At the same time, sussing out exactly how they diverge from each other can be trickier than it seems. This is especially true for new businesses (or those undergoing renovations) looking to understand which teams they budget for and focus on building out.

The short answer? Typically, marketing is regarded as a way to generate leads for a company, while PR is about influencing consumers’ perceptions of the company as a whole.¹ 

For those looking for a fuller picture, it’s helpful to see how pr vs. marketing compare in terms of metrics, time frames, and the day-to-day efforts that make each discipline distinct.

What is PR?

The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as a “strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”² 

In other words, the goal of a PR specialist is to build brand recognition and help people like and connect with a company more. PR campaigns and efforts might be dedicated to:³

• Kindling conversation or excitement around a forthcoming new product.
• Relaying information about an organization’s finances to investors, stockholders and financial stakeholders.
• Building transparency by communicating information between teams and higher-level executives of an organization.
• Crisis communications, where publicists help an organization regain public trust in the wake of a crisis or loss of credibility.

With this in mind, consider anything that a company does to influence or shape the public (and sometimes internal) perception of PR. 

What does a PR team do?

Publicists like to say they wear many hats, which is a quippy way of explaining their versatile workload. On any given day, a publicist might be called on to:

• Write a press release.
• Arrange a speaking event.
• Organize a press event.
• Network with media professionals.
• Engage with a local community through non-profit work.

Of course, none of this work directly generates sales. Yet, if they’re performing well behind the scenes, when it’s time to make a purchase, PR can help sway a potential customer with the positive sentiment they’ve helped influence through a long-term PR strategy.

What is marketing?

The goal of marketing is to draw on a combination of marketing strategy and creativity to ensure that people who might need a company’s products, or services know about them in the first place. Their overarching goal is to connect a business with its target audience and build an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship with them. 

With that, marketers have the ability to add all kinds of demographic information to better understand their target audience. Some pertinent factors that may influence buying decisions include:

• Age.
• Gender.
• Location.
• Education level.
• Profession.
• Interests and hobbies.

The more information you have about your audience, the easier it is to find them and promote products and services to them (easier said than done).

What does a marketing team do?

Like publicists, marketers need to perform a variety of different functions in order to be successful. Some key tasks that a marketing team executes include:

• Establishing an integrated marketing strategy
• Web development and CRO
• Developing a paid and programmatic strategy
• Organic social
• Reporting 
• Etc. 

PR vs marketing: key metrics

Every trade has its tools for measuring performance, and professions PR and marketing, both of which are geared towards storytelling, are no exception. 

Marketing professionals often look towards data on acquisition to gauge their performance, which could include:

• New leads.
• Email signups.
• Conversions.
• Revenue.

On the other hand, it’s commonly said that success in PR is notoriously difficult to gauge. Even so, those in the field typically focus on:

• Media outlet mentions and hits.
• Shares on social media.
• Website traffic.
• Digital impressions.

In addition to quantitative measurements, PR professionals assess their work qualitatively by looking at the value of their relationships and contacts in the media landscape. They may also take a look at marketing data to see whether their efforts are registering with marketing ROI.⁴

PR vs marketing: time frames

There’s an old saying that everything worth having takes time. A publicist probably wrote that. 

In PR, nothing happens overnight. Crafting a PR strategy, networking with journalists, and educating the general public on the nuances of who a company is can take months, if not years. Enduring positive associations with a brand build up over time, in large part thanks to favorable media mentions secured by PR professionals, which are often the result of relationships.

Marketing, on the other hand, can have both a long-term and a more instantaneous quality. Stats on email signups and purchases can be measured instantly, and many types of campaigns operate as sprints with short-term goals that take a few weeks or months to complete. 

At the same time, marketing teams’ “micro-goals” ideally foster an enduring foundation of trust and mutual benefit between brand and consumer. In this way, PR and marketing work in lockstep towards a common goal.

Common misconceptions about PR vs marketing

Does a day in the life of a marketer resemble Don Draper’s charming his way through mid-century Manhattan? Can publicists who “know the right people” snap their fingers and reword the news marquee in the time it takes to down a martini?

Sadly, no. Below, we take a closer look at both industries for a mini-round of marketing vs. PR Mythbusters.

Myth #1: Marketing matters more than PR

The perception that marketing is superior to PR arises from the fact that marketing spend corresponds with leads, sales, and conversions—money in the bank. Marketers have the luxury of being able to literally point to a dashboard and show just how and when they brought home the bacon.

But not so fast: exceptional PR can help contextualize who a brand is in the world, in the eyes of the general public. They help answer the “why” question, where marketing efforts tend to focus on the discrete—the reach of a new series of TikTok campaign videos, or per-segment open rates on the latest broadcast email sequence.

In other words, PR’s strengths aren’t always observable in the here and now—and often, it’s this invisibility that’s precisely the mark of “good PR.”

Myth #2: All press is good press

Speaking of good PR—is “all press good press,” as the famous adage goes? Most of the time, publicists will say:

• It depends on how established a business is – Many say that for startups and fresh businesses, building up recognition—whatever the quality—is important, while positive reputation can be sculpted later. Established enterprises, conversely, may be best off maintaining their positive reputation (which can often mean staying away from the limelight).
• Not since social media came around – The “all press is good press” idiom showcases the tremendous shifts in PR since the dawn of digital media like no other. Today, virtually anyone has a shot at entering the public conversation, and choosing which media channels to gain airtime can be much more important than reaching a broad, general audience.

However you spin it, marketing data can be a tremendous boon to public relations professionals when determining how and where to translate a story to the public. It’s data acquired through marketing analyses that helps map precisely where online target audiences lie, as well as the types of stories they’re inclined to listen to.

Myth #3: Marketing and PR are Easy 

In a word, no. 

For budding businesses and big-name brands alike, marketing or PR can be a considerable expense, and selecting a partner is a deeply considered process. Good publicists and marketers have developed refined systems for demonstrating their impact, as well as planning and executing their programs.

Both marketing and PR rely on equal parts data/analytics and evaluation to support planning and measuring campaigns. Likewise, marketers must keep pace with constantly shifting industry trends and tools (not to mention a lot of creativity). PR professionals, on the other hand, need to keep track of a revolving door of contacts to stay ahead.

The bottom line is this: Neither PR nor marketing is rocket science. Any business that is serious about scaling, however, needs to understand seriously what goes into each.

Power Digital: Where marketing and PR storytelling join forces

Understanding the differences between what PR and marketing can deliver is crucial for making informed decisions about funds, company goals, and the story you’re telling as an organization. But when budgets are tight, brands are often forced to choose between the two—or are they?

If you’re trying to decide between resourcing your PR or marketing engines, we can help. A growth marketing firm with years of experience, Power Digital helps furnish brands with the data they need to know where to reach their public and the types of messages that resonate most. Whether you already know your angles or you’re searching for a story that sets you apart, reach out today—Power Digital wants to tell it with you.

Sources: 

1. Forbes. The Difference Between Marketing And PR — And Why It Matters. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/03/10/the-difference-between-marketing-and-pr—and-why-it-matters/?sh=349bf6451552 
2. Public Relations Society of America. Public Relations Defined: A Modern Definition For The New Era Of Public Relations. http://prdefinition.prsa.org/ 
3.  Inc. Public Relations. https://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/public-relations.html
4. Forbes. 5 Measurements for PR ROI. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2014/05/29/5-measurements-for-pr-roi/?sh=5d8e48f077d1

The post PR vs marketing: how are they different? appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

The CMO’s Guide for Igniting Profitable Growth in 2023 is an all-access guide capturing how marketers can achieve profitable growth. Here are 5 learnings you can apply:

Understand lifetime revenue vs. lifetime profit

Consider this: would you rather have 100 customers that generate $20 of profit each, or 50 customers that generate $60 of profit each? What if the latter group generated less revenue? In lean economic times with profit as a focus, isolating the profit generated by each customer should take priority (even to the detriment of revenue).

It’s not as simple as blending everything together, as different cohorts of customers behave differently (think repeat purchase rates). An efficient, profit-centric marketing organization must understand the total profit any given customer is expected to generate to forecast effectively. 

Determine how to get the quickest buyback period

A buyback period is how long it takes for a customer to generate a net profit. For some businesses, this could be days – for others, it could be months or even years. 

During this period where profit is king, initiatives have to be built around minimizing the buyback period as much as possible. More often than not, customers are more likely to purchase again sooner than many brands think (some of our clients even see customers making a second purchase the same day!). 

To better understand, manage and optimize customer flows,  build a cohort analysis to segment audiences by how quickly they break even. Ideally, businesses can identify certain products, segments or traits that drive customers with the quickest buyback period and then focus their efforts there.

How can brands drive recurring revenue?

Maximizing profit per customer is about converting them into repeat buyers as fast as possible. Optimizing a marketing program to emphasize recurring revenue, subscriptions and repeat customers is the most reliable way to grow while maintaining profitability.

Here are a few considerations for cultivating repeat customers: 

• Look at how your business model generates recurring revenue. Does your business have any means to generate recurring revenue? Subscriptions, auto-orders, refills, freemium, etc.? If not, marketing should work with product and finance to create one.
• Consider selling multiple products. It’s generally more efficient to sell multiple products to a small set of loyal customers than it is to sell one product to many prospects. Does your product assortment allow for continuous upsells and cross-sells to your loyalists? 
• Build out loyalty programs. Is there a reason for customers to buy multiple times? The classic “buy 9, get the 10th one free” can be replicated in more complex ways. Other effective means of increasing loyalty include better rates or VIP service levels for those who are premium customers, commit to a longer-term contract, or buy at a certain threshold.
• Fine-tune lifecycle marketing. Most companies underinvest in lifecycle marketing, with poor segmentation, limited automations, low personalization and blasting low-value emails to subscribers. Creating a highly valuable, curated lifecycle program gets people to consistently open and engage with sends, which in turn improves performance and stops getting filtered as spam.
• Invest in paid media for existing customers. Typically less incremental than paid acquisition, paid retention can be highly effective in times of profit emphasis. Putting a small amount of paid media against existing customers can pull forward those customers to purchase sooner than they would organically.
• Engage in post-purchase upsells. In general, customers are most likely to buy again immediately after they’ve already converted. Post-purchase upsells are a great way to maximize the value from customers, and have no negative impact on user experience, conversion rates, or checkout flow.

Drill into customer cohort profitability 

Is it worth acquiring a large percentage of customers through discounts or with a loss leader product? What about through a free trial vs. a paid contract? Identifying these nuances by cohorting your customers will help inform the best type of customer you want to acquire.

Many brands over-index on trying to over-define their ideal customer profile (ICP) without thinking too much about the total amount of profit available in their current customer base, or an easier to get though less-than-ideal segment. For example, would you rather have a customer list of 10,000 worth $5,000 gross profit each, or one with 100,000 worth $1,000 gross profit each?

Understanding everything about your audience’s potential individual and aggregate value, how to speak to them, what products lead to the best lifetime value and the problems that your product can solve will unveil the optimal profit ratios.

Optimize assortment for profit

As with customers, CMOs should focus on the products that most efficiently generate net margin. While the topline growth might not be as impressive, focusing your efforts on a lower AOV but a higher margin percentage will yield an overall growth in profit.

During an economic downturn, keep a firm grasp on company financials and how marketing can help drive better profits. Focus on getting more from each customer to improve your lifetime value to customer acquisition cost ratio (LTV:CAC) and thereby get more with less investment.

How can your business drive profitable growth in 2023? 

For all-access insights from our playbook, download The CMO’s Guide for Igniting Growth and Profits in 2023.

Interested in growing together? Reach out to get a complimentary marketing appraisal, or read up on client success stories like this one about maximizing customer value for Aviator Nation.

The post How to drive growth by maximizing customer value appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

For marketers to achieve the sole purpose of marketing: revenue generation (and yes, brand is a means to get there, too), we put together The CMO’s Guide for Igniting Profitable Growth in 2023. We’ll cover the highlights in this blog series, but you can download the full guide for all-access insights, too. 

Without further ado – let’s dive into the highlights of recession-proofing your marketing efforts. 

Incrementality is king

It’s not another throwaway buzzword. Incrementality is the principle that marketing spend actually contributed to growth, as in it “incremented” the business in some way. Think return on investment (ROI), but specific to marketing. 

Typically marketing teams will focus on attribution – though it often leads to waste. Attribution tools are unable to adequately track the complex, non-linear customer journey and often assign credit to an arbitrary touchpoint (usually the last one). Instead, marketers should funnel funds into the incremental tactics that are most likely to create net new revenue that wouldn’t occur without marketing. Brands can get started by performing classic A/B tests or Matched Market Tests (MMTs). 

Dial in your return on effort

Savvy marketers focused on efficiency need to understand the return generated by internal efforts. What projects were completed this quarter? What departments were invested in? What tests were run? What were the business outcomes of those allocations? Identifying the highest ROI on those resources should be a high priority for marketers looking to do more with less. 

A simple way to measure the incremental return on effort is to calculate the impacted business outcome (revenue growth over a baseline) divided into expenditure. For example, if a team invested: 

• 1,000 hours at an average cost of $50 per house
• That’s $50k of costs (not accounting for non-salary expenses). 

If it made a minor impact on revenue, such as $100k, then that’s a 2x return. For some businesses, that can be excellent, and for others, detrimental. Either way, the first step is knowing and holding efforts accountable. 

Here are some ways to optimize return on effort (ROE):

• Identify key business problems the organization is trying to solve. 
• Align every initiative to produce a very specific solution for those problems. 
• Establish clear ownership, roles and responsibilities for each project. 
• Track resources and time spent. 
• Optimize or cut projects that are predicted to have a low ROE.

Cultivate profit-driven and trackable partnerships

Partnering with non-competing companies that can open doors to new audiences, revenue streams or offer an opportunity to collaborate on content (or even product mashups!) can be hugely effective, especially when resources are tight.

Insider tip: Be sure to track the return. If you hold your partners accountable for generating greater profit (such as efficiency, higher customer value, lower costs with the same service level, or a better service level) — then it’s easier to sell internally. After all, the entire business wants to generate positive cash flow, and what better way than relying on a scalable external resource? 

Solving the brand vs. performance conundrum

In a tale as old as time, brand building and performance are often pitted against each other. Yet, they are two sides of the same coin working towards a common goal: to generate a return on investment. While brand marketing can often take months (or even years) to pay dividends, performance marketing can yield an ROI lickety-split. 

To recommend a successful split between brand and performance, marketing leaders need to understand the financial goals and burdens of the business. A common split is 60% brand, 40% performance. However, during times of profit emphasis – trimming down brand budgets may be prudent. 

It’s a delicate balance. Too much emphasis on performance marketing and businesses may find themselves hung out to dry with stagnant campaigns. This is simply because you don’t have enough people in the awareness phase of the journey, and it requires either time to rebuild organically or an investment in brand marketing.  

How can your business drive profitable growth in 2023? 

For all-access insights from our playbook, download The CMO’s Guide for Igniting Growth and Profits in 2023.

Interested in growing together? Reach out to get a complimentary marketing appraisal. Or, read up on client success stories like this one with Good American.

The post 4 ways to recession-proof your marketing for growth in 2023 appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

Marketing analytics is the lifeblood of any brand looking to make a more meaningful impression on consumers. Every organization should crunch marketing-related numbers to reach logical, informed, and profitable decisions.

However, as of right now, only around 50% of all marketing decisions rely on marketing data analytics—and businesses that hope to find continued success need to bring that figure closer to 100%.²

Here’s why.

The lowdown on marketing data analytics

Before we dive too deep into the rabbit hole, let’s ensure we’re crystal clear on a few terms: When we talk about marketing data analytics, what do we mean?

“Marketing data” refers to any bit of information that brands can use to make marketing decisions. This includes customer, operational and financial data, such as:

• First-party customer data
• Third-party market research
• Sales data
• Product reviews
• Current marketing costs and ROI
• Content marketing engagement scores

Marketing data analytics refers to the collection, interpretation and (most importantly) application of this information. The ultimate goal? Develop more effective, more successful marketing strategies via fact-based research (i.e., not gut-feeling reactions).

Essentially, marketing analytics is a tried-and-true practice that allows marketing teams, product developers, and sales departments to stop guessing and start knowing. There’s a reason the estimated share of the budget for marketing data analytics is expected to increase by almost 50% in the coming three years.³

Why marketing data analytics matter

When it comes down to it, marketing analytics is all about developing a better and more nuanced understanding of consumers. The better a brand knows its audience, the better it can respond—even anticipate—current and future needs.

So, what benefits do marketing analytics offer in practice? Below, find seven ways that analyzing marketing data can lead to better campaign performance.

#1 Data informs clearer, more personalized messaging

One of the clearest advantages of marketing analytics is awarding brands the ability to market to the right people, in the right way.

