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Data helps you understand your audience. It tells you how they do things, what they prefer, and who they are. You can certainly make business decisions based on gut feeling, but you’re much more likely to hit the mark when you can validate assumptions with cold, hard facts.
Data and analytics help you measure the impact of your marketing efforts across different channels to see if there’s something you need to do differently — like target a different audience, post at a certain time of day, or experiment with a new content format.
Social media isn’t any different than other aspects of your marketing in the sense that it can be measured and improved upon. That’s why you’ll be able to create a more effective Instagram strategy using Instagram Insights.

Here are the analytics on this channel that marketers need to know and understand — and how to use them.

To use Instagram Insights, you must first have a business profile. If you’re already using a personal account, you can switch to a business profile. Here’s how to convert your account in a few simple steps.
1. Create a Facebook Business Profile for the same persona if you haven’t already.
An Instagram business profile will allow you to access additional features and tools to help you grow your audience. However, in order to set up an Instagram Business Profile, you’ll need to have a Facebook Page for your business. It’s through Facebook that you add payment credentials and more. Click here for instructions for setting up your Facebook Page if you don’t already have one.
2. Make sure your Instagram profile is public. Private profiles cannot be used as business ones.
You want to grow your audience and have your posts seen by Instagram users who are not familiar with your brand. For this reason, your Instagram profile will need to be made public before you convert it to an official Instagram Business Profile. Here are the steps:
Step One: Navigate to your profile and tap the hamburger icon in the top-right corner.

Step Two: Tap the gearshift wheel icon to access your Settings.

Step Three: Select “Privacy.”

Step Four: Flip the toggle next to “Private Account” on.

Your Instagram profile is now public.
3. Return to your Settings page and tap “Account.”
Return to your Settings page by clicking the hamburger icon and tapping the gearshift wheel icon. Alternatively, you can use the back button on your phone to get there.
Tap Account in the Settings menu.

4. Select “Switch Account Type” and choose “Switch to Business Account.”
By choosing Switch to Business Account, you’re effectively converting your Instagram Profile into an Instagram Business Profile.
5. Follow Instagram’s prompts to set up your business profile.
You will be asked to review and change details about your business including business category, contact information, and more. You’ll also be prompted to select the Facebook Page you want to be associated with your profile (from Step 1).
6. Tap “Done.”
Once your set up as a Business Account, you can begin to use Instagram Insights. Here’s how to get started.
1. Open the hamburger menu and click “Insights.”
To view insights into your overall Instagram account, start by visiting your profile. Then, at the top, click the hamburger icon and select Insights from the menu.

From there, you’ll reach the Recent Highlights page where you’ll see some general information about how people are engaging with your profile, like how many followers you gained or lost in the past week.

Next, we’ll get into the more specific profile insights you can explore.
2. Measure reach.
Click the Accounts Reached section. Reach reflects the number of unique users that have seen any of your Instagram posts.

Within this category, you’ll see insights for:

Impressions – How many times your posts were seen.

Account Activity – Profile visits, website taps, and other activity.

Top Posts – The posts that generated the most reach and engagement.

Top Stories – The Instagram Stories posts that generated the most reach and engagement.

Top IGTV Videos – The IGTV videos that generated the most reach and engagement.

Some of these insights can be expanded for more insights.
3. Track profile visits and followers.
On the Accounts Reached page under Account Activity, you’ll be able to see Profile Visits.
Profile Visits reflects the number of times your profile has been viewed.
4. Determine website clicks.
Website Taps can also be found under the Account Activity section. This insight reflects the number of times any links you’ve included in your business profile have been clicked.
5. Track content interactions.
Navigate back to Recent Highlights and tap Content Interactions. This will bring up a page that shows how your content is performing in terms of engagement, breaking down the metrics by content type.

Likes speaks for itself, reflecting the number of users who liked your post. As with likes, Comments reflects the number of comments left on your post. Saves highlights the number of unique users or accounts who saved your post or clicked the bookmark-like icon that appeared below it in their feeds.
6. Track your followers.
Navigate back to Recent Highlights and click Total Followers. You’ll then reach the Follower Breakdown page.

This page reflects how many followers you’ve gained or lost over the past week, as well as the average times of day when your followers are using Instagram — data that can be highly beneficial when planning posts.
7. Learn which actions were taken on your post.
To view insights for a specific Instagram post, start by visiting your profile. Tap on the post you’d like to look into, then click View Insights below the image.
These insights indicate the number of actions that users took on your profile as a result of seeing your post — things like visiting your profile, then taking an action like clicking on your website link or following you.

