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These days, it feels like everyone is on social media. But make no mistake, not everyone is on every channel.
As marketers, it’s important to know your audience’s favorite social channels. For instance, if you’re selling retirement homes, it’s safe to forgo Snapchat, where only 3.7% of users are over 50.
HubSpot surveyed over 1,000 consumers across the U.S to find out which social media channels are gaining steam — and which are falling behind. Read on to discover which platforms are most popular with consumers in 2022.

Social Media Channels Gaining Steam in 2022
Facebook
Facebook currently attracts 2.89 billion monthly users, more than any other social platform. A high concentration of its audience belongs to Millennials, Gen X-ers, and Baby Boomers.
In the last three months, a whopping 91% of Baby Boomers, 88% of Millennials, and 83% of Gen X-ers have visited Facebook.
On top of that, Gen X and Baby Boomers rank Facebook as their favorite social media app and their most visited app. If you’re looking to target older demographics with social media marketing, Facebook is your best bet.

That said, engagement drops significantly for Gen Z audiences. Just 12% of Gen Z-ers say they use Facebook more than any other platform, and only 55% have visited Facebook in the past three months.
TikTok
TikTok is known as the platform for Gen Z — and the data confirms it. In fact, over half of Gen Z consumers are on TikTok. Plus, Gen Z-ers say TikTok is the platform they use most, pulling ahead of Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.
It doesn’t stop there: TikTok is also picking up steam with other demographics. 36% of TikTok users in 2021 were between 35 and 54 years old, a 10% increase from the year before. That said, usage amongst Baby Boomers is still low, with only 7% visiting the app in the last three months.
It’s also worth mentioning that TikTok has the highest engagement rate out of any other social platform, averaging 10.85 minutes per session. In short, TikTok’s snackable content is addictive for a variety of age groups.
YouTube
YouTube has a user base of 2 billion+ people and receives over 34 billion monthly visits, according to data we pulled from SimilarWeb.
YouTube is popular with Gen Z, Millennial, and Gen X audiences, almost in equal measure. In the last three months, 83% of Millennials have visited YouTube, followed by 81% of Gen Z, and 79% of Gen X. For Baby Boomers, YouTube is their second favorite social media app, just behind Facebook.
YouTube is also a top favorite amongst video marketers. In fact, more than a quarter of video marketers plan to invest in YouTube than any other platform in 2022, according to HubSpot’s Video Marketing Report. In addition, video marketers ranked YouTube as the second-best platform for ROI.
Instagram
According to SimilarWeb, the Instagram app has over 78 million monthly active users, making it one of the most popular apps today.
Although Gen Z visits TikTok the most, they rank Instagram as their favorite social media app — as do Millennials.
Instagram is also holding steady with older audiences. In the last three months, 55% of Gen X-ers have visited Instagram, followed by more than a quarter (27%) of Baby Boomers. However, if you’re looking to target these audiences specifically, Facebook or YouTube could be a better option.
On the marketing side, more than half of video marketers rank Instagram as the best platform for ROI, engagement, and lead generation. If you’re looking to dive more into video marketing, Instagram is an attractive option.
Social Media Channels Losing Steam in 2022
Tumblr
After numerous acquisitions and near-revivals, Tumblr has yet to recreate its early- to mid-2000s popularity.
According to our report, Tumblr is most popular with Millennials, but only 11% have visited the platform in the past three months.
Surprisingly, Gen Z has visited Tumblr at nearly the same rate (10%). In fact, a report by Quartz found that 61% of new Tumblr users in 2022 were under the age of 24. This begs an important question: is another revival around the corner?
While it’s still too early to call, we recommend focusing on platforms that pull stronger numbers for the audience you want to target.
Twitch
Although Twitch is top dog in the live-streaming space, all major streaming platforms — including Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and YouTube Live — are seeing a drop in total hours watched this year.
In the last three months, only 15% of Millennials have visited YouTube, followed by 13% of Gen Z, and 11% of Gen X.
Decreased viewership isn’t the only concern for Twitch — people are also streaming less. Year-over-year, hours streamed on the platform declined 16% from 2021 to 2022.
According to HubSpot’s Video Marketing Report, video marketers report low engagement and ROI on the platform, and only 10% of marketers plan to leverage Twitch for the first time in 2022.
Back to You
One question remains: what channels are best for your social media marketing? Should you stick to mature platforms, like Facebook and YouTube, or test the waters with new platforms, like TikTok?
Ultimately, your decision should hinge on one crucial factor: your target audience. Putting your audience at the center of your social media strategy means prioritizing the platforms that will reach them most effectively.
And remember, social media marketing is all about experimenting. There’s no need to commit to one platform for the rest of time — in fact, it may be useful to run side experiments on different platforms to see what results you get.