Marketing departments can use it to segment their audiences to leverage copy, imagery, and communication channels that are more likely to resonate with specific groups. Customer-supplied demographic data might detail buyers’:

• Age
• Location
• Gender
• Cultural tastes
• Lifestyle habits

With 56% of consumers expecting offers to always be personalized, this data plays an enormous role in customer satisfaction.⁴

While tailored messaging is possible without robust marketing analytics, data analysis makes trial and error second nature. Businesses can easily compare one set of ads to another, dissecting engagement stats and click-through rates (CTRs) to see which messages hit the mark—and which seem to miss it entirely.

Digital analytics also inform the medium of a message. If a campaign performs well on one channel and poorly on another, the marketing data tells that story. With concrete data, there’s no need to have a lengthy discussion about reallocating funds from one marketing platform to another—the answer is already self-evident.

#2 Data leads to more insightful product development

Successful product marketing is only possible with a marketable product. Similar to understanding customer behavior, data insight can help you understand your audience and create a better customer experience. By leveraging marketing analytics that goes beyond sales figures, product development teams can design and redesign goods and services that consumers sincerely want.

To take the guesswork out of development, product teams can partner with marketing specialists to dive into data like:

• Customer feedback
• Sentiment analysis
• Overall market trends

With cold, hard analytics at their disposal, product teams can back up requests for additional resources with facts. As such, the entire process of getting buy-in for R&D from stakeholders becomes streamlined.

#3 Data helps improve customer support

The quality of a brand’s customer support is paramount to building a loyal following. Case in point: 26% of polled consumers said they would cut ties with a company after one negative customer service experience.⁵

Detailed marketing analytics lets brands identify pain points throughout the customer journey and nip them in the bud.

With so much of the customer experience now online, monitoring and quantifying the actions consumers take is easier than ever. Some of the digital marketing analytics businesses can use to better understand their customers’ journeys include:

• Heat maps – A heat map tracks the taps and clicks on a website, providing companies with a visual representation of what draws a consumer’s attention.
• Engagement metrics – Stats like bounce rate (the percentage of site visitors who leave without diving deeper into a website) and average session time (the length of time users spend on an app or website) can point to bugs or sub-optimal experiences.

By leveraging analytics to address the root causes of customer issues, brands can design better online experiences—and possibly even win lost customers back.

#4 Data allows for quantifiable competitor analysis

Marketing data analytics doesn’t just allow brands to compare their current position to their past business and marketing performance. It also facilitates comparisons to competitors.

Why? Feelings and qualitative tidbits are challenging to juxtapose. Numbers are not.

Between accessing public third-party customer data and studying marketing reports that competitors publish, businesses can create straightforward comparisons that paint a clear picture of their industry.

Through this quantitative style of competitor analysis, marketing teams and non-marketing departments alike can identify areas that need improvement—and pat themselves on the back when they come out on top in a category.

#5 Data provides context

Taking this notion of simplified comparison a step further, marketing data analytics allows for a much wider understanding of industry-wide and global trends.

Marketing data doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and it shouldn’t. When brands use only their current and historical data to make decisions, they miss out on:

• The global lingua franca of data – Today’s world runs on data. Practically every for-profit, nonprofit, and governmental organization is tracking customer, financial and operational information. There is so much data out there. And when businesses have a firm grasp on theirs, they can better understand the world of data around them—and make incredibly informed decisions.
• Understanding the bigger picture – Collecting and analyzing marketing data allows businesses to put their successes and setbacks into context. For instance, a 10% dip in sales is a problem—unless the entire industry or the economy as a whole fell by 10%. Only by understanding its own marketing analytics can a brand avoid jumping to conclusions or raising false alarms.

#6 Data makes marketing decisions quick and effortless

AI-powered business decision-making tools like IBM’s Watson don’t make guesses based on hunches—they analyze data.⁶ When brands embrace the science of marketing data analytics, they can become lightning-fast decision-makers, too—no robots required.

Essentially, organized data analytics transforms marketing decision-making from an “art project” to a “math equation.” There’s no right or wrong way to paint a watercolor—but there is a correct answer to a math problem. Data analytics makes that right answer more easily accessible.

This isn’t to say that emotion and expertise should never factor into marketing choices. Rather, marketing data analytics can act as a guardrail, keeping decisions within the realm of quantifiable facts so that the artful aspects of marketing can mesh perfectly with the data science side of it all. The result is less time spent on decision-making.

#7 Data gives brands a crystal ball

Okay, marketing data analytics doesn’t actually bestow brands with a supernatural ability to see the future. But because data creates patterns, marketing data analytics can help teams use information from past campaigns to inform future marketing activities.

In fact, as predictive analytics modeling in marketing becomes more intelligent, businesses may be able to know how their campaigns will perform before they even run them. This power can drastically change how brands approach their marketing, potentially saving millions of “trial and error” marketing dollars.

But none of this is possible without marketing analytics.

Supercharge your analytics with Power Digital

These days, collecting marketing data isn’t all that challenging. Every platform and marketing tool has a built-in dashboard, an in-depth strategy guide, and a pro-tier feature that gives you more information than you could ever decipher. If you peek at your Google Analytics, you can easily see way more data than you’d like in this marketing analytics tool.

But making sense of all that data—and putting it to work—is an entirely different story. Properly analyzing millions of data points and making them actionable takes a dedicated and seasoned team of digital marketing experts.

Power Digital is the only digital marketing agency with the knowledge and enhanced data platform to turn your marketing data analytics into actionable steps. We use our home-grown marketing analysis platform nova to help our brand partners identify opportunities for distinction and growth.

If you want a marketing strategy that’s powered by data and supported by humans, find out more by reaching out to Power Digital today.

Sources:

1. Deloitte. The CMO Survey: Marketing in a Post-Covid Era. Highlights and Insights Report, September 2022. https://cmosurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/The_CMO_Survey-Highlights_and_Insights_Report-September_2022.pdf
2. Deloitte. The CMO Survey: Marketing in a Post-Covid Era. Topline Report, September 2022. https://cmosurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/The_CMO_Survey-Topline_Report-September_2022.pdf
3. Deloitte. Top trends from The CMO Survey. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/chief-marketing-officer/articles/cmo-survey.html
4. Forbes. The New Role Of Marketing: Drive Business Growth By Reimagining Customer Engagement. https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolis/2022/11/01/the-new-role-of-marketing-drive-business-growth-by-reimagining-customer-engagement/
5. Forbes. What Customers Want And Expect. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2018/08/05/what-customers-want-and-expect/
6. IBM. Making Informed Decisions with AI. https://www.ibm.com/watson/whitepaper/informed-decisions-ai/

The post The importance of marketing data analytics appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

So, even though 72% of marketers believe they have access to high-quality first-party data, they’re not capitalizing on this treasure trove of marketing stats and sentiments.³ Where is the disconnect? Is it a lack of internal resources? A gut feeling that the marketing data is inaccurate?

Only an insider could say for sure, but one possible cause could be the absence of effective marketing reporting.

Marketing reports let brands translate information into actionable strategies; they take all available marketing data points and performance metrics and distill them into easy-to-understand snapshots of what’s going well and what isn’t.

But it isn’t enough to cobble together a hash of statistics. Only a well-crafted marketing report will help businesses truly understand their customers and the impact of their marketing efforts.

The components of a marketing report

Marketing reports are intentionally concise, typically covering one to three pages. But even though they’re condensed to fit on a single screen, they’re still jam-packed with information.

Alongside logistical details like the timeframe the report covers, a marketing report should include three sections:

• A comprehensive overview
• An analytics deep-dive (including a collection of vital data points)
• A step-by-step plan of action

Let’s discuss each component in more depth

A comprehensive overview

The first portion of an effectively-crafted marketing report is essentially a “cover page.” This overview provides crucial context to whoever may read the report—new hires, the manager of a non-marketing department, investors and so on. By leading with context in their marketing reports, brands can ensure every stakeholder stays on the same page (literally).

Although this introductory section can take some time to set up, it shouldn’t need more than a semi-regular tweak once it’s complete.

Depending on the digital marketing report’s purpose and intended audience, the comprehensive overview should also elaborate on three essential components.

Objectives

Businesses that reach their goals spend time talking about them. When marketers lead their reports with the organization’s current marketing objectives, they provide a baseline that tells readers whether the statistics that follow are cause for celebration or not.

As with all objectives, these marketing goals should be “SMART”:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-Bound

Marketing channels

Marketers should also include the channels they’re using to reach these goals. If a brand is leveraging dozens of channels, it may make sense to include only the most relevant ones. However, in a more thorough report, all channels deserve a mention of their marketing metrics and performance.

Customer personas

Lastly, the overview should touch on the buyer personas that these marketing channels aim to reach. In the interest of brevity, it may be best to include a link to these personas rather than overcrowding the first page with a list of customer likes and dislikes.

An analytics deep-dive

Now, it’s time for the star of the show: The data. At its core, a marketing report is a user-friendly, all-in-one-place summary of vital marketing analytics.

The keyword here is “vital.” This section should not display everything and the kitchen sink. While it’s tempting to throw in as much data as possible, information overload is a real issue—especially for busy executives. How granular or high-level the client reporting is will depend on the business and the audience, but in many ways, less is more.

What the analytics section should include are…

Highlights

Before jumping headfirst into jargon-heavy graphs, businesses should lead with a highlights segment, bringing four to six core statistics front and center.

Note that highlights do not necessarily need to be all positive. Instead, this section should essentially cover all the need-to-know news. Brands that call out their noteworthy successes and opportunities in a marketing report may have a better chance of overcoming their setbacks.

Traffic and engagement statistics

After setting the stage with some highlights, marketers should generally move to more detailed reporting on engagement across all platforms. You want to highlight and provide insight into your marketing effort and performance metrics of the platforms used. Whenever possible, a marketing report should include relevant data from the company’s:

• Website
• Blog
• Social media accounts
• Email and SMS campaigns
• SEO efforts

Once again, what to incorporate will depend on the brand and the audience. However, all the typical marketing data analytics numbers apply—page views, email open rate, follower counts, and so on.

Paid advertising performance

Although paid advertising is often linked to social media marketing, it’s worth dedicating an entire section of the marketing report to paid media—after all, that’s where the money is. Potentially relevant statistics include:

• Ad spend
• Click-through rates
• Views
• Actions taken
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Cost per conversion (CPC)

Leads and conversion metrics

Another category that will no doubt interest stakeholders is sales leads. Again, these numbers can be intertwined with organic and paid traffic, but outlining them in a separate section can eliminate potential ambiguities.

This is important as it helps the brand understand how many leads each marketing channel generates. When outlining leads and conversion metrics, brands generally cover:

• The total number of leads obtained
• Leads by channel
• The average customer acquisition cost
• The average opportunity value
• The lead conversion rate

A step-by-step plan of action

A marketing report without any action items is nothing more than a museum of marketing dos and don’ts. With that in mind, marketers should always look to conclude their marketing reports with concrete steps that will lead the organization closer to its goals. This involves looking at past and present marketing performance metrics and concluding what the next marketing campaign will focus on.

4 tips for creating an impeccable marketing report

A marketing report that encompasses all the above components is indeed a marketing report. But unless it follows certain guidelines, it may not be as effective as it could be.

Here are a few ways brands can create five-star marketing reports that meet the needs of stakeholders.

#1 Lean on visuals

Marketing reports tend to make their way to the top brass—busy, important people who appreciate an info-packed report but don’t have the time to sift through it. You can make data more accessible for the over-scheduled and the analytics-averse by including:

• Infographics
• Charts
• Diagrams

As an added bonus, visuals you include in a marketing report can become outward-facing content. For example, an eye-catching infographic about conversion metrics could become part of your next thought leadership LinkedIn post or whitepaper.

#2 Decide on a proper cadence

For most brands, a monthly marketing report should be sufficient. This gives businesses time to allow new strategies to take effect, rather than checking in each day to see if the needle has moved.

That said, daily or weekly marketing reporting can have its uses. For businesses in the midst of a high-profile marketing campaign or PR crisis, more frequent reporting can provide the data necessary for urgent pivots. However, in most cases, daily or weekly marketing reports can feel excessive.

No matter which cadence businesses choose, the key is keeping a consistent schedule.

#3 Don’t sugarcoat it

As much as every stakeholder wants to see improvements month after month, successful brands know that growth is rarely linear. For myriad reasons, statistics fluctuate throughout the year.

As such, marketers should always be transparent with their analytics. And we’re not just advising against fudging or omitting numbers (which no one should ever do). We’re also including “sneakier” tactics, like using good-news graphics that absorb half the page while footnoting any bad-news stats.

Marketing reports aren’t opportunities to impress—they’re factual indications of progress. And while it can hurt to include negative numbers, reports that show backward progress still have the opportunity to examine missteps and brainstorm the next steps for solving them.

#4 Ask for feedback from report recipients

A final tip: Marketers should remember who marketing reports are for. By asking the typical readers of a report for their feedback, marketing teams can tweak their monthly reports as needed. The “standard” marketing report outlined in this guide may work for many businesses, but it might not suit every brand equally. The best marketers cater to their audience.

Craft first-rate marketing reports with Power Digital and nova

Marketing reports allow you to bring data to people across your organization. That data comes from hundreds of different sources—so many that, at times, it can feel impossible to fuse it all into a cohesive report.

It’s a problem we know all too well at Power Digital, and it’s one of the many reasons we built nova. With a built-in Scoreboard that pools all your relevant marketing data in one place, nova lets businesses create intuitive, individualized reports that give each user a tailor-made look at their marketing data. Our machine learning-powered platform also generates the next steps that align with your goals so you can put your marketing analytics to good use.

If you’re searching for a digital marketing agency to power your growth, drop us a line—we’d love to chat.

Sources:

1. Nielsen. Global survey among marketers finds that brands’ top priorities for 2022 are increasing brand awareness, breaking down measurement siloes, developing personalized strategies, and becoming more purpose-driven. https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2022/nielsens-annual-marketing-report-uncovers-only-26-of-global-marketers-are-confident-in-their-audience-data/
2. Gartner. Gartner Marketing Survey Finds Only 14% of Organizations Have Achieved a 360-Degree View of their Customer. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/gartner-marketing-survey-finds-only-14–of-organizations-have-ac
3. Nielsen. Global survey among marketers finds that brands’ top priorities for 2022 are increasing brand awareness, breaking down measurement siloes, developing personalized strategies, and becoming more purpose-driven. https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2022/nielsens-annual-marketing-report-uncovers-only-26-of-global-marketers-are-confident-in-their-audience-data/

The post How to craft effective marketing reports appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

Whatever the query, millennials and older generations have long relied on search engines like Google and Bing for information on practically everything. (Yes, people really do still use Bing.) 

These days, however, Gen Zs are bucking that trend by relying on social media platforms like TikTok to answer their most pressing questions. A recent study commissioned by Google determined that almost 40% of people aged 18–24 prefer TikTok or Instagram over online search engines.¹ 

In other words, brands that want to reach younger audiences need to learn how to advertise on TikTok.

The good news is that getting started is actually pretty easy, especially with the help of a TikTok agency. Check out our quick and simple steps for mastering TikTok search engine optimization.

Why do young people use TikTok for search?

When young folks today want to find out about the best restaurants in New York City or learn what their favorite pop star is up to, they don’t look to fact-checked news sources or established databases for information. Instead, they want to hear from real people like themselves. 

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram provide just that—word-of-mouth recommendations on a global scale.

TikTok hasn’t shied away from its enhanced status as the go-to source for celeb gossip or hidden gem restaurants in trendy locales. According to the New York Times, the app is leaning into search by testing new features around keywords and SEO.²

Right now, TikTok SEO is fairly new. Brands looking to “hack” the social platform can do so with relative ease. But as the app matures and more brands and retailers crowd the space, it’ll become more difficult to rank on TikTok. 

This means that content creators who are serious about showing up need to do so now.

Top-tier ranking tips for TikTok searches

So, younger people are increasingly interested in visual representations of information from sources that feel authentic. But what’s the best way for a company to reach those people? There’s more to it than uploading random video content to TikTok in hopes of attaining virality. 

Here are four steps to grabbing—and keeping—your target audience’s attention.

Step 1: Determine the audience

What’s the golden rule of marketing? Know your audience. 

Okay, that’s far from the only golden rule—but for brands taking to TikTok marketing, it’s a good place to start. Before going through the steps of shooting and editing video content —brands need to determine their target audience and what those TikTok users might be searching.

For example, a company that sells hair care products might determine that a majority of its customers are adult women interested in fashion and beauty and hair stylists looking for tips. The company might use this information to create content on the best flat irons under $100 or tutorials on how to style long hair. Or they may look into TikTok affiliate marketing and find an influencer who resonates with this type of customer.

When it comes to understanding a brand’s audience, more information means better content creation. Understanding the target user and their pain points allows a brand to create content that provides solutions to a user’s most pressing queries, or their search intent.

Think of search intent as what the user is typing into the TikTok search bar. This is as straightforward as it sounds:

• Users typing in “best vegan skincare” are interested in content about what kinds of cruelty-free moisturizers and serums to buy. 
• Users searching “easy Instapot recipes” are looking for quick meals made with their favorite kitchen accessory.

Analyzing data-informed insights about the audience’s search intent is the first step a brand must take to reach its customers.