Source: Instagram
8. Use “Discovery” to see where your post showed up in feeds.
As the name might suggest, these insights indicate where your post was seen — or discovered — the most, including how many accounts weren’t already following you when they first saw the post.
This section includes metrics on Impressions, which reflect the number of times your post was discovered from a particular place within Instagram, like the user’s home feed, a search, your profile, a location tag, or a hashtag.

Source: Instagram
Discovery insights also include data on a post’s reach — which reflects the number of unique accounts that saw your post.
9. View Story insights.
Finally, Instagram users with a business profile are able to view insights into their ephemeral Stories.
To view your Story insights, navigate back to Insights and scroll down to Content You Shared section on the Recent Highlights page.
Scroll down to the Stories section, and you’ll be able to see insights for older stories, as well as any that have not yet expired.
Next, we’ll get into the more specific insights you can explore.
Impressions
This insight represents how many times your Story was seen.
When viewing these insights, keep in mind that you’re able to add multiple images or videos to your Story. When you do this, every piece of visual content in your Story is counted as a single photo or video in your post.
Let’s say you add six photos to your Story. Whether someone only views one or views all six, Instagram only counts your entire Story having received one impression.
The same goes for Story content that has been viewed by a single user more than once. Instagram still only counts that interaction as the entire Story having received one impression.
Reach
This insight reflects the number of unique users that have seen your Story.
Taps Forward
This insight reflects the number of times a user taps your Story photo or video to skip to the next piece of media.
Taps Back
This insight reflects the number of times a user taps your Story photo or video to go back to the previous piece of media.
Replies
This insight reflects the number of times users send messages through the Send Message text box on your Story.

Swipe Aways
This insight reflects the number of times users swipe to skip to the next account’s Story — not to be mistaken for “tap forward,” which reflects users skipping ahead to your next piece of Story media.
Exits
This insight reflects the number of times a user leaves the Stories section entirely to return to the home feed.
Measuring Your Effectiveness With Instagram Insights
Now that you know how to access data to inform your strategy with Instagram Insights, you can analyze that data and determine what’s working for your audience (and what’s not). From there, creating content that gets a ton of engagement will be a lot easier as you consider those benchmarks.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2018 but has been updated for comprehensiveness.

When I was getting married, one of the main tools that helped me plan was Pinterest. In fact, that’s usually the number one place I go to when I’m planning a party.
However, Pinterest isn’t just used for event planning. You can use the social media platform as a way to market your business, drive traffic to your website, and increase sales.

I’m not the only one who goes to Pinterest when I need new ideas. In fact, more than 200 billion pins have been saved on Pinterest. And 90% of weekly Pinners make purchase decisions on Pinterest.
That’s why it’s important for businesses and marketers to be active on the platform. Read on to learn how you can use Pinterest to meet your business and marketing goals.

Why Use Pinterest for Business?
As noted above, regular Pinterest users often leverage the platform to help inform their purchasing decisions. But that’s not the only reason to use Pinterest for Business.
Pinterest streamlines conversion.
Pinterest effectively operates as a massive, visual search engine filled with images tailored to specific user interests. As a result, if users are looking at your Pinterest page, chances are they’re already curious about what you’re selling — and are more likely to click through.
Pinterest boosts traffic.
Because each pin you make can contain a link back to your website, it’s easy for users to click through and boost your overall traffic, in turn raising your search engine rank.
The caveat? Great pin content is critical — if users aren’t inspired, they won’t click.
Pinterest engages users.
The core concept of Pinterest revolves around users creating and sharing pins of things they’re interested in with like-minded people — which means they’re already engaged when they log into the site. If your page aligns with their interests, they’re happy to visit your site, share your posts, and help boost your brand’s reach.
How to Set Up Your Pinterest for Business Account
If you’re new to Pinterest, then you’ll need to create a business account to get started. Don’t worry, this is a simple process as outlined below.

Head to pinterest.com/business/create.
Add your business name and website.
Customize your profile.
Claim your other accounts.

Let’s break down each step in more detail.
1. Head to pinterest.com/business/create.
Enter your email and a password and then select “Create Account” to get started. If you already have a personal Pinterest account, make sure you’re logged out.

2. Add your business name and website.
Next, Pinterest will ask for your business name, business type, and your website details. If your brand doesn’t fit into a listed category, don’t worry — just select “I’m not sure.”