According to our 2022 Marketing Trends Survey report, 34% of marketers plan to stop leveraging podcasts or other audio content in 2022.

It’s likely because of the major roadblocks that marketers still face in the podcast marketing space. Two podcast experts weigh in on the biggest challenges and strategies to tackle them.
Organic Discoverability
Currently, there are two main ways to discover podcasts: Search through top-ranking podcasts in various genres or get recommendations based on what you’re already listening to.
This makes it very hard for lesser-known shows to get discovered organically.
“It’s really hard for podcasters who are creating amazing content and are great creators to figure out ways to get in front of their audience,” says Alanah Joseph, head of creator partnerships on the HubSpot Podcast team.
At HubSpot, Joseph says our podcast network addresses this by leaning into our cross-promotion strategy – this means placing ads across various shows across our network while ensuring audience alignment.
“Instead of going out and trying to find new audiences, we are leveraging the audiences that we already have and sharing those audiences in a way that helps boost discoverability for the podcasts,” she says. “And then also because we have a community and we can leverage that ad inventory.”
However, not every brand can go this route. Brands with access to a large ad budget opt for paid advertising, as that ensures you will gain more exposure and reach your desired audience.
“Short-term strategies will most often be paid media, like promoting on a podcast player or running Facebook ads,” says Principal Podcast Producer at HubSpot Darren Clarke, as a way to tackle discoverability. “These plays usually give great results, but won’t necessarily be ‘sticky.’”
Other tactics include cross-posting on multiple channels and growing your social media presence. Many podcasters post the video version of their content on YouTube to broaden their reach and get an SEO boost.
On social media, discovery is much easier. You can build a community there, market your podcast, and direct traffic to your series.
“These types of organic growth strategies take a long time to register any significant results, but over time, if done well, will essentially give you much more control over your distribution,” he says.
Growing a community is another key way to help with discoverability. Things like attending podcasting events and reaching out to fellow podcasters will help you build a network of people who can share their audiences with you.
For instance, being a guest on another podcast whose audience aligns with yours can be incredibly valuable for brands with limited resources.
“The audience gets to meet you, gets to learn about you, get to understand your values, [and] why you have a podcast,” she says. “All of those things are important for not only driving traffic but also building retention and loyalty.”
Clarke echoes this sentiment, saying that when you guest host, having a compelling message and an inviting call to action is necessary for it to serve as a growth lever.
He further cautions that promotion, marketing, audience building, and community development are all growth mechanisms that require different approaches. As such, they’ll require a different set of expectations and ROI.
Data Insights
As marketers, data is our lifeline. It tells us who our audience is, what they’re responding to, and much more. Joseph says with podcasts, data insights are limited.
“With tracking and reporting, the biggest issue in the podcast industry is as a listener, you are not able to accept cookies,” she says.
This means that podcast marketers are restricted in the information they’re able to gather on their audience, particularly tracking how they’re behaving after listening to an episode.
What you typically get is the following:

Geolocation
Listens (unique listens, average listening time, etc)
Subscriber count and trends
Downloads (total downloads, average downloads, etc)

And often, Joseph says, you have to compile data from several sources which is not always accurate or reliable.
One key piece of data that’s missing is listener demographics, such as gender, age, and education. As a result, building out a strong social media presence becomes even more important in understanding your audience.
From LinkedIn, for instance, you can discover a person’s title, identify where they are in their career, and why they’re tuning into your podcast.
Despite these roadblocks, Joseph believes that tech is finally catching up with the world of podcasting.
“There’s a lot of innovation right now and a lot of people are developing cool technology to support this large group of creators,” she says. “So, I feel optimistic that some of these things will be solved.”
Diversity in Voices
While this challenge isn’t specific to podcast marketing, it does affect the industry as a whole.
Joseph mentions that there’s still a lot of work to be done regarding the diversity of voices in podcasting.
“In the beginning [of building the HubSpot Podcast Network], more so than now, that was the big challenge that I faced,” she says, “How do I create a network that’s reflective of the American workforce?”
This is especially true in the business genre, where top-ranking shows are not led by BIPOC creators. As a network, you want to have a list of strong shows but you also want to make sure it’s balanced in representation.
“I’d love to see more women and more people of color rise to the charts in our genre specifically,” she says. “That’s something that we’re actively trying to work through and have been for a while.”
There’s no doubt that there are still a lot of challenges within podcast marketing, as platforms and search engines catch up to this thriving industry. However, there are still many workarounds that brands can leverage to reach their target listeners and grow their subscriber base.