Step 2: Choose the best keywords

Any content strategist who has agonized over how to cram a challenging keyword into a blog post knows how valuable that process is when it comes to ranking in search engine results. They’re also likely familiar with the three components of selecting a keyword, which are:

• Search volume – The number of people searching the keyword.
• Relevance – How pertinent that keyword is to the content a brand is trying to promote.
• Keyword difficulty – How difficult it is to rank in searches for that keyword.

When it comes to choosing keywords, there’s both method and magic involved: 

• Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to choose keywords with high search volume. For example, “best road bikes” has a relatively high search volume compared to “aerodynamic carbon fiber racing bikes,” since significantly more people are searching for the former than the latter.
• It’s also a smart move to include keywords with high relevance. A company trying to push content about the best snow boots shouldn’t include keywords like “tallest high heels” and “best stilettos.” That’s because the video won’t give users searching those topics any of the information they’re looking for.
• When it comes to keyword difficulty, finding a balance is key. It’s probably difficult to rank for a keyword like “best fitness app,” since there are many companies using this for all kinds of queries—from weight loss to bodybuilding to general health. On the other hand, it will be easier to rank for “app for tracking calories burned.” The trick here is that fewer people will be searching this term, limiting the number of people the company will reach.

Step 3: Deploy the keywords

TikTok SEO uses keywords in various places, and it’s important to consider each carefully. Here’s how a content creator can optimally include a keyword on the social media platform:

• Say it – Yes, TikTok is listening. A content creator using the keyword “best ramen recipe” can rank higher in searches by using that phrase organically in the audio of their content. This is generally easy to do: “I’m going to show you the best ramen recipe I’ve come across in all my late-night microwaving adventures” would suffice.
• Use it in closed captions – TikTok uses AI to log what a creator is saying and then mirror it in subtitles. Ensuring that these subtitles are automatically added to the video will help with the video’s ranking.
• Include it in the title – Creating a title at the top of a TikTok video isn’t required, but it does encourage users to click. In addition to using the keyword, titles should be easy to read. In terms of TikTok SEO, “My favorite coffee shops in Boston” is better than “An assortment of establishments in which I enjoyed imbibing cold-pressed java beverages.” 
• Add it to captions – Similar to the title, the caption provides added context and information. But a scramble of different keywords won’t do—a caption must read like real text to make sense to the user. “Best pan best pots to cook in inexpensive cooking hacks foodies” might include all of a brand’s keywords, but its nonsensical words are likely to turn viewers off.
• Use it as a hashtag – Most marketing professionals probably learned this from a decade of experience trying to reach consumers on Twitter and the like. However: Don’t go overboard. Seriously, chill with the ###s. Junking up a caption with a bunch of random hashtags signals amateur hour and degrades a brand’s authority. Instead, select the most relevant hashtags and stick to them.

Step 4: Make the content stand out

If the content creation is good and marketers heed steps 1 through 3, their video should start to rank. However, for content to hold its spot or even rise, it also needs to perform. 

This happens when the video receives likes, comments and shares. It also happens when people choose that video over all the other videos they see when they search.

The best way for content creators to make their videos stand out from all the others is to choose an engaging thumbnail that TikTok users can’t resist. In general, a good thumbnail is easy to look at, contains a digestible title and most importantly utilizes an appealing and relevant snapshot from the video.

In other words, a creator looking to make a video about the best omakase in Japan rank will want to use the most jaw-droppingly tantalizing pic of sushi they can find in the video. If all goes as planned, this will attract a crowd of authentic sushi lovers—leading to more clicks, likes and comments. 

Knowing when to post on TikTok is also very important. Once your content is created make sure you are posting when your followers are most active.

Fast-track your TikTok ranking with Power Digital

TikTok didn’t set out to replace Google as the go-to search engine, but that hasn’t stopped millions of people from looking for information on the world’s favorite video-sharing app. And since the TikTok algorithm helps people look for content, it’s a high-performing channel for brands looking to reach new customers in authentic ways.

The basics of TikTok SEO may seem old hat to digital marketers, but there’s plenty of nuance to artful advertising on Gen Z’s favorite app. That’s where Power Digital comes in.

Whether you’re new to TikTok or looking to level up, our digital marketing agency can help you create content that stands out. And if you can’t decide between TikTok vs. Instagram for your marketing endeavors, we have the answers for you. Want to get started? Get in touch today.

Sources: 

1. USA Today. Is TikTok the new Google? Why TikTok is Gen Z’s favorite search engine. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/09/18/google-search-tiktok-gen-z/10361233002/?gnt-cfr=1 
2. New York Times. For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Search Engine. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/technology/gen-z-tiktok-search-engine.html 

The post TikTok SEO: How to appear in TikTok searches appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

However, the brands capitalizing on TikTok’s growth aren’t just self-promoting from company accounts: TikTok affiliate marketing is making waves as the way for businesses to resonate with (and expand) their audience, cultivate trust, strengthen credibility and increase profits.¹ The same goes for affiliates.

The endeavor isn’t as complex as one might think. Read on to learn more about the power of TikTok affiliate marketing and our expert tips on crafting a strategy that’ll make competitors green with envy.

Back to basics: What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing brings momentum to lead generation and sales that most business owners have been dreaming of since they first had the seed of an idea for their companies.

Affiliate marketers are influencers that weave a company’s products and services into authentic conversations that are already happening online.² An influencer will make money when a business makes money—and it’s this incentive that keeps them pumped about promoting affiliate links and products.

Nearly everyone who scrolls through social media, reads a blog post or goes online—period—encounters some breed of affiliate marketing. Whether it’s a beauty blogger touting a new body balm or a parent on IG raving about a children’s book their child adores, affiliate marketing is seen as an organic, persuasive way to:

• Attract user interest
• Compel sales
• (Most importantly) humanize brands

How to build a TikTok affiliate marketing strategy

Powerful TikTok marketing can be an incredibly profitable and cost-effective way to generate leads, keep pace with competitors and improve affiliate sales. Businesses making their first foray into the TikTok app can start by taking the steps below.

#1 Outline the partnership

Before even setting foot on this social media platform, every company needs a blueprint that outlines what they want to get out of their partnership.

Any agreement brands make with their affiliates should set forth the following parameters:

• Compensation and payment terms
• A description of how the brand wants to be represented
• Every affiliate product and/or service that will be promoted
• Any liabilities, warranties and/or confidentiality agreements

A friendly (virtual) handshake is one thing; a binding contract is another. Ideally, brands will work with a seasoned TikTok agency that can help them ensure both parties are protected.

#2 Zero in on the right affiliate(s)

Going with an influencer simply because they have an impressive TikTok account isn’t enough to justify a relationship. Whatever the industry, businesses need to seek out affiliates who:

• Are dialed into the business’s target audience demographic
• Demonstrate a high level of engagement with their followers
• Harmonize with the brand’s identity, voice, and mission

In many cases, a brand’s budget and influencer marketing spend affect how they precisely locate the best affiliates. Generally, partners are found directly or through an affiliate program.

Alternatively, businesses can work with a digital marketing agency that pairs them with the candidates that will best help meet their TikTok marketing goals.

#3 Harness analytics to monitor the campaign’s progress

They say what is not measured can’t be managed, and this certainly holds true for TikTok affiliate marketing.

Examining data to determine if the partnership is quantifiably helping brands gain ground is the only way to know if it’s working. It’ll also help a business figure out whether to extend the relationship or try a different influencer marketing strategy altogether.

Tips for TikTok affiliates

Affiliates stand the chance of earning a healthy commission, and TikTok affiliate marketing could very well serve as a sweet side hustle.

#1 Upgrade to a TikTok business account

Now is the time to set up a TikTok business account for affiliates who don’t yet have one. This will allow affiliates to include a link in their TikTok bio that sends users to one of the following:

• The merchant
• A custom landing page
• Personal websites

There are many similarities between Instagram vs. TikTok. For example, like Instagram, TikTok doesn’t permit affiliate links in videos or captions; give #linkinbio a try to ensure users proceed to the next step in the process. And affiliates who promote multiple products from multiple merchants should also set up Linktree, which will take TikTok app users to a landing page neatly displaying all the relevant links.

#2 Select products and services judiciously

An affiliate’s followers should dictate the types of products and services promoted. If their TikTok audience is female and between a senior in high school and a sophomore in college, marketing a high-end, pricey cream for fine lines and wrinkles or age-defying facials will likely garner an eye roll and potentially an unfollow.

To this end, affiliates need to examine their TikTok audience and what makes them tick (and Tok). This should include an assessment of their:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Education
• Purchasing power
• Habits and passions
• Pain points

Uncertain? Explore who they follow and engage with the most on TikTok to gain insights into the type of products and services that will snag their attention.

#3 Weave in products and products seamlessly

Ideally, an affiliate will choose to promote a product or service they would purchase or use themselves; this will enhance the reliability of the recommendation and increase trust. If the merchant has offered coupon codes for followers, be sure to mention them in related affiliate video content.

#4 Concentrate on the video’s opening

Research from Meta indicates that the first 10 seconds of a video are the most impactful.³ While an entire TikTok video should be captivating—this is a no-brainer—paying close attention to the first few seconds could be the difference between a user choosing to keep scrolling or watching it in its entirety (and earning affiliates their commission). Along with an intriguing opening, it is also important to be aware of when to post on TikTok as the timing could also help you reach a wider audience.

Why use TikTok for affiliate marketing?

Instagram and Facebook have dominated the affiliate marketing scene since the marketing strategy entered the digital age — but TikTok is quickly becoming the hottest place for businesses to invest in third-party advertising.

Short-form video content—TikTok’s specialty—can be incredibly effective for businesses to drive impressions and brand awareness among active users.³ In turn, affiliates can earn a commission.

Here’s why TikTok is so promising:

• Tremendous reach – TikTok has grown exponentially since its launch in 2016. To date, the electrifying app sees one billion monthly active users around the globe.⁴ This might not compare to other social media titans—Facebook has 2.9 billion monthly active users; IG has 1.47 billion—but TikTok is also the youngest species in the social media ecosystem. For a business owner and affiliate, this translates to the potential to reach an enormous number of prospective consumers.
• Terrific engagement – TikTok may have fewer users than its older siblings, but TikTokers are substantially more committed (so to speak) and engaged: TikTok app users spend roughly 46 minutes on TikTok per day.⁴ By comparison, people spend an average of approximately 30 minutes on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. Naturally, the more time a potential consumer spends on a site, the greater an affiliate’s chance of catching their attention and inviting engagement.
• High potential for profit – Ever heard of #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt? This hashtag alone has drawn upwards of 4.6 billion views.⁵ According to the New York Times, TikTok has a ferocious capacity for moving products ranging from cosmetics and appliances to clothing and tech accessories.

Sure, TikTok is still governed by youngsters, with 25% of its users between the ages of 10 and 19, and 22.4% ranging from 20 to 29. But Millennials and Gen X (some with deeper pockets than younger generations) are increasingly getting in on the game:⁶

• 21.7% of TikTok users fall between 30 and 39 years old
• 20.3% are 40 to 49, and 11% are 50+

And a tremendous part of TikTok’s appeal is that many marketing strategies align with the app’s overall feel: It’s fun. It’s casual. And it is—or at least it feels—genuine.

Partner with Power Digital for potent TikTok affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing has fundamentally changed how consumers learn about brands, buy products and services and become loyal to a business. And as consumers steadily turn away from traditional advertising after decades of being deluged with a “have not” sensibility, they use social media platforms like TikTok and the people they follow and admire to make purchasing decisions.⁷

Power Digital offers affiliate marketing and TikTok advertising that helps businesses enlarge their audience, boost their TikTok SEO rankings and scale revenue and traffic.

We’ll find the influencers that will perfectly align with your brand’s image and purpose, create a growth strategy and manage the program so that you can kick back and watch your business reach its potential. For affiliates, our digital marketing agency will help strengthen your online presence and keep building your business.

Reach out to us today to start the conversation.

Sources:

1. Business of Apps. Most popular apps (2022). https://www.businessofapps.com/data/most-popular-apps/
2. Investopedia. Affiliate marketer: definition, examples and how to get started. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/affiliate-marketing.asp#:~:text
3. Meta for Business. The value of video for brands. https://www.facebook.com/business/news/value-of-video
4. Oberlo. 10 TikTok statistics. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/tiktok-statistics
5. The New York Times. TikTok shopping and the rise of ‘social commerce.’ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/02/style/tiktok-shopping-viral-products.html
6. Statista. U.S. TikTok users by age 2021. U.S. TikTok users by age 2021 | Statista
7. Forbes. 4 ways social media influences millennials’ purchasing decisions. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2017/12/22/4-ways-social-media-influences-millennials-purchasing-decisions/?sh=706f902d539f

The post How to create a stellar TikTok affiliate marketing strategy appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

In many cases, it may be advantageous to leverage both with the help of an IG or TikTok agency. When that’s not possible, it’s vital to determine where a company should focus the majority of its creativity and ad spend to make the biggest gains in lead generation, brand awareness, audience engagement and revenue.

Let’s unpack the TikTok vs. Instagram debate so that brands can use their resources wisely.

Consideration #1: Target demographic

TikTok may be the most downloaded social media app worldwide, but Instagram has substantially more active monthly users—that’s 1.47 billion to TikTok’s 1 billion, to be precise.¹

In other words, even if a brand’s target audience spends the lion’s share of their time on TikTok, it’s also likely they swerve over to IG in between sessions. Nevertheless, there are some crucial distinctions to be made when it comes to the unique user demographics each social media platform primarily attracts.

TikTok usership

TikTok has garnered a reputation as the “It” place to be for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who devour the endlessly scrollable, dopamine-laden short-form video content. And while TikTok undeniably got its start with younger users, more “mature” generations are starting to develop fluency in the platform.

Of those 1 billion active monthly users on TikTok, here’s how those age demos break down:²

• 25% – 10 to 19 years old

• 22.4% – 20 to 29 years old

• 21.7% – 30 to 39 years old

• 20.3% – 40 to 49 years old
• 11% – 50+

With respect to sex, female and female-identifying users tend to be more active on this social media app. As of 2022, 57% of TikTok users are self-identified women, and 40% are self-identified men.³

It’s important to note here that even though TikTok has younger users, attracting a young, hip audience is seldom bad for business. It’s actually quite the opposite—Gen Z is driving social commerce. Consider that 97% of users self-report using social media to decide where to put their dollars, whereas just 65% say they use social media as a place to find entertainment.⁴

The Instagram crowd

Instagram may not be the new kid on the block, but it still has a broad appeal that straddles generations of users. The platform draws a slightly older cluster of users, but only slightly; indeed, TikTok and Instagram have incredibly similar user demographics:⁵

• 7% – 13 to 17 years old

• 30% – 18 to 24 years old

• 33% – 25 to 34 years old

• 16% – 35 to 44 years old

• 8% – 45 to 54 years old

• 4% – 55 to 64 years old
• 2% – 65+

As for gender? IG’s usership is split almost exactly down the middle between men and women.

While the difference between each platform’s demographics is marginal, brands whose products or services target consumers under the age of 30 may be better off developing a TikTok SEO strategy. If a business calls to later generations, Instagram may be the winning choice.

Consideration #2: User engagement

Instagram may have considerably more monthly active users, but the amount of time consumers spend on a platform is crucial.

In this sense, TikTok is the unequivocal winner. Users spend an average of 46 minutes on the platform per day.^6> On Instagram? That average boils down to roughly 30 minutes. And the more time a person scrolls through their feed, the greater a business’s chances of captivating user attention. With that being said, if you don’t know when to post on TikTok or Instagram properly, then user engagement can lessen.

Cosideration #3: Brand value

TikTok and Instagram are both visually-centered platforms, which is a boon for businesses that have products and services that are aesthetically pleasing.

That said, there are critical differences between the two platforms that ought to be considered before a business confirms where they should put their advertising dollars:

• TikTok – TikTok content is restricted to short-form videos. Today, content can last 10 minutes at maximum—a huge leap from their original length capped at 15 seconds⁷

For some brands, this format can feel restrictive. However, there are dozens of ways to get creative under these constraints. Whether it’s a sped-up skincare tutorial or a glimpse into how a jeweler sets a diamond from start to finish, there are infinite approaches brands can take to tailor their video content to the platform’s conventions.

• Instagram – Instagram offers long-form content, and arguably has broader, more diverse marketing applications for businesses. Still photos, IG stories, reels, carousels, and even uploaded webinars can all be leveraged to convey a brand’s image, mission and products

Whether a business is introducing a new product or promoting an upcoming sale, there are more opportunities to use different content formats—and with them, a greater variety of opportunities to test out marketing strategies.

Often, partnering with a digital marketing agency equipped to test out marketing strategies on both platforms is the best way to figure out which one resonates most with users. There are countless ways brands can deliver the value they pledge to give their customers, but it takes data, analytics and long-term testing to ascertain which routes are the most profitable.

Consideration #4: The competition

Knowing which peer businesses and competitors are crushing it online can further help businesses determine which platform is most beneficial for their goals.