3. Customize your profile.
Next up is customizing your profile. Here you can add a profile picture, display name, user name, and information about your brand that will help Pinterest users find your board.

4. Claim your other accounts.
Last but not least? Claim your website name and any other accounts to ensure you get attribution and analytics for all of your content on Pinterest, even if you posted it before creating a Pinterest for Business account.

Once your business account is set up, it’s time to start diving into the strategy of how you’re going to use your page to grow your business.
Is Pinterest for Business free?
Pinterest for Business is free, and it’s worth taking the time to make an account, since it allows you to directly link your brand with your Pinterest page to drive increased traffic and conversion.
With your business account set up, you’re ready to get started using Pinterest for Business. Here are six best practices to keep in mind:
1. Determine the type of content you want to post.
As with any social media site, it’s important to understand your target audience. What type of content do they want to see on Pinterest?
More importantly, think about the type of content that they’ll engage with. Is it infographics, tips and tricks, or perhaps blog posts? To find this out, do some research into the type of content they currently pin on their pages.
Additionally, make sure that you don’t sell yourself with every pin. You should share relevant and helpful information on your page as well. When you have a good idea of what your audience wants or needs to see, creating pins will be easier.
2. Consider your design.
Now that you know what you want to post, it’s important to consider what your images look like. Your designs should be pleasing to the eye and stand out in a sea of images on your audience’s page.
Additionally, your images need to follow your brand guidelines. If you don’t have a designer on hand, you can utilize tools like Canva to get started.
3. Optimize your pins.
When you’re ready to start posting on Pinterest, remember to optimize your pins. You might be wondering, “How do I optimize my pins?”
Use the following checklist to get started:

Include a URL (could be a link to a blog post)
Use keywords in titles, descriptions, and image file names
Create boards that are aligned with your keywords
Arrange your boards and choose a board cover image
Use hashtags
Add a call to action
Add a Pinterest widget to your site
Respond to follower comments
Follow popular boards and comment
Create a board dedicated to your blog posts

These tactics will help you grow your business with Pinterest and help your posts be discovered.
4. Learn about categories.
On Pinterest, you can assign each board to one of 36 categories. These categories help your pins become discovered.
For example, since I was interested in finding wedding ideas when I was engaged, most of the pins that showed up on my feed were pins that were tagged in the wedding category.
You can scroll through the categories and see which ones are related to your business. This could even help you come up with board ideas.
5. Use rich Pins.
Rich Pins offer a way to provide more information about pinned images. For example, the Product Pins subset of rich Pins lets you add pricing information, product details, and other data to help engage users and drive conversion.
6. Leverage Pinterest Lens.
Pinterest Lens is available as part of the platform’s mobile app on both Apple and Android devices. It allows users to take a picture of any object and discover similar items on Pinterest. For businesses, Pinterest offers a way to improve contextual marketing: Take a picture of your product, see what Pinterest returns and then leverage similar tags to help capture user interest.
Once you’ve thought about this strategy, it’s time to create your boards. If you blog, think about blog topics and create boards surrounding those topics.
Let’s dive a little deeper into how to use Pinterest for your blog.
1. Create infographics.
A great way to use Pinterest to promote your blog is through infographics. If you have blog posts centered around an infographic, post it on Pinterest.
Additionally, you can repurpose old blog posts into infographics. Pinterest is a great place to repurpose content and reach a new audience that might not have read your post.
2. Choose the best blogs to post.
You don’t need to promote every single blog post on your Pinterest. Instead, just choose the ones that make the most sense for the platform. For example, choose blogs that have engaging images, great downloadable offers, or have an infographic.
Additionally, think about your board topics. You should promote blogs that relate to your boards.
3. Customize your images.
When you create a pin, it’s important to use engaging, custom images. To promote a blog, you can use your featured image and include customized text.
For instance, many pins that promote blog posts include the title of the blog on the custom image. The title is a great way to draw people in and get them interested in your blog post.
4. Write an optimized pin description.
When you write the description for a pin promoting a blog post, it’s important to tell people what to expect in the post.
While you want to leave some mystery and pique their interest without giving away too much, they need to know what it’s about.
5. Engage with Pinners.
Pinterest is all about engagement and interest driven by images. To maximize your brand’s impact, you need to regularly engage with Pinners who follow your board.
This means regularly pinning new content, re-pinning great content from your followers, and taking the time to directly answer any questions asked on your blog by Pinterest users.
6. Use a sound SEO strategy.
As noted above, Pinterest is effectively a visual search engine — but just like a text-based search engine, keywords are critical. To ensure your pins get noticed, use solid SEO practices. Make your blog title the same as your board title, include relevant keywords for all of your blog posts and images descriptions, and make sure you’re also using keywords in any image “alt” tags.
Pinterest for Business Examples
So what makes a great Pinterest for Business board? Here are six standout examples.
1. HubSpot

