continuing to launch brand tools around their newest features -- it's not shocking to think that more social media in-game advertising opportunities could be possible in the future. 

Brands should keep an eye out for game-related promotions in 2021.

Even if advertorial game content becomes available to big brands but not smaller companies, marketers can still watch what bigger companies are doing and hit the ground running with fresh ideas if gamified promotion become more scalable.

9. Authenticity will be vital.

This year, consumers and brands faced a global pandemic, uncertain financial times, and a number of major events that paused nations in front of news channels.

Now, consumers need more than just great deals to trust, identify with, and invest in a brand. At this point, many brands have taken notice by embracing authenticity and their human side on social media.

While some brands have spoken directly about their thoughts related to COVID-19 or other news items, others have shown authenticity by zoning on their customers through user-generated content or customer testimonials. 

When done authentically, both strategies can help brands gain trust from their audiences while boosting awareness as a company that cares about people.

"We will continue to see the growth in creators in
the social media space. Influencers will continue
to be present, but accountability, authenticity,
and transparency will be the areas brands and
companies will use to determine who to partner
with, and who to pass on," says Karen Freberg in our Social Media Trends Report. "Empathy and advocacy will be elements that will be integrated within messages and purposes for creator campaigns. The days of 'faking it till you make it' without any experience other than having lots of followers are over."

In 2021, expect authenticity to take center stage on social media as successful brands continue to build trust from their audiences.

Navigating Social Media in 2021

Today, the world around us is constantly changing. And, although we think we know what to expect with social media, this list of trends is likely not exhaustive of what we'll see in 2021.

As a social media marketer, the best thing you can do is to continue to research trends, online consumer behaviors, and your team's social media data to determine which trends or strategies to lean into or how to navigate unprecedented online scenarios. 

One great place to start doing this research could be our HubSpot and Talkwalker's recent Social Media Trends Report.

Along with insights and quotes from social media experts, our Social Media Trends Report walks through all the major 2021 trend predictions to know about and data on how COVID-19 could impact social media marketing. to see the free report, click here or the banner below.

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How to Make Money on YouTube, According to 3 People Who Do

Every day, over one billion YouTube videos are watched around the world.

And they're not just being watched -- they're being devoured. In fact, the average YouTube mobile viewing session by any one viewer is roughly 40 minutes.

If only there was a way to make money off of a website people spend so much time on ... As a matter of fact, there is! A few ways, actually, and the proof is in the people (and businesses) who've cashed in on their video strategy.

Who's making content worthy of a nearly hour-long visit to YouTube? Well, YouTube isn't just for amateur filmmakers and people videotaping their zainy housepets anymore. Musicians, TV networks, small businesses, and the self-employed all find monetary value in posting their own amazing content on a YouTube channel.

An active, entertaining YouTube channel -- which is free to make through a Google+ account (also free) -- strengthens these users' brands and extends their reach to new audiences. It can also build a base of subscribers that other companies using YouTube will actually pay to advertise their products to.

Before launching a YouTube channel for the purposes of making money, you need to decide what kind of profit you're interested in. Are you looking to use YouTube as a promotional outlet for your own products and services? Or, do you want your video content to generate ad revenue right from YouTube?

Here, we'll dive into the step-by-step process you'll need to follow to set up a YouTube account that is both ready and optimized for monetization. After that, we'll dive into some specific methods you can try to make money on YouTube — and examples of successful brands who've tried those same strategies. 

Feel free to skip directly to the section Different Ways to Earn Money on YouTube.

Otherwise, let's dive in. 

1. Set up an adSense account.

To begin earning money on YouTube, you'll need to start with an AdSense account. An AdSense account is the platform in which you'll receive payments from YouTube, so this is a critical step.

It's important to note — you can monetize more than one YouTube channel with the same AdSense account, so if your brand has multiple YouTube accounts and you're hoping to set up monetization features on each one, you only need one AdSense account.

To set up an AdSense account, simply follow these AdSense instructions, or go to https://www.google.com/adsense/start/ and click "Sign up now".

Once you've done that, proceed to the next steps.

2. Become a YouTube partner.

Along with an adSense account, you now need to be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). There are a few requirements for joining YPP, including:

• You must live in a country or region where the YouTube Partner Program is available.
• You must have more than 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last year.
• You must have more than 1,000 subscribers.
• You must comply with all YouTube monetization policies.
• You must have a linked AdSense account.