Within the past two years, emerging technologies like NFTs and the metaverse have gotten a lot of hype. But how exactly are brands leveraging it? We’ll cover that and more in this article.
Plus, we’ll tackle where small businesses fit in this space and how they can leverage emerging tech.

Virtual Experiences
1. Patrón Spirits
In August 2022, Patrón held a virtual pop-up event in the Metaverse for a summer campaign.

This limited-time event, held on two consecutive weekends, was hosted on Decentraland, a virtual browser-based platform.
Participating users could visit three pop-up events dedicated to the brand’s three summer cocktails.
There was also a giveaway element in the virtual experience, in which users who collected badges through quests would be entered to win a trip and NFT wearables (virtual clothing and accessories used to dress up your avatar).
The benefit of hosting an immersive virtual pop-up event is that it’s accessible to all, which allows the brand to reach a wider audience. The metaverse is also a hot topic this year, so brands leveraging this technology can benefit from social buzz.
2. Nike
In late 2021, this shoe brand joined the virtual world by introducing Nikeland.

Made in partnership with gaming platform Roblox, Nikeland invites users to get their bodies moving.
On the website, they say Nikeland gives “classic games a fresh twist.” While the target audience is the younger generation, anyone who likes gaming can enjoy Nikeland.
What’s in it for Nike? Well, users play these games while styled in Nike gear – from shoes to clothes and accessories. This serves as a subtle marketing play to promote active products from the brand.
NFTs
3. Paramount
In April 2022, Paramount announced that in partnership with RECUR, it would drop its first digital collection featuring Star Trek on paramount.xyz.

Creating its own NFT marketplace, Paramount allows users to collect NFT ships from the Star Trek Universe.
In a press release, the president of consumer products and experiences Pam Kaufman said this collection serves as another expression of fandom, which will allow fans to own a part of a popular franchise.
The company has faced some backlash with some fans arguing that Star Trek and NFTs do not align, namely due to the environmental impact.

NO NO NO NO NO NO. This is against everything Trek should stand for. This is the anti-Trek. — Michael Crawford (@MiklCraw4d)
April 4, 2022

The brand has since released additional NFT collections from popular shows and TV shows, such as Top Gun, Rugrats, and Hey! Arnold.
4. Heineken
In a contrarian play, Heineken leveraged the metaverse to highlight that some moments are best shared in person.
In April 2022, Heneiken introduced Heneiken Silver, a virtual beer that pokes fun at the digital world and invites users to enjoy real life.

Their site features fun copy like this:

With so many brands wondering how or even if they should join this trend, Heineken shows how to successfully do so while staying true to your brand.
AI
5. Airbnb
Everyone tells you “content is king” but what we don’t talk about enough is how much time and how many resources creating high-quality content takes.
For both small and large companies, content is a large investment that usually offers long-term value rather than short-term benefits. As a result, brands will often neglect this area.
Looking to solve this are Frase.io, Jasper.ai, and other AI-powered writing tools in the market. In a matter of seconds, AI writing software can write anything from a social media caption to a long-form blog post – all based on the information you feed it.
What’s great about these AI writing tools is that they take the legwork out of writing and allow you to focus on polishing instead of building from scratch.
Companies like Airbnb, Coursera, Google, and Logitech all leverage artificial intelligence to support their content marketing efforts.
How to Use Experimental or New Technology on an SMB Level
These days, it seems like everyone is talking about web3, the metaverse, and NFTs. This may cause some panic among small business owners who feel they’re not able to keep up.
However, the truth is this space is very much experimental. In fact, our State of Consumer Trends report revealed that most consumers don’t know or understand what web3 even is.
So, for small businesses, there’s no pressure to jump into the metaverse quite yet.
Small brands may not have the large resources to launch NFT collections and host virtual events. However, they can embrace experimentation and try new things in ways that align with their brands.
Take luxury retail brand Hanifa. In 2020, fashion brands weren’t able to host fashion shows to showcase new designs.
In May, the brand went live on Instagram and hosted an innovative 3D fashion show debuting their new capsule collection.
Each garment was seen in 3D as invisible models strutted down the runway against a black backdrop, creating a stunning show.

