Sprout Social

12 Facebook publishing tools for your brand in 2024

Chloe West — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 19:43:08 +0000

As part of your Facebook marketing strategy, a consistent publishing schedule is essential. Without the help of social media scheduling tools, that means you have to remember to go online each day (sometimes even multiple times a day) to manually publish your content.

Nowadays, there are much more efficient ways to publish and schedule social media content. If you take advantage of a Facebook publishing tool, you will be empowered to have a tool semi-automate your social media management tasks. With capabilities like batch uploading your posts for the month, creating a weekly or monthly schedule, and built-in tools that make content publication easy, your time will be freed up for tasks that your business needs you to focus on instead.

Throughout this article, we’re going to address three key benefits of using a Facebook publishing tool and introduce you to 12 useful options for your business.

Why you should use a Facebook publishing tool
12 Facebook publishing tools for your brand
Find the right Facebook publishing tool for your needs

Why you should use a Facebook publishing tool

How can a Facebook publishing tool help you? And why is spending time to discern the right one for your business worth it?

We’ve got three reasons why.

Efficiently schedule your posts ahead of time

Scheduling your Facebook content ahead of time is a much more efficient way to publish your content. Instead of logging in every day to manually publish your content at sporadic times, we recommend batching content tasks together in advance to make your content publishing process most efficient.

Batching is a time management tactic that groups similar tasks together as a way to work on them more quickly and decrease potential distractions. When it comes to your Facebook content, we recommend batching content tasks together like so:

Content ideation – Plan a set time for content idea of the posts you plan to create and eventually publish. This step you’ll want to do the furthest in advance so you can set yourself up for the next two stages of the content process.
Content creation – After the content ideation is complete, we recommend knocking out the creation of the content you plan to schedule and publish all at once or through a few content creation sessions.
Content scheduling – Lastly, once the content is produced, we recommend scheduling those posts in one sitting using a Facebook publishing tool.

If your Facebook content process has more steps than the ones above, you can add those in. But it’s best to focus on each task at once, first creating an entire week’s worth of content, then scheduling that week’s worth of content.

And using a Facebook publishing tool makes scheduling out your content even easier. Some of the tools in our list allow you to set your planned weekly schedule first so that you don’t have to select a date and time manually. Other tools allow you to choose automated optimal times based on your audience.

Streamline your reporting

Most Facebook publishing tools give you access to your posts’ analytics, which provides you with key data for metrics like reach, engagement rate, and more. Use the analytics feature provided through third party Facebook publishing tools to draw insights for your social media reporting. Discover your top-performing posts so you can create more like them. And identify posts that don’t resonate as much with your audience so you can remove them from your strategy.

Facilitates team collaboration

If you work with a team to create and schedule your Facebook content, publishing tools can make the process even easier. Find a tool that facilitates social media collaboration, allowing junior social media managers to create content to then send to senior managers for approval and publication.

Or, have your social media team input the content and captions for each post to then send to the graphic design or video team to add in the assets once they’ve been created.

12 Facebook publishing tools for your brand

Looking to improve efficiency, reporting and collaboration amongst your team? Check out the top 12 Facebook publishing tools below to find the perfect option for your business.

1. Sprout Social

Sprout Social sits at the top spot of our list for a reason. Yes, we’re going to toot our own horn. Sprout Social is a comprehensive and easy-to-use Facebook publishing tool—but it’s also so much more than that.

With Sprout Social, you can get access to Facebook features like:

Publishing
Reporting and analytics
Monitoring
Customer service
Competitor analysis

But you can also get access to those features and more for every other social media platform you plan to use in your strategy. Take advantage of our publication features while also getting an all-in-one tool that fits all of your social media management needs.

Plus, make Facebook publication as easy and seamless as possible. Input your caption, upload your media, then let Sprout’s AI tool find optimal publication times based on when your audience is most likely to be online.

Our Facebook publication-specific features include:

Optimal posting times
Team collaboration tools
Visual social media calendar
Content suggestions for inspiration
URL tracking

Pricing: Starting at $249/month. Sign up for a free 30-day trial today!

2. Social Champ

Social Champ is another social media management tool that works on a number of networks—Facebook, of course, included. With Social Champ, you can add multiple social media accounts to your dashboard and manage your presence on all of them from one place.

Facebook scheduling features include:

The ability to save and manage hashtags
Analytics and reporting
Automation
A social media inbox
The ability to add the first comment to your Facebook post

Pricing: Free forever account option. Paid plans start at $26/month.

3. SocialBee

SocialBee is another Facebook publishing tool with a number of features to offer. Its visually appealing content calendar can help keep your social media team organized each time you schedule another batch of content.

SocialBee’s Facebook management features include:

Integrations with design and content creation apps
Content calendar with scheduling capabilities
AI assistant for help creating content
Analytics and reporting
Social inbox

Pricing: Starting at $24/month.

4. Keyhole

Keyhole is a Facebook publishing and analytics tool focused on helping agencies manage all of their client accounts in one seamless dashboard. Keyhole also has an arsenal of social media management tools, making sure its agency users can easily manage all aspects of their clients’ social media.

The Facebook publication tools available in Keyhole’s suite include:

Optimal posting times
A calendar view for organization
Full-scale social media analytics
The ability to collaborate with teammates or clients

Pricing: Starting at $79/month.

5. CoSchedule

CoSchedule is another great option for keeping all of your digital content scheduled out and organized. Famous for its calendar view, CoSchedule focuses on helping marketing teams make sure they’re never missing a day of content.

Facebook publishing features available with CoSchedule include:

An easy-to-use drag-and-drop social calendar
The functionality to track social media messages
AI social assistant to help writing captions
Social message optimizer to help improve your engagement

Pricing: Free account option. Paid plans start at $19/month.

6. Agorapulse

Agorapulse is a social media management tool that supports more social networks than just Facebook, making this a great option for brands with a complex online presence. More than that, Agorapulse boasts additional features that help users offer great social media customer service.

Agorapulse’s Facebook publishing features include:

Team collaboration
Visually appealing social content calendar
Multi-platform publishing
UTM tracking
Asset management

Pricing: Starting at $49/month.

7. Post Planner

Post Planner is a simple and easy-to-use social media publishing tool. With a name like Post Planner, you can safely assume that the ability to plan out your social media content sits at the core of this tool’s functionality.

Post Planner’s Facebook publishing features include:

The ability to create multiple posts at once
The ability to optimize your posts for each platform’s requirements
Post previewing
Saved captions
Evergreen content recycling

Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $7/month.

8. eClincher

eClincher is a social media management platform that also has features that assist with local SEO, business listing management and tools for businesses with franchises or multiple locations. That means this is a great option for franchise businesses needing help with more than just social media.

eClincher’s Facebook publishing features include:

Digital asset library
Content curation tools
Hashtag management
Multi-platform publishing
Team collaboration

Pricing: Starting at $65/month.

9. Loomly

Loomly is a social media management platform that also offers team collaboration features, helping its users to collaborate effectively as they implement their social media strategies. Access a number of useful features with a visually appealing interface.

Some of the Facebook publishing features that Loomly offers include:

Visually appealing content calendar
Team notifications and collaboration tools
A feed of post ideas to get inspiration
Asset management
Automated and manual publishing options

Pricing: Starting at $32/month.

10. SocialPilot

SocialPilot is a social media management and analytics tool that can be a great option for organizing, publishing and scheduling your Facebook content. Access collaborative tools, AI features, publishing capabilities and more.

To help you publish your Facebook content, SocialPilot has features like:

An AI assistant to help with your content creation
A content library to store your assets
Smart scheduling that accounts for different audience time zones
Bulk scheduling to make publication even easier

Pricing: Starting at $25.50/month.

11. Iconosquare

Iconosquare is a tool that started years ago as one of the only Instagram analytics tools and has come a long way based on demand to offer a suite of social media management tools for nearly every social media platform.

The Facebook publishing features that Iconosquare offers include:

Image cropping tools
Post approval
Media library
Cross-platform publishing

Pricing: Starting at $49/month.

12. Emplifi

Emplifi is the last option on our list, but still a solid choice for a social media management and publication tool. Emplifi can help you publish and schedule your content, as well as manage your online community, keep an eye on your brand’s reputation and even work with influencers.

With Emplifi, get access to Facebook publishing features like:

AI caption composer
AI-powered posting time recommendations
Post approval workflows
Digital asset library
Presets, templates and drafts for easy content creation

Pricing: Book a demo to get a customized quote based on your needs.

Find the right Facebook publishing tool for your needs

Ramp up your Facebook marketing strategy by planning ahead and staying organized. One of the best ways to do that is by putting together the perfect arsenal of tools for your needs.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one Facebook publishing tool, give Sprout Social a try. Sign up for a 30-day free trial to test drive our software and see if we have what you need.

The post 12 Facebook publishing tools for your brand in 2024 appeared first on Sprout Social.

5 ways social media listening increases customer advocacy

Kiran Shahid — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 16:00:22 +0000

Most marketing professionals constantly grapple with two questions: What do our customers actually want and how can we turn them into our biggest champions?

Without a deep understanding of their audience, even the most seasoned marketers, at times, find themselves in a cycle of guesswork and reactive strategies. The risk isn’t just a misalignment with customer expectations but also the missed opportunity to cultivate brand loyalty and advocacy.

Social listening plays a vital role in this area. Tapping into social media conversations points to customer insights that go beyond surface-level metrics and unearth the real needs, desires and pain points of your audience. And when you apply this knowledge, you turn customers into fans and fans into vocal advocates.

In this article, we explain how you can use social listening to increase customer advocacy and, in doing so, level up your brand.

What social listening can tell you about your customers (present and future)

Mining through social listening insights pinpoints tangible ways to improve the customer experience and create tailored marketing strategies.

Here’s how.

Social listening decodes the nuanced language of your customers and reveals what delights, frustrates and motivates them. It also captures real-time, unfiltered perspectives on your brand, the wider industry and competitors. This qualitative social data reveals customer sentiments, preferences and experiences.

Applying these insights impacts your business strategy in two ways:

1. It helps you earn more customers

Earning new customers involves understanding and responding to their needs. Sentiment analysis and trend forecasting from social listening unlocks the potential to not only meet these needs but to anticipate them by helping you:

Understand consumer preferences: Granular insights into customer behavior patterns and psychographics reveal customer preferences. Coffee brand Dutch Bros, for example, employed a clever way to ask customers what their favorite product was. The brand can use the responses to highlight popular products in their promotions or develop new variations to meet emerging tastes.

Spot market opportunities: Feedback about desired products or services, like location requests, unveils new market opportunities and guides expansion strategies. For example, a customer who participated in the Dutch Bros’ conversation complained about the brand not being present in Michigan. If other customers share the sentiment, it gives the brand ideas on where to potentially expand next.

Identify trends: Social listening pinpoints changing preferences and emerging trends. Say Dutch Bros notices an uptick in conversations around sustainability where customers are concerned about how their coffee is sourced and its impact on the environment. This insight can steer future product development or marketing strategies.

2. You create loyalty from the start

Once you attract new customers, the next step is to increase retention and loyalty. Social listening is transformative here as it creates a strong foundation for long-term customer relationships. It does so by helping you:

Cultivate brand advocates: Engaging with users who already show a positive inclination highlights potential players for customer advocacy. If Dutch Bros notices a customer who frequently mentions their coffee in a positive light, the brand can engage these advocates with targeted outreach. They can invite them to share their experiences or offer exclusive previews of new products to increase brand loyalty and reach.
Engage in proactive product development: Anticipating and addressing future market demands based on social listening insights improves loyalty with existing customers. Dutch Coffee Bros may notice a growing interest in unique flavor profiles and can use this data to innovate their product line and build a strong connection with existing and potential new market segments.

This way, social listening can increase customer advocacy by helping you meet new customer needs and build enduring loyalty from the outset.

What is customer advocacy?

Customer advocacy nurtures satisfied customers into trusted champions who voluntarily promote and support a brand. This is helpful because people trust people more than traditional, self-centered advertising. When a friend raves about a new skincare product or a family member recommends a car mechanic, we listen.

The 2023 Sprout Social Index™ also indicates a customer desire for more authentic, non-promotional content from brands. And because customer and brand advocacy are built on relatable stories, inspiring customers to share their own stories and genuine experiences, they further build brand trust.

For example, Brittany Joiner, a long-time user of Trello, is also a customer advocate who’s turned into a natural influencer for the brand. Her YouTube channel and newsletter provide tips on how to use the tool. And now, Trello frequently collaborates with her to create content for their brand channels too.

This is a powerful recommendation for Trello because it’s a personal endorsement. Customer advocates like Brittany use their social platforms to provide insights, share experiences and highlight the brand’s strengths in a way that feels real and relatable.

Customer advocates also understand the nuances and specific needs that resonate with your customer base. They’re the most authentic influencers you can find—they already know the ins and outs of your products and services and have a genuine relationship with your brand.