If you meet all those requirements, you're eligible to sign up for the YouTube Partner Program. Here's how to sign up:

1. Sign into your YouTube account (and make sure this account has a linked AdSense account).
2. Click "YouTube Studio" in the top right (by clicking on your profile picture).
3. If you don't currently meet the requirements, you can select "Notify me when I'm eligible" and you'll receive an email once you've surpassed 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours.
4. If you meet the requirements, click "Start" on the "Review Partner Program terms" card.
5. Once you've signed the term, you'll see a green "Done" sign on the card.

Once you've completed these steps, you'll be placed in a queue to be reviewed. You can check your application status here at anytime. Once you've been accepted, you can proceed to the next step.

Note: If you're accepted into the YPP, take a look a FAQs from creators who've just joined the program.

If you've been rejected, take a look at these FAQs for tips on how to strengthen your application. You can re-apply 30 days after rejection.

3. Identify viewer personas.

To create a strong, effective monetization strategy on YouTube, you'll need to know who your target audience is — and, just as importantly, who your buyer personas are.

While your buyer persona will undoubtedly look similar to the same buyer persona you use for other marketing materials, there are slight variations you might need to make for the YouTube-version of your buyer persona.

As Nelson Chacon, HubSpot's Principal Content Strategist for YouTube, told me: "For instance, you might have two buyer personas: Margaret and Sam. However, on YouTube, you have a better opportunity of reaching Sam than Margaret."

Chacon continues: "Sam is interested in personal growth and probably has some existing tasks from Margaret on finding ways to reduce costs or find efficiencies for their business. The Sam we see outside of YouTube can have certain things he likes. However, inside of YouTube, he probably has other interests, so for this, you might look into creating a YouTube Sam 2.0 persona."

"Ultimately, you'll want to tailor your digital content towards your 'YouTube 2.0' buyer persona. Consider what types of content that buyer persona would be most interested in, watch more, like and comment on, and share with peers. This will help you increase chances of conversion on YouTube."

Ultimately, YouTube is a search engine, so you'll want to treat the platform similarly to how you'd treat any other search engine. This means, by identifying your buyer persona, you can begin to target keywords that appeal most to that persona — and ensure you're avoiding content that attracts "negative" personas, or people you don't believe would be a good match for your brand.

(To learn more about how to create buyer personas, take a look at this post.)

4. Establish a product conversion path.

If you want to make money on YouTube, you'll want to establish a strong conversion path — i.e. which YouTube content will attract the most viewers, and of those pieces of content, how can you leverage conversion opportunities to turn leads into customers?

We've identified 8 types of CTAs you can consider using in your YouTube videos. Among those are beginning-of-the-video CTA, description CTA, and drive-to-website CTA. Ultimately, you'll want to outline a clear conversion path to understand how to turn your YouTube visitors into product leads.

For instance, let's say you want to use YouTube as a channel to drive leads to your company's new email marketing software. For starters, you'll want to create a compelling YouTube video that attracts your email marketing buyer persona, and then you'll want to drive those viewers to a dedicated landing page or e-book to learn more about email marketing. Once those leads are further down the pipeline, you can introduce them to your product.

Your conversion path, then, will look similar to strategies you've outlined in other lead generation channels, such as blog posts and social media — however, you'll want to ensure you're tailoring the content you produce on YouTube to YouTube's demographic and the type of content YouTube viewers enjoy the most.

This might look slightly different from the content that performs well on your blog, but it's worth the extra effort to ensure you're creating content that fits each platform's strengths.

5. Optimize your page for conversions.

There are tons of strategies specific to optimizing your YouTube account for SEO — which can ultimately lead to more visitors, and an increase in revenue.

A few quick tips: Consider inserting your intended keyword in your video title; optimize your video description; tag your video with popular keywords that relate to your topic; upload a customer thumbnail image; and add End Screens to increase your YouTube channel's viewership.

It's important to remember, when making money on YouTube, you want to play the long game. Sure, SEO-optimization may not put money in your pocket tomorrow, but it's a good opportunity to increase viewership, establish your brand as an influencer in the space, and ultimately have the leverage needed to turn those thousands of viewers into paying customers.

6. Choose your monetization preferences.

There are a variety of monetization features you might explore on YouTube. Ultimately, you'll want to choose the path that best suits your business' goals.