This approach blew away everyone in the fashion industry and beyond, as it was the first of its kind. In an interview with Vogue, founder and designer Anifa Mvuemba revealed that she always wanted to do a show like this and that the pandemic offered the perfect opportunity.
The takeaway here is that whether it’s the metaverse or something else, emerging technology is all about experimenting and being creative.

Consumers want brands to make a difference.
In fact, Havas’ Meaningful Brands Report 2021 found that 73% of respondents think brands must act now for the good of society and the planet. In that same survey, 64% of respondents said they prefer to buy from companies with a reputation for purposeful action, not just their profits.
When brands act for the good of society and the planet, they’re being socially responsible. In this post, we’ll discuss:

What is social responsibility?
How can brands be socially responsible?
15 Socially Responsible Brands

What is social responsibility?
For businesses, social responsibility is showing care and value for society and the planet in addition to, or equal to, how much care is shown for their profits and their bottom line.

How can brands be socially responsible?
Brands can be socially responsible by ensuring employees have a safe work environment and are paid a living wage, charitable giving to programs that give back to the community, championing diversity, equity, and inclusion, sustainable business practices, — the list goes on.
Early 2020 brought many businesses to a reckoning regarding social responsibility, as social justice issues were at the forefront of many conversations during the first few months of the year.
Consumers still want brands to be responsible — in fact, 45% of people think that brands need to do more to advocate for social justice issues.  The social issues that consumers believe businesses should take a stance on are racial justice, climate change, income inequality, and affordable healthcare.

Let’s go over some examples of brands that exemplify social responsibility that you can take inspiration from.