This approach creates a level of connection and trust that traditional marketing methods can’t easily replicate.

How social listening turns loyal customers into advocates

Actionable responses to what you hear on the social media grapevine inspire loyal customers to advocate for your brand.

Suppose Microsoft notices a trend in complaints about Outlook’s new font. Social listening can help them learn if it’s an isolated post or requires deeper investigation.

Microsoft can respond and develop comprehensive, interactive digital guides based on these insights to make it easier for all users to navigate the change. This proactive approach does two things: it solves the problem for current (and future) users and demonstrates that Microsoft values user feedback.

Apart from using social listening to increase customer advocacy with product training and helpful documentation, brands can also use social listening for product suggestions and improvements.

For example, productivity and note-taking app Notion’s new Calendar feature faced user access issues due to authorization errors.

Tuning into the social media conversation helped Notion act on customer feedback and work on their product issues. This kind of responsiveness can transform a regular customer into a brand champion.

When customers see their feedback leading to tangible changes, it builds trust and ownership in the brand’s evolution and drives brand advocacy.

5 ways to improve your social listening and foster customer advocacy

Social listening isn’t just about tracking hashtags or counting likes. It’s a strategic tool that changes how you connect with your customers. To find the best insights, you need to implement social listening strategically, though. So here are five ways to improve your social listening to increase customer advocacy.

Set a regular cadence to explore social listening

Regularly tuning into social media conversations ensures you’re always in the loop with what your audience is saying. Do this in two ways:

First, teams should mark their calendars to set up a regular cadence for consistent social listening sessions. This kind of regular listening allows you to spot trends, understand shifts in customer sentiment and also predict future needs.
Second, plan to increase the frequency of your social listening during key moments for your brand. For example, if you’re launching a new product, ramp up your social listening and broaden your searches to capture more of the industry conversation beyond just your tagged brand mentions. Doing so will help you catch immediate reactions, see mentions you aren’t tagged in and address any concerns quickly. Looking at the industry more broadly also helps you gauge overall brand awareness and perception.

This proactive approach during high-stakes periods shows you’re not just seeking feedback but are committed to making your customer experience as positive as possible. It’s this kind of attentiveness that ensures social listening increases customer advocacy and uncovers opportunities to convert satisfied customers into passionate advocates.

Jump into industry conversations proactively

Participate in industry conversations on platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter) and Reddit to stay in tune with key demographics. Reddit, in particular, is especially valuable for unfiltered, candid feedback.

Industry intelligence gives you a window into your audience’s core preferences and perceptions. It’s a direct insight into what makes them tick and answers three critical questions, which are:

How can you keep a pulse on your key demographics to help craft your messages?
How do you find the influencers in your industry to help you broadcast your messages?
How can you figure out the best products and content to create and share?

Here’s a real-life social media listening example from our X account. A user asked for alternatives to Buffer and another user weighed in, praising Sprout Social. Our team joined the conversation by thanking the advocate and offering the inquiring user a chance to try Sprout for free for 30 days.

This is proactive social listening in action. It reveals what customers appreciate about our product. It can also help us identify a customer advocate who could potentially be a nano-influencer. For example, this customer already uses our product (and loves it) and has a following on X, too.

Listening enables you to connect with people who have a relationship with your brand and already have an active and engaged audience.

Create reports to surface findings to the company

Creating reports to communicate social’s impact connects conversational data to your overarching business strategy.

The 2023 State of Social Media from Sprout highlights that about 3 in 4 business leaders find it challenging to see how social media impacts the bottom line. Targeted and concise reporting can make this connection crystal clear.

The crux is to link social media outcomes with key business goals such as increasing brand awareness or improving customer satisfaction. Next, use a mix of quantitative and qualitative social media metrics like engagement rate, share of voice or customer sentiment trends to understand social’s impact.

Social listening tools like Sprout consolidate listening data from multiple sources, making it easier to present a comprehensive picture to your leaders.

Suppose the Sentiment Summary on your Listening dashboard highlights an increase in negative sentiment following a product release or brand campaign. You can dial in further to pinpoint what’s causing the decrease, viewing words and phrases that continue to pop up in conversations with the Word Cloud feature.

Analyze recurring themes or keywords (like matcha in the above image) and dig into brand and industry conversations. Then, you can learn what’s causing the recent uptick in negative sentiment. Now, armed with both data and context, create a targeted report for your company leaders.

Thus, when you connect business goals to social data, you demonstrate the tangible value of how social listening impacts your company and customers. This, in turn, translates into building a case for further investment in social to keep these vital brand conversations going and turn more customers into advocates.

Work cross-departmentally to come up with new listening topics

Social listening isn’t just limited to what people say about your brand and product (that’s brand intelligence)—it also includes industry and competitive intelligence, which is gold for other departments.

It provides a treasure trove of info for marketing, customer support, sales, research and development, product packaging, human resources and public relations.

Here’s how you can encourage cross-departmental collaboration:

Encourage each department to contribute unique data sources—like customer service logs, sales data or market research—to enrich social listening insights.
Schedule consistent meetings with relevant departments to share insights, brainstorm and identify common themes.
Establish a process where findings from social listening are regularly fed back into each department.

Then, plug these keywords into Sprout’s Query Builder to get alerts whenever someone mentions these topics on social media.

Setting up targeted alerts with insights from across the business transforms social media from a mere communication channel into a business tool that builds stronger customer relationships.

Conduct competitive benchmarking

Conduct competitive benchmarking to get deep insights into industry best practices, audience resonance and strategic adjustments to differentiate your brand. Begin by gathering conducting competitive intelligence because it answers three key questions:

Who your biggest competitors on social media are and how much of the message you own
How your competitors’ social followers feel about them and how you can use that data
What kinds of campaigns and content strategies do your competitors use and how you can differentiate yourself

Identify top trends, topics and posts in your industry with Sprout’s Listening insights and filter them by competitor, content type, message type and sentiment. As you listen to the sentiments expressed about your competitors, identify if customers are complaining about certain competitor features and position your brand as a solution to these pain points.

But it’s not just about capitalizing on your competitors’ weaknesses. Understanding their strengths gives you a chance to improve the customer experience too.

In a recent webinar hosted in The Arboretum, Sprout’s virtual community for marketing professionals, we discussed how to leverage conversations for connection and conversion. The webinar highlighted a case study where a financial brand lagged behind competitors in overdraft protection. Analysis revealed that 80% of negative feedback was due to a lack of communication about overdraft unavailability during these downtimes.

This insight led to a strategic shift: the brand developed a superior overdraft program with extended grace periods and coverage during downtimes, outperforming competitors’ offerings.

A proactive approach not only differentiated them tactically but also attracted customers from competitors, significantly enhancing their market position. Social listening was vital to identifying specific customer complaints and directly addressing them.

The brand not only resolves immediate issues but also shows a commitment to customer satisfaction. This attentive approach converts frustrated customers into loyal advocates who feel valued and heard and are more likely to share their positive experiences with others.

Amplify customer advocacy through attentive listening

The best way to build a relationship is by showing you listen and you care. Social listening increases customer advocacy by bringing your ears closer to the heartbeat of your customers. Actively participating in conversations, acknowledging concerns and celebrating successes alongside your customers paves the way for genuine connections and turns casual followers into committed brand advocates.

Convert customer conversation into your brand’s superpower. Check out our social listening guide to understand the nuances of customer sentiment and respond in a way that resonates.

The post 5 ways social media listening increases customer advocacy appeared first on Sprout Social.

11 social media trends you need to know in 2024

Carly Hill — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:05:08 +0000

You don’t need to be a fortune teller to guess which social media trends are poised to take off in 2024. All you need is data.

Combining performance and consumer preference data can create a vivid picture of the year ahead. We’re not talking about which TikTok sounds will blow up in a few months. We’re talking about what’s driving audience behavioral patterns and where your brand fits in the mix.

In this article, learn about current trends in social media driving the future of social, based on input from social media experts and the data behind the social space.

Trend 1: Video is king…but with a long-form twist

The popularity of video, specifically short-form video, is bound to end up on a social media trends list every year.

We already know short-form video is one of the best ways to connect with your audience and reach new followers. In fact, most consumers say it’s the most engaging type of in-feed content.

But, plot twist: long-form video has seen a resurgence worth noting.
TikTok has been pushing longer videos—starting with one-minute videos, then 10 and most recently, it started testing 30-minute uploads. It’s even starting to push horizontal videos a la YouTube.

And with the platform reporting that users spend over half of their time on TikTok watching videos that are a minute or longer, these long-form tests have reason behind them.

Brand takeaway: You still need short-form video as part of your day-to-day social media strategy. But think about how you can bring long-form storytelling into your content.

Trend 2: Playful content is the new “brand personality”

The “edgy” brand voice is taking a back seat to a new brand trend: experimenting with playful content.

Brands have consistently found creative ways to tap into meme culture and the voice of the Internet in a way that fits their voice. And we’ve seen more brands experimenting with their voice and visual content to do so.

Take LinkedIn’s Threads, which have a human voice and cover topics that range from relatable and hilarious, to inspirational and endearing.

And we love the way Auntie Anne’s pretzels has create a strategic, branded social media meme strategy. They create content that riffs on Internet culture, memes and trends while still staying true to their brand colors, tone and image.

Brand takeaway: Think about how your brand can get playful on social media. You don’t have to do this in a way that breaks your brand’s voice and tone. What trends and meme formats could you adapt to fit your brand’s content?

Trend 3: The expansion of social commerce remains a trend to watch—and use

We’ve all seen the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend…or bought something after seeing it on TikTok or another social platform ourselves.

But this is more than a fleeting trend—social commerce is a continuing trend to watch and consider for your strategy. And platforms like TikTok are pushing for it. TikTok Shop officially launched in the US in late 2023. And they’re already testing ways to make that in-app shopping even easier.

We talked to Social Strategy Director at Mekanism, Jeff MacDonald, about current social trends to watch. And this is one that he flagged. As he puts it, live streaming and interactive shopping experiences are only expected to expand, so this trend is likely here to stay. “Live shopping events, combining entertainment with instant purchasing options, offer an engaging way for brands to connect with consumers. This year will be a test to see if North American audiences will adopt live commerce streams like other audiences have.”

Brand takeaway: If you haven’t experimented with selling on social, now is a great time to test this out. There’s an eager, ready-to-buy audience on social. Give them another way to buy—look into whether opening up shop on TikTok, Facebook or Instagram is right for your brand.

Recently, I did research on a few places I want to travel and hike this coming summer. I didn’t turn to Google—I searched location hashtags on Instagram.

Don’t underestimate the power of social media platforms as search engines. In 2022, nearly 40% of Gen Z preferred TikTok over Google for searching for information.

This makes optimizing your content for discoverability—both in feed and via search—more important than ever before.

Brand takeaway: Just as you would optimize an article on your blog or a page on your site for SEO, take an optimized approach to your social content. Optimize your posts and profile for maximum discoverability by using the right keywords in your caption, the right hashtags and relevant keywords within your alt text, too.

Trend 5: Behind-the-scenes content and reimagined transparency

The rising audience desire for authentic content lends itself to the need for brands to be more transparent about their business practices on social.

But there’s been an interesting shift. A few years ago, we couldn’t talk about trends in social media without covering the importance of brands speaking up—or getting called out. But in 2023, only a quarter of consumers polled in the Index said the most memorable brands on social spoke out about causes and news aligned with their values.

The Index also found the second biggest thing consumers don’t see enough of from brands on social media is transparency about business practices and values.

I take this to mean that while brands speaking out used to set them apart, now it’s a regular expectation that brands demonstrate transparency and their values as a regular practice.

For example, shoe brand Nisolo regularly creates and posts sustainability “report cards” for their products.

@nisoloshoes

We all value people. We all value the planet. It’s time for our clothes to do the same. #SustainabilityFactsLabel #peopleandplanet

♬ original sound – Nisolo

Brand takeaway: Look for opportunities to provide more transparency about your business, products and practices. You can start as simple as creating behind-the-scenes content of your office, products being made, the people behind your products and your sustainability values. Make sure you have action or proof to back up your statements.

And if questions do arise that your brand should address, use the right tools to stay proactive. Social listening will help you identify rising conversation topics early, enabling you to understand and get ahead of an issue, and identify the changes you need to make.

Trend 6: Authentic content resonates across platforms

Authentic, non-promotional content is the number one thing consumers say they don’t see enough of from brands on social, according to The Sprout Social Index™. We’ve seen the way creator culture has skyrocketed in popularity—and brands featuring authentic voices, from creators to employees, shine against those that don’t.

And it’s crucial for brands to recognize that this trend is here to stay—it’s the new era of social media.

We talked to Flywire Social Media Manager Sam Mackowitz, who believes AI is only driving this desire for more authenticity. “I think people will be yearning for authentic experiences on social media. Don’t get me wrong, AI is fantastic and can help us get places faster, but…that personal aspect is so important and will continue to be in 2024.”