HubSpot’s Pinterest page generates more than 4.5 million views per month and offers a host of great content to Pinners including infographic templates, content creation tips, and even career advice. It’s a one-stop shop for all things marketing.
2. Bossy

Bossy is a growing, female-founded beauty brand with a focus on attention-capturing, long-lasting lipsticks and a Pinterest page that showcases its commitment to diversity.
3. Ruggable

Ruggable’s value proposition is simple: Washable rugs for any space. These rugs are changeable, durable, spill-proof, and easy to clean — so it’s no surprise that its Pinterest page generates more than 10 million views per month.
4. Etsy

This custom-made market store has made significant market inroads and is now using Pinterest to showcase some of its most popular items. Looking for something unique? Something that makes a statement? Chances are you’ll find it on Etsy — and see it on Pinterest.
5. Bustle

Bustle is on the leading edge of social zeitgeist, and has a Pinterest page to match. With a mix of celebrity content, human interest stories, recipes, and fashion advice, Bustle captures user attention immediately.
6. Asutra

Committed to creating clean, accessibly-priced, wellness products, this women-owned and led brand has made the move to Pinterest and is already seeing almost 200,000 views per month.
Pin It to Win It
When it comes to marketing your business, Pinterest for Business offers a way for your brand to win market share and generate organic customer interest. The picture-driven nature of the site can help shift the conversion away from simple to conversion and instead inspire your audience to use your products and services in their lives — or just inspire them in general.
With a practical, step-by-step approach, it can be your products and services that users are pinning – and purchasing.

When you’re knee-deep into the design of your website, it’s hard to admit this fact: Some of the pages on your website are more important than others.
Okay, many of you probably find that fairly obvious — but I’m surprised how rarely content managers and web designers actually apply this knowledge to their websites to improve conversions.
I’m all about low-hanging fruit and taking on the easiest tasks that will have the biggest results. What I’m about to describe in this article has the potential to improve your site dramatically with just a few, critical changes.

In this post, I’ll explain how to optimize each one of these pages. And if your most-visited pages are different from the ones listed above, you’ll still learn a framework for optimizing any of the important pages on your website.
What is website optimization?
You’ve probably heard the word “optimize” most commonly used in phrases like “search engine optimization” (SEO) and “conversion rate optimization” (CRO). I’m actually referring to something broader here, but the advice that I’m delivering will help to enhance both of those.
The optimization I’m going to explain will create user optimized pages. In the pursuit of SEO and CRO, it’s easy to overlook the broader, big-picture idea. First and foremost, a site must be optimized for the user. The best place to see big results quickly is to start optimizing the most visited pages of your site.

Let’s get right into it. Every website is different, but generally speaking, here are the four most important (and often most-visited) pages on a website:
Home Page
The home page is the first impression of your business to potential customers. And although your time limit on making an amazing impression is several times longer online than it is in real life (62 seconds on average is spent by people viewing a website) you’ll want to make every second count.
It’s tempting to put every remotely relevant fact about the business on the home page, but resist the urge. Remember, your home page is the first step of the journey — not the final destination. The copy, design, and visuals should guide the visitor to their next step, or the call-to-action.
About Page
Customers, investors, candidates for hire, and even competitors might all use your about page to learn more information about your company. An about page typically includes a brief company history, mission or vision statement, executive leadership bios, and a few impactful client testimonials.
Blog Page
It’s no secret that blogging is a tried-and-true method to optimize a website for keywords related to a business. Rather than loading up several product pages for each individual keyword you want to rank for, a blog can serve as a more efficient way to weave storytelling, product mentions, and sign up links together in order to answer potential customer inquiries, solve problems, and pose your product or service as the preferred solution.
Contact Us Page
For many small businesses and freelancers, the contact us page serves as the lead-driver of a website. This is usually their bread-and-butter and how these businesses make money. Whether your business includes a contact form, a calendar scheduler, an appointment booking app, a phone number, or an email address, this is where future customers make the decision to get a hold of a representative of the business to learn more about the products and services.
How to Optimize A Web Page
The broad framework for optimizing your site for conversions is the same across your home page, About page, blog, and Contact Us page. There are two simple goals for every page, and the specifics of optimizing those pages will flow from these goals.
The first goal is all about the user, and the second is all about you. Here we go:
Provide information the user is looking for.
Remember, we’re focusing on the user. Why are they on the page to begin with? To answer this question effectively, let’s dive deeper into some facts we’ll want to know first:

Where did they come from? The idea here is to understand how the user got to your site, so you can deliver relevant content.

Did they come from a search engine? (If so, what did they search to find you?)
An email? (What kind of email? Who sent it?)
A referral on another website? (What site was it? How long has it been referring to your URL?)

What do they need to know? A single page can deliver a limited amount of information, so you need to determine what that information is going to be. You want them to know something so that they will do something (which is addressed in the next question). Remember: Less is more on a web page. The more information you load up on your main pages, the less likely the user is to remember any of it. Give them less, and they’re more likely to remember — and do — what you want them to.

Pro Tip: Use visuals such as explainer videos, diagrams, hero shots, and so on to help condense a lot of information to a single page. To get the most out of your visuals, make sure you correctly optimize your images and videos.
Once you answer the question of what the user’s looking for, you’re halfway there. That brings us to question two.
Identify a goal for the user once they find the information.
Now, you need to ask the user to do something. This is where most pages fall short. One of the critical components of a web page is its call-to-action (CTA), and many website owners don’t realize that every single page of a website should contain at least one CTA.
The point of a home page or product page isn’t for the user to visit and leave. The point of content marketing isn’t for user intake, but rather, for user marketing. If you retain only one thing from this article, let it be that every web page needs a CTA.
Why am I so insistent on this? Because every bit of knowledge you share on your website demands some response. So, what is it that you want the user to do? Visit another page on your site? Watch a video? Complete a form? Sign up for a free trial? Any or all of these can become your goal for the user, just make sure to give them one or two options per page that are clearly and starkly defined.
Web Page Optimization Examples
Example of an Optimized Website Home Page
HubSpot’s home page is well laid out and hosts a clear CTA, front and center. A user is on the HubSpot home page for a reason, and perhaps that reason is to grow their business. The headline speaks to the question “what am I looking for?” and the CTA buttons tell me, the user, what I’m supposed to do next.

Now, let’s see what HubSpot has going on on the About page.
Example of an Optimized Website About Page
A user might click on the About page for a variety of reasons. A few might be:

They want to figure out what exactly the business does.
They want to work for the business.
They want to make sure the business is legitimate.
They want to see if the business serves a specific niche or location.
They want to analyze the business’s success.

I could go on and on. There are a ton of reasons that could bring a user here, but they all boil down to the desire for information. Let’s see what HubSpot does. Here is the company’s About page:

The user likely wants to know the information about the company, and in response, they can scroll the page to learn more about the mission, history, and products.
Along the way, the user will want more detailed information which means the CTAs will need to become more specific to help guide them to that info. The more granular and detailed the information, the more correspondingly detailed the CTA becomes. Halfway down the page, I see a video about the HubSpot story featuring CEO Brian Halligan.
There’s more. There’s a block of content about each HubSpot product including the CRM, each Hub, and integrations. I can click any of these to learn more about the ones that can help grow my business.

Finally, no matter how far I scroll down the page, the sticky header menu includes an orange CTA for me to Get HubSpot for free.

This is an example of an About page optimized to drive engagement, increase conversions, and enhance the brand. The page is as much about the user as it is about the company itself because along the way, the user is receiving value.
Example of an Optimized Website Blog Page
Even though the HubSpot blog is one of the most popular digital publications, there are still some practical applications you can use to optimize your own blog page if you have a smaller following. Although there are several articles a visitor can choose from across a variety of topics, you’ll notice specific CTAs that invite users to sign up for the blog newsletter, download a report, explore more topics, and finally, subscribe to their blog of interest.