15 Socially Responsible Brands
1. Back Market
Back Market combats the tons of waste produced by electronic devices by refurbishing used electronics and selling them to consumers. The business encourages consumers to trade in their used electronics for cash instead of throwing them away and also provides an eco-friendly alternative to those looking to buy.
2. Warby Parker
Warby Parker is famous for its at-home try-on program, where customers can try glasses frames at home before committing to a purchase.
Its Warby Parker Impact Foundation works with government agencies, nonprofits, and local community groups to increase access to vision care for adults and children underserved in this type of care. In addition, its Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program donates one pair of glasses per pair bought and, to date, has distributed over 10 million glasses.
3. Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s is famous for taking a stand on global issues like refugee rights, LGBTQ+ rights, climate justice, voting rights — the list goes on.
To raise awareness for these issues, it partners with nonprofits to build support with its customers, and the Ben & Jerry’s foundation regularly gives funding to businesses in Vermont (its home state) and around the country that work to facilitate social change.
4. Oliberté
Oliberté founded the world’s first fair trade certified factory in Ethiopia. It has since transferred its operations to Canada but continues to show commitments to employee equity by giving employees a percentage of the earrings for every pair of shoes sold, where “sold” begins when a shoe has left the factory.
It is also part of the One Perfect for the Planet Program, where at least one percent of annual sales are contributed to environmental causes.
5. Patagonia
Patagonia is known for its environmentalist practices, like supporting grassroots activists through funding. Its Worn Wear program encourages customers to give their used Patagonia clothing back to the business to be refurbished and resold instead of throwing it away, and Patagonia Provisions makes and sells organic foods that ensure healthy soil, are cultivated under ethical employee conditions, and fair and humane treatment of animals.
6. EnrichHer
EnrichHer is a finance technology platform that gives small women-owned businesses loans to help with business operations. It also offers training programs with one-on-one and peer support, tools to help owners access funding, and networking opportunities to help businesses find resources and tools to help them better their business.
7. IKEA
IKEA is dedicated to environmentalism with its plans to use only sustainable materials and recycled or renewable plastic by 2030. The IKEA Foundation also works with NGOs to create employment and entrepreneurship programs and funds environmental ventures around the world, like renewable energy projects.
8. Cracked It
Based in the UK, Cracked It is a phone repair service that employs formerly incarcerated youth, a community often discriminated against and looked over when seeking employment. It teaches job-relevant and life skills and prepares youth for future employment opportunities to come down the line.
9. Allbirds
Allbirds, a footwear and apparel company, uses natural, renewable, and sustainable materials to create its products, demonstrating a commitment to environmentalism and sustainability.
Allbirds Flight Plan lays out the business’ sustainability commitments that culminate in cutting its carbon footprint in half by 2025 through investments in regenerative agriculture, renewable energy, and responsible energy use. Allbirds ReRun is similar to Worn Wear, and used products are donated, refurbished, and resold to reduce waste.
10. Cora
Cora sells organic personal care products and, with every purchase, donates products and body literacy resources to communities often overlooked in related discussions. 75% of the donations it makes are to organizations that serve BIPOC communities and, to date, has donated 6,600,000 products and diverted 14,000 from landfills.
11. Loop
Black people in Black communities pay 70% more for car insurance than those in predominantly White upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Loop, an AI-powered car insurance company, recognizes the disparity and commits to making car insurance more equitable, available, and affordable for people of color, most significantly by only considering factors related to driving history.
12. Glass Half Full
Glass Half Full is a Louisiana-based business that collects glassware that it recycles and repurposes into sand and glass cullet. Its outputs help the environment, as the sand can be used for disaster relief, coastal restoration, and eco-construction, and glass cullet can be repurposed into new glassware.
Since its creation, it has diverted 2 million pounds of glass from NOLA landfills.
13. Culture Brands
Culture Brands is an agency with media platforms and consumer brands that engage directly with the African American community, helping people feel seen and engage with content related to their experiences. Because Of Them We Can is one of its platforms that shares content that amplifies Black voices and entrepreneurial successes.
14. Tony’s Chocolonely
Tony’s Chocolonely is a chocolate company committed to environmentalism and equitable and fair working conditions.
Tony’s Open Chain sourcing principles outline the business commitments, including paying a premium for cocoa beans to ensure farmers receive a living wage, and CLMRS, which identifies illegal child labor and improves the living conditions for farmers and their families.
It also helps its customers learn more about chocolate farming practices, as they can trace the entire lifecycle of the bean that made the chocolate bar they hold in their hands.
15. Accion International
Accion International’s mission is to build a financially inclusive world by providing economic opportunities to communities often overlooked and left out of financial conversations.
It provides financial support to low-income entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of color, and women, in addition to educational resources, coaching, and business networks that can be helpful when it comes to building and growing a business. In 2021, Accion International was able to reach and impact 220M+ people.

https://www.thepngworld.com/en/blog/how-to-sell-anything-to-anyone-with-your-product Here are the 6 simple steps to follow in order to generate more sale. Make it about them The rule of sales is that you make it about the buyer. Just like if you are telling a story make the buyer the hero. Do your research In any case, doing your research is important it will give you an idea of how to deal with the buyer. Research may be based on the area where you want to sell your product or it can based on the type of user you are going to target. Many of the data now a days are available online. Also there are semrush, ubersuggest like tools available in the online world. Provide value first, then sell Don’t jump in with your pitch right off the bat. You run the risk of angering the prospect or scaring them away. Instead, offer your help in the way you think would be most valuable. Not sure where you can be of service? Ask. Be Authentic They love authenticity. They want to be associated with someone authentic. Hit an emotional point There is no such thing as a purely rational decision. Many sales experts believe that decisions are affected by emotions. In recent days many large brands makes use this emotional marketing in order to get huge traffic. They will ask for mercy then comes to the point for selling their product. And yes this gives more time to a user to attach and hence more transaction. Remember you are selling to a person With so much going on you can easily forget that leads are people and they want to be treated like them. So, be professional but also be personable. Also a key mantra for success which many big players apply is to keep Persistence and Determination for whatever you are marketing. submitted by /u/thepngworld [link] [comments]

Hi folks, I am new to this field and hoping to get your insight on a couple of cases of controversial marketing campaigns or successful promotion campaigns you’ve encountered this year. submitted by /u/Sweet_Mention_8769 [link] [comments]

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