@flywire

How would you describe in 3 emojis? Comment below! #InsideFlywire #polls #companyculture

♬ original sound – Flywire

Brand takeaway: Besides tapping into creators, create more authentic owned content, too. As Mackowitz explains, “At Flywire, the content that performs the best for us is always when it’s showcasing our employees. We’ve had great success showcasing the people behind the payments! Authenticity will soar in 2024.”

Think: playful posts and featuring fellow employees in video content who aren’t camera shy, or a “meet the team” series. Get creative!

An employee advocacy strategy is a stellar way to promote your brand authentically. Using a platform like Employee Advocacy by Sprout Social makes it easier for your employees to discover content and copy suggestions you curate for them to share.

Is your social team structure based on networks? Then you’re not alone—according to the Index, 64% of social teams are aligned to specific social platforms or networks.

But the reality is, your team structure is constantly running the risk of becoming outdated. As social media evolves, so do the teams and the skills needed to run it successfully. And the emergence of new platforms, like Threads, always brings back the same question: whose responsibility is a new platform when you’re divided by network?

New social media jobs and titles are emerging and evolving rapidly. We talked to Gabby Grahek, Strategic Services Consultant at Sprout and a social media thought leader, about current social trends. “I’m hoping and praying for social specialties on social teams. With organizations continuing to experiment with social, build a budget for these teams and elevate their maturity levels when you can.”

Brand takeaway: Gabby thinks “we’ll see niche social professions develop on corporate teams.” Evaluate your current team structure and identify gaps. This is a great opportunity to take additional ownership over your career path and pitch a new role that fits your skillset. Or, make the case to your manager that you need more headcount to accommodate a new role.

Trend 8: The boom of the creator and influencer economy

Today, it’s the creator and influencer’s world—we’re just posting in it.

In the era of authenticity, creators and influencers lend an authentic, human voice and experience to the social scroll. And their place on brand accounts is only going to become more important to connecting with audiences. In fact, in a Q3 Sprout Pulse Survey of 307 US-based marketers, 8 in 10 social marketers describe influencer marketing as essential to their social strategies.

As Jeff MacDonald mentioned, “The continued dominance of TikTok underscores the shift towards more authentic, unfiltered content. This trend is likely to grow, with users gravitating towards content that feels genuine and relatable. Brands will increasingly leverage creators and influencers who can craft compelling stories and connect with audiences on a personal level.”

Brand takeaway: The rise of creators and influencers and the authentic voice they provide will likely remain on the list of social media trends for years to come. So now is the time to kick off your creator and influencer marketing partnerships and program, if you haven’t already.

As Jeff put it, “Authenticity in content not only enhances engagement but also fosters trust and loyalty among consumers. This trend is very much in line with the human-centric approach to social media, where human creativity and connection are pivotal in crafting brand messages.”

Consider adopting a dedicated creator and influencer management platform, which over half of brands have done according to a Q3 Sprout Pulse Survey. Platforms like Tagger by Sprout Social make managing your influencer partnerships and their impact easier.

Trend 9: Personalized customer care is a consumer preference

The expectations for social media customer service have only gone up. Consumers no longer just want fast responses—70% of them expect personalized responses to their customer service needs, according to the Index.

And 76% of consumers notice and appreciate when companies prioritize customer support—so companies who don’t do so inevitably fall behind.

Brand takeaway: Analyze your role in social customer care: how responsive are you being, and what can you do to scale your efforts?

Some 75% of businesses in the Index say that social customer care will be shared to some degree by marketing and customer service teams. If this is also the case for you, remember that solid customer care is about empowering all teams involved to collaborate and communicate. Ensure that both teams are aligned on social voice and tone, response best practices, canned response use, chat bot updates and more.

Features like Sprout’s Case Management enable teams to seamlessly work together to resolve customer issues, while integrations with platforms like Zendesk and Salesforce enable agents and social team members alike to get more context behind customer interactions, making personalization much easier.

Trend 10: Marketing and customer care teams use AI regularly…and monitor it closely

The use of AI to streamline workflows remains one of the current social media trends that will stretch into this year—and beyond.

According to The 2023 Social Index™, over 80% of marketers have already seen the positive impact of AI on their work. You yourself may be in that group. And beyond scaling content creation and customer care responses, AI will likely play an even larger role as a marketing and customer care tool.

As Jeff MacDonald tells us, “In 2024, we can expect a deeper integration of AI in personalizing user experiences. AI can analyze user data to provide highly tailored content recommendations, enhance customer service with more responsive chatbots, and drive more effective targeted advertising. This trend aligns with the increasing efficiency in content production, as AI tools become more adept at understanding and replicating human-like interactions and creativity.”

But this year, we forecast that this trend will look a little different. While there’s been a sustained use in AI, we’ve also seen a trend of increased conversations around AI ethics and using it safely.

As Gabby Grahek puts it, “Now that the shock of AI availability is wearing off, I expect companies that have been hesitant to adopt AI tools will develop (strict) adherence and governance policies to start taking advantage of the efficiencies available from the use of AI.”

Brand takeaway: Join the marketers who are using AI to scale their content creation and customer care efforts. But always use it carefully and ethically—create an AI use policy to safeguard your brand and team.

One of the biggest social media myths is that social data is only relevant to social or marketing. On the contrary—social media data has the power to inform every area and team of your organization and improve your entire business, from product, to customer support to PR.

According to the Index, 76% of marketers agree that their team’s social insights inform other departments. And this trend is here to stay. Companies that don’t use social to inform their wider business will undoubtedly fall behind.

Not to mention, getting deep into the data is one of the best ways to identify trends in social media in your owned content.

As social teams become more sophisticated, so will their use of data beyond their team…as long as social teams know how to communicate that data with other departments.

Brand takeaway: You already know how valuable social data is—this year, demonstrate this to other teams. Download our 2024 Social Media Toolkit for six resources that will help you streamline your strategy and share its impact.

Use these social media trends to keep your strategy one step ahead

We can’t always know when a new platform, content format or trending TikTok sound will bubble up. In fact, they usually surprise us in a drop-everything-and-film-this-content way.

But we can look at the larger social media marketing trends now and use them to build a stronger strategy that sets us up for success. And that creates a solid foundation that not even the advent of a new platform can shake. (Well, maybe a little.)

Keep the trend forecasting going—for more data-backed trends in social media, download The Sprout Social Index™ to bolster your strategy with tips about sharing data with leadership, the metrics that matter most and more.

The post 11 social media trends you need to know in 2024 appeared first on Sprout Social.

Increase YouTube engagement: 10 ways that actually work

Brent Barnhart — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 20:39:52 +0000

Is your YouTube engagement where you want it to be?

Earning billions of daily views and video searches, YouTube’s popularity speaks for itself.

And like any other type of social media engagement, competition on YouTube is fierce.

For brands big and small, growing a channel and dedicated audience is no small feat. Especially when performance is tied to the ever-changing YouTube algorithm.

The good news is that there are ways to increase your reach and move your video metrics in the right direction.

Below we explain how YouTube engagement is calculated, plus we provide 10 ways to increase your YouTube engagement rate.

What is YouTube engagement?
How to calculate your YouTube engagement rate
10 tips to improve your YouTube engagement rate
Are you taking steps to increase your YouTube engagement rate?

What is YouTube engagement?

YouTube engagement refers to the level of activity associated with your channel and videos. This activity includes views, shares, “Likes,” comments and new subscribers.

YouTube’s native analytics provide metrics to help channels understand how engaged your audience is. From there, you can draw insights to boost engagement. For example, increasing YouTube engagement starts by identifying trends such as the following:

Which videos are retaining the most viewers?
Where do most of a video’s views come from (ex: YouTube search vs. suggested videos)?
Which videos yield the most subscribers?
Which videos have the longest video duration?
Which videos earning the most comments or likes?

Leveraging insights from YouTube analytics can uncover ways to optimize your content and channel’s for further engaging your target audience. Below is a snapshot of how the platform analyzes unique viewer and engagement for any given video:

You can gather insights around YouTube engagement on both a video and channel-wide basis. You can keep a pulse on your top-performing content on your YouTube Studio dashboard.

Meanwhile, individual videos can be analyzed further via “Reach, “Engagement” and “Audience.”

Both big-picture and granular data points can clue you in on what videos are doing well. Also, which fell flat and the sorts of content your audience actually wants to see.

What factors impact your YouTube engagement rate?

Like any social algorithm, YouTube’s algorithm ranks content based on a variety of factors. One of these factors is the level of engagement of a video. A video with a higher YouTube engagement rate will likely rank higher on YouTube compared to other videos targeting the same demographic or audience with a lower engagement rate.

Some factors that contribute to a YouTube video’s level of engagement are more impactful than others. Here is a strong list for starters:

Account activity. This includes how often you publish videos, respond to comments and engage with other YouTube accounts. Off-platform activity such as traffic from search engines or social networks can help you here, too.
Video duration. This includes how long your videos are. Conventional wisdom says that “longer” videos (8-10+ minutes) earn more engagement. That’s because longer watch times result in more time spent on YouTube. There’s obviously exceptions to this, though.
Video titles, descriptions and formats. These details help YouTube understand what your content actually is. Likewise, these details help ensure that your videos get suggested across other YouTube channels that serve a similar demographic or audience. This would make it more likely to attract a more highly engaged audience to your videos.
Topics and target audience. Simply put, your YouTube engagement is largely dependent on your audience and industry. A SaaS company or niche channel will likely have a lower ceiling of potential viewership. That said, sticking to consistent themes and topics for a specific target audience will set you up for more engagement than making your channel a dumping ground for clips.

This list isn’t the be-all, end-all of YouTube engagement. How users engage with YouTube content formatting will be ever-evolving as the platform changes over time. That said, these are all factors that channels (mostly) have control over at the time of writing.

How to calculate your YouTube engagement rate

Here’s a simplified formula to figure out your engagement rate:

Total interactions / total impressions x 100 = engagement rate percentage

To calculate your YouTube engagement rate, start with your total video interactions. Interactions include views, shares, “Dislikes,” “Likes,” comments, new subscribers, and lost subscribers. If those are too many metrics to count to be relevant to the goals of your YouTube channel, it’s customary to narrow down your interactions to just “Likes,” comments, and shares. These three metrics are considered to be the most valuable metrics to determine engagement on YouTube.

Second, you’ll want to take your total number of interactions and divide it by your total impressions. Google tells us that “Impressions are counted if the thumbnail is shown for more than 1 second and at least 50% of the thumbnail is visible on the screen.”

You can find impressions in the “Reach” tab in YouTube analytics. Lastly, take the total video interactions divided by the total impressions and multiply that total by 100 to get your engagement rate percentage.

10 tips to improve your YouTube engagement rate

Let’s be super clear: there is no secret to succeeding on YouTube.

That said, there are common qualities between the top-performing channels and videos. While you can’t control the algorithm, you can tailor your content for more reach and views.

Below we dig into actionable ways to improve your YouTube engagement rate. These tips are based on recent trends, YouTube’s own best practices and what we’ve seen firsthand.

1. Prioritize platform and community engagement

Marketers love to debate YouTube’s status as a social network.

But the platforms’ ongoing Community features signal how the platform is getting more “social.”

Like any social app, interactions go hand in hand with reach and engagement. This includes:

Responding to comments
Engaging with other channels and users (via comments and “Likes”)
Asking questions of your audience (in your video descriptions or content itself)

Consider that YouTube puts recent comments front-and-center in your analytics dashboard. The platform explicitly encourages timely responses and interactions. In YouTube Studio, you can actually reply to all of your unacknowledged comments without leaving the page.

If nothing else, posting updates via the Community tab ensures that more people see your videos. These posts can serve as a friendly nudge to your subscribers who’d otherwise miss your latest upload.

2. Promote your YouTube content across multiple channels

Content distribution is all the rage right now.

And rightfully so given the legwork it takes to create a YouTube video.

Reposting and cross-promoting your YouTube presence is a smart move. You might be surprised at which social networks or marketing channels result in more eyes on your content.

For example, consider the following ways to funnel more YouTube engagement to your channel:

Embed videos on your website (via your homepage, landing pages or blog)
Include a link to your YouTube channel in your Linktree or social bios
Cross-posting YouTube links on platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn or Pinterest

YouTube actually keeps track of your off-platform traffic in the “External sites or apps” report in every video. Think of this as a sort of stripped down version of a Google Analytics report.

This report can highlight opportunities to drive YouTube engagement through other channels. Likewise, you can assess whether your YouTube SEO is on point (but more on that later).

3. Create more YouTube Shorts content

The fact that YouTube Shorts is amassing tens of billions of views daily on their own is staggering.

Likewise, it’s all the more reason to experiment with short-form content. Shorts represent YouTube’s response to TikTok and the popularity of “the endless scroll” when it comes to content.