A few brands making impressive use of TikTok include:⁸

• Crocs
• Planet Money
• Fenty Beauty
• Milkbar
• Dunkin’ (yes, as in Donuts)
• Chipotle

On Instagram, some of the leading brands are:⁹

• Recess
• Teva
• Madewell
• Tiffany & Co
• Glossier
• Chambard
• GoPro

A cursory comparison of the two lists indicates a distinction in brand sensibilities. Companies excelling on Instagram are a touch more sophisticated; some have products with higher price tags than those who are flourishing on TikTok.

Which brings us to our next point…

Consideration #5: Brand identity

Brand image is the key to conveying who the business is and what consumers can expect from their products. Given the centrality of polished photography on Instagram, it’s safe to say the platform has a more refined feel than its rough-around-the-edges counterpart TikTok.

Indeed, TikTok’s enormous appeal is because it’s off-the-cuff, authentic, fun, quirky and eminently relatable.

But not every brand fits this mold. More serious brands (like those in the finance or health sector) may be at odds with TikTok’s casual atmosphere—unless they can find even-keeled content creator-affiliates who users rely on to provide credible, trustworthy insights.

Put simply, consistency in a brand’s image and presentation is paramount, and adjusting to a platform’s conventions may confuse existing and prospective customers.¹⁰

Consideration #6: Potential for virality

Businesses may stand a higher chance of their content going viral on TikTok than Instagram, simply by the nature of the platforms:

• With Instagram’s algorithm, users are “fed” content by the people and businesses they follow

• TikTok provides users with curated content based on their interests and gives them the option to follow individual creators¹¹

The takeaway? Brands have a higher chance of being seen by a wider audience and going viral on TikTok, independent of how many followers they have

But does “going viral” translate to more leads and conversions? Possibly. TikTok has helped launch countless small businesses into the stratosphere. But impressions or drawing enormous view numbers on any platform doesn’t always result in a follower, conversion or sales hike.¹²

Above all, no matter how clever a business’s viral post or ad may be, it must have relevance to the brand.

Consideration #7: Influencer marketing strategy

Influencer marketing has exploded as a marketing strategy to the tune of 800% since 2016.¹³ And while influencers are huge on Instagram, TikTok affiliate marketing is on the rise, especially with micro-influencers, which help businesses connect with super-specific consumer niches.

According to Forbes, TikTok is also:¹³

• Expanding in-app shoppability – The feature enables consumers to make purchases without leaving the app.
• Constructing fulfillment centers – While limited to the US, could these be a bonafide competitor of Amazon’s? Only time will tell (tick tock).

But will a growing crop of micro-influencers take root on Instagram? This remains to be seen. As of now, though, TikTok’s algorithm and the more relatable feel of the app bode well for niche businesses.

Leave your marketing strategy to the experts with Power Digital

Both IG and TikTok offer companies the opportunity to connect with their target audience profitably—but choosing which channel bodes best for your company’s unique marketing goals demands more than a coin flip.

Power Digital offers an analytics-first approach with nova, our platform for pooling, interpreting and applying the data brands need to thrive and prosper. In business, growth isn’t just about choosing “which” social media platform is best suited—it’s about identifying and forecasting trends so that you can make the most of any platform where you operate.

To find out what a full-service marketing strategy will look like for your brand, schedule a consultation with our digital marketing agency and start writing your company’s success story.

Sources:

1. SEM Rush. 28 top social media platforms worldwide. https://www.semrush.com/blog/most-popular-social-media-platforms/
2. Statista. U.S. Tiktok users by age 2021. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095186/tiktok-us-users-age/
3. Business of Apps. TikTok revenue and usage statistics (2022). https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tik-tok-statistics/
4. Forbes. Gen Z and the rise of social commerce. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/05/17/gen-z-and-the-rise-of-social-commerce/?sh=198b458f251d
5. Business of Apps. Instagram revenue and usage statistics (2022) https://www.businessofapps.com/data/instagram-statistics/
6. Oberlo. 10 TikTok statistics. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/tiktok-statistics
7. TechCrunch. TikTok expands max video length to 10 minutes, up from 3 minutes.https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/28/tiktok-expands-max-video-length-to-10-minutes-up-from-3-minutes/
8. HubSpot. TikTok brands that are winning at marketing in 2022. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/brands-on-tiktok#why-brands-should-leverage-tiktok
9. Social Media Strategies Summit Blog. Top 15 brands killing it on Instagram. https://blog.socialmediastrategiessummit.com/top-10-brands-killing-it-on-instagram/
10. Forbes. Why consistency is the key to successful branding. https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/12/13/why-consistency-is-the-key-to-successful-branding/?sh=27c718df7bbd
11. Business Insider. TikTok has created viral dances and instant but it’s also helping small businesses cash in. https://www.businessinsider.com/going-viral-tiktok-help-small-businesses-launch-success-2021-6
12. CNBC. How a business increased sales 14,000%: viral ads. https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/02/how-a-business-increased-sales-14000-viral-ads.html
13. Forbes. Influencer marketing: 2023 predictions. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2022/12/12/influencer-marketing-2023-predictions/?sh=391fc944b541
14. CNET. TikTok is the most downloaded app worldwide in 2022 so far, analysts say. https://www.cnet.com/news/social-media/tiktok-is-the-most-downloaded-app-worldwide-in-2022-so-far-analyst-says/

The post TikTok vs Instagram marketing: which is better for your business? appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

For them, this is the main “matter of timing” to be concerned about. But for brands looking to leverage the engagement rate potential this social media platform offers, the issue isn’t “where did the time go”—it’s when to time posts so that they make a measurable impact with an audience.

How to time TikTok posts can be a devil of a detail for brands, given the high in-app competition and an often ruthless algorithm. But for brands building TikTok into their marketing strategy, being detail-oriented could mean the difference between a lackluster page and TikTok virality.

Below, we discuss how timing affects TikTok post performance and how brands, when paired with a TikTok agency, can create a content marketing schedule that hits the beat.

TikTok 101: How the “when” affects whether content gets seen

First of all, with so much of marketing revolving around what to post, why should brands care about when to post? There are several differences between Instagram vs. TikTok. For example, unlike Instagram, TikTok content isn’t chronological. So it shouldn’t matter what time a business posts, right?

The answer is a bit more complicated.

For brands and marketers who haven’t used or explored the TikTok app yet, its centerfold feed is known as the For You page. This is a personalized stream of video content tailored to every individual on the platform. Users can toggle between it or the “Following” page (which limits their content feed to the Creators they follow).

Unsurprisingly, the TikTok algorithm is partially shrouded in mystery; most of the information about the social media platform’s nuts and bolts has come from the app’s designers themselves. But in a news bulletin released in mid-2022, to improve your TikTok SEO strategy and appear on the For You page, you must rely on three crucial factors:¹

• User interactions – This content hinges on data indicating a user’s preferences. TikTok interprets a user’s likes, shares, comments and the creators or accounts they follow as a barometer for the type of content they want to see.
• Video meta content – This includes songs, sounds, captions, hashtags and the like.²
• Device and account settings – This includes things like the user’s language and country settings. In short, if a user lives in the US., they’ll mostly get content from the US. If they live in Argentina, they’ll probably see more TikTok video content originating there.

In general, the For You page includes videos posted recently—typically, videos that were posted anywhere from a few minutes ago to a few days earlier. This means there’s a relatively slim window when videos can achieve virality. And, more practically, if a target audience is asleep when the content goes live — that creates an even smaller chance of the content performing well.

Intuitively, businesses should know they’ll have more success posting when their target audience is already scrolling. This means there’s just one key to pinpointing the best time to post: 

Data.

How to figure out when to post on TikTok

A marketer’s ground rules for determining the best time to post depends on communication channels: Email marketing metronomes may be a world apart from TikTok’s, especially when a company has a global audience.

So while TikTok’s rhythms are new (and, yes, they can be fickle) — there are some steps brands can take to find the optimal posting time.

Step 1: Find the core audience

The first question any business should ask themselves when trying to find the right time to post is:

• Who is my audience?
• Where are they located?
• When are they spending the most time in-app?

There are a few ways to answer this question, one of which is using common sense. For example, the person running the social media accounts for the New York Giants is probably safe in assuming that their audience is primarily located on the East Coast.

That social media manager can drill down into the answer further by using the analytics features that come with a Pro TikTok account. These features include information on the brand’s following, such as:

• The followers’ gender split.
• User comments.
• Average view time for content.
• Where the followers are located geographically.³

TikTok also boasts built-in analytics that brands can use to collect at least cursory data for these vitals. Here’s how:

1. Tap into the privacy and settings section of the app.
2. Navigate to the “Accounts” section.
3. Tap “Analytics” and then hit the “Followers” tab.

This is where brands can find “Top Territories”—where in the world the followers are located.

Step 2: Identify when the audience is active

Once a marketer has established where their followers are, they need to determine when they’re active. This typically comes down to several factors:

• Awake vs. asleep – A good starting point to determine the time frames of follower activity is by checking their time zones. So, if a brand is based in the midwest but most of its followers are in Los Angeles, it’s not a great idea to publish content when the majority of the audience is still asleep. 
• User habits – As addictive (and profitable) as the TikTok app may be, one would hope users aren’t devoting all their waking hours to doom-scrolling. Individual users may plug into TikTok at relatively consistent times per day. WFH lunch breaks or finding an in-app reprieve at the end of a long work day could be the peak time for many TikTok users.

Additionally, sharp marketers know that many users get to TikToking at “witching hour” times. These can be deduced by leveraging data and analytics to predict user behavior and testing hypotheses over the long haul. 

For example, the tail end of the weekend might not seem like a peak scrolling time, but the data may prove that users rely on apps like TikTok to stave off the Sunday Scaries.

Step 3: Dial in posting times

If a brand is just getting started on TikTok — its first priority might be just getting content up there or engaging with followers. Early on, figuring out the right time to post each day of the week may feel less important—but it’s critical.

Two strategies may be used to identify the optimal posting times:

• Looking at engagement history – Brands looking to optimize their content posting strategy should audit their past marketing efforts. Historical engagement rates, follower top-ups and views can all help identify patterns in successful timing strategies.
• Prioritizing analytics – Businesses can learn untold information about their audience by routinely examining, mapping and interpreting TikTok analytics. These metrics provide a detailed overview of a brand’s existing content, including likes, comments and shares. 

Moreover, experimenting with post times while tracking these metrics is crucial. Testing out new strategies can help identify the timeframes, days of the week and occasions (like the holiday season) that drive high-performing posts.

One metric that offers a helpful place to start? TikTok’s Video Views. These show which times of the day and the days of the week yield the highest traffic for a brand’s TikTok content.

Of course, the more content, the more data. Posting frequently and consistently means brands collect more data—and the more data, the more information an analytics team will have to work with.

A final word on posting times

By nature, ideal posting times are affected by numerous factors, from audience segments to seasons, to the TikTok algorithm itself. Ultimately, becoming a trusted and authentic presence on TikTok plays the most important role in netting views and attracting followers well beyond whether a post goes up at 10 in the morning or 10 at night.

In our view, two other factors trounce timing when it comes to bullseye TikTok posts

• Content quality (how much content resonates with desired users)
• Content quantity (posting consistently)

Mastering the basics by creating a solid content calendar, producing creative, eye-catching content and establishing a regular posting schedule are paramount. So timing might be important—but (contrary to the old adage) for brands looking to level up on TikTok, it’s not everything.

Optimize your TikTok page with Power Digital

TikTok is an electric new space for brands to connect with their customers in fresh ways, such as TikTok affiliate marketing. However, minting a whip-smart social media strategy that aligns with the app’s nuts and bolts is far from simple.

A tech-enabled digital marketing agency at the intersection of marketing, consulting and data intelligence, Power Digital couples years of experience with the most current analytics tech to guide brands’ strategies in the right direction. If you’re looking for a full-service marketing partner, we want to help you leverage untapped opportunities to build and build with your audience.

For a vision of what that powerful marketing strategy could look like, reach out to us today.

Sources: 

1. TikTok Newsroom. How TikTok recommends videos #ForYou. https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/how-tiktok-recommends-videos-for-you
2. TikTok. How TikTok recommends videos #ForYou. https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/how-tiktok-recommends-videos-for-you 
3. TikTok. Understanding your analytics. https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/en-us/tiktok-content-strategy/understanding-your-analytics/ 
4. TechCrunch. TikTok was the top app by worldwide downloads in Q1 2022. https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/26/tiktok-was-the-top-app-by-worldwide-downloads-in-q1-2022/ 

The post TikTok for businesses: when to post on TikTok appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

You may not, however, know how best use affiliate to drive revenue growth..

Affiliate marketing—the strategy of teaming up with other entities to have them promote your products—is one of the most promising paths to brand and sales growth. If you’re wanting to learn how to start affiliate marketing, you might need some guidance. And, as with all paths, the journey is a lot less challenging when you have a map.

Well, here’s your map, intrepid traveler. These seven affiliate marketing tips will guide you toward more sales, increased website traffic and a greater market share for affiliate marketing success.

1. Choose your affiliates wisely

Perhaps this first tip should go without saying, but we’re going to say it anyway: Who you partner with matters. Follower or subscriber counts are far from the only metric to consider. Choosing potential affiliates requires considering a few factors. 

First, there’s the affiliate’s public perception. Are they seen as a reputable source in the community? Do they produce high-quality content? Are they aligned with your organization’s values? These are all questions to ask as you conduct your preliminary research.

Then, there’s the notion of “fit.” Do these potential affiliates reach your target demographic? If not, your message might reach thousands of people—but they’ll be the wrong people.

Finally—and only when you’re satisfied with the other aspects—look at the metrics. Does your potential affiliate have a sizable audience? Do those three million followers actually watch their videos or read their articles? Some creators artificially inflate their numbers to draw in more marketing dollars; be on the lookout for those “too good to be true” scenarios.

Choosing the right affiliate partner can have significant influence on your affiliate marketing strategies.

2. Avoid the hard sell; provide value instead

Today’s consumers are smart. They know when a listicle or TikTok is pushing a particular product. When it’s easier to scroll to the next piece of content than sit through an obvious ad, the “hard sell” rarely works.

With that in mind, the trick to a successful affiliate marketing strategy is to make the average person not care that they’re reading or watching a product promotion. How do you do that? By producing content that provides the audience value.

Even though your team typically isn’t generating the affiliate’s content, you still have a say as the brand in what the publisher posts. As you write the content brief for your would-be affiliates, consider steering them toward a less sales-y approach. Instead, encourage your partners to create valuable affiliate marketing content that is:

• Educational
• Entertaining
• Investigative
• Groundbreaking
• Humorous

In short, your affiliate ads shouldn’t feel like ads. The organic approach will go a long way in convincing consumers to try your brand.

To help your affiliates create value-first content, try to provide them with as much information as possible. Internal statistics, unique selling points, branded infographics—anything makes a difference.

3. Pair affiliate promotions with deals

Affiliate marketing partnerships allow you to position your offerings in front of more people. But you still need to give those people a reason to try your brand. For many, a seal of approval from their favorite YouTuber, content creator or media outlet may not be enough of an incentive.

So, why not leverage affiliate promotions? Try tacking an offer onto your affiliate marketing. Pairing a glowing, transparent review with a deal is a surefire way to bring interested consumers to your site.

If you’ve been on social media in the last few years, you’ve likely seen some variation of this “promote and promo” approach. Influencers will often post videos and include a personalized 15%-off promo code at the end. Blogs and media outlets often do the same when adding an affiliate link.

4. Push your best-selling products

While it’s tempting to use affiliate marketing to drive traffic to new offerings, your best-sellers top the list for a reason. So, why not put your best foot forward and show potential new customers your bread and butter?

Whether you’re a newer brand or not, there’s plenty to gain from focusing your marketing efforts on your best products. When a consumer begins their journey to your brand with an unforgettable product or service, they’re likely to come back for more. So, when choosing an affiliate product, then of the one that symbolizes your brand perfectly.  

5. Set up your website for success (and conversions)

It’s all well and good to run a successful affiliate program that boosts your website traffic into the stratosphere. But what is the experience for the customer like after they land on your site?

If it’s slow, glitchy or disorganized, your marketing spend will be all for naught. Something as simple as a sluggish landing page can cause consumers to head for the hills. Case in point: For every extra second it takes a mobile page to load, conversions can drop by up to 20%.²

Similarly, if your e-commerce site isn’t intuitive, customers may feel confused or frustrated. And, as you know from Marketing 101, that’s the last thing users want.

If you’re running an affiliate marketing campaign with multiple affiliates, proactively prepare for the additional website traffic and make sure its functioning in tip-top shape. Even better, create a simplified landing page for all of your partners to promote. You may even want a product-specific page for each offer.

That way, when interested consumers follow the affiliate link, they can enjoy an intentional user experience. Not only will you increase your likelihood of conversion, but you’ll also provide a memorable first impression that will keep customers coming back.

6. Diversify your affiliate channels

When you think of affiliate marketing, you might picture a product roundup on a blog post or a viral Instagram Reel from a notable influencer. In reality, affiliate marketing is many things—and you should take advantage of them all.