Take a look at these five YouTube features in particular on which you can make money:

• Advertising Revenue: Ad revenue from display, overlay, or video ads.
• Channel Memberships: Your members would make monthly payments for special perks or exclusive content.
• Merchandise Shelf: Your followers can purchase official branded merchandise that you display on your watch pages.
• Super Chat and Super Stickers: Your fans can pay you to get their messages highlighted in chat streams.
• YouTube Premium Revenue: Subscribers can pay a fee to get access to premium content, and if you sign up for this program, you'll get a portion of that subscription fee.

Learn more about these features, and each feature's eligibility requirements, on this page.

Additionally, let's dive deeper into advertising revenue for a moment. There are three separate advertising options on YouTube: TrueView ads, Video Discovery Ads, and In-Stream Ads.

Ultimately, the ad option you choose will depend on your advertising goals. Ultimately, YouTube advertising can be one of the most effective opportunities for driving conversions for brands and influencers alike.

Take a look at YouTube Ads for Beginners: How to Launch & Optimize a YouTube Video Advertising Campaign to learn more.

7. Create sponsored content.

One other opportunity to make money on YouTube comes in the form of sponsored content.

If you're a YouTube influencer, you might naturally incorporate a brand or product mention into your content, create an entire video featuring a brand's product or service, or even include a brief shout-out to a brand with whom you've partnered.

There are plenty of small and large opportunities to partner with brands and receive payment, either for every individual referral you send to their website, or simply for including a brand mention in your content at all.

Best of all, you don't need to pay YouTube a portion of your earnings for any sponsorships — instead, you can negotiate directly with the brand.

Alternatively, if you're a brand, this could be a good opportunity to reach new audiences and, ultimately, drive revenue to your company.

Feel free to take a look at What Will Influencer Marketing Look Like in 2020? to learn more.

 

1. TrueView Ads

YouTube revenue: $2,600 – $41,600 per month

Got a great story to tell that also has a connection to your product? TrueView is for you. TrueView ads are your opportunity to create high-quality, longer creative spots that appear adjacent to the YouTube videos your target audience is already watching. These ads come in two forms: In-Stream and Discovery.

In-Stream videos play right before the YouTube user's selected video, "in the stream" of that chosen video. Users can opt to skip this video after five seconds of it playing, as shown below, and jump to their content. In-Stream ads can be between 12 seconds and six minutes in length.

Image by Brian Carter

Discovery ads appear on the right sidebar of a selected video, just below the "Up Next" video as a suggested result. See how this one looks, below:

Because of the time you're allotted with this ad format, it's suggested that you create this type of ad with the goal of views and brand development, rather than just clicks into your website. This ad ideally generates revenue from the long-term brand awareness that comes out of a story people don't want to skip, and one viewers remember the next time they approach your product or service.

Both In-Stream and Discovery are pay-per-view -- you pay YouTube a fixed rate for every view the ad receives -- and their return on investment (ROI) can be measured in Google AdWords. YouTube tallies one new "view" after 30 seconds of watching, or a click on the video as it's playing. If the video is less than 30 seconds, views are tallied from people who watch the entire ad. (We'll explain how AdWords manages all three ad formats in a minute.)

Clash Royale, a popular game app for mobile devices, has produced TrueView ads that are consistently in YouTube's top 10 most highly watched ads of the year. The company's 2017 ad, "The Last Second" (shown below), garnered more than 110 million views by the end of that year. This campaign contributed to a YouTube marketing strategy that makes the app developer no less than $4,000 per month, as estimated by SocialBlade.

2. Preroll Ads

Like In-Stream ads, Preroll ads play in the stream immediately before a user's selected video. The difference is this ad type can't be skipped after five seconds. These videos also run a maximum of 30 seconds, though YouTube recently confirmed it will limit advertisers to 15- and 20-second options starting this year.

Because viewing is required in this ad format, advertisers pay per click, so make the click worth it. A preroll ad with an enticing call-to-action that directs viewers to an appropriate landing or purchasing page on your website can be an enormous lead-generator for the sales team.

You can also leverage YouTube's remarketing options, which enable you to send new videos back to users who've already engaged with your YouTube channel. If you're a HubSpot user, and you've built smart forms for capturing new information on returning visitors, remarketing can be a terrific addition to an inbound marketing campaign.