Beyond the potential for engagement, Shorts serve as a way to organize your channel. That is, you can separate your long-form content on your main channel and bite-sized clips.

While this doesn’t guarantee YouTube engagement by default, it does provide more chances to get picked up by the algorithm. Especially YouTube really seems to be favoring Shorts right now.

If you’re new to Shorts, consider the following to kickstart your presence there:

Recut long-form videos into short-form content
Cross-post vertical video content such as TikToks or Instagram Reels
Experiment with smartphone-only video ideas with Shorts

And hey, that last point leads us to our next tip.

4. Experiment with new video ideas

You’ll never know what actually drives engagement on YouTube until you test for yourself.

There’s no shortage of video ideas to fill your content calendar. If you’re in a creative rut or realize that your current video formats aren’t working, try something new. For example:

“Versus” content (ex: comparing products, methods to do a task)
How-to content and tutorials
Review and reaction-style content

All of the above are proven formats that offer a lot of creative freedom. Not to mention they’re like candy to both the YouTube algorithm and Google.

Channels like Pianote publish a wide variety of content that fits into a few specific buckets. For example, they create a combination of lesson videos and gear videos targeting beginner pianists. Needless to say, they’ve found a winning formula primarily through educational content.

You may naturally want to avoid YouTube cliches or anything that borders on clickbait. That said, there’s a reason why many of the most popular channels follow similar formula that includes:

Videos geared toward a specific audience (that still has appeal to general views)
“Edutainment” that answers questions or piques viewers’ curiosity
Longer-form videos that cover topics comprehensively

The takeaway here is to be open-minded to new ideas and test formats for yourself.

5. Create a consistent publishing schedule

Rarely do channels grow when they post at random.

Feeding the YouTube algorithm means sticking to a consistent content calendar. This doesn’t mean sacrificing quality for quantity with your content. YouTube specifically recommends creating Shorts because of their lower time commitment and potential for scale.

For example, you might find a balance posting one “long” video alongside three Shorts weekly. What matters most is sticking to a social media content calendar that’s reasonable long-term.

While there’s a link between YouTube engagement and timing, much data is anecdotal. YouTube Studio actually provides a breakdown of when your specific viewing audience is more active on the app. This can help provide context to the best time to post based on your channel.

6. Hook viewers with creative thumbnails

Food for thought: 90% of the top-performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails.

Creating an “optimal” thumbnail depends largely on your content and audience. That said, there are best practices that are likewise recommended by YouTube themselves:

Make use of colors to catch viewers’ eyes (“dynamic colors” in Google’s words)
Use clear text that’s easy to read across multiple devices
Feature actual people in your thumbnails to make an emotional connection with viewers

Think of your thumbnail as part of your video’s hook. Random screengrabs are rarely going to excite viewers, especially people who’ve never seen you before.

7. Be strategic with YouTube ads

This is a straightforward tip that may or may not make sense depending on your goals.

That said, running YouTube ads can be an eye-opener for the sake of getting fast data about your audience. For example, you can test different formats, messaging and keyword phrases to see what hits. This serves as a faster way to gather audience data versus waiting for it organically.

8. Take action to improve your YouTube SEO

Paying attention to your YouTube SEO is a low-hanging way to improve your engagement rate.

The platform’s status as a search engine is well-documented, especially as more and more videos pop up in Google results. The goal of YouTube SEO isn’t to spam viewers. Instead, it’s to make small tweaks to your videos to make them more viewer-friendly and easier to find.

There’s a lot that goes into YouTube SEO, but here are starters to consider:

Your video titles (think: “How-to” content pops up in the SERPs all the time)
Including keywords in your video descriptions
Making use of relevant YouTube hashtags
Pointing traffic to your video content from external sources

Like everything else related to YouTube engagement, there’s no silver bullet here. Focus on taking small steps to optimize your content and channel to see what works.

9. Use timestamps to hold your viewers’ attention

If you spend much time in YouTube Studio, you’ll notice how much viewer retention is mentioned.

This metric is key to both YouTube and its algorithm. The more time people spend watching your videos, the more you signal your content as recommend-worthy.

Increasing viewer retention doesn’t require making long-form the only part of your video marketing strategy. Small steps like adding timestamps (which in turn create “Chapters”) on your videos can do the trick.

Timestamps can help viewers zero in on the exact information that they’re looking for. Most viewers would prefer to skip lengthy intros and get straight to the “meat” of your videos. That’s how timestamps create a better viewer experience and keep viewers from bouncing early.

10. Use the right YouTube management tools

YouTube’s native tools are a treasure trove of insight about your content.

That said, consider that there are other tools that can also elevate your channel faster.

For example, Sprout’s social media management tools can help boost your YouTube presence. Here are just a handful of ways which tie back to the tips above:

Easy cross-promote your new YouTube videos across social networks in one platform
Discover threads and trends between top-performing videos via in-depth analytics
Align your YouTube content with audience conversations via social listening

Are you taking steps to increase your YouTube engagement rate?

Getting consistent engagement on YouTube doesn’t happen by accident.

Doing so requires a strategy and attention to detail.

Following all of the tips above might seem daunting. The reality, though? These best practices become second nature once you see just how much they impact your engagement rate.

Looking for more insights and tips on taking your video marketing presence to the next level?

If you haven’t already, check out our YouTube strategy template to grow your channel faster!

The post Increase YouTube engagement: 10 ways that actually work appeared first on Sprout Social.

Always up-to-date guide to social media image sizes

Elizabeth Arens — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 20:43:00 +0000

Last Updated: January 29, 2024

Whether it’s a brand promotion, video, news update or even a meme, visual content rules the social media landscape. What has become so important is effectively conveying your brand on social media through images and video.

The visual face of your brand is oftentimes the first thing your audience sees and possibly the one thing they remember. It’s difficult to reuse the same image across all social networks unless you have a free social media image resizing tool like Landscape.

Sprout Social’s very own tool is free to use to resize, crop and scale social media image sizes. And along with our resizing tool, we’ve provided all the specific dimensions and a few quick tips to help you decide which image best fits each position.

Before we get into it, here are some additional resources:

Easily reference this social media image sizes list in our always up-to-date Google Doc.
Bookmark our social media video specs and ad guide!
Download free social media images that are already optimized!

Easily manage multimedia content with Sprout

Sprout’s Asset Library simplifies publishing and asset management by providing you with a centralized location to store images, videos and text.

Quickly create, organize, edit and publish assets directly from the Asset Library to deliver on-brand, visually engaging posts for any connected social network.

Start Your Free Trial

Social Media Image Sizes Per Network

These links will make it easier for you to navigate to the specific social media image sizes per network:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
LinkedIn
Pinterest
YouTube
Google My Business

Facebook Image Sizes

With 2.96 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the world’s largest social network. For that reason alone, it’s important to have attractive and engaging images that are optimized for the platform.

Remember that different devices, whether it’s mobile or desktop, render differently. Make sure that you are choosing dimensions based on where you want the majority of viewers to see your image.

Learn more about Facebook image sizes

Get specs and tips for implementing the best visual content on Facebook with these guides:

Facebook Profile Picture

Say cheese: your profile picture represents you or your brand on Facebook. This is the round photo that appears on your timeline layered over your cover photo. Your profile picture will also appear when you post to other walls, comment on posts or when your profile is searched.

Facebook profile picture image guidelines

Recommended image size: 320×320 pixels
Minimum file size: 180×60 pixels
Displays:
- 176×176 pixels (desktop)
- 196×196 pixels (smartphones)
- 36×36 pixels (most feature phones)
Recommended file type: JPG, PNG
Profile pictures are cropped to a circle

Facebook Business Page Profile Picture

Facebook changed its Profile image for Business Pages to appear to the left side of the screen. The new look helps Facebook Business Pages follow a similar appearance as personal accounts. However, the dimensions are the same, but the photo appears on the page slightly different.

Facebook Business Page profile image guidelines

Recommended image size: 320×320 pixels
Minimum file size: 180×60 pixels
Displays:
- 176×176 pixels (desktop)
- 196×196 pixels (smartphones)
- 36×36 pixels (most feature phones)
- Recommended file type: JPG, PNG
Profile pictures are cropped to a circle

Facebook Profile and Business Page Cover Photo

Your Facebook cover photo will only appear on your Facebook timeline, and it stretches across the entire screen, which gives you more freedom to choose something creative or supplement your profile picture. Where your profile picture might be a good choice for a picture of you or a brand logo, use this space to post something that speaks more toward you as an individual or as a brand.

Facebook profile and Business Page cover photo image guidelines

Ratio: 16:9
Minimum required size: 400×150 pixels
Recommended image size: 851×315 pixels
Mobile display size: 640×260 pixels
Max file size: 100kb
Recommended file type: JPG, PNG
Notes:
- The left side of your cover photo will be covered by your profile picture. On mobile, it could be 75% of your profile picture will overlap into the cover photo.
- Images with a logo or text may be best as a PNG file
- Business Page dimensions are exactly the same as personal accounts.

Facebook Shared Image

A shared image is one of the most common forms of sharing on Facebook. These images will always appear on your timeline, and ideally they will show up in most of your followers’ News Feeds — though with the Facebook algorithm determining which content will be served, it’s unlikely that everyone will see your post. The more people engage with your post, the more likely it is that the rest of your followers and their followers will see that activity.

Facebook shared image guidelines

Recommended image size: 1080×1350 pixels
Maximum file size: 8MB
Recommended file type: JPG, PNG, GIF
Appears in feed at a max width of 470 pixels (will scale to a max of 1:1)
Appears on page at a max width of 504 pixels (will scale to a max of 1:1)

Facebook Shared Link

Another great tool in your Facebook belt is the ability to share a link. It’s very similar to posting a shared image, but it gives you even more fields to work with. You can choose to create a shared link with a small square image to the left and text on the right, or with a larger rectangular image on top with text underneath.

Facebook shared link image guidelines

Recommended image size: 1080×1350 pixels
Displays:
- 479×246 pixels (desktop)
- 320 pixel width (mobile)
Minimum size: 200×200 pixels
Maximum file size: 8MB
Facebook will scale photos under the minimum dimensions. For better results, increase image resolution at the same scale as the minimum size.

Facebook Event Image

Facebook Events help capture the attention of users and cut through the noise on Facebook. Reminders are sent to your audience and having a good space with an even better image is important. Make sure you have the right dimensions down for a Facebook Event cover photo.

Facebook Event image guidelines

Recommended image size: 1920×1005
Facebook will scale down to minimum dimensions: 400×150 pixels
Facebook recommends for best results, choose photos that are 400×150 pixels.

Facebook Fundraiser image

Facebook has added the ability to create a fundraiser for charitable organizations or personal causes. The cover photo for these fundraisers slightly varies from a typical Facebook cover photo, with a minimum size of 400×150. The best experience across many display types will come from a higher resolution image, though.

Looking for Facebook ad sizes?

Facebook ad formatting can be even more complex than organic posts, so for more guidelines, check out our complete guide to every Facebook ad size!

Find more information on the image sizes for Facebook, visit the Facebook Help Center.

Twitter Image Sizes

With 436 million monthly active users, Twitter is one of the social media networks that your customers will most often use to discuss your brand.

X (fka Twitter) Profile Photo

Your X profile photo is the main image that represents you or your brand across the network. It’s going to be seen across the site in a number of places by a number of people so make sure it’s of the highest quality. Here’s the places your profile photo will be visible on the site.

On your page: The largest display of your profile picture is on your homepage and can be viewed by your followers as well as individuals who stumble upon your page.
In-stream: A smaller version of your profile picture appears in a follower’s X stream every time you Post or are Reposted.
Who to follow: Your profile picture is also going to appear next to a link to your page in the “Who to follow” box. This is located directly to the right of your X stream on desktop. Choose a recognizable image here.

X (fka Twitter) profile photo image guidelines

Recommended image size: 400×400 pixels
Maximum file size: 5MB
Image types include: JPG, GIF or PNG

X (fka Twitter) Header Photo

Your header photo is the image that spans the top of your X profile page. It’s quite a bit larger than your profile photo so make sure to save it at the highest resolution possible. Because you have more room to be creative with this picture and it will likely be the first thing your visitors see, make it something captivating.

X (fka Twitter) header image guidelines

Recommended image size: 1500×500 pixels
Maximum file size: 5MB
Recommended file type: JPG, GIF or PNG

X (fka Twitter) In-Stream Photos and Shared Links

X users can attach photos to any of their Posts. Depending on whether you’re attaching one or many photos or sharing a link, the way photos crop and display in stream will vary slightly.

Fortunately, in 2021, X made waves with #TwitterCropIsGone, eliminating the sometimes-unfavorable automated cropping for vertical images that had often become the subject of memes and in-jokes among users of the platform. Extremely wide or tall images with unusual dimensions may still get cropped, but for most images in standard 4:3 or 16:9 dimensions, you won’t have to worry as much about centering subjects around automated cropping.