By utilizing multiple channels, you can reach a wider audience than ever before. Depending on your brand, you might target one or more of the following:

• Affiliate email marketing – With affiliate email marketing, you dodge the spam filter by having an already-trusted source reach out to your target audience on your behalf. With the average email open rate hovering around 21%, you’re guaranteed to have eyes on your affiliate content.³
• Social media (influencers) – 59% of brands partner with influencers to expand their reach via social media platform.⁴ And there’s a reason influencers have dominated the affiliate marketing space in recent years. By connecting with potential customers in a casual, everyday setting like TikTok or Instagram, affiliated influencers earn their audience’s trust—then pass that on to you.
• Blogs and other publications – From news organizations to personal blogs, write-ups have long been staples of affiliate marketing. While an article may not reach as many people as a viral video, the long-form approach allows for quality over quantity—not to mention valuable SEO gains. 
• Coupon, loyalty and review sites – Occupying a different online space than media outlets, these sites reach consumers at all points of the customer journey. With a staggering 93% of consumers today reading online reviews before purchasing a product or service, this affiliate space is certainly one to prioritize.⁵

7. Don’t discount the micro-influencer

More eyes translates to more clicks, right? Well, maybe. But are they meaningful clicks?

While you may be interested in partnering with a mega-famous Instagram star, so is everyone else. The high competition means popular influencers can charge an arm and a leg for a partnership. And even if you do land a contract with a superstar, how can you guarantee that they’ll focus enough on your brand and not on their other partners? You can’t.

Micro-influencers (those with 10k–50k followers on social media)⁶ provide a welcome alternative.

When you partner with a smaller blog, content creator or website, you open your marketing to several possible advantages, including:

• Reduced costs – Lesser-known influencers are often more willing to accept a smaller affiliate commission.
• Authenticity – Smaller creators post less sponsored content overall, so their audiences have less “marketing fatigue” and more trust. 
• Specificity – Micro-influencers tend to occupy niche markets, allowing you to work with prospective affiliates who align with your exact target audience. 

Bonus tip: Let affiliate marketing experts do the work for you

If you want to implement all of these tips at once (and dozens of others), consider working with a digital growth marketing firm like Power Digital. Partnering with seasoned affiliate marketing experts saves you time vetting prospective affiliates, strategizing content, and optimizing your website. And the sales? They’ll come flowing in. 

At Power Digital, we take affiliate management to the next level by handling the nitty-gritty for you. From start to finish, we’ll take care of every part of the process. Our team will analyze your current efforts to see what’s working, connect your brand with world-class affiliates and fine-tune as we go—with your vision and goals at the helm. 

Ready to see where we can grow together? Drop us a line—we’d love to chat.

Sources: 

1. Statista. Affiliate marketing spending in the United States from 2010 to 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/693438/affiliate-marketing-spending/
2. Think with Google. Marketing Strategies. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/app-and-mobile/mobile-page-speed-conversion-data/
3. Mailchimp. 2022 Email Marketing Statistics and Benchmarks by Industry. https://mailchimp.com/en-ca/resources/email-marketing-benchmarks/
4. Kinsta. 17 Affiliate Marketing Statistics You Need to Know In 2022. https://kinsta.com/affiliate-academy/affiliate-marketing-statistics
5. Trust Mary. Reviews » Online Reviews: Statistics That Will Blow Your Mind [2022]. https://trustmary.com/reviews/online-reviews-statistics-that-will-blow-your-mind/
6. Forbes. Micro-Influencers: When Smaller Is Better. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/06/02/micro-influencers-when-smaller-is-better

The post 7 Affiliate Marketing Tips appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

Well, you can. It’s called affiliate marketing.

While it’s nothing new, affiliate marketing continues to trend upward as more and more brands lean into having third parties vouch for them. 2022 saw businesses spend $8.2 billion on affiliate marketing in the U.S. market, and if the historic data is anything to go by, 2023 will be even bigger.¹

Whether you’ve tried affiliate marketing or not, now is the ideal time to start perfecting your approach. To help you see what optimized affiliations can bring in 2023 and beyond, we’ve put together this list of six affiliate marketing strategies.

1. Offer exclusive promos

At its core, an affiliate marketing strategy is a straightforward partnership. Your brand teams up with a website, blogger or influencer and rewards them for generating clicks or sales for your business. 

Usually, the reward is a commission on the sales they bring in (as tracked by a unique link or code), but it could also be a flat rate. The affiliate partner promotes your product to their supporters, and you acquire some new leads.

The issue with this model is the lack of benefits for the consumer. While you and the affiliate stand to gain financially, the average person has no real reason to try a product that a vlogger says is worthwhile—even if it’s their favorite creator.

With that in mind, offering a deal to your affiliate’s audience is essential. But it shouldn’t be just any deal. It should be exclusive to that affiliate. Whatever it is—a steeper discount or a BOGO offer, perhaps—if it creates a sense of exclusivity, it benefits everyone.

An exclusive promo becomes a win-win-win for you, your affiliate and the consumer:

• Your brand enjoys more targeted interest, clicks and sales.
• The affiliate gains a reason for new people to view their content.
• The consumer scores an opportunity to try a product vetted by someone they trust at a discount.

2. Set up a tiered payment model

Because most affiliate marketing contracts work on a commission model, there’s already a built-in incentive to promote your brand. However, stagnant commission fees don’t inspire a strong, continued work ethic—especially as inflation looms.

To further incentivize your affiliates, you can set up a tiered commission model that works like this: The more business an affiliate generates, the higher their commission becomes. For example, you could set your initial affiliate commission fee to 5%. After 200 sales, maybe their cut rises to 7.5%; at 1000 sales, it jumps to 10%. 

Now affiliates have a reason to promote your brand in the long term.

The bottom line? Find ways to incentivize your affiliates. When done correctly, the additional volume generated by your top-performing affiliates will drive revenue and balance out larger commission fees.

3. Keep the communications coming

On the topic of continued, fruitful partnerships with affiliates, one affiliate marketing strategy stands out: Communication.

One of the most important affiliate marketing tips is keeping up effective and clear communication with your partners. The best affiliate marketing partnerships are ongoing ones. Over several years, a single hard-working affiliate partner can massively boost your bottom line and customer loyalty. However, they can’t do it alone—they need your support.

A successful affiliate marketing program requires regular two-way communication. While it’s tempting to think of affiliate marketing as an effortless growth machine, the reality is that you still need to put work into the relationship. 

For your affiliates to perform at their best, they need to know about:

• Messaging changes
• New products
• New promotions
• Best practices
• Deadlines

To keep affiliates up-to-date, you can:

• Set up a newsletter for affiliates – Add an affiliate newsletter sign up to your website, or BCC all your partners in a monthly email.
• Create an online portal – While it may take some extra effort, a self-service portal for affiliates will free up time in the long run.
• Communicate directly – An email blast may feel too impersonal for your most significant partnerships. Consider calling or emailing your biggest players directly.

4. Tackle affiliate marketing from all angles

Are you familiar with the Marketing Rule of 7? It’s a classic business adage that suggests consumers need to see your marketing efforts seven times before they buy in.²

Whether you believe in a magic number or not, there’s a kernel of truth to the rule: Exposure leads to opportunities.

Creating an effective affiliate marketing strategy involves all the angles. To maximize exposure in your affiliate marketing campaign, you need to think about the customer journey and find ways to insert your brand into each part.

From beginning to end, the customer’s journey through affiliate marketing will (often) look like this:

• Content sites – This is the classic “awareness” stage. Whether it’s a media site like BuzzFeed or a social media platform like TikTok, high-traffic content aggregators allow you to cast a wide net. For many, this stage will be the first impression of your brand.
• Review sites or specialized blogs – Once a consumer is aware of you, they may start researching your brand. At this point, their search will likely lead them from general content sites to more niche publications.
• Loyalty and cashback sites – Savvy shoppers often head to cashback sites like Rakuten first to read reviews and save money.
• Coupon and deal sites – When the consumer is finally ready to buy, they might head to a deal website like RetailMeNot.

When you partner with affiliates across each of these platforms, you can all but guarantee eyes on your brand. Eventually, some of those eyes will turn to the Check Out button on your website.

5. Affiliate marketing meets artificial intelligence

Whether you like it or not, AI is on the rise in most industries. Instead of running from the future, embrace it head-on—including using it for your affiliate program.

The sooner you familiarize yourself with AI-powered tools for affiliate marketing, the sooner you can focus on other harder-to-automate tasks.

Here are some of the responsibilities that AI can simplify for you and your team:

• Analytics – Toolsets like Google’s Analytics Intelligence exploit machine learning to give you precise data—and even actionable insights—without coding.³ In moments, AI can tell you which channels are performing best.
• Fraud detection – From affiliates generating phony clicks to false positive transactions, fraud is always a concern. AI prediction and detection tools can keep you safe.⁴
• Keyword research – Services like Twinword offer AI-powered keyword tools for all your written affiliate marketing content needs. If you’ll be supplying blog or media partners with a list of desired keywords, these tools will save you time.
• Affiliate questions – If you have a particularly large affiliate marketing program, you may be able to use AI chatbots to field simple questions from affiliates. Your response time will be quicker, your answers will be consistent and your affiliates will never be without support.

As mentioned, if your affiliate marketing work will involve written content or blogs, search engine optimization, AI tools, analytics, and more all are beneficial for your program.

6. Go international

If you’re ready for an advanced affiliate marketing strategy, consider going international. If you’re only focusing your affiliate marketing on North American or European creators (and audiences), you’re missing out on billions of potential customers.

Depending on the product or service you offer, you can easily partner with affiliates around the world. From South America to Asia, there are countless opportunities to team up with local publications and creators.

In many ways, affiliate marketing is the best entry point into a new market. When your brand makes its first foray into a foreign country, you have minimal name recognition—and no insight into the landscape.

An international affiliate acts as your translator. A locally-based influencer or media outlet can tailor your instructions to their (already captive) audience. Immediately, you gain access to hyperlocal cultural and regional knowledge. And, because affiliate marketing is relatively risk-free, you can experiment in new markets without blowing your budget.

Of course, operating in different countries means following a different set of laws and regulations. Be sure to loop in your legal team before branching out—otherwise, your explorations may not last long.

Let a growth marketing firm handle strategy for you

Although affiliate marketing is a tried-and-true approach to growth with clear benefits, knowing which strategies are best to attain such growth isn’t as straightforward. Here, we’ve touched on a handful of ways to improve your affiliate marketing efforts. But these are only the tip of the iceberg. If you’re ready to learn how to start affiliate marketing, consider teaming up with an agency.

When you partner with a tech-enabled growth firm and digital marketing agency like Power Digital, you gain access to the entire picture. Thanks to years of diving into the murky waters of marketing, we provide deep insights into future-proof strategies.

Our affiliate management program takes the strategizing off your plate, allowing you to focus on what you do best—whatever that may be. To learn more about making affiliate marketing work for you, drop us a line or get a proposal. We’d love to be affiliated with you.

Sources: 

1. Statista. Affiliate marketing spending in the United States from 2010 to 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/693438/affiliate-marketing-spending/
2. Forbes. How To Maximize Your Marketing Message. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/08/02/how-to-maximize-your-marketing-message
3. Google. About Analytics Intelligence. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7411707
4. IBM. AI improves fraud detection, prediction and prevention. https://www.ibm.com/uk-en/analytics/fraud-prediction

The post 6 affiliate marketing strategies for 2023 appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

However, reviews aren’t the only one-way ticket to brand growth and loyalty. Another way to build trust and grow your revenue through social proof is to harness affiliate marketing. This strategy provides third parties payment in exchange for promoting a product. Whether you partner with a social media influencer or a well-known magazine, affiliate marketing can open you up to a world of new potential customers—for a relatively small investment.

Regardless of the size of your brand, you can use this tried-and-true marketing strategy to your advantage. As is often the case, the trickiest part is starting out. With that in mind, we’ve put together this step-by-step guide on how to start affiliate marketing.

Step 1: Define your demographic

One of the most important affiliate marketing tips is defining your demographic. Before you can try affiliate marketing, you need to understand whom you’re marketing to. If you’ve been in business for a while, you likely know your target audience already. However, you need to understand more than the typical age and gender of your customers to run a successful affiliate program.

There are billions of social media accounts, blogs, newspapers and review sites out there.² Because there’s so much choice, publications and influencers tend to create content that caters to a particular niche. When you know which chosen niche your ideal customers fall under, you’ll know which affiliates to work with and which to avoid.

For this reason, the process starts with a deep dive into your demographic data. One way to pinpoint your ideal customer is to develop one or more buyer personas.

A buyer persona is a sketch of a fictional customer that represents the “perfect” fit for your brand. To come up with these personas, you’ll want to think about the following details:

• Age
• Gender
• Income level
• Education level
• Personal values
• Hobbies and interests
• Likes and dislikes
• Media consumption habits
• Other lifestyle choices

By the end, you’ll have an outline of the consumer who supports—or whom you want to support—your brand. The clearer your picture is, the easier your next steps will be in creating an affiliate marketing campaign and strategy.

Step 2: Decide on a payment model

Now that you’ve homed in on your ideal audience, it’s time to think about how you’ll reach those people through affiliate marketing. But before you start thinking of potential affiliates and making offers, you’ll need all your ducks in a row.

First up: Let’s talk money.

The good news is that affiliate marketing is a relatively affordable option for brands of every size, even a small business. Still, your expenses (and your affiliate program’s success) will depend on how you compensate your partners.

In general, there are three ways to structure your payments:

1. A percentage of sales (commission)

The commission model is the most common contract for affiliate marketing partnerships. This model incentivizes your affiliates to become true ambassadors for your brand. How? When an affiliate stands to earn more by talking more about your brand, they probably will.

The process is simple: Your affiliate partner promotes your product or service and encourages consumers to check it out. For each sale they facilitate from the affiliate product, they earn a small commission (often between 5 and 15%). To track an affiliate’s sales, you’ll usually provide them with a unique purchase link or a personalized promo code that customers can enter at checkout.

Affiliate Commission-based partnerships are appropriate for most scenarios. There’s no upfront cost for you (a rare phenomenon in marketing) and there’s a clear incentive to push your product.

2. A flat rate

Of course, the issue with offering a percentage is that there’s no telling how much you might spend. While low-risk, commission-based models can slowly eat into your margins.

One alternative? Offering a one-time payment in exchange for coverage.

Flat-rate spending makes budget balancing a breeze, as there’s no uncertainty around how much you’ll spend on your affiliate marketing campaign. However, a fixed payout doesn’t encourage your affiliates to vouch tirelessly for your brand. Instead, you’ll receive exactly what you paid for—one listicle, a few short TikToks or an affiliate email marketing blast.

3. An exchange of products or services

If your marketing budget is on the smaller side, you can also ask affiliates to promote your brand in exchange for your products.

Ideally, you’ll use this model sparingly—after all, free shoes or software don’t pay the bills. When you’re not offering cold, hard cash, you probably won’t see as many takers.

Still, like other affiliate marketing strategies, this one has its uses. Freebies are especially effective when you’re trying to drum up unbiased product reviews.

Step 3: Draft a contract

Once you’ve settled on a payment model, you can begin drafting a standard contract for your soon-to-be affiliates. Consider crafting a template. That way, it’ll be easier to modify it for future campaigns or partnerships.

Ideally, your affiliate contract should include:

• Definitions – Clearly defining each term at the beginning of the contract guarantees clarity.
• Relationship – Notably, affiliates are not employees. It’s wise to clarify this distinction within the contract.
• Payment model and timelines – Here, you’ll explain how and when you’ll pay your affiliate. Will this be through a commissioned affiliate link, a flat rate, etc. 
• An NDA/confidentiality section – If you have to provide insider info to help an affiliate market your product, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) protects your intellectual property.
• Termination details – This section should cover when the contract ends, what happens when it does and what (if anything) could lead to an early termination of the partnership.

Note that this is not legal advice. Before you send out your contract, you may want to touch base with a legal professional as well.

Step 4: Create your how-to guide for affiliates

All of the legalese is only ½ of your contract. The other portion of your affiliate partnership agreement should cover the dos and don’ts of posting about your brand. To ensure you see successful affiliate marketing efforts the way your brand sees it, consider a branded document for each content creator or affiliate partner. A branded document guides your affiliates toward quality content creation that aligns with your branding, values and messaging.

Some stipulations to include are:

• How to say or write out your brand name.
• Types of acceptable advertisements with examples.
• Where a partner can and can’t display their affiliate link.
• The ideal length of an article or video.
• Words or phrases to say/avoid.
• Hashtags to use.

Keep in mind that the more you ask of your affiliates, the more you’ll want to fork over to ensure a job well done. 

Step 5: Assemble your affiliates

With a plan and an ironclad contract in place, you’re ready to approach the potential affiliates you want as partners.

For some platforms—namely social media and blogs—you can go directly to the source. Sending a direct message or email to a content creator can certainly bring you results. However, unsolicited requests may go unread, especially if you’re dealing with a high-profile entity.