Sprinkle the CTAs throughout your blog home page for a more natural approach. As readers scroll, you don’t want them to be bombarded with next steps, but you don’t want to leave them wondering what they should do next. Balance the user experience on your blog with a sticky header CTA and one or two primary CTAs.
Example of an Optimized Website Contact Us Page
Granted, HubSpot uses its contact page a bit differently than you might use yours. Whereas a contact page might be the end goal you want for your visitors, HubSpot optimizes product and landing pages to draw in leads and sign-ups for specific products it offers.
There’s still an opportunity for a potential customer to get into the sales pipeline from the contact page though. HubSpot includes a sales line, customer support, and a chatbot to get users to the best point of contact.

For customers, new employees, or candidates interviewing with the company, they can find the addresses and phone numbers of the global offices. Similar to the other three pages, the stick header menu includes a CTA to sign up for HubSpot for free.
Tips for Optimizing Each Page
Now that you have a framework for optimizing your pages and a couple of examples, here are a few, more specific tips to help you optimize each of the four most important pages.
1. Home Page

Use a big headline and place the most important information front and center. A home page may allow for several different CTAs — make it easy for the user to choose by making CTA buttons large and easy to click.
Provide flow. Make it obvious where the user is supposed to go and what they are supposed to do next.
Make the Navigation Menu Clear. Oftentimes, a visitor uses the home page as a way of finding where on the site she wants to go. For this reason, you should make the navigation menu very clear.

2. About Page

Deliver the most important and relevant information above the fold. The user is on your About page for a reason — answer their question(s) without making them scroll.
Include at least one CTA. Remember, most people aren’t just looking for more information, they’re seeking a deeper level of engagement.

3. Blog

Organize information on your blog clearly, and make sure that information satisfies the reasons users might be on your blog. Most users will want to read the most recent articles, so provide these. You may also want to organize categories on the blog home page, such as “most recent,” “most popular,” or other forms of categorization.
Include CTAs that make it easy for the user to subscribe to the blog, download a free resource, and so on. Even though the user came to get information, you want them to get engaged and connected. (Click here for 8 types of CTAs you can try on your blog.)
Provide CTAs in the core design of your blog so they appear on each individual blog post. In my experience, most blog visitors land on individual blog articles through organic search, instead of landing on your blog’s “home” page. To get these users engaged, put CTAs on the sidebars, in the footer, and in other places. (Learn how to pick the perfect CTA for each blog post here.)

4. Contact Us Page

Put the information the user is looking for above the fold — an email address, phone number, contact form, map, mailing address, and so on. Of all four of these web pages, the Contact Us page implies the most detailed level of intent on the part of the user.
Use CTAs that allow the user to contact you easily (since, presumably, that’s why they came to your Contact Us page). Make the CTA really obvious, and engage them by gratifying their intent instantly, using CTA copy like ”Chat now” or “Email now”.

Ask the User to Act On Your Content
As a website owner, you’re in the business of not just disseminating information, but soliciting a response, too. To engage your visitors and boost conversions on your site, here’s how to optimize pages like a pro: Look at your most visited pages, understand the reason users are there, provide valuable information, and ask them for an action in return. Regardless of your most-visited pages or even the nature of your website, you can create more engaged users with this optimization framework. Try it out — use the checklist below to get started.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

By 2022, online video content is predicted to command more than 82% of all web traffic (15 times higher than it was in 2017). If you haven’t started thinking about how video fits into your long-term marketing strategy, now’s the time to start taking it seriously.
Before you dive into creating videos, it’s important to figure out where you’re going to host them. YouTube is obviously the largest video hosting platform on the web, but it might not be the best choice for every business.
To help you find the best fit for your company’s unique needs, we compared YouTube directly against the smaller, more niche platform Vimeo across a number of factors. Read on to see the results, and decide for yourself.