The following are some best practices to get an optimal result, and you can also preview the end result in Sprout’s Compose window before you publish.

Recommended sizes for images by types of Posts:

Recommended image sizes:
- Minimum: 600×335 pixels
- Landscape: 1024×512 pixels (minimum) and 1600×900 pixels (recommended)
- Square: 1080×1080 pixels
- Portrait: 1080×1350 pixels
Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9
Maximum file size:
- 5 MB for JPG, PNG on mobile and desktop
- 5 MB for GIFs on mobile
- 15 MB for GIFs on desktop
Maximum number of images per post: 4 images

Find more information on in-stream photos at the X Help Center.

Instagram Image Sizes

Instagram is one of the most popular photo-sharing social networks. It’s the best place to showcase your visual creativity, even down to making a compelling grid out of the way your photos’ thumbnails display in sequence.

Instagram Profile Picture

Instagram is based on visuals, which should be an indication of how important it is to follow these image size guidelines. Ensure your profile image is recognizable so users can find you even easier through search or explore.

Instagram profile picture image guidelines

Recommended image size: 110×110 pixels
Recommended aspect ratio: 1:1, 4:5

Instagram Photo Size (Feed & Ad)

Because Instagram is all about sharing visual content – both images and videos – that appear in your followers’ feeds, it’s important to use higher resolution photos. Whether you’re posting natively in the app, via desktop or through a social media management tool, these guidelines below will help you put your best foot forward.

Instagram photo size (feed & ad) image guidelines

Recommended image size: 1080×1080 pixels or 1080×1350 pixels
Recommended minimum width: 1080 pixels
- Images with a width between 320 and 1080 pixels will be kept at the original resolution as long as it fits the recommended aspect ratio listed below
- If images are a lower resolution, Instagram will enlarge to a width of 320 pixels
- If images are a higher resolution, Instagram will shrink it to a width of 1080 pixels
Recommended aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 4:5
- Images will be cropped to fit a supported ratio
Maximum file size: 8MB
Recommended file type: JPG and PNG
Maximum number of images per post: 10 images

Instagram Photo Thumbnails

When someone goes to your page, they’ll be presented with all of your content arranged in rows of thumbnails. These smaller renditions of your images and videos will expand when clicked and include a place for people to comment.

Instagram photo thumbnails image guidelines

Thumbnails will appear at 161×161 pixels
Recommended image width: 1080 pixel
Feed aspect ratio: 1:1

Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are a popular source of visuals on the app. There are both video and image options available to publish. And while this feature was originally meant to be ephemeral, it’s possible to upload your own content and build a strategy around Stories engagement.

Instagram Story image guidelines

Recommended resolution: 1080×1920
Minimum resolution: 150×150
Aspect ratio: 9:16
- Aspect ratio for Instagram Story images published through Sprout: 4:5 to 1.91:1

For those looking for more info on Instagram ad sizes, including video specs, check out this guide!

TikTok Image Sizes

With 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok has grown considerably over the last few years. With nearly half its users under the age of 30, TikTok is becoming the social platform for younger target audiences.

TikTok Profile Image

All TikTok users have the option to upload a profile image to their accounts. This is the perfect opportunity for businesses to showcase their personalities through branding or to highlight a specific campaign.

TikTok profile image guidelines

Minimum image size: 200×200 pixels
Recommended file type: JPG, GIF or PNG

Looking for more TikTok specs? Our Always-Up-To-Date Video Specs guide can answer those questions.

LinkedIn Image Sizes

With 467 million registered users, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. Where other social networks may be good drivers of traffic and customers, LinkedIn is a great place for you to source great employees and to connect with other industry leaders.

LinkedIn Personal Profile Image

LinkedIn started using a new layout for personal profiles and kept the box logo with company pages (more on that below). However, the personal profile dimensions for LinkedIn is very straightforward. This is the main image that represents you on your personal profile. So anytime someone takes a look at your profile for some quick info, this is the prominent image that represents you. It’s important to get the size right.

LinkedIn personal profile image guidelines

Minimum image size: 268×268 pixels
Recommended image size: 400×400 pixels
Maximum file size: 3MB
Recommended file type: JPG or PNG

LinkedIn Cover Image

LinkedIn’s background image is a newer feature for your personal profile. It’s a little bit trickier to find something that really fits that space well, but if you get it right, your profile will look great.

LinkedIn cover image guidelines

Recommended image size: 1128×191 pixels
Maximum file size: 3MB
Recommended file type: JPG or PNG

LinkedIn Company Logo Image

One of the two brand logos that you should be uploading to LinkedIn is the standard company logo. This is the bigger of the two and is going to show up right next to your brand name on your LinkedIn homepage. This image also appears in the “Companies you may want to follow” section. The more enticing the photo, the more likely you’ll gain followers.

LinkedIn Company logo image guidelines

Minimum image size: 268×268 pixels
Recommended image size: 400×400 pixels
Maximum file size: 3MB
Recommended file type: JPG or PNG

LinkedIn Company Cover Image

Unlike the personal background image, the company or standard business background image covers the entire top of the page. The image appears much larger than the personal dimensions, giving businesses a bit more space.

LinkedIn Company cover image guidelines

Recommended image size: 1128×191 pixels
Maximum file size: 3MB natively
Maximum file size: 5MB via Sprout
Recommended file type: JPG or PNG

LinkedIn Shared Image or Link

This size works for LinkedIn posts that share a photo or a link with an image to a blog post or article to your company page’s feed.

LinkedIn shared image or link image guidelines

Recommended image size for links: 1200×627 pixels, based on mobile scaling
Recommended file type: JPG or PNG

LinkedIn Life Tab – Main Image & Company Photos

The Life tab on LinkedIn company pages lets you provide a more in-depth look at the day to day experience of your company’s employees. Currently, the two types of images you can upload here are the main image, which serves as a hero and highlight to your page, and the horizontal scrolling gallery of other company photos beneath.

LinkedIn Life tab image guidelines

Recommended size for main image: 1128×376
Recommended size for company photos: 900×600
Recommended file type: JPG or PNG
The Life tab only appears on the mobile app, and not the mobile web version of LinkedIn, so exact display sizes will vary by device. Upload the recommended size for the best experience.

Find more information in the LinkedIn Help Center.

Pinterest Image Sizes

Pinterest Profile Picture

When setting up your Pinterest account you have the option to do so using Facebook, Google or email. If you choose Facebook or Google, Pinterest will pull in the profile image that you have set there.

If you’re using email, or would prefer to use a different photo, you can do that too: just upload a square photograph (the larger the better) and Pinterest will resize it to fit. Like other social sites your profile picture on Pinterest should be something closely tied to you or your brand.

Pinterest profile picture image guidelines

Recommended image size: 165×165 pixels
Maximum file size: 10MB
Recommended image type: JPG and PNG

Pinterest Pin Sizes

When adding a pin to your board, it’s important to remember that Pinterest puts a limit on the width of the image but not the length. This gives you the opportunity to add a photo that’s square or one that will scale to be even taller. Just remember to make sure you’re creating large images because they add more value, not just because you can.

Pinterest Pin sizes image guidelines

Recommended image size: 735×1102 pixels
Recommended ratio: 2:3
Recommended file size: 20MB max, but only 10 MB when publishing via Sprout
Recommended file type: JPG, PNG, GIF
Note: Larger are resized to display at a width of 238 pixels with scaled height in feeds.

Text Guidelines

Title character count: 100 characters max
Textbox character count: 250 characters max

Pinterest Board Display

Creating boards is one of the most important things that you can do on Pinterest. Not only is it important to choose a photo that is enticing to your audience, it’s important to choose one that’s relevant to that particular board.

Pinterest Board display image guidelines

Final display: 222×150 pixels (large thumbnail)
Final display: 55×55 pixels (smaller thumbnail)

Find more information in the Pinterest Help Center.

YouTube Image Sizes

YouTube has more than 2.5 billion unique users every month and is available on hundreds of millions of devices. Millions of brands have already realized that YouTube is a great opportunity to reach their fan-base.

YouTube Channel Profile Image

YouTube allows you to select different profile image borders, but the dimensions stay the same. Ensure your YouTube has a profile image set up before you select your border.

YouTube Channel profile image guidelines

Recommended image size: 800×800 pixels
Minimum image size: 98×98 pixels
Maximum file size: 4MB
Recommended image files: PNG or GIF (no animations)

YouTube Channel Cover Photo

Spice up your YouTube channel with some “channel art.” When users click through your YouTube videos to your channel, some appealing images could entice them to stay on your page longer and watch more of your videos.

YouTube Channel cover photo image guidelines

Recommended file size: 2560×1440 pixels
Minimum file size: 2048×1152 pixels
Safe area for mobile and web (without text and logo cropping): 1546×423 pixels
Maximum file size: 6MB
Recommended image files: PNG or GIF

Across Different Devices

There are a lot of different platforms and devices that users can stream YouTube on so it’s important that you review your creative across devices and confirm that the most important parts of your image, such as text or logos, are displaying legibly in the “safe zone” noted above.

Find more information in the YouTube Help Center.

YouTube Video Uploads

Uploading your content to YouTube is the one of the most important parts of establishing your presence on the site. Videos can tell viewers something about you as a person, or it could show off something that your business might offer.

YouTube video guidelines

Videos must maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio. Smaller videos such as 4:3 will be pillarboxed to fit.
YouTube Shorts must maintain a 9:16 aspect ratio and 1920×1080 pixels.

For more on the specifics of YouTube video optimization, or to size video on any other social network, check out our complete guide to social media video specs.

Google My Business Image Sizes

Google My Business has become an essential platform for businesses with local, brick-and-mortar presences to gain visibility and conduct their review management strategy.

Types of Images for Google My Business

Logo: Your recognizable logo image. May not be available for all types of businesses–see Google guidelines for more detail.
Cover photo: A photo of your business that will typically be the first one shown. Choose a photo that gives the best overall representation of your place of business for this photo.
Business photo: You can use your other business photos to highlight different elements of your business or offices and help show off what local visiting customers should look for when they stop by.

For all three types of images, Google’s official guidelines recommend the below specs for the best appearance on the platform.

Google My Business image guidelines

Recommended resolution: 720×720 pixels
Minimum resolution: 250×250 pixels
File size maximum: 5 MB
Image file type: JPG or PNG

The post Always up-to-date guide to social media image sizes appeared first on Sprout Social.

Everything you need to know about online reputation management

Ronnie Gomez — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:00:52 +0000

Your business’s online reputation may be digital, but that won’t stop it from making a serious impact IRL. A strong reputation management strategy can attract new customers and deepen existing relationships. A lax approach, on the other hand, can alienate both audiences.

Make sure the web is working for you, not against you. Use this article to learn how to establish a comprehensive online reputation management strategy.

What is online reputation management?
Why does online reputation management matter?
What factors contribute to online reputation management?
Better online reputation management in 5 simple steps
How to choose the best reputation management software for your business

What is online reputation management?

Online reputation management involves actively monitoring and influencing how your business is perceived online. The main goal of this process is to control the online conversation surrounding your brand using various strategies to ensure that when people search for you online, they come across information that paints a favorable picture.

Why does online reputation management matter?

Your online reputation management impacts more than just your marketing team. Do it well, and teams across your org chart will feel the benefits in the following key areas.

Brand image

When people search for information on your business, everything they find works together to paint a picture of what it might be like to be a customer. Strong brand reputation management practices ensure that the picture is a good one.

This work is important everywhere but especially online, where good and bad customer experiences live on in perpetuity through social media posts and reviews. With online reputation management, you can bolster praise and account for feedback, giving you more control over your business’s brand image

Risk mitigation

Managing your online reputation requires you to be proactive. That proactivity plays a major role in crisis prevention and risk mitigation—two must-haves for growing businesses.

Continuous reputation monitoring allows businesses to detect potential issues or negative trends in sentiment early on. This early detection supports intervention before a situation escalates into a crisis that might cause lasting damage to your brand and company.

Business expansion

A good reputation has a snowball effect. The better your reputation gets, the more customers you attract. In the past, this work was relegated to slow-moving offline endeavors. Today, the internet can get this process going faster than you can say “avalanche”.

A steady drumbeat of positive attention online creates a strong environment for business expansion. After all, you’ll likely need more space and resources to meet the needs of all your new and existing customers.

Investor relations

Your business’s online reputation matters to more than just your customers—investors also use the internet to vet potential investments.

In recent years, social media platforms like Reddit, TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter) have become especially popular destinations for retail and institutional investors to discuss and analyze market trends. Without an online reputation management strategy in place, your brand could potentially miss out on business critical conversations.

Consumer insights

At the end of the day, your business’s online reputation is made up of feedback—praise, ideas and concerns ranging from “inconsequential” to “absolutely vital”.

A key element of online reputation management is ensuring that critical feedback gets to the people who can do something about it. When your processes bring your customer to the center of the conversation, you strengthen your business’s ability to deliver on what they want and need.