To find people who are actively soliciting affiliate partnerships, you can turn to affiliate marketplaces. These platforms put a network of creators and publications at your fingertips. While these sites are convenient and may help stretch your marketing budget further, your mileage may vary.

Want the best of both worlds? For a low-effort approach that brings results, you can always join forces with an affiliate marketing agency. An agency can handle the ins and outs of setting up partnerships while all but guaranteeing success. You’re also far more likely to see a return on your investment.

Step 6: Analyze and react

Finally, it’s worth noting that your responsibilities don’t end when the contracts are signed. To squeeze every last drop from your affiliate marketing budget, you should monitor your partners and react as needed.

Unlike traditional marketing efforts, you can modify an affiliate program at the drop of a hat (contract permitting, of course). For example, if you notice a blog post is barely generating clicks, you can suspend your partnership. If one of your partners is absolutely crushing it, you can offer them a higher commission to further incentivize their work and possibly increase affiliate revenue.

By paying attention to where your campaign is making waves, you can slowly develop a long-standing affiliate program that runs in the background. From there, you can sit back and watch the sales come in.

Start affiliate marketing today with Power Digital

While it may only be a six-step process, starting an affiliate marketing program for your brand requires significant time and effort. It’s worth it, of course. But in a world where time always seems to slip away, sometimes it pays—literally—to have the experts handle the affiliate marketing efforts for you.

At Power Digital, we’re the growth marketing firm  that makes effortless affiliate marketing possible. If you want a no-risk path to more site traffic and higher SEO rankings, our affiliate management strategy is the answer.

Let’s partner up and find you the best affiliate partners.

Sources: 

1. Trustpilot. Social proof: What is it, and why is it important for eCommerce? https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/what-is-social-proof-and-why-is-it-important-for-marketing
2. Statista. Number of social media users worldwide from 2018 to 2027. https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/

The post How to start affiliate marketing for your business appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

The site has incredible reach: 500 million people use it daily, 90% of them follow at least one business² and 70% of Instagram users open the app to make purchasing decisions.¹ 

With these stats, it’s no wonder Instagram is a leading marketing tool. Here’s everything you need to know to join the 200+ million businesses on consumers’ Instagram feeds.¹ 

The advantages of Instagram for businesses

Whether you’re wanting to learn more about affiliate marketing strategies or simply looking for ways to market your business yourself, Instagram has endless advantages to doing so. Social media networks like Instagram provide global exposure for brands with just a few clicks, an eye-catching profile photo and engaging posts. To build brand awareness, businesses can use a variety of tools, including stories, reels, targeted Instagram ads and product tags to instigate purchases, humanize its value propositions and establish themselves as a trusted brand.

Instagram also provides companies with opportunities to closely engage with customers by conducting weekly polls on Instagram stories, interacting with comments on posts and responding to direct messages. 

To gain an understanding of follower trends and content performance, businesses can view Instagram Insights, which provide a look into:²

• Accounts reached
• Accounts engaged
• Content interactions
• Ad
• Plays
• Total followers

With this data, companies can equip themselves with knowledge that can inform marketing strategies, product launches and user research. 

Partnering with a digital marketing and social media agency can also help bring your efforts to the next level.

How to leverage Instagram as a business

Building a brand on Instagram is similar to decorating the scariest home in the neighborhood on Halloween. In other words, you’ll want to curate a captivating experience that brings everyone to your front door to receive your offerings. The best news is that there are plenty of Instagram tools at your disposal. We’ve outlined how to use Instagram below so you can create an effective Instagram strategy for your business.

1. Determine your objectives

Instagram’s sheer reach may feel like reason enough to use it as a marketing tool. However, it’s critical to join the social media platform with a clear business plan to create a business profile that speaks to your target audience with purpose.

Defining your objectives can inform your marketing strategy and provide you with a framework that drives your voice, marketing initiatives and consumer relationships. For example, companies may utilize Instagram to:

• Keep customers in the loop – Whether you’re a local boutique or a fine arts retailer, Instagram provides effective and compelling content tools to keep customers in the know. Eye-catching feed posts can be used to announce an upcoming sale or event, introduce a new team member, promote a new product, or support a local partnership.
• Build and maintain a community – At the forefront of social media is community. Creating a business profile that consumers can interact with cultivates customer loyalty and trust in your brand. More specifically, Instagram allows you to interact directly with your clients and followers to share news, answer questions and open up a dialogue about their needs, wishes and goals.
• Showcase the company’s core values and community – Research indicates that consumers are increasingly attracted to companies whose values correspond with their own. In fact, a 2021 survey reports that 60% of respondents purchased from a brand because of their shared values.³ Brands can create a brand personality through unique language and a curated aesthetic.

Need inspiration? Consider the Instagram campaigns that spurred you into action or increased your interest in a company. Assess how your competitors are using Instagram as well, and which of their posts generated a large number of likes, follows, shares and comments.

2. Establish your ideal target audience

To establish your ideal target audience, start with your existing customers or Instagram followers. Through user research and surveys, identify the wants and needs of your audience by determining:

• Age
• Location
• Passions
• Motivations

Don’t have a client base yet? Again, check out your competitors. Their followers—especially those who express their love for the brand in comments and shares—can tell you a great deal about your target audience and how to connect with them. 

3. Determine your persona before stepping into the game

Knowing who you are as a company is just as vital as familiarizing yourself with your target audience. Before you begin posting on Instagram, it’s important to lay out a plan for the way you want to communicate with current and potential customers.

That said, consistency is key in digital marketing, and an Instagram business account that’s at odds with your website or Facebook account through misaligned messaging or schema can give a consumer whiplash and impact their trust in your company.

As such, when creating an Instagram profile, every business must consider:

• Tone of voice – The tone of voice you adopt for your Instagram posts should mirror either the ethos you’ve already established on other digital platforms or the foundational values of the company you’re getting off the ground. Naturally, this should align with your products and/or services. A poetic, inspirational tone of voice may work beautifully for a company that sells organic, handmade soaps, while a retailer that sells skateboards can benefit from a more relaxed tone of voice that speaks specifically to industry expertise. 
• Color scheme – A consistent color scheme is equally crucial. Drawing time and again from the same part of the color palette will give your account cohesion and polish. A cohesive feed also makes your brand both recognizable and memorable. Per design principles, businesses typically utilize monochrome, analogous, complementary or triadic color schemes to create contrast and balance that’s pleasing to the eyes of Instagram users.⁴
• Content – Millions (literally) of companies use a combination of photo posts, reels and stories to create a dynamic brand identity. Whatever you choose, there should be a certain consistency and cadence to the Instagram content you publish.⁵ Posting memes for weeks on end only to slide in a live video of your team behind the scenes may cause a follower to doubt the credibility of your company. It’s optimal to deliver relevant and reliable content on a consistent basis.

4. Open an Instagram business account

Once you’ve established the framework of your brand voice, content, and objectives, it’s finally time to download Instagram’s splashy ombre icon and build your business profile from the ground up:¹  

• Step 1 – Sign up with your business’ email address.
• Step 2 – Head to Settings, then Account and switch your profile to a professional account.
• Step 3 – Select a category that aligns with your business.
• Step 4 – Add your contact information, and you’re ready to begin posting.

5. Optimize your business profile

Data demonstrates that we have all of seven seconds to make a stellar first impression with consumers.⁶ Daunting? No doubt. But it’s also an opportunity to further develop and refine your brand. There are two ways to capture audience attention off the bat:

• Be super judicious with your profile pic – Profile pics on Instagram are tiny—110 by 110 pixels, to be exact.⁷ Concision here is key. If you don’t have a logo in place, deem it a priority. Whether you choose the first letter of your company’s name or a design, aim to make it captivating, colorful and memorable. 
• Craft a pitch-perfect bio – Instagram grants users 150 characters for their bio, which underscores the importance of ensuring yours is punchy, succinct and enthralling. If possible, aim to convey your core principles and the lifestyle you advocate rather than just the products and services you offer. (For an example of this, check out @aloyoga: Bringing yoga to the world. Inspiring mindful movement from studio to street.) You’ll also want to include your website and, if it makes sense for your industry, your location.

6. Deep dive into Instagram’s range of posting options

One of the beauties of Instagram is that it gives businesses a great deal of creative liberty. But this is only valuable if you know how to use and take advantage of its different types of posts. 

Whether you choose to work with a tech-enabled growth firm or tackle Instagram on your own, understand the advantages of each type of post:

• Photos – Instagram feeds are the backbone of every business account, they provide a consistent look into your brand, your offerings, and your values.
• Carousels – Brands can boost social media engagement and showcase a collection of new products using carousels, which allow up to 10 photos per Instagram post. 
• Stories – Stories can increase brand awareness and keep customers up-to-date on upcoming deals or events. 
• Live stories – Instagram live stories help brands connect with their community members. Customers can interact directly with comments and brands can add guests to the live stream to create rhetoric around a product or service. 
• Reels – Instagram reels are snappy and often creative videos that give your audience a front-row view of your brand. They can increase your following and boost engagement rates. 

These are incredibly valuable Instagram tools that businesses can use in their social media marketing efforts when executed successfully. 

7. Build an editorial calendar

Brand consistency extends beyond language and aesthetics. It also applies to the consistency in which you publish content to the platform, as this can build brand recognition and trust. 

Some companies choose to post daily; others, multiple times per day. 

Examine your competitors’ frequency and analyze your Instagram insights to determine the best times to reach your target audience. From there, you can develop an editorial calendar to stay on top of your content strategy. 

8. Use relevant hashtags

Hashtags are the lighthouses of the Instagram marketing world, guiding consumers to your reels, stories and business profile. While Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, an overuse of hashes can appear gimmicky at times and take away from your brand authority. 

That said, a tech-enabled growth firm like Power Digital can assist your company in finding relevant and trending hashtags that speak directly to your target audience. 

Reach—and exceed—your potential with Power Digital

Instagram’s enormous popularity, user-friendly features and visual nature have established it as a marketer’s dream platform. Whether you’re taking your initial dive into digital marketing or are searching for strategies to increase your exposure, it can be a fantastic forum to connect with customers, build brand awareness, and expand your reach. If you’re ready to launch your Instagram strategy, consider partnering with a digital marketing agency like Power Digital. 

Power Digital has the marketing prowess and data intelligence tools to take your efforts to the next level. As a tech-enabled growth firm, we work alongside our clients to help them rise above the noise and make a genuine impact—on Instagram and beyond. 

Let’s get the conversation started. 

Sources:

1. Instagram for Business. Getting starters on Instagram for business. https://business.instagram.com/getting-started/
2. Instagram. About Instagram Insights. https://help.instagram.com/788388387972460 
3. The Source. Consumer values, brand expectations change in 2020. https://source.wustl.edu/2021/05/consumer-values-brand-expectations-change-in-2020/
4. SitePoint. Principles of Design: Color. https://www.sitepoint.com/principles-of-design-colour/ 
5. Forbes. Why consistency is the key to successful branding. https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/12/13/why-consistency-is-the-key-to-successful-branding/?sh=5ae33c327bbd
6. Forbes. You and your business have 7 seconds to make a first impression: here’s how to succeed. https://www.forbes.com/sites/serenitygibbons/2018/06/19/you-have-7-seconds-to-make-a-first-impression-heres-how-to-succeed/?sh=7f7a0a5a56c2
7. Expert Photography. Instagram profile picture size guide. https://expertphotography.com/instagram-profile-picture-size-guide/
8. Business of Apps. Instagram revenue and usage statistics https://www.businessofapps.com/data/instagram-statistics/

The post How to Use Instagram for Businesses appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

Instagram’s widespread popularity is well-known. What may be less clear? How you can use its powerful reach to your brand’s advantage. (Because you definitely should be.) 

It’s time to scroll through your ultimate guide to Instagram marketing. In this feed, we’ll bring to light the benefits of both organic and paid Instagram marketing, strategies on leveraging Instagram’s algorithm to grow your brand, and how to get started.

Why choose Instagram marketing?

Instagram has tremendous reach potential, allowing your brand the chance to reach thousands, if not millions, of new target audience members. With paid Instagram ads, you can also zero in on exactly what types of consumers see your content. 

To date, Instagram boasts: 

• 500 million daily users³
• Two billion monthly active users globally, projected to grow to 2.5 billion in 2023,^2,3
• A primary audience (70%) of users under the age of 35 with Millennial buying power³

With the help of Instagram story, reels, posts, and more, creating an instagram marketing strategy can be beneficial for you brand. In other words, the social media platform offers businesses an excellent chance to gain tremendous exposure.

The benefits of Instagram marketing

A quick glimpse at Instagram’s beginnings demonstrates IG’s star power:

• Its debut in 2010 drew in 25,000 users in a single day. 
• Its growth has been called “exponential” by the likes of Forbes.⁴
• Before it turned three, Facebook scooped Instagram up for $1B in stocks and cash. 

How does this help brands? Instagram’s inherent nature is what made it instantly attractive: it’s first and foremost a visual platform. 

This lends itself well to marketing, whether you’re a salon that specializes in invisible hair extensions or a nonprofit that focuses on saving the oceans. Case in point, visual content generates 650% more engagement than word-filled, text-based content.⁵

Aside from its visual prowess, Instagram can: 

• Promote brand exposure – Brand awareness is one of the golden tickets to a thriving business. Instagram facilitates exposure and recognition—not only because of its exceptionally high number of users but also because 70% of IG users turn to the platform to get inspo for their next purchase.⁶ A perfect way to reach potential customers and grow your audience.
• Improve shopability – Instagram released shoppable posts in 2018, allowing brands to include prices and other product info on their product images. In as little as two clicks, a consumer can procure a product or service from your Instagram shop. That’s a whole lot of ROI waiting to happen.
• Increase brand relevance – Brands that keep up with trends and stand up for positive social change on social media have the chance to develop an emotional bond with their target customers.⁷ Maybe you support Black Lives Matter (BLM). Perhaps you strive for #diversityandinclusion in the workplace. Whatever the case may be, Instagram gives you the opportunity to join the conversation and express your core values to attract consumers that resonate with them. 
• Elevate engagement – From direct messages (DMs) to story Q&As, Instagram fosters relevant, real-time engagement between you and your target customers. Instagram can simultaneously increase your engagement quantity and quality by paving a pathway for consumers to connect with you early, often, and genuinely. 

As an example, take a look at the luxury makeup brand Ogee. They draw viewers to their IG posts by featuring stunning models who provide short makeup tutorials. Viewers communicate directly with the company to inquire about application techniques, the right shade for their skin, Ogee’s return policy—you name it. This doesn’t just expedite communication; it humanizes your brand and deepens your connection with consumers.

How do marketers use Instagram?

From Instagram reels to ads and promoted posts, There is an exciting wealth of opportunity for brands to leverage Instagram’s massive user base and eerily observant algorithm. So what’s the best tactic for your brand? It all depends on what your goals are. (But if you ask us, employing a combination of all tactics can generate some seriously impressive growth metrics.) 

If you are ready to learn how to use Instagram advertising and marketing in favor of your business, you can start by understanding the strategies used on the social media platform. Some Instagram advertising strategies can include:

• Organic Instagram marketing – Organic social media strategy is the cornerstone of effective, long-term brand growth on Instagram. Posting value-adding Instagram content directly (and freely) to your feed can help build brand loyalty, increase shared reach, drive brand awareness and attract invaluable customer feedback. 
• Paid Instagram ads – Paid Instagram marketing is a branch off the pay-per-click tree that allows you to show your content only to people in your target demographic. This can help you minimize wasted ad spend while growing your following and customer base. You’ll also have access to more exhaustive performance metrics like the number of users your content reached and how many times your ads were clicked. 
• Affiliate Instagram marketing – Affiliate marketing, or more commonly known as influencer marketing on Instagram, employs influential users to do the legwork of promoting your brand for you. As a brand, you can partner with a popular user to plug your products or services into their content to catapult your reach, market share and traffic. You can learn more about Instagram influencer and affiliate marketing strategies to better understand their benefits for your brand. 
• Instagram Shopping – Instagram Shopping is an eCommerce engine built straight into the Instagram platform. It allows brands to set up a “shop,” similar to Amazon storefronts or your own eCommerce website, and tag product images with prices and convertible links. Users can complete purchases directly within Instagram shop to remove conversion barriers and move the needle on your revenue KPIs.⁸

Show me the way: how do I get started with Instagram marketing?

Half of Instagram users follow a business.⁹ This alone might suggest that jumping on the Instagram marketing bandwagon is a no-brainer. This is especially true if your brand is sitting on some high-quality content assets like photography or videos. Why not leverage these and turn over even more profit while expanding your brand footprint? 

If that all sounds like your cup of tea, here’s how to get started with Instagram marketing: 

#1 Get clear on your target audience

One important Instagram marketing tip that will have a significant influence on your efforts is understanding your followers and audience. You can’t reach your target audience if it’s not clear who they are. Before spending ad dollars or content-creating resources on Instagram efforts, make sure you and your marketing team are aligned on the persona you’re aiming to reach.