This remarketing option helps you learn more about a person's background and interests when they receive new videos that bring them to new landing pages.

3. Bumper Ads

Bumpers are the shortest ads you can buy. These six-second spots play just before a viewer's selected video (like the above two options) but are best for brand awareness in the short breaks between long videos, or a YouTube playlist a user might be listening to in the background.

While they might be brief, YouTube found 90% of their bumper ads were remembered later by viewers. Bumpers are sold through cost-per-minute (CPM) bidding, which means you pay for every 1,000 plays of your ad on YouTube. They're best used as a compliment to a TrueView ad campaign.

So how do you track the performance of these three video ad formats? Once you've created a YouTube channel and uploaded your video content, you can open a Google AdWords account and link it to your video campaign. In AdWords, select the campaign type, ad format, your budget, and to whom and where to show each video on YouTube.

You can target very specific audiences, and track the conversion rate of each video individually to see how much business (and revenue) you're driving. See this blog post to learn more about this process.

4. YouTube Partner Program

YouTube revenue: $723,500 – 11.6 million per month

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) allows the website's most successful YouTube channels to monetize their content by serving ads made and paid for by other YouTube users.

The criteria for this program -- which changed in 2018 -- requires that your channel has reached 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 channel subscribers in the last 12 months. Once you have passed these two milestones, you can apply to join the program through the following steps:

• At the top-right of the YouTube homepage, click your account icon and select "Creator Studio."
• On the left-hand side, click "Channel" and select "Status and features."
• Under the box, "Monetization," click "Enable." Don't be fooled if it says you're already "Eligible" to the left; this just indicates there are no restrictions against you from trying to become a Partner.
• You'll be asked to agree to the YPP Terms. Do so, and you'll then sign up for an AdSense account so you can receive revenue through your monetized YouTube account.
• Set your ad hosting preferences and follow the prompts to submit your channel for review.

YouTube typically emails you a decision on whether they've accepted you into the YPP within a week of applying, so sit tight. Still trying to hit the right watch hours and channel subscribers? Keep in mind you should be posting prolifically -- having just one or two videos on your channel that you're personally proud of won't cut it.

T-Series is a prime example of how volume and consistency can make you a sought-after channel by advertisers on YouTube. This India-based record company posts numerous music videos for songs written and performed in Bollywood, India. And although the company was founded in 1984 and has been on YouTube for nearly 10 years, keeping with this music video strategy has finally put them a position to dethrone PewDiePie (the famous video game-focused YouTube user) as the most popular YouTube channel in the world -- with a whopping 83 million subscribers.

T-Series makes no less than $724 thousand per month from its YouTube channel, according to SocialBlade, much of which comes from advertisers through the YouTube Partner Program.

"Bollywood music is like Russian roulette. You keep on betting, but you don't know what will be a hit." -Nerraj Kalyan, President of T-Series

By publishing multiple videos a week, you can build your viewership, qualify for YPP, and make decent cash. YouTube splits ad revenue 55-45 with its partners -- 45% to Google, 55% to you. That means an advertiser who invests $200 in serving ads on your channel can bring you $110 for your videos' real estate.

T-Series's president attributes their success on YouTube to the fact that the business doesn't go into any one project thinking it will make money. Rather, the regular "bets" they place on YouTube increase their chances of capturing its audience, and increasing their following as a result.

5. Affiliate Links

YouTube revenue: $6,900 – $109,800 per month

As an affiliate, there is no eligibility requirement -- you're taking advertising into your own hands. This is a great option for YouTube channels that offer reviews and how-to's, and frequently recommend new products to its viewers.

Turn those suggestions into paid (but natural) product placements in the description section of your video, as shown below:

Image via Authority Hacker

Working as an affiliate of various brands can make you money -- albeit usually less than a YouTube Partner campaign -- each time that company makes a sale off a link you post on one of your videos. In this case, you're earning revenue from the company of which you are an affiliate, rather than from YouTube and its advertisers.

Start by joining an affiliate network through sites like Click Bank or Amazon's Affiliate Program, and follow the signup instructions. Keep in mind that each program takes a different percentage of a sale as commission, and your success is still tied to the popularity of your YouTube channel.