What factors contribute to online reputation management?

The internet can be a bit of a double-edged sword. There are so many ways to build your business’s reputation online. There are also a lot of ways for that reputation to be damaged.

An online reputation management strategy powered by routine sentiment analysis can help you make sense of the many factors that contribute to your business’s reputation across the web. Those include:

Social media

Social media has brought a new level of transparency into consumer conversations. Whether they’re evangelizing for a brand they love or ripping into a poor business practice, people turn to social to speak their minds.

This constant stream of commentary can work for or against your company. According to a study from GWI, over a third (43%) of consumers across all ages turn to social networks when looking for more information about brands, products or services. Social is the new search engine, making it a bedrock of your online reputation management strategy.

Luckily, managing your brand’s reputation on social doesn’t have to mean hours upon hours of scrolling. Brands can use social media listening to synthesize these conversations into actionable insights. For example, Cummins, a global leader in power solutions, uses Sprout’s social listening tools to monitor their brand health and reputation across major social networks in real time.

Learn more about Cummin’s strategy

Review sites

Your business’s star rating follows your brand across the web. Reviews are easier to find than ever, especially when you consider the rise of mobile search. If someone’s looking for information about your business on the go, chances are they’re also going to find your average review rating at the top of those search results.

The more positive reviews you get, the more reassurance potential customers get out of all those positive experiences. In fact, it may be what pushes them to finally procure their goods or services.

A person browsing through reviews is more likely to have a higher purchase intent than an individual passively browsing the rest of the web, which is why online review management goes hand-in-hand with online reputation management.

News publications

News publications impact more than just traditional public relations initiatives. In this day and age, any reputable news outlet has a digital publication that can be found by individuals well beyond their typical publishing audience. Think about it: How often have you found yourself reading an article online, only to find out it’s from a local paper miles away from where you currently reside?

Today, positive news coverage can be amplified across the web through social media and other digital channels, allowing brands to get more bang for their buck with their media relations efforts.

Influencers

In a way, influencers are like their own digital publications. After all, they create content for a specific audience they’ve grown over time. An endorsement from an influencer within your target market can have the same impact as positive media coverage, if not more.

Your influencer marketing strategy can do more than just improve your brand’s reputation online. It can play a major role in shaping that reputation, allowing your business to expand into new audiences and markets.

For example, Dave & Buster’s and TikTok influencer @CorporateNatalie seems like an unlikely pair at first thought. However, the two were able to make 9-to-5 comedy work for an arcade restaurant for this paid promotion.

@corporatenatalie

Zero regrets on the tattoo @Dave & Buster’s #ykywt #personalityhire #coworker #9to5 #happyhour #comedy #ad

♬ original sound – CorporateNatalie

Content like this can challenge existing beliefs about your brand’s reputation online. For Dave & Buster’s, it expanded their target audience to include working professionals who will likely have to schedule a team bonding session at one point or another.

Better online reputation management in 5 simple steps

Whether you’re introducing these practices for the first time, or you have a few online reputation management processes in place, these tips will help strengthen your approach to better protect your business.

Identify the channels used by your market segment

Where is your reputation being forged online? A qualitative and quantitative approach to market research can help you zero in on where your audience is discussing your brand and industry online.

Taking both into consideration will help you account for the full spectrum of where your audience hangs out online. Analytics tools and market research can reveal some sure bets, while open-ended research methods—like customer interviews and surveys—can shine a light on more up-and-coming platforms for brand discovery and research.

This information will help ensure your strategy is focused on the channels that will make an impact on your business.

Monitor your online reputation through mentions

If we were to think about online reputation management through the lens of a Crawl, Walk, Run strategy, monitoring your online mentions would fit squarely within the “Crawl” stage.

When a user tags your brand handle in a social media post or leaves a review on a business page, they expect a response quickly. According to the 2023 Sprout Social Index™ Report, 69% of consumers expect a response within the same day. If you don’t have a process for monitoring your brand mentions online, you are disappointing customers which can cause lasting damage to brand reputation.

The easiest way to safeguard your brand reputation online is to use a tool that organizes all those notifications in one, centralized platform. For example, Sprout Social consolidates inboxes across social media networks and popular review sites like Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor and Glassdoor, so you never miss a mention.

Identify the topics around your business needs

Once you’ve got reacting to mentions down, it’s time to get more proactive with your approach.

Staying on top of the conversations tangentially related to your brand will supercharge your online reputation management strategy. For example, say a competitor’s highly-publicized product recall is driving a ton of discussion online. By proactively monitoring the conversations happening within your industry, you gain a clearer understanding of consumer concerns so you can craft a response strategy that enhances your competitive advantage.

These conversations can be more difficult to track than mentions alone, but the results are worth the effort. Plus, there are social listening tools that can help you uncover trends and develop actionable insights without any complex data aggregation processes. Sprout’s social listening tool makes the process ultra-accessible with our user-friendly and intuitive Query Builder.

Figuring out what topics to follow will take a bit of trial and error, so we recommend starting broad and narrowing as you go. For example, if you operate within a specific geographic location, consider tracking key conversations happening at a local level and fine-tune your approach from there.

Take charge of the narrative

As you gather insights from your online reputation management processes, you’ll begin to identify trends in consumer sentiment. These emerging narratives can control how people perceive your brand for better and for worse. If you want to maintain control over your brand image, you need to take charge.

Do this by using everything you’ve learned to inform cross-channel communications. If consumers frequently cite the quality of your product as a reason they keep coming back, give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at how it’s made. If your shipping times continuously come up as an area of improvement, create content that builds transparency around what causes those delays.

By addressing the positive and negative, you take back control of your business’s online reputation.

How to choose the best reputation management software for your business

The internet is a big place. If you rely on an individual or even a single team to manage your reputation online, chances are you might miss something vital. If you want to do online reputation management right, you need a tool to help get the job done.

Here are some questions you can ask to ensure your reputation management software procurement process leaves you with the best option possible:

Does the tool offer a collaborative workspace? You may be driving your online reputation management strategy, but teams across your business will need to contribute to truly get the job done. Your reputation management software should allow internal and external teams to collaborate and carry out tasks without any unnecessary overlap.
Is the tool scalable? Online reputation management means working with external platforms that can add, remove or update features at the drop of a hat. Check to see how your vendor has responded to these changes in the past. How long does it take them to add new features? Are new workflows intuitive, or do they require training? These questions will help you get an accurate read on whether or not the tool can grow alongside your organization.
What channels does the tool integrate with? Compare your list of priority channels with a list of integrated channels provided by your vendor. If there are too many gaps, then you may find yourself doing work alongside your software solution to ensure nothing is missed.
What reporting capabilities does the tool offer? If you’re putting all this work into your strategy, you probably want to see the fruits of your labor. Your online reputation management tool should offer insight into how your reputation is trending over time.
Does the software offer AI and automation? Synthesizing the countless conversations that take place online calls for some seriously smart tech. Ask your vendor about the AI and automation tools they currently provide, as well as what is on their product roadmap.

Take a smarter approach to online reputation management with Sprout Social

Your time is valuable. Don’t use it to sift through the countless comments and posts made about your brand on the web. Instead, leave that to Sprout Social. Our tools aggregate mentions and conversations about your brand, competitors and industry so you can focus on identifying trends and creating action items.

Put Sprout to the test today by signing up for a free 30-day trial.

Start your 30-day trial

The post Everything you need to know about online reputation management appeared first on Sprout Social.

How social media network fragmentation will impact your 2024 strategy

Rachael Goulet — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:00:06 +0000

Social media networks, and the way users interact with them, evolve quickly. In the past few years, users traded glossy, retouched photos for lo-fi videos and photo dumps. They simultaneously hopped on blink-and-you’ll-miss them trends, while championing authenticity. In 2023, we saw new platforms enter the scene and shake ups in platform preferences that changed the face of the industry, while other tried and true networks held consumer attention.

This year, plan for more changing audience preferences and deeper social media fragmentation. Just because a network was the foundation of your strategy in the past, doesn’t mean you won’t need a new cornerstone moving forward. Especially as powerhouse networks become increasingly oversaturated.

When charting a path forward, social media teams must orient their strategy around network white space, following the lead of influencers and creators breaking through on new channels. The dynamic industry landscape demands social media teams adapt fast, remain hyper vigilant to unpredictable user preferences and make room for experimentation.

Every pot has a lid

Today’s social media ecosystem is made up of many networks with unique algorithms, content formats and audiences. Consumers use all of them to meet their needs for connection and consumption.

According to a Sprout Social Q4 2023 Pulse Survey, short-form videos are what people want to see most on social, so it’s no surprise that platforms like TikTok and Instagram have seen such fast and steady growth. However, users are also still largely turning to social media to connect with family and friends, helping Facebook maintain popularity and user engagement on LinkedIn explode.

People are also using social media to learn about and purchase products. We are seeing platforms like TikTok lean into accessible commerce and thrive. On the flip side, our data shows that X (formerly Twitter) has dropped down the list of preferred platforms. With major changes at the company and new platforms like Threads, users are diversifying their time across platforms while remaining loyal to some legacy networks.

Our Pulse Survey data also reveals 42% of people expect to use more social networks in 2024. Though “go where your audience is” remains a closely held social marketing belief, audiences across demographics are using every network (looking at you Boomers on TikTok). Rather than trying to invest in every platform alongside your competition, now is the time for brands to meet their audience in more intentional ways.

Diversifying your network strategy

You know which networks are considered most relevant to your industry. Many B2B companies build their social marketing strategy around LinkedIn. Retailers go all-in on Instagram and TikTok. But if you and your competitors are all vying for consumer attention in the same place, you make it harder to secure a following, engagements and conversions.

Plus, you’re leaving opportunities on the table to connect with your audience. Instead of only joining the masses, learn more about how your audience uses other networks, and create space in your strategy and on your team for experimentation. Ask yourself: Where is your audience most likely to participate in a trend or engage with content? When do they feel most compelled to make a purchase? Which is their preferred channel for customer care?

Determine how each platform’s unique culture informs their behavior. You should also look for the niche between your product and specific subcommunities that exist, like those seen on vertical networks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by L.L.Bean (@llbean)

For example, when L.L.Bean took a break from traditional social channels (like Facebook and Instagram), they were able to build and maintain their community on Strava. While the outdoor retailer and some members of their audience unplugged from core social networks, the brand knew their audience would still gamify their time spent outside. To supplement their audience’s habit of tracking exercise, they created the “L.L.Bean Feel Good Challenge” on the physical exercise tracker-turned-subcommunity to foster community engagement “offline.”

Even if it means divesting from certain platforms, you will make a greater impact by doubling down on a smaller number of networks and diversifying which networks you invest in.

Go where your competition isn’t

To be clear, I don’t recommend completely nixing popular platforms and transitioning to an entirely decentralized social strategy (in most cases). Your audience has a seemingly bottomless appetite for content across networks—from legacy networks associated with your industry to emerging platforms—and many brands leave touchpoints untapped. When allocating resources, think beyond the constraints of “best practices” and go where the white space for your brand is.

Stake your claim in the ground by leaning into unexpected platforms and owning your niche there. When you take ownership of a new (or abandoned) network for your industry, you’re most likely to build brand loyalty, increase retention and foster community.

Make 2024 the year of standing out instead of blending in, and become the recognizable brand on social you know you can be. For more actionable tips to breakthrough on emerging networks, read what we learned during our month-long experiment on Threads.

The post How social media network fragmentation will impact your 2024 strategy appeared first on Sprout Social.

Customer retention strategies for 2024

Brent Barnhart — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:10:33 +0000

Social media and customer retention are intrinsically linked because social has become a key player in the entire customer journey.

The average buyer’s journey is becoming more dynamic, and social customer care is a way to capture your audience’s attention when the competition is fiercer than ever.

There’s no denying that customer retention should be a top priority if you want your business to thrive long-term. The 2023 State of Social Media Report found that 88% of business leaders agree social media data and insights are critical to customer retention and delivering exceptional customer care.

Throughout this article, learn more about how social media and social listening can play a role in retaining and delighting customers, plus several proven customer retention strategies you can implement today.

What is customer retention?

Customer retention measures a business’s ability to keep customers over a given period of time. The opposite of customer retention is customer churn, a metric that shows how many customers a company has lost over that same period of time.

Customer retention rates vary by industry. For example, Statista found that businesses in the media and professional services industry have an average customer retention rate of 84% while hospitality, travel and restaurants have an average rate of 55%.

How to calculate customer retention rate

The formula to calculate your brand’s customer retention rate is:

((# of Customers at End of Period – New Customers Acquired During Period) / # of Customers at Start of Period) x 100

Why is customer retention important for businesses?

It’s common knowledge that keeping existing customers is cheaper and easier than acquiring new ones. When a customer is already familiar with your brand and product or services, you don’t need to spend as much effort and costs to attain them in the first place.