At minimum, decide on audience specifications such as:

• Age
• Gender 
• Geographical region
• Income bracket range
• Lifestyle and interests

If you’re unsure about who you should target, start by analyzing your existing customer data. What does your typical customer look like? How do they behave? What products do they love most? Odds are there are more people like them who could benefit from your brand, too. 

#2 Get acquainted with your competitors

You can learn plenty from your competitor’s successes (and their failures). Examine their accounts to get a general feel for their strengths and weaknesses.

Start by answering these questions: 

• When do they post, and how often?
• What type of content garners engagement? What does not?
• Is their audience more responsive to photos, Reels, or Stories?
• Which of their posts have attracted the most likes, shares, and engagement?

The more Instagram insights you can glean, the more clarity you’ll carry into your own marketing plan. Just be sure to showcase only original ideas on your own Instagram feed, as consumers these days are smart and can spot cloned content from a mile away. 

#3 Create an Instagram business account

After those strategic planning steps, the rest is easy. Instagram offers complimentary business accounts. If you already have an Instagram account, switching over to a Business Account is a cinch: 

1. Navigate to “Settings” in your current Instagram account. 
2. Select “Switch to Professional Account.”
3. Elect the business type that most closely matches yours.
4. Complete your profile. Use an instantly-recognizable photograph or your logo, create a brief, punchy bio (in 150 characters or less), and include the link to your website.

Your profile should be informative, accessible and eye-catching. It should also capture your brand’s personality and stand out from your competition. Spend time on this step: Instagram has over 200 million businesses and you don’t want to get lost in the noise.¹⁰ 

Which brings us to our next point…

#4 Build an authentic Instagram presence

It’s estimated that consumers are subjected to as many as 10,000 ads per day.¹¹

In a space like Instagram teeming with ads, it’s vital for brands to show up authentically to cut through the clutter. Most consumers can immediately spot a brand that screams inauthenticity—which often results in taking their business elsewhere. 

To design a meaningful Instagram presence that resonates with your target audience, consider these tactics:

• Develop your desired tone of voice – Is your company courageous and outspoken? Inspirational? Witty? Your tone of voice should mirror your products and/or services—and utilize language that’s in your target audience’s vernacular.
• Ensure brand consistency – Nothing can inflict consumer doubt like a company that lacks cohesion and consistency online. Consumers repeatedly rate brand consistency as one of the most important things they look for; it also has the potential to increase revenue by 33%.¹²
• Be transparent – Whether you use a certain ingredient in your company’s body butter or don’t offer complimentary shipping, be upfront about it. Honesty is synonymous with integrity, which goes a long, loyal way with today’s consumers.

Your long-term success on the platform will also depend on creating an editorial calendar, growing your followers, and practicing social listening, among other tasks—which you can tackle yourself or hand over to an expert social media agency like Power Digital. 

Harness the power of Instagram marketing with Power Digital

Instagram marketing can be a boon for your business, broadening your exposure and facilitating deeper bonds with your customers that ultimately lead to more sales. Partnering with a growth marketing firm can also help optimize your Instagram marketing efforts. 

Power Digital can help you flourish on Instagram and beyond. We work at the junction between consulting, marketing, and data intelligence to help new and established brands exceed their potential. With our social media marketing experts, you’ll have a proactive partner by your side to help your brand collect more likes, followers, and sales than you ever thought possible. 

Check out our social media marketing agency services today and drop us a line to get started.

Sources: 

1. Investopedia. Instagram: What is its, its history, and how the popular app works. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102615/story-instagram-rise-1-photo0sharing-app.asp
2. Search Engine Journal. The top 10 social media sites & platforms 2022. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-media/biggest-social-media-sites/
3. Business of Apps. Instagram revenue and usage statistics https://www.businessofapps.com/data/instagram-statistics/
4. Forbes. The best of social media: pros and cons of each platform.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2020/07/20/the-best-of-social-media-pros-and-cons-of-each-platform/?sh=22a5e1f21a3a
5. Inc.com. 16 eye-popping statistics you need to know about visual content marketing. https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/visual-content-marketing-16-eye-popping-statistics-you-need-to-know.html
6. Oberlo. 10 Instagram statistics you need to know in 2022. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/instagram-stats-every-marketer-should-know
7. Forbes. Brands need to embrace social change: here’s why. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/01/19/brands-need-to-embrace-social-change-heres-why/?sh=20731bd18328
8. Instagram. Instagram Shopping helps you reach new customers. https://business.instagram.com/shopping
9. Instagram for Business. Hitting 500,000 advertisers. Hitting 500,000 Advertisers | Instagram Business Blog | Instagram for Business
10. Instagram for Business. Getting started on Instagram for business. https://business.instagram.com/getting-started/
11. Forbes. Finding brand success in the digital world. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/08/25/finding-brand-success-in-the-digital-world/?sh=2950f91d626e
12. Oberlo. 10 branding statistics. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/branding-statistics
13. The Source. Consumer values, brand expectations change in 2020. https://source.wustl.edu/2021/05/consumer-values-brand-expectations-change-in-2020/

The post Instagram Marketing: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

The marketing tactic—a collaboration between a company and an influencer to boost brand awareness and sell a product or service—has skyrocketed in popularity. By 2025, it’s projected to expand to a $24.1 billion industry.¹

As consumers increasingly turn to influencers to make their purchasing decisions, even a cursory glimpse at our social media feeds reveals an influencer marketing strategy’s range and power. But just because influencer marketing seems to be everywhere doesn’t make it easy to keep a handle on how it works, and how it’s changing.

For that, we offer this blueprint for understanding influencer marketing as it exists today. Let’s unpack how the tactic works in practice and what to know before you add it to your marketing game plan.

The basics of influencer marketing

What is influencer marketing exactly? Think of influencer marketing as word-of-mouth recommendations on steroids: Essentially, an individual (or team) with clout endorses a business and the products, services or experiences they offer. 

In the digital age, influencer marketing first made it big in blogging. Today, it’s predominantly used on the most titanic social media sites, including: 

• TikTok
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube

An Influencer marketing strategy has untold benefits to offer brands who haven’t gotten in the game yet (we’ll get to those momentarily). But perhaps one of its most appealing advantages is that it humanizes brands and facilitates company-consumer trust branded content marketing strategies through real people.

Remember, nearly half of all consumers today take their purchase cues and recommendations from influencers.² Companies ranging from Alo Yoga to local independent restaurants rely on influencers to foster visibility, reach their target audience and drive sales.

What are influencers?

Influencers are the center of a successful influencer marketing strategy. We might all want Prince Harry to give our business a grand royal endorsement, but influencers arrive with a range of reaches, audience segments and personal flavors of content. 

And while traditional celebrities are natural mega-influencers, there are many instances where even those who lack fame through traditional channels still hold sway online—sometimes, even more than those with a multi-million following. 

These could be:

• Fitness professionals
• Photographers
• Foodies
• Travel vloggers
• Social media personalities
• Bloggers
• Authorities (dermatologists are massive on TikTok)

In other words, influencers are often ordinary people whose social media presence has the potential to impact purchasing decisions.

The influencer ecosystem: 4 different types to know

From social media influencer to content creator and blogger, there are different types of influencers. These Influencers are further broken down into four categories:

• Nano-influencers – These have a following in the 1K to 10K range. Their reach may seem limited but they’re typically super-engaged with their audience. (Consider it more of a boutique experience.) Nano influencers can be a terrific option for retailers working in a hyper-specific niche and local businesses.
• Micro-influencers – The next step up, these tastemakers have followings between 10K and 100K. They too are generally known for nourishing close relationships with their followers and are chosen for their relatability and authority in their field.
• Macro-influencers – This set has followings between 100K and one million (though some agencies cut off this number at 300K).³ Usually, these are individuals who have carved out a name for themselves on platforms like TikTok, YouTube and other social media sites—the Jeanuiseats and FashionJacksons of the bunch. They might be specialized in a single area, like food, or be popular for simply being themselves.
• Mega-influencers – These are the celebrity influencers, like Kim K. Their followings are astronomical, sometimes in the tens of millions. It goes without saying that mega influencers can fuel brand awareness, but people generally follow them because they’re famous—not because they’re looking for product recommendations. Indeed, 70% of teens trust non-celebrity influencers more.²

For brands, each type of influencer has its pros and cons. Different influencer tiers come at different costs, degrees of management and creative collaboration.

How much does influencer marketing cost?

The cost of an influencer marketing campaign is contingent upon factors like:³

• The tier of potential influencer (i.e. nano- vs. mega-influencers)
• The scope of your influencer marketing campaign
• The social media platform(s) you elect to use (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and so forth)
• The degree of the influencer’s expertise
• The kind of content your influencer campaign uses (e.g. TikTok videos, Instagram reels, photos, etc.)

Some influencers agree to a barter partnership—meaning, partners are compensated with a brand’s services and products. Others are paid on commission. Normally, though, influencers are financially compensated for their time, effort and reputation.

So, how much does an influencer marketing partnership cost exactly?

Because so many variables are involved, the cost of influencer marketing can vary dramatically:⁴

• I​​f your potential influencer uses Instagram, for example, a single Instagram marketing post may cost anywhere from $10 to $100 with a nano-influencer. With a macro-influencer, it could be between $5,000 to $10,000.
• Youtube influencers tend to be compensated more. Nano-influencers typically make between $20 and $2,000 for videos; a macro-influencer could earn up to $20,000.
• Compensation averages for TikTok are still in flux, ranging from nano-influencers’ $5 per video to $2,500 for mega-influencers.

It can be challenging to determine how much to pay influencers, and how much of your marketing budget should be allocated to influencer marketing. Partnering with a digital and influencer marketing agency can help you calculate a fair exchange between you and your influential collaborators.

What are the benefits of influencer marketing?

Some influencer marketing relationships may come with a hefty price tag, but they also have the potential to reap significant ROI. 

But the benefits aren’t just financial. Here are just a handful of influencer marketing’s long-term advantages for brands:

• It can cement your legitimacy as a brand—especially if you’re just getting started

• It can create a more trusting, authentic relationship with your target customers

• It promotes an engaged customer base

• It helps you find new customers
• It lets you learn more about what your target audience wants
• It boosts your brand’s scalability

In this day and age, the questions brands have to ask themselves isn’t if influencer marketing is effective, but rather how they’re going to make those partnerships happen.

How to get influencers to promote your product

When a brand and a social influencer enter into contract, it raises the stakes for both parties. Influencers want to put their face behind brands that merit consumer trust. Likewise, companies want their products promoted by influencers with strong bonds with their audience.

To that end, there are some important things to consider before deciding how to approach an influencer partnership:

• Consider who will resonate with your target audience – Your target audience should dictate the influencers you work with. Who do they follow and engage with on a regular basis? What type of influencer will give more value to your product by association?
• Consider medium – There are multi-hyphenate influencers who operate across platforms, but different channels can work to benefit different brands. An ASMR YouTuber could be a perfect match for an up-and-coming meditation app, while a TikTok MD could help rep a pharm-to-door medication delivery service.
• Prioritize engagement—not follower count – Social media engagement can have a significant impact on your strategy. A macro influencer might seem like a natural way to heighten visibility. But if they don’t engage with their followers that can be money down the drain for brands (to say nothing, of course, of the persistent problem of fake followers). Zero in on influencers who have a loyal base and actively, consistently engage with them.
• Align influencers with your values – An influencer who posts consistently about body positivity will be keener to partner with a brand that does the same. Be clear about your objectives and why you have specifically chosen them as a brand ambassador. Likewise, it’s important to investigate other partnerships they’ve set in motion to ensure there’s no conflict between what you represent as companies.
• Host an influencers event – An influencers event lets you communicate directly with multiple prospective collaborators at once. This is your time to identify who represents your core values and why a partnership with you is more valuable than a partnership with your competitors. This might result in some pivotal connections that could support your business in the long term.
• Work with a connector agency – Influencer marketing can be lucrative, but locating the ideal influencers and managing partnerships requires both expertise and effort. It’s also an ever changing strategy that requires attention. iInfluencer marketing in the future may work and look different compared to now. A digital marketing partner that has its own Tiktok agency or social media management team can help you at every point in the process, from identifying the most promising opportunities to managing the content influencers use to promote your brand. A digital marketing agency worth its salt will have a team of trusted influencers to work hand in glove with brands, whether they’re a household name or an up-and-comer.

Get more out of influencer marketing with Power Digital

Influencer marketing is a must for brands who want to expand their presence, reach their target audiences and make good on their ROI. But you don’t need to have a personal relationship with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow to advance consumer trust in your company.

At Power Digital, we connect brands with thousands of influencers across sectors, specialties and audience segments. Our data-focused approach uses NOVA analytics to evaluate your marketing needs, unite you with your ideal partners and execute a digital strategy (while taking care of your partnerships’ fine print).

Ready to get started? Reach out to us today to hit your next stride in growth.

Sources: 

1. Globe News Wire. Global influencer marketing platform industry report. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/01/04/2152794/0/en/Global-Influencer-Marketing-Platform-Industry-Report-2020-2025-Focus-on-Search-Discovery-Campaign-Management-Influencer-Relationship-Management-Analytics-Reporting.html
2. Digitial Marketing Institute. 20 surprising influencer marketing statistics.  https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/20-influencer-marketing-statistics-that-will-surprise-you
3. Forbes. How much do influencers cost? Here’s how to calculate costs for your next campaign. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/10/21/how-much-do-influencers-cost-heres-how-to-calculate-costs-for-your-next-campaign/?sh=22aa3817b8f1
4. Influencer Marketing Hub. Influencer Rates: How Much do Influencers Really Cost in 2022?  https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-rates/
5. Forbes. History of influencer marketing predates social media by centuries–but is there enough transparency in the 21st century?  https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2020/12/07/history-of-influencer-marketing-predates-social-media-by-centuries–but-is-there-enough-transparency-in-the-21st-century/?sh=122a902a40d7

The post What is Influencer Marketing? appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

Using our proprietary technology, nova, we uncovered compelling insights across swaths of advertiser data. The results? Even with increased promotions and a challenging economy, Power Digital’s clients outperformed last year’s BFCM (*mic drop*). 

Now, what about those insights? Grab a slice of panettone and strap in for the 2022 recap of BFCM findings straight from nova.

The high-level lowdown

Marketing is becoming more efficient across the board as a significant growth lever. This BFCM underscored that – take a peek at the numbers. 

• Brands spent -18% less on paid media than last BFCM so far…
• …but generated 4% more revenue than in 2021.
• Average Order Value (AOV) dropped 1.9% YoY, meaning consumers are still spending but are slightly more conservative about how much.
• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) decreased by -19% YoY.
• Marketing Effectiveness Ratio (MER), calculated by total revenue divided by total spend, was at 8.37 (+21% YoY), meaning that this year, brands got more bang for their buck.
• Cyber Monday was the softest day of this time period.

What can we learn from brands over BFCM?

Advertisers ran a tight ship this season. Zoom in on major learnings across brands and BFCM promotions had some surprising findings. Straight from our paid social team – these are the highlights.  

• Various growth brands had record revenue days.
• Scaling evergreen creatives/campaigns was key for most accounts, and in some cases, evergreen creative outperformed BFCM creatives.
• Even though some brands launched sales early this year, Friday was still the strongest day.
• Black Friday performance was strong even for brands that were NOT running promotions and focused more on exclusive drops or limited edition products.
• Less variance in the promotions per day compared to last year when there were different promos on different days.

Now for the TikTok edit

How did TikTok fare this BFCM season? The short answer: exquisitely. The channel quickly took its place in the mix, driving record revenue for Power Digital’s clients. Here’s what went down: 

• TikTok spend increased by +170% YoY, meaning that brands are starting to see the value in this channel.
• CPMs from TikTok averaged at around $10.88 (up +26% YoY), which is -53% lower than the Meta CPM seen across Power Digital’s greater client roster, meaning that TikTok ads got in front of more people at a lower cost than other platforms.
• In-platform and last-click GA ROAS during this Black Friday was higher than ever. On average, our clients scaled their daily budgets by more than 40% while ROAS increased by +54% compared to the month leading up to the Black Friday weekend.
• Creative learnings: trending content that used credit card sounds drove great engagement and ROAS, evergreen content that included a countdown sticker or a display card highlighting the discounts also saw great performance and was an easy way to iterate upon existing creative content. For some brands, warehouse or behind-the-scenes ads gained popularity as they drove great engagement and returns.

Looking for a partner to help you drive sales in the new year? Send us a quick note, and we’ll be in touch. 

The post Data Drop: Black Friday – Cyber Monday 2022 appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

The app isn’t just expected to balloon to 955.3 million active users by 2025.¹ At the time of this writing, more than 65% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 34—a much larger demographic than the app’s much-discussed 13 to 17 segment.² 

For brands, that’s a lot of potential to reel in audiences with real buying power with TikTok ads. Another significant reason to create a TikTok marketing strategy and take advantage of its advertising power for brand awareness and conversions. 

But how exactly can brands run paid ads so they cause a ripple effect?