Travel vloggers can also join Travelpayouts. It is a travel affiliate program, that allows you to make money on flight tickets, hotels, tours and other travel services. The affiliate commission (percentage) depends on the service you choose and your sales volume.

YouTube personality Marques Brownlee, whose YouTube channel is shown promoting affiliate links in the screenshot above, is a consumer electronics reviewer on YouTube. This makes affiliate advertising the perfect revenue stream for his channel because his advertisers are effectively paying for Marques to review -- and, assuming it's a positive review, promote -- their products to his viewers. Marques says he also generates revenue through the YouTube Partner Program, according to Recode.

"There’s little things you can do to get people to watch your videos more, but none of it will make as drastic of a difference as the video itself. The video itself has to be what makes people watch it and share it and watch it again." -Marques Brownlee, tech reviewer on YouTube

In the example above, Marques reviews a pair of headphones by Bose, suggesting they might be the best noise-cancelling headphones on the market. This made him an affiliate of Bose -- just one piece of a YouTube marketing strategy that makes Marques no less than $6,900 per month, according to SocialBlade.

6. YouTube Super Chats and Super Stickers

What exactly is fan-funding? It's exactly what it sounds like: viewers donate money to your channel if they find your content enjoyable.

It's the perfect option for videos managed by charities and nonprofits, but even for-profit businesses and independent creatives can publish videos and YouTube Live streams that encourage contributions from their audience. Streaming platforms such as Twitch.tv, which webcasts video games and general interest content, sees accounts that are two years or older make $80 in "tips" per year on average.

Twitch.tv's most popular users make thousands.

Obviously YouTube and Twitch have different users, but YouTube has just as many loyal channel subscribers who would likely pay for exclusive rewards and content. On YouTube, sign up for Fan Funding to allow viewers of a live stream to tip through a chat window associated with the video.

YouTube calls them Super Chats. 

Image Source

You can also sign up for Patreon, which allows you to launch membership-only video channels through YouTube at a small fee per month for regular rewards. Just imagine how much a YouTube channel could generate if it has the 1,000 subscribers required by the YPP. Charge $1 for a new channel with new content, and you could be looking at a solid monthly revenue stream.

7. Channel Membership

If you're eligible, channel memberships is a powerful opportunity to offer exclusive perks to fans who are willing to pay a low monthly fee to become a member of your brand's YouTube channel. 

Channel memberships provide members with perks like loyalty badges, custom emojis, and other goods unique to the channel — for instance, comedian Mike Falzone offers a digital copy of his book and an exclusive coupon code to use on merchandise:

Take a look at YouTube's Channel memberships eligibility, policies, & guidelines to see if this is a good fit for your brand. Ultimately, community membership could be a powerful opportunity for you to build a larger following on YouTube and make loyal fans feel valued by releasing exclusive, membership-only content.

8. Merchandise Shelf

Similar to the power of a good gift shop at the end of a museum tour, the Merchandise Shelf is a good option for influencers and brands alike to sell products or services to spread brand awareness and increase sales. 

This is an especially good option for influencers. For instance, consider Ryan Higa, a Japanese American Youtube creator and personality, who has over 21 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. To earn money, Higa now has a full merchandise website he links to directly from his YouTube account. Devoted Higa fans will love purchasing a branded t-shirt or sweatshirt, and it earns Higa some hard-earned money on his already successful channel. 

Take a look at YouTube's merchandise page to learn more. 

There's no shortcut to well-earned cash money, even on YouTube. The good news is video is taking up an increasingly wide slice of global internet bandwidth, and there are numerous ways to produce video content that's good enough for people to pay for.

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6 Ways to Support Black-Owned Businesses During the Holidays

2020 has presented unprecedented challenges for businesses. COVID-19 has forced most to pivot their strategies online and adapt to a growing digital landscape. While some have been able to stay afloat, others haven't been as successful and many have had to close their doors permanently as a result.

Black-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the global pandemic. In the United States, 26% of Black-owned businesses closed their doors permanently between February and May of 2020, compared to 11% of white-owned businesses.

That's why, this holiday season, HubSpot is joining Google, the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., and other companies participating in Black-owned Fridays — an initiative to drive visibility and support for Black-owned businesses.

I spoke with Gianne Doherty, Founder of Organic Bath Co., to learn more about what businesses, and consumers, can do to support Black-owned businesses during this holiday season. Below are a few thoughts she offered during our conversation.