This can lead to predictable revenue that sustains your business, giving your brand a solid foundation to grow from year-over-year. A high customer retention rate also increases your overall customer lifetime value. Whether customers increase their business with you over time, or refer you to their friends and family, it means more money in your pocket per customer and reduced marketing costs.

Customer retention also leads to brand loyalty, which can be a source of continued feedback and insights into what is and isn’t working.

This is why brands often put tactics in place to keep customers around for as long as possible—a few of which we’ll explore shortly.

Social media is a huge asset to customer retention due to its unique ability to facilitate connections between brands and their customers. Because brands and customers can communicate directly with each other, social media provides the perfect relationship-building outlet.

It’s also a virtual gathering place filled with powerful insights about what people think and feel about your brand. Using social listening, you can get an unfiltered view into how your brand is perceived and what your audience is most interested in getting from you.

Having an active presence on social media is a great way to build relationships with your customers and make them want to continue buying from your brand. A few tactics to use include:

Offer customer service on social media, helping clients and customers find solutions without having to leave their preferred social platform.
Set up social media chatbots that help customers complete actions or direct them to a live representative.
Engage with your audience’s social media content, liking and responding to posts that either mention your brand or are relevant to your products/services/industry.
Create content that your audience will enjoy and want to interact with.
Promote ads and social media posts that are personalized to specific segments of your audience by taking advantage of audience targeting features.
Share genuinely helpful and authentic content that makes your audience appreciate your brand.

How to increase customer retention

Don’t let your initial investment of time, resources and relationship-building go to waste. Below are proven customer retention strategies that encourage folks to stick around for the long haul.

1. Invest in your onboarding process and customer resources

The importance of onboarding can’t be overstated when it comes to customer retention. This is the first interaction a customer has with your business after making their purchase decision—don’t make them regret it.

This realization turns onboarding into a make-or-break process. Ask yourself: Are you empowering your customers to make the most of your product or service from the start?

Doing so requires a combination of resources. From self-service options to product videos and beyond, companies should strive to put their onboarding materials front and center in as many formats as possible. This ensures you appeal to all of your customers, not just a small set of them.

At Sprout, we give our customers a variety of resources in our Help Center, so they can learn about our product based on their needs.

From product release notes and support articles to on-demand webinars, we help customers fully understand our products’ features—no matter how you prefer to learn.

The process of churn reduction doesn’t happen by accident. The more guidance you’re able to give customers, the better.

2. Create a sense of community through user-generated content

Education isn’t the be-all, end-all of customer retention.

Perhaps one of the more straightforward strategies to reduce churn is simply engaging with your customers via social.

Picking their brains. Celebrating their success stories. The list goes on and on.

Sharing user-generated content (UGC) in the form of reviews and customer photos represents a way to engage your customers and build a much-needed sense of community among your buyers.

For example, brands should make a conscious effort to share shout-outs and compliments from their customers.

And if you sell a physical product, encouraging customers to share photos of your product in action is a no-brainer. Many brands make UGC a cornerstone of their content strategy.

Among our customer retention tactics, this is perhaps the lowest-hanging but most fun. Don’t be afraid to show off your personality and engage your audience.

3. Actively ask for customer feedback to improve your experience

Gathering feedback represents a win-win for businesses and customers alike.

Not only do you show your customers that you care about providing a stellar experience, but you also gather invaluable testimonials to learn how to better serve your base.

Something as simple as an email asking for a review is a good starting point, providing an open-ended avenue for customers to share their thoughts.

These types of messages should ideally be sent relatively early in the customer lifecycle—like right after onboarding—to keep your relationship positive.

4. Speed up and step up your social customer care

No surprises here. People overwhelmingly take to social media to speak their minds.

Whether it’s a question, complaint or compliment, you need to come up with timely, thoughtful responses.

The good news is that providing social customer care doesn’t have to mean scrambling or refreshing your X (formerly known as Twitter) feed 24/7.

Instead, take advantage of your marketing tools, such as your CRM or social media management tools. Sprout’s Smart Inbox keeps tabs on notifications and @mentions from social, so you never miss a potential crisis. Make a conscious effort to reply to each response personally or refer folks to the proper social media customer service channel to get things resolved ASAP.

5. Reward your most loyal customers

Customer retention isn’t all about righting wrongs or preventing mistakes.

It’s about being proactive. Perhaps one of the best ways to ensure your happy customers stick around is by rewarding their loyalty.

There’s a reason why loyalty and brand ambassador programs are popular among brands. For the sake of retention and keeping people from bouncing to a competitor, rewards and point systems can do the trick.

For example, check out how Smashbox encourages its satisfied customers to keep spending.

This encourages long-term customers and makes your base feel like VIPs by virtue of getting better deals.

6. Listen closely to your lost customers

If you’re trying to figure out how to retain customers, look no further than the ones you’ve lost.

Whether it’s a nasty email or a good old old-fashioned roasting on social, you can’t keep 100% of your customers happy.

That said, if you want to reduce churn, you shouldn’t ignore all negative feedback concerning your brand. Listening to customer complaints clue you in on what not to do in the future. If you find that multiple customers are complaining about the same problem or concern, it’s probably time to take action.

Social listening tools like Sprout give you a detailed look at customer sentiment. You might be surprised at the common threads between your lost customers in terms of what they complain about, leading to org-wide improvements in your product or service.

7. Set expectations to create a better customer experience

Customer experience matters, as does setting expectations about the experience you provide—especially if you’re in ecommerce..

For example, what does your shipping policy look like? Do you offer exchanges and returns? Any guarantees?

These policies are key to ensuring that your one-off customers return in the future. Since they provide customers with peace of mind, you shouldn’t be shy about promoting them.

For example, companies like Red Wing Shoes promote their free shipping and return policies as soon as you land on-site. Meanwhile, they clarify further on their dedicated “Support” page.

Coupled with a generous and explicit return policy and guarantee, customers know exactly what to expect and understand that the brand is willing to commit to their customers.

Just make sure you can stick to whatever promises you make. Failure to do so can result in an unflattering call-out.

8. Keep customers in the loop about your latest products, launches and updates

Remember: Your customers aren’t mind-readers.

And besides, they’re likely juggling a ton of different products at any given time.

Rather than assume they’re aware of your latest update or read your most recent marketing email, you need to make an effort to keep them in the loop through social media as well. Build product launches and updates into your content calendar to make sure customers are informed and engaged.

9. Establish a follow-up frequency that keeps customers engaged

Again, staying on positive terms with your customers means being proactive.

Frequent check-ins, such as outreach emails or calls, help. But you have to walk a fine line between checking in and potentially annoying your audience.

When in doubt, think “less is more”, but be sure to establish some sort of check-in frequency. Doing so will also make the process of cross-selling and upselling easier and more intuitive.

There are likely tools in your marketing stack that can help here. For example, a CRM like Salesforce has a built-in follow-up frequency setting that remind you when to contact customers.

Adjust your settings to follow up with high-ticket customers more frequently and so on. Note-taking in your CRM is also a smart move to tweak your follow-ups with certain customers—like a particular customer or account who doesn’t want to hear from you frequently.

Also, consider how tools like Sprout help you keep track of your social interactions and conversations. Case Management within our Smart Inbox gives you a snapshot of your history with any given contact, making it easier to provide personalized service and care.

Consider that many customer retention programs fail due to a lack of organization. With automated reminders and message-logging, you can keep better track of your relationships and follow up in a way that makes sense.

10. Regularly share engaging content on social media

Competitors, creators, family, friends and other brands are all vying for consumers’ attention. Creating and sharing engaging content is essential to capturing your audience’s attention and keeping them interested.

Offering a regular calendar of entertaining or educational content keeps your customers engaged, your brand top-of-mind and encourages them to return for more. Regularly engaging with them through content helps strengthen the bond between you and your customer, as you work to serve their needs and interests.

Plus, your social content can also lead to organic growth as your engaged customers become brand advocates, spreading the digital word about your brand to their connections.

11. Exclusive social media promotions or contests

Special social media promotions or contests can be a powerful customer retention strategy. Contests create a sense of excitement, engaging your customers in a game of chance. They become more emotionally invested as they eagerly anticipate the results. The thrill of possibly winning prizes also encourages interaction with your social content, keeping them active and engaged with your brand.

Exclusive promotions work similarly by keeping your audience continually engaged while waiting for the next sale or special code to be released. It serves as a reward for following your brand and engaging with your content by giving them exclusive access to deals.

12. Run interactive polls and quizzes on social media

This interactive content invites your audience to participate directly with you, becoming active contributors to your brand’s content. This form of engagement can foster a sense of connection because they feel involved and their contributions are valued.

Polls and quizzes also provide valuable insights into your customers’ preferences and opinions. You can then use these insights to tailor future content to your customers’ needs and interests more effectively.

Essentially, interactive social posts engage your existing customers by making their inputs important, while telling you how to better personalize your content, which leads to greater loyalty.

13. Maintain consistent branding across channels

Consistency builds trust and familiarity. When customers know what to expect from you, they are more likely to return.

Using the same branding across platforms creates a cohesive brand identity, boosting customers’ confidence by reassuring that they’re engaging with you no matter the platform they choose. Consistency also applies to how you communicate with your audience.

Being consistent in your content and how you respond to comments, customer questions, complaints or kudos reinforces your brand’s core values and promotes a seamless experience across channels.

Fostering an environment where your customers are comfortable and know what to expect strengthens your relationships with them because you create a sense of reliability and stability.

The importance of social listening in customer retention

Social listening is a strategy that revolves around the analysis of customer sentiment about a brand. Through social media tools, brands can easily monitor online mentions and conversations around their products, services, industry or the brands themselves.

Some of these conversations can even let brands in on what their target customer is looking for. Social listening—especially when used in relation to customer retention—is much more than simply monitoring the sentiment around your brand.

Instead, it’s important to analyze what your target audience is actually saying. Pay close attention to things like:

Issues your target audience is having with your competition. Use it to offer a better product.
Pain points your audience has with your product. Can you launch additional features or settings to make it a better fit?
Positive and negative sentiments about your brand. Get information to actively optimize your presence.

Using social listening tools to increase customer satisfaction, keep customers longer and improve brand sentiment.

What does your customer retention plan look like?

You’ve already done the hard part by winning your customers over in the first place. Now you need to make sure you’re paying attention to customer retention so they stick with you in the long run.

The good news is, you can easily roll out any combination of these customer retention strategies with the right data and tools.

To continue making informed business decisions, check out the latest Sprout Social Index™ with key social media statistics for 2024.

The post Customer retention strategies for 2024 appeared first on Sprout Social.

LinkedIn hashtags: The complete guide for 2024 [+ trending hashtags]

Mahnoor Sheikh — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 16:32:04 +0000

LinkedIn is more than just a networking site. It’s a top spot for generating leads and getting your brand seen.

One strategy for driving growth and visibility on the network is using the right hashtags. In this post, we’ll walk you through finding, using and optimizing LinkedIn hashtags to get more eyes on your content.

We’ve also rounded up the top 30 most popular hashtags on the network so you can hop on relevant trends and boost your LinkedIn marketing strategy.

Table of contents:

What are LinkedIn hashtags?
How to use hashtags on LinkedIn
How to find and follow new hashtags on LinkedIn
Tips for optimizing your hashtags on LinkedIn
The most popular LinkedIn hashtags in 2023

What are LinkedIn hashtags?

LinkedIn hashtags are keywords or phrases that categorize content. This makes it easier for users to find and engage with topics they’re interested in. You can add hashtags to posts, comments, articles, profiles and even pages on the platform.

Hashtags help your content become part of a larger, dynamic conversation happening on LinkedIn. They’re powerful tools for increasing the visibility of your posts, reaching people with similar interests or in the same industry, and tapping into trending topics.

How to use hashtags on LinkedIn

There are several ways you can incorporate LinkedIn hashtags to increase your visibility. Let’s look at examples of how and where to appropriately use them on the platform:

How to add hashtags to your LinkedIn business page

Wondering where to add hashtags first? Your LinkedIn business page is a good place to start.

Head over to your page and click on Edit Page on your left. Find and click on Hashtags under the Community tab and then add up to three hashtags by tapping + Add a hashtag.

Adding hashtags to your page helps it pop up in relevant search results. But it’s also a great way to find and interact with your target audience—people who are interested in your brand, industry, products and services.

How to add hashtags to your LinkedIn posts

Posts are the bread and butter of LinkedIn feeds. Help your posts rank for relevant keywords by sprinkling in carefully selected hashtags. Use the # symbol when typing out your post to add keywords and hashtags.

You can weave hashtags naturally within your post content or place them all together at the end if you feel they’re diluting your post’s impact.

How to add hashtags to your LinkedIn articles

Publishing articles on LinkedIn? Give them more exposure by adding relevant hashtags. You can hashtag some keywords within the body of your articles or add them all at the end so they don’t interrupt the flow of your content.