Number of Users
Winner: YouTube
There’s no real competition here. YouTube commands an audience of over two billion monthly users — almost half of the entire internet-using population. Vimeo’s 240 million monthly viewers and 90 million registered users seem insignificant in contrast. For maximum reach, choose YouTube.
Search Optimization
Winner: YouTube
YouTube leaves Vimeo in the dust here. YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, right after parent company Google. If you’re planning to create a video tailored to a specific search query, (e.g., how to pick a font for your website), your video belongs on YouTube. Not only will it appear in search results directly on YouTube, but Google also seems to favor videos from YouTube over those posted on other platforms.
Mobile
Winner: YouTube
70% of all YouTube views come from mobile, and the YouTube mobile app is absolutely dominating the mobile streaming space — outranking even formidable competitors like Netflix, Hulu, and Twitch.
Videos uploaded to Vimeo and YouTube are both optimized automatically for mobile, but YouTube offers more opportunities for mobile discovery and reach.
Cost
Winner: YouTube
YouTube is free — even for businesses. But you might be wondering if Vimeo is as well.
Is Vimeo free to use?
Vimeo operates on a tiered pricing model, ranging from a free basic plan to a $50/month package aimed at businesses.
Vimeo Pro vs YouTube
While Vimeo does have a free basic plan, it limits you to 500MB maximum storage per week.
If you’re okay with paying some money, you can get a Vimeo Pro plan. In Vimeo Pro, you’ll have access to support, advanced analytics, and professional privacy.
On the other hand, you can have unlimited storage for free on YouTube.
Support
Winner: Vimeo
With their paid packages, Vimeo offers several levels of technical support that could be a game-changer for businesses without much video expertise. YouTube offers plenty of free help documentation and access to a (rather crowded) support community, but if you’re seeking higher-touch, personalized support on-demand, a paid Vimeo account is the better option.
Storage
Winner: YouTube
YouTube offers unlimited, free storage for all accounts, while Vimeo charges for storage on a tiered basis. The basic, free Vimeo account option gives you 500MB of storage per week. With their highest level, $50/month package, you can store 5TB total with no weekly limits.
No Pre-Roll Ads
Winner: Vimeo
If you upload your videos to YouTube, there’s a good chance a pre-roll ad will play before it, which has the potential to deter some viewers from sticking around. Vimeo currently doesn’t allow ads, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be changing this policy anytime soon.
Running Ad Campaigns
Winner: YouTube
If you’re thinking of running your own ads on a video platform, you can’t beat YouTube (You also can’t purchase ad space on Vimeo, even if you wanted to, because they don’t allow it.)
YouTube offers an advanced, user-friendly ads platform, as well as personalized support from a “YouTube Advertising Expert” when you spend $10 a day on ads.
Community
Winner: Vimeo
User numbers don’t tell the entire story. With such a massive audience on YouTube, the environment is naturally more competitive. It’s easier for your video to get drowned out by thousands of others if you aren’t planning to feature it somewhere off YouTube. Vimeo’s smaller, more community-driven platform might be a better option if you’re hoping to tap into an existing creative niche, or get featured on their hand-curated staff picks page.
Advanced Privacy Options
Winner: Vimeo
Both YouTube and Vimeo give you the option to set videos to private or public (the default setting on YouTube is public), but Vimeo offers a handful of more nuanced, specific privacy options if that serves your interests. You can add a password protection option to videos, share a video only with people who follow your account, or even hide it from the Vimeo community — which could be useful if you plan on embedding the video on your website and want it to be viewable in only one place.
Customizable Player
Winner: Vimeo
Vimeo’s sleek embedded player offers a number of useful customization options that YouTube can’t match, including hex color customization and the ability to include a custom player logo (on Business and PRO accounts). Plus, when you change the default customization options on your account, all previously embedded videos will update to reflect the changes automatically, with no need to go back and tinker with any code.
Analytics
Winner: YouTube
YouTube takes the win here because all their analytics — ranging from basic statistics like views to more advanced options — are completely free. Vimeo does also offer powerful analytics tools to evaluate performance, but you’ll have to pay to access everything but basic stats.
Video Quality
Winner: Vimeo
When it comes to video quality, Vimeo beats out YouTube. In a test done by Medium, Vimeo’s video quality was crisp, clean, and easier to read. On the other hand, the same video on YouTube was blurry, making it much harder to follow.
Audio Quality
Winner: Vimeo
Again, when it comes to quality, Vimeo comes out on top. Sound quality is higher on Vimeo because the platform supports 320Kbps. However, to enjoy higher-quality videos and audio, you’ll need to be subscribed to one of the paid plans.
Live Streaming
Winner: YouTube
Both Vimeo and YouTube have live streaming options, however, YouTube is the clear winner here because it’s free. Vimeo offers live streaming with a paid plan. However, with Vimeo, you can upload new versions of the video and keep on using the same URL and upload higher quality recorded versions of a live stream, which you can edit before posting.
Image Source
So which one should you choose?
It depends largely on what exactly you want to accomplish with your videos. If you’re looking for a creative community where you can connect with other video creators and gain some exposure in a specific niche, Vimeo is a better place to start sharing your content. If you have business goals that revolve heavily around search optimization and ads, YouTube is your best bet.