How to Support Black-Owned Businesses

1. Tell someone about a business or product.

Doherty started by saying that the simplest way to support Black-owned businesses during the holiday season is to tell people about their products. When you buy something cool or get a good deal, tell a friend. Online customer reviews are great, but a one-on-one interaction is usually the best way to convince someone to check out a business or product you love.

If you don't know of any Black-owned businesses in your area, Doherty recommends heading to Google and doing a quick search. There are plenty of resources that can direct you to a Black-owned business in your area — one of which is the Official Black Wall Street Directory.

She also proposed searching social media sites to find Black-owned businesses online. For instance, if you search "#BlackOwnedBusiness" on Twitter, you can find plenty of accounts managed by Black business owners — liking, reposting, and sharing their content is also a great way to support these businesses.

Image Source

2. Refer customers to Black-owned businesses.

Word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly important for small businesses, especially if you're operating in a B2B setting. Doherty noted that customer referrals make a huge impact on buying decisions, because customers will trust each other's recommendations more than they'll trust your brand's advertisements. If you have the opportunity this holiday season, refer a Black-owned business to your customers or peers and help promote their brand.

Doherty also emphasized the importance of focusing on the value of the products and services you're referring — and not just the fact that they're Black-owned. After all, "shopping Black or shopping small doesn't mean lower quality," as she put it. When making a referral, Doherty encouraged people to highlight the benefits of the product or service along with the fact that they have been created by individuals who have been historically underfunded.

3. Shop early during the holidays.

The holidays are already a busy time for small businesses, and COVID-19 has made it even more difficult to keep pace with customer demand. In the United States, 99% of minority-owned businesses are small businesses, which means that many don't have their own shipping operations like Amazon or Walmart.

Most small businesses in the United States use the United States Postal Service (USPS) when shipping their products, which can lead to delays as orders pile up around the holidays. Doherty recommends that customers try to buy their products early in the holiday season to avoid any potential problems that might occur with shipping.

4. Be patient with small businesses.

Alongside shopping early, Doherty also noted that customers will need to be a little more patient with small businesses this year. The holidays are already busy as it is and now, with COVID-19, many businesses are still learning how to adapt their marketing, sales, and customer service strategies. There are likely to be some new roadblocks to tackle this year, and customers need to be patient with small businesses as they work to overcome those challenges.

Black-owned businesses have already saw an increase in customer demand this year when searches for Black-owned businesses increased by over 7,000% between May and July. Unfortunately, this growth has declined since, creating a greater need for buyers to support Black-owned businesses during the holidays. While it's wonderful to see a sudden spark of interest over the summer, Doherty encouraged buyers to continually support Black-owned businesses year-round and not just when it's trendy.

5. Partner with Black-owned companies.

If you're a business owner, one way you can partner with black-owned businesses is on promotional campaigns. Doherty, for example, has been partnering with other Black-owned businesses to hold giveaways. She'll give away another brand's product while that brand will give away one of hers. This is a great way for each company to raise awareness for the other among their customer bases.

Here's one example from her company's Instagram page, where she partnered with two other Black-owned beauty brands to give away products.

Image Source

6. Buy from Black-owned businesses.

At the end of the day, the best way to support Black-owned businesses is to buy their products. Doherty said, "We're voting with our dollars." The businesses where we spend our money will be the ones that grow and thrive. If we don't consciously shop at Black-owned businesses, we will continue to lose them at a disproportionate rate. If you really want to support Black-owned businesses this year, go out and purchase one of their products and tell a friend about them, too.

These are just a few of the ideas that Gianne Doherty wanted to share for Black-owned Friday. We hope it brings some attention to Black-owned businesses, especially those that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19.

If you're a Black business owner and are looking for ways to optimize your visibility this season, below are a few resources from Google that can help you reach new customers.

How to Get Support If You're a Black Business Owner

Here are three things that Google recommends doing if you're a Black business owner.

• Add your business to the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc.'s ByBlack directory. You can add your listing and become a part of the community for free.
• Highlight that your business is Black-owned on your Business Profile on Google. By adding the Black-owned attribute, you'll stand out to customers looking for your business on Google Search and Maps. Here's how to get started.
• Get free coaching to help your business reach new customers, thrive online, and grow. Grow with Google Digital coaches provided dedicated support for Black and Latinx small businesses.

 

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