When you publish your articles, your hashtags will become clickable and searchable. It’s a great way to contribute in-depth insights and opinions to trending discussions and topics.

You can also add hashtags to your posts when you go on to share your articles. Here’s an example of what that could look like:

How to add hashtags to your LinkedIn comments

Finally, you can include hashtags directly in your comments when interacting with other people on the platform. Here’s an example:

Try to always use hashtags naturally within your comments to avoid looking like a spam bot. Also, use them sparingly or not at all if they’re not highly relevant to the topic.

How to find and follow new hashtags on LinkedIn

You know how to use the hashtags. But how do you find the right ones for your brand? Let’s look at three ways to find and follow hashtags that matter to your business.

Use the LinkedIn search bar

The easiest way to find hashtags on LinkedIn is to directly search for them on the platform.

Head over to the search bar at the top of your LinkedIn page and type in keywords that are relevant to your industry, business and content.

For example, a marketing agency could search for hashtags like #digitalmarketing or #contentmarketing. They can also browse additional suggestions in the drop-down, like #digitalmarketingtrends or #contentmarketingexperts.

Clicking on a hashtag lets you see related content and gives you the option to follow users who create discussions surrounding the topic.

Use social listening to identify trends

Monitor conversations and posts in your industry, especially involving thought leaders and influencers, to spot trending topics. Note the hashtags these people are frequently using in their discussions.

Use a social listening tool like Sprout Social to keep an eye on specific topics and keywords.

A big advantage of using Sprout is you can also identify popular hashtags being used on other platforms and then check whether they’re worth following on LinkedIn.

Use ‘Followed Hashtags’ to find more related hashtags

The third way to find relevant hashtags is to look at the ones you’re already following. On the left side of your LinkedIn feed, you’ll see a list of followed hashtags (right below Groups.)

Click on Followed Hashtags to view suggestions for related hashtags you might be interested in.

Tips for optimizing your hashtags on LinkedIn

Hashtags are tricky—if you misuse or overuse them, they can do more harm than good. Use them strategically to boost impact and reach.

Here are four tips on how to optimize your LinkedIn hashtags.

Use LinkedIn analytics to refine your hashtag strategy

Improve your strategy over time by understanding how the hashtags you’re currently using are contributing to your brand’s visibility and engagement on the platform.

Use LinkedIn analytics to track the performance of posts with specific hashtags. Access the platform’s built-in analytics tool or use a third-party software like Sprout for in-depth data exploration and a visual perspective.

Based on hashtag analytics, tweak your hashtag choices for future content. For example, you might find #digitalmarketingtips is more popular with your target audience than #marketingtips. Or, you might find certain hashtags increase your reach but others get you higher engagement.

Use hashtags sparingly and strategically

Don’t spam your posts and articles with hashtags. Use a mix of niche and popular hashtags to balance reach and targeted engagement.

In LinkedIn posts, we recommend using 3-5 hashtags that are most relevant to your content. Here’s an example of how Pipedrive does it:

The post above strategically incorporates a mix of niche, popular and branded hashtags to join broader (e.g. sales and CRM) and more focused (e.g. AI) conversations on the platform.

Experiment with different hashtags

Growing on LinkedIn means you need to continuously test and improve. This includes experimenting with your hashtag strategy.

Let’s say you’re in the financial sector and regularly use #finance. Add more depth, relevance and reach by introducing niche hashtags like #fintechinnovation or #wealthmanagementtips to posts and articles that align with these content themes.

The benefit of testing different hashtags is you often stumble upon keywords that resonate highly with specific target audiences. You’re also able to rule out hashtags that might not be working as well as others—saving space for better ones.

Pro tip: Sprout’s hashtag tracking tool lets you measure the performance of your chosen hashtags across multiple social media platforms, including LinkedIn.

Track your competitors

Keep an eye on your competitors to see which hashtags they’re using and which ones seem to be working for them. Competitive monitoring gives you a window into trending topics and helps you find and incorporate relevant hashtags into your own content.

For instance, if you notice that a competitor is getting lots of engagement with #AIinMarketing, consider how you can use this hashtag in your own posts.

Does the hashtag align with a blog post or an article you are planning? Can you add a unique perspective to the conversation under this hashtag? Remember, the goal is not to copy but to find inspiration and identify trends that you can adapt to your own strategy.

30+ of the most popular LinkedIn hashtags in 2023

To make it easier for you to join trending conversations, we’ve put together a list of the top 30 LinkedIn hashtags relevant to marketers and business professionals. These trending hashtags should give your brand a starting point when implementing your marketing strategy for 2024. Trending hashtags on LinkedIn update quickly, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for trending topics you can capitalize on.

#innovation – 38,411,129 followers
#management – 35,598,286 followers
#humanresources – 32,898,825 followers
#digitalmarketing – 27,095,863 followers
#technology – 26,161,748 followers
#creativity – 24,925,069 followers
#future – 24,304,980 followers
#futurism – 23,219,190 followers
#entrepreneurship – 22,469,540 followers
#careers – 22,286,006 followers
#markets – 22,001,983 followers
#startups – 21,011,950 followers
#marketing – 20,178,414 followers
#socialmedia – 19,491,703 followers
#venturecapital – 19,100,660 followers
#socialnetworking – 18,826,357 followers
#leanstartups – 18,782,560 followers
#branding – 17,838,214 followers
#advertisingandmarketing – 17,002,362 followers
#motivation – 15,629,846 followers
#personaldevelopment – 14,529,875 followers
#investing – 14,249,587 followers
#jobinterviews – 14,171,761 followers
#sustainability – 13,162,614 followers
#personalbranding – 10,350,194 followers
#education – 9,545,127 followers
#customerrelations – 8,514,104 followers
#productivity – 8,363,545 followers
#sales – 5,826,765 followers
#socialentrepreneurship – 5,746,331 followers

Elevate your LinkedIn hashtags strategy

Hashtags can drive engagement to your LinkedIn posts and put it in front of the right audiences. Start by finding the right hashtags and place them strategically in your posts and articles to join relevant conversations happening in your industry.

Use Sprout Social’s LinkedIn management tools to take your marketing strategy to the next level. Track posts and hashtags, monitor conversations, keep an eye on the competition and measure performance all in one place.

The post LinkedIn hashtags: The complete guide for 2024 [+ trending hashtags] appeared first on Sprout Social.

Rethinking the influencer-brand relationship

Jamia Kenan — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 15:00:53 +0000

Think about the last time you saw a post from an influencer that made you stop scrolling. What was it about the person and content that convinced you to pause or even inspired you to try a new product or service? Before we see these digital trendsetters on our timelines, there’s a lot of planning and strategizing going on behind the scenes. From understanding audience interests to pinpointing the right collaboration for a campaign, there are many intricacies to influencer marketing.

Let’s explore the layers of influencer-brand partnerships so you can build and nurture successful collaborations—and create content worthy of interrupting your audience’s scrolling time.

Before we jump in, did you know that Tagger by Sprout Social can help you with your influencer-brand relationship? Tagger by Sprout Social empowers marketers to drive impactful influencer marketing strategies, enabling you to grow brand presence authentically, engage with new targeted audiences and generate revenue faster.

Tagger by Sprout Social

Revolutionize your influencer marketing with data-powered social intelligence.

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What is an influencer-brand partnership?

Influencer-brand partnerships leverage the social proof of content creators and/or influencers to promote sales and build brand awareness. They harness the creator’s following, trustworthiness and authenticity to increase credibility between a brand and their target audience.

Influencer-brand collaborations can take many different forms, but our Q3 2023 Pulse Survey of 307 social marketers in the United States reflects some interesting trends. According to the survey, companies are focused on the following influencer-brand partnerships: giveaways, product collaborations and influencer-led advertisements. You’re probably already familiar with giveaways and product collaborations, but influencer-led advertisements vary and can include sponsored posts and affiliate marketing ambassadors.

In order for these brand partnerships to flourish and maximize return on investment of influencer marketing efforts, marketers will need to consider how to collaborate with influencers with an intentional mindset.

How to collaborate with influencers in a meaningful way

Knowing how to find the right influencers is pivotal to the success of your brand partnerships. Identifying the right influencers is a top priority, but marketers also need to consider caveats like audience interest and understanding when to give influencers more agency. The magic of collaborating with influencers lies within their expertise—and brands should definitely learn from them while leveraging their social proof.

Use authenticity as a main driver

Consumers are looking for authentic content, and activating the right partners builds trust and connection with audiences. Let’s make it clear: authenticity is more important than ever—that’s why leaning into it is one of our top predictions for the future of social media. According to The 2023 Sprout Social Index™, authentic, non-promotional content is the number one type of content consumers don’t see enough of from brands on social.

Some of the most successful examples of influencer marketing campaigns center on authenticity. For example, in August 2023 Topicals hosted a fully BIPOC sponsored brand trip, featuring a group of 18 smaller creators and influencers. Several had never been on a brand trip before. The influencer trip resulted in 3 million impressions and an increase of 5,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram, according to Topicals.

Topicals maintained a similar momentum with a brand trip to Ghana in December 2023, #TopicalsGoneToGhana. The social media campaign achieved what happens when brands do influencer trips the right way.

#TopicalsGoneToGhana happened during Detty December, a month-long annual celebration featuring music festivals and other events in West Africa that has surged in popularity over the past few years. Thousands flock to Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal from across the globe to enjoy Detty December.

Topicals appealing to culture and aligning with influencers that resonate with their audience achieves a top priority for marketers: authentic messaging while building brand awareness.

If you’re looking to identify which influencers will help you shape meaningful campaigns, look to social data to inform your influencer-brand partnerships.

How social data can inform your influencer collaborations

Along with authenticity, businesses should seek out social data to inform their influencer-brand partnerships. Think of influencers as the artists that bring a song to life with their voice. Social data is the music sheet that guides their song—but instead of music notes, we’re using metrics.

The Sprout Social Index™ reveals 51% of marketers plan to use social data to inform product development or marketing strategy. With social listening tools, you can uncover relevant conversations, topics and influencers to help inform your influencer collaborations. For example, you can use social listening tools to track customer sentiment to review how your audiences feel about various conversations. You can also track other relevant metrics like reach, engagement rates, new followers and profile visits.

And with influencer marketing tools like Tagger, brands can dive even deeper and learn what their audience truly cares about, enabling marketers to identify the best influencers to tap into what their audiences want and develop content that resonates.

With Tagger by Sprout Social, you can use smart filters to view thousands of creators and influencers, analyzed by relevant audiences on social networks that are aligned with your brand. The platform also enables marketers to manage entire campaigns and measure the success of those campaigns in real-time through analytics and custom reports.

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3 tips for influencer collaborations that build customer loyalty

Let’s explore three actionable takeaways you can use to build and nurture influencer partnerships.

1. Leverage influencers across the customer journey

Most people associate influencer marketing with purchase-stage content like tutorials, product reviews, try-on hauls and Live shopping, but you can use influencer- brand partnerships at each stage of the customer journey. For example, in the retention stage, marketers are aiming for repeat purchases and to increase key performance indicators (KPIs) like retention rate and customer lifetime value. You could activate influencers in exclusive memberships or customer appreciation content. For advocacy purposes, influencers can support referral programs. Influencers can give endorsements that are seen as credible by their target audience. Using referral links also makes tracking and measuring ROI easy as well. For example, Gymshark has an affiliate program and an ambassador program.

2. Nurture lasting partnerships

Instead of hosting multiple one-off influencer collaborations, focus on fostering lasting partnerships. Remember that influencers are the artists that bring the content to life, so embrace creating your band of partners. Building upon the same partnerships will further nurture trust with audiences and enable more opportunities for them to learn about those influencers. For example, for the #TopicalsGoneToGhana campaign, the brand included some influencers that also attended the Bermuda trip, allowing the brand to further activate their current brand partnerships and the personalities of those influencers.

3. Use social listening to evaluate partnerships and iterate

Remember our analogy: influencers are the artists and social data is the music sheet. Use social listening data to evaluate your existing audience’s interests and current influencers that could already be a part of your brand conversation. With Sprout Social’s Listening tools you can monitor relevant hashtags, keywords and brand mentions to help you identify audience insights. For example, you may notice an influencer who already has a genuine connection with your brand’s product or service before being paid to use it in a collaboration. Tapping into existing customers as influencers reaches another level of authentic marketing. As you consider current and future influencer-brand partnerships, make a point to analyze those collaborations. See how your audience responds and adjust your influencer strategy accordingly.

What’s next: Evaluate and improve your future influencer partnerships

To continue creating attention-grabbing campaigns, remember to lean on using data to understand your influencer-brand collaboration performance. Learning from existing partnerships will fuel future collaborations. If you haven’t already, consider using influencer marketing platforms to help you get the analytics and insights your brand needs.

The post Rethinking the influencer-brand relationship appeared first on Sprout Social.