No one wants to end up on the email blacklist. If you’re struggling to reach people with your emails, there’s a small (but not insignificant) chance that you’ve somehow found your way onto a spam blacklist. These prevent your emails from ending up in your subscribers’ inboxes, which, as you might expect, is going to…
The post Is Your Email Blacklisted? Here’s How to Find Out appeared first on Benchmark Email.

This spring, I was thrilled to be named general manager for Salesforce Pardot — one of the fastest-growing marketing automation platforms in the B2B space. I’m a product person at heart, and I couldn’t be more excited about our recent innovation and planned roadmap.
Earlier in the year, we gave you a sneak peek of upcoming innovations for our account-based marketing (ABM) technology. Today, I’m excited to share more details about those innovations and other features included in our Summer ‘21 release. Together, these features will help you reach the right accounts for your business, launch ABM campaigns in seconds, deliver more compelling email messages at the right time, and much more.
Here are just a few highlights from the Summer ’21 release along with a preview of what’s ahead. For a complete view of what’s launching, review the Pardot Summer ’21 release notes or watch the Pardot Summer ‘21 release readiness webinar (number 13 in the playlist).
Generally Available Now
Einstein Send Time Optimization for Pardot
One of our most popular Marketing Cloud features is now available to Salesforce Pardot customers. Use the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to better understand your accounts and boost email engagement. Einstein evaluates open and click times so you can send email messages at the right time for every prospect on your list — whether they’re on the East coast of the U.S. checking email after dinner or just starting their day on the opposite side of the globe.
We’re so excited about this feature that we’re dedicating an entire blog post to it. Watch for it later this week.
Accounts as Campaign Members
Once you’ve identified your top accounts, you can now add them directly to a campaign — even before you’ve identified the account buyers. 
Historically, Salesforce Pardot campaigns have centered on contacts and leads. But as more organizations rally around an ABM approach to account selection and nurturing, building campaigns at the account level is more important than ever. With Accounts as Campaign Members, you can run prospecting campaigns with outbound sales reps to identify the right buyers in each target account. You can also target accounts for virtual events before you finalize the RSVP list, then automatically add new account contacts as they’re identified.
Simply put, this feature is a game changer that will empower sales reps to help marketing target the right buyers for upcoming campaigns. 

New Email Marketing Settings to View Mailable Prospects in a New Light 

Have you ever struggled to understand why a prospect didn’t receive your email, or how to make a prospect mailable again? To solve these types of mailability issues, we’ve upgraded Pardot’s model for qualifying prospects to receive marketing messages. 
The updated model offers more insights into a prospect’s mailability status, their Do Not Email and Opted Out settings, and bounce information; it also provides more options for editing mailability data via Pardot automations. This means you can filter out undeliverable prospects from future communications faster and prioritize opt-in preferences more easily into your compliance workflows.
The mailability upgrade is available now and must be enabled to use. It will become a permanent upgrade for all customers in the Winter ’22 release. 
Email Builder Enhancements
We’re always working to improve the user experience for Email Builder. With the Summer ’21 release, we have:

Expanded the list of default font options to help you build eye-catching messages
Improved our error handling so you can easily identify which components on the canvas have issues that need to be addressed before saving
Provided an in-app video tutorial to help acclimate new users
Added packaging capabilities for email templates so you can easily gather all related assets and save them for future use

You can also send operational emails for critical notifications using the Pardot Email Lightning experience and access a streamlined setup experience for Pardot Email, including a simplified setup page and the ability to leverage a default domain for CMS — eliminating the need for IT support.
In Beta
Einstein Key Account Identification
Don’t rely on intuition to guide your account selection strategy. Einstein Key Accounts Identification draws on the power of AI to identify accounts in your CRM with the strongest buying signals so you can spend your time on the right deals. 
Einstein will look at buyer engagement data across the account in Salesforce Pardot, along with data from your CRM, to highlight key account characteristics and buyer behaviors that indicate an account’s viability as a business opportunity. It will tier each account as an A, B, C or D — A being accounts with the greatest buying potential. Einstein will also dig deeper into the data and surface the “why” behind each account’s ranking. 
More Pardot Resources
See what’s next for Pardot by joining the June 22 webinar Pardot Product Roadmap: Powering the Next Generation of B2B Marketing.
Watch our on-demand webinar Pardot Release Highlights: ABM, Privacy, and More.

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The post Getting Started with Salesforce Flow – Part 65 (Auto Follow Record Based on Criteria) appeared first on Automation Champion.