This journey inside the social media app can help brands find out how to use TikTok and create ads that drive visibility, traffic and conversions.

Step 1: Create a business account

Before doing anything else, businesses will want to set up a TikTok business account. These are different from personal portals because they enable brands to:³

• Get to know their audience
• Track data points on ad engagement and performance
• Include direct links to products and storefronts
• Research what TikTok trends are active in their area (and how to jump in on them)

A business account also gives brands access to TikTok’s support services to troubleshoot issues with ads. For reliable technical support, analytics prowess and creative guidance, it’s beneficial to partner with a digital marketing agency that knows its way around TikTok.

Step 2: Choose a campaign objective

Once they’ve set up a business account on the social media platform, any ad a business runs on TikTok will start with these 3 steps:

1. Logging into TikTok Ads Manager
2. Clicking the Campaign button
3. Clicking Create

That’s the practical order of operations. The more complicated task is choosing the TikTok ad campaign’s objective—that core goal that’ll align a business’ goals with any ad it creates. 

Choosing an objective

TikTok identifies three objectives that brands can choose for every ad they create, and each of them affects how an ad will circulate on the platform. These are:⁴

• Awareness – This objective shows your ad to the maximum amount of people—making it optimal for brands looking to increase brand awareness using the TikTok platform. Businesses should choose this objective when they want their ads to introduce more people to their product or brand and attain the most leads.
• Conversion – For leads that are further along in their customer journey, brands may want to consider choosing conversion as their objective. Conversion asks people to take a specific action, like adding items to their carts, signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
• Consideration – This objective aims to entice prospective customers by giving them fresh information about a business. TikTok organizes consideration into four sub-goals:
  • Drive traffic
  • Increase app installs
  • Improve video views
  • Create lead generation

Each of these options could be advantageous for an ad, depending on which KPIs or 

broader marketing goals a business is looking to drive with their TikTok campaign.

In other words: If a business is looking to garner more interest, there’s an objective for that. And if they’re trying to double down on their conversion rate, with the right objective, TikTok ads make it possible.

Step 3: Name the campaign and set a budget

Once a brand has chosen their objective, it’s time to name the ad campaign. Two things to note here:

• The campaign encompasses all of the ad groups and advertisements within this campaign.
• The name won’t appear on each ad from the user side. Rather, it will help the brand’s team keep track of how each campaign progresses.

Next, businesses can determine how much money they want to allocate for this campaign. Selecting Campaign budget optimization gives TikTok permission to use funds towards the ads it believes have a higher chance of making a conversion. 

Many brands find they get more bang for their buck using this feature, since it typically lowers the cost per lead while achieving measurable results.

Step 4: Create an ad group

An ad group is a section of the overall campaign that contains similar characteristics.⁵ For example, a brand can group their ads by:

• Theme
• Product lines
• Service types
• Target audience

After naming the first ad group, brands can target this collection of ads by taking the following 5 sub-steps.

#1 Selecting ad placements

Creating an ad group starts with ad placement. Ad placements determine where ads will be seen by users. This means a brand must decide if they’d rather have their ads viewed on the TikTok app or on some of TikTok’s other extensions like BuzzVideo, TopBuzz or Babe.

Businesses who aren’t sure where their target audience hangs out can always select Automatic placement. With this option, the TikTok algorithm does the guesswork on the brand’s behalf, showing their ads to relevant users on various platforms.

However: If a business knows exactly where to find their target audience, they can choose Select placement instead. This allows brands to handpick the specific placements for their ad group.

#2 Choosing creative types

When choosing a creative type, brands will have the option to select Automated Creative Optimization. 

This option lets TikTok automatically combine some of a brand’s current creatives to include multiple ads in a campaign.⁶ The app will then show users content that’s currently performing the best so that the brand receives more high-quality traffic.

For businesses just starting out with TikTok ads, this can be immensely helpful—particularly for those coming up with a TikTok content marketing strategy from scratch. Once a business begins tracking its progress and monitoring engagement, it can begin tailoring advertisements without TikTok’s creative input (if it so chooses).

#3 Picking a target audience

An important aspect of any TikTok marketing strategy is understanding who the business’ target audience and potential followers are. If a brand’s target audience is 35 and up, there’s no point sending their ads out to 16-year-olds busy chasing the latest skincare ice bath craze.

Instead, businesses have the chance to narrow down their scope, target their brand’s audience and learn even more about what makes them Tik. Businesses can choose their TikTok demographics based on markers like:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Interests
• Income level

#4 Deciding on a budget and schedule

TikTok allows brands to choose between two different budget types for their ads:

• Daily budget – This is the total amount the business is willing to spend on this ad group each day. The minimum requirement for a daily budget is $20.
• Lifetime budget – This refers to the maximum the business will spend on the ad group throughout the campaign. As of now, there’s still a $20 per day minimum.

It’s important to note that budgets a brand approves will be the maximum amount it will spend. That’s not to say each day will completely max out at the upper limit—some days will use more money than others.

#5 Finalizing bidding and optimization

Bidding on TikTok is like putting in an offer at an auction: the goal is to have a bid that’s higher than competitors’ bids. The person with the highest bid has the best chance of having their ads seen by their target audience.

There are multiple types of bidding brands can partake in depending on their marketing objectives:⁸

• Cost Per 1000 Impressions (CPM) – The amount the business is willing to pay every time their ad is seen by 1000 users.
• Optimized Cost Per 1000 Impressions (oCPM) – oCPM is similar to CPM, but it’s even more laser-focused on the target audience. oCPM involves displaying an ad 1000 times for users who are more likely to complete a conversion.
• Cost Per 1000 Views (CPV) – The total a business will pay for 1000 people to watch at least 6 seconds of their ads.
• Cost per click (CPC) – How much the brand will spend every time someone clicks on their ad.

Step 5: Create an ad

The time has come: The last step is for brands to publish their creative and launch their TikTok ad.

After reaching the ad window in the app, here’s how businesses can go live:⁹

1. Name the ad – This helps brands tell their ads apart within the ad group.
2. Select a format – TikTok only accepts video format, whereas Buzzvideo allows videos and picture ads.
3. Insert the media – Media can be added from a computer, from previous ads or from a new video.
4. Enter the remaining elements – Next, brands should include the ad’s display name, an explanation of what they’re promoting, a call to action, a profile image and a URL of the website where they’d like to drive traffic.

Once complete, brands can give their ad a Preview to assess their handiwork. If they give it a gold standard approval, our fingers are crossed TikTokers will, too.

Take your TikTok strategy up a notch with Power Digital

TikTok is known for being one of the smartest apps in the tech sphere today—but to master it, you’ll need a marketing strategy, and a TikTok agency, that’s even sharper.

Power Digital is a growth marketing firm that’s been helping change-making clients make their mark through each new generation of media. We make gains for our clients on their terms, with a knife-edge analytics platform that identifies opportunities for brand expansion across the media ecosystem.

And when we see an opportunity, we seize it. To see what your custom marketing strategy could look like on fresh and established channels, reach out to Power Digital today.

Sources:

1. Statista. Number of TikTok users worldwide from 2020 to 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1327116/number-of-global-tiktok-users/
2. Oberlo. TIKTOK AGE DEMOGRAPHICS. https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/tiktok-age-demographics
3. TikTok. TikTok Business Account. https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-US/solutions/business-account
4. TikTok. Setting Up Your First Tik Tok Campaign. https://www.tiktok.com/business/en/blog/setting-up-your-first-tiktok-campaign
5. Google. Ad Group: Definition. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6298?hl=en
6. TikTok. Automated Creative Optimization. https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article?aid=6670043695674294277
7. TikTok. About Budget. https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article?aid=6712393859751477254
8. Ecomdy Media. How to Find the Right TikTok Ad Bidding.  https://blog.ecomdymedia.com/how-to-find-the-right-tiktok-ad-bidding-7e37a2b7614f
9. TikTok. Set Up an Ad. https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article?aid=9525

The post How to run TikTok ads in 2023: A 5-step guide appeared first on Power Digital Marketing.

Since its unveiling, TikTok’s popularity has expanded to countries around the world, and it’s taking all demographics by storm. Initially, the platform seemed to cater to a younger audience, with Gen-Z teenagers participating in the now-infamous dance trends. Yet with 43% of users in the 20- to 39-year-old age bracket,¹ there are now hundreds of millions of users with serious purchasing power. This is where it becomes increasingly important to consider a TikTok marketing strategy, for businesses large and small. When it comes to differences between TikTok and YouTube as video-sharing platforms, TikTok has proven to be a worthy opponent to the long-running YouTube. 

This helpful guide will serve as an introduction on how to use TikTok specifically for business—both for those who already dabble on the app and occasionally tune into the latest dance fads (no judgments) and those who are brand new to the world of TikTok.

Step 1: Create a business account

The first (unsurprising) step in using TikTok for business involves creating a business account. Setting it up is as easy as one, two, three… seven:

1. Open the TikTok app.
2. Create a personal account with an email address.
3. In the lower right-hand corner, click Me and then Edit Profile.
4. Click the three dots in the top-right corner and then Manage Account.
5. Choose Switch To Pro Account. Then, choose a Business account.
6. After that, select which category best represents the brand and click Next.
7. Add a business website and email address to the profile.

Bada bing bada boom—setup complete.

Step 2: Profile optimization

The social media platform is beyond just using TikTok sounds and hopping on trends. Businesses want to catch the interest of users at every point, starting with their TikTok profiles. A brand’s profile is its first impression, its digital storefront—and those running this storefront won’t want users to simply scroll past like they’re window shopping. Businesses using the platform need to pique users’ interest so that they come inside the store and peruse the displays. In other words, they want users to interact with their content.

With a blank canvas (à la that shiny new business profile), it’s time to showcase the brand:²

• Choose a fitting photo – This is the perfect place for a company logo. It associates the TikTok account with other areas of the brand, like its website, other social media platforms, and more, and increases brand awareness.
• Write an award-winning bio – A bio is like a short, but delicious menu—it lists the brand’s juicy details and leaves users wanting to order all of the food on the menu (or at least, click on its links to learn more). With only 80 characters, think brief but impactful. Include what the brand does, a call to action, and a sprinkle of emojis because, hey, if pictures are worth a thousand words, emojis are worth at least half that.
• Include a link – Once the user is drawn in with a CTA, a link to the brand’s website or other social media accounts at the end of the bio will give them something to sink their teeth into.

Once the brand’s profile is up and running, they’ll want to compare it to competitor accounts. If it feels similar, brands can zhuzh up their business’ bio with elements that are unique to the brand. 

Step 3: Get a lay of the land

Many businesses may already be wise to the wizarding world of traditional Social Media platforms, but TikTok is a completely different kind of magic. 

To take full advantage, it’s important to carve out time to learn TikTok and its unique medium. After all, the medium is the message (or so says Marshall McCluhan),³ meaning if businesses aren’t aware of the nuances of the platform, their messaging can fall flat unintentionally.

Is this the greatest excuse to scroll TikTok? Yes. 

Businesses engaging with a platform can make the most of their time by focusing on these elements:

• The working mechanics of the platform – Videos on the “For You” page can help brands find TikTok content similar to theirs and test out the editing features to see what’s possible. While scrolling, brands can map which types of messaging or narrative structures might draw in users.
• Scope out the competitors – Businesses can discover what types of content the competition is making for their target audience. Taking note of what resonates with the brand—and what doesn’t—can help with creative development when it’s time to join the ranks for real. 
• Pinpoint a target audience – If a brand isn’t already aware of who they should be catering their content to, this is their chance to find out. Competitor accounts will likely engage with the same audience they’re targeting, so they’ll want to keep an eye out for who they’re interacting with and identify the content that draws out the conversation—this is key for the next step.

Step 4: Produce enjoyable content

The stage is set, the audience is in their seats (or on the subway or in the elevator)—now it’s showtime. Taking into account the audience’s pain points and needs, as well as the discovery the brand has performed, the business will now need to start generating TikTok content. As it does, it should keep these factors at the forefront:

• Focus on quality – Brands will be hard-pressed to find users interested in watching content with muffled sound and a shaky video—unless, of course, that’s the brand’s vibe. But even if found footage fits a business’ modus operandi, that doesn’t mean quality takes a backseat. To create high-caliber content, it’s important to have favorable lighting, proper equipment, and advanced editing. Brands that don’t have these in-house should consider partnering with an agency that has a proven track record.
• Take advantage of hashtags – #Hashtags might seem so 2007,⁴ but in fact they’re still #alive-and-well. Hashtags are an extremely useful tool to help your target audience discover a brand’s content. Businesses can use hashtags on their posts to drive traffic to their TikTok profile and increase views, likes and shares. They can use them to interact with their audiences or even create or even join a hashtag challenge to get their audience involved. 
• Include instructional videos – Some brands’ audiences may have particular problems the brand can solve for them via video. By becoming the go-to source of information, the business can demonstrate commitment to solving their audience’s pain points. This style of thought leadership translates to authority in the industry and, eventually, brand recognition. 

Businesses can also include a mix of short-form video and long content to keep followers hooked. 

Step 5: Engage with your audience

As content reaches the eyes and fingertips of the populace, slowly but surely, a business’ follower base will grow. And while that first uptick will certainly have brands buzzing, to ensure users and followers remain engaged with their content, brands will want to form a dialogue.

Businesses often become stuck in a one-way street of communication. But by replying to users’ questions and comments as they arise, brands can stroke a conversation, one that invites more users to participate.

On TikTok, there are a few different tactics to engage with audiences:

• Start an interactive live stream with followers
• Seek feedback with polls and questions
• Explore other TikTok accounts and engage with their content

Step 6: Understand TikTok’s mystical algorithm

All TikTok business accounts have one priority in common—appearing in those coveted “For You” feeds.

“For You” feeds include content that’s curated specifically for each user’s tastes and preferences. For example, a beauty brand would rather have their content on the feeds of people who live and breathe fashion, lifestyle and cosmetics, rather than, say, golfers.

But how does TikTok create a “For You” feed tailored for 1 billion individuals?⁵

The answer is simple—the TikTok algorithm.

According to TikTok, the recommendations a user receives are based on the following factors:⁶

• User interactions – One important aspect involves learning what content the person is watching, commenting and liking (or not liking) when they use the app. 
• Video information – The second factor that plays a part in the algorithm is identifying the extra tidbits of information included in videos they’re viewing, such as hashtags, captions and trending topics.
• Device and account settings – Although this final factor doesn’t have as much impact on the TikTok algorithm, it still uses basic information from a user’s account settings, such as their location, language preference, and type of device they’re using to craft recommendations on their feed.

The TikTok algorithm isn’t the easiest to comprehend. Brands that consistently find TikTok challenging to understand and adapt to can employ the help of a TikTok agency.

Step 7: Utilize TikTok Analytics

Another great part of using TikTok for business beyond running TikTok ads and posting content is tracking progress. After crafting a painstakingly perfect bio, adding top-notch content for users to enjoy and becoming acquainted with all things TikTok-related, businesses should take a moment to see if their hard work has paid off.

Enter: TikTok Analytics.

With this built-in tool, brands can determine essential data within a certain time frame, like:⁷

• Follower growth
• Video views
• Profile views
• Likes
• Comments
• Shares

If interested in conducting a deep dive into all content-creating efforts, brands can find comprehensive data for each TikTok video they’ve posted, including:⁷

• Total views, shares, and likes on each video
• Average watch time
• The percentage of viewers who watched the entire video
• Where viewers found their video
• Where their audiences are located geographically

By analyzing this information monthly, businesses can watch their progress over time and iterate on top-performing content.

Boost Your Social Media Presence and Your Growth Plan with Power Digital

Establishing a social media marketing strategy for your company is a great way to discover new leads, interact with potential consumers and win over customers. Getting started with that strategy? Easier said than done. 

That’s where we can help. Power Digital is a growth digital marketing agency that goes beyond pointing you in the right direction. We work with your team on the ground level, ensuring you achieve success from start to finish. With multi-channel social media marketing experience and a collaborative approach, we can help you create a strong online presence that’ll make your audience want to engage with your business.

If you’re looking for a team that’ll support you every step of the way (and then some), reach out to Power Digital to start your social media marketing journey today.

Sources:

1. Exploding Topics. TikTok User Age, Gender, & Demographics (2022). https://explodingtopics.com/blog/tiktok-demographics#tiktok-demographic-data
2. Linkedin. How to Optimize Your Linkedin Profile. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-optimize-your-tiktok-profile-jasmyne-o-neal
3. Marshall McCluhan. The Medium is the Message. https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcluhan.mediummessage.pdf 
4. CNBC. Meet the Man Who Invented the #hashtag. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/chris-messina-hashtag-inventor.html
5. Demand Sage. TikTok User Statistics (2022): How many TikTok Users Are There? https://www.demandsage.com/tiktok-user-statistics/
6. TikTok. How TikTok recommends videos #ForYou. https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/how-tiktok-recommends-videos-for-you 
7. TikTok. Understanding Your Analytics. https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/en-us/tiktok-content-strategy/understanding-your-analytics/

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