Category: Marketing Automation

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🖊️Small Business, Big Lessons is a podcast from Buffer that goes behind the scenes with inspirational small businesses to explore how they are questioning the best ways to build a business and uncover the big lessons we can learn from their journeys (so far). Check out the fifth episode here.Some businesses may be small – but they’re also mighty. Many small teams are capable of making great strides in their respective fields, while also contributing to their communities and deserving causes. Creating an impact is not necessarily about how much money you’re able to donate – or how many resources you have – but the purpose and intent behind your actions.In Season 2, episode 5 of our podcast, Small Business, Big Lessons, we detail how three small businesses – Made with Local, Sparktoro, and Rize Up Bakery – are making a difference. In this companion blog post, we cover how, through deliberate initiatives they’ve baked into their company policies, they’re making a huge impact and supporting marginalized communities and sustainability along the way.Business growth and impact are not mutually exclusiveAccording to Holly Howard, a business coach, and consultant, business owners don’t have to choose between making a positive impact and growing their business financially.. Holly works with many entrepreneurs and often finds they see a dichotomy between doing good with their work and doing well in their business.“People will sometimes say, ‘well, I can either make a lot of money or I can make a really good impact.’ And I say, ‘well, the first problem that we have is that divided mindset that those two things can’t coexist together.’ And so if our mindset is divided, that it has to be one or the other, then the results of our impact are certainly going to be divided,” she said.Rand Fishkin, co-founder of audience research tool Sparktoro, also believes that entrepreneurs do need to grow their businesses in order to bring about change. But to Rand, this growth doesn’t necessarily have to be monetary success. A company can grow in many other ways as well. Rand uses the example of a popular, but small, Japanese sushi restaurant. Although they’re a small business with limited resources, they’ve managed to have a huge influence in the culinary world.“[The growth] came from the attention and awareness,” Rand said. “The message resonating, the media coverage, the amplification that [the sushi restaurant] received, the following that they have. And those are beautiful ways to build the impact of a business, too.”For Sparktoro, Rand even considers his free users who never become paid members as positively contributing to the company’s growth as they help bring awareness around Sparktoro’s mission – to make audience research accessible to everyone.Still, sometimes doing good can slow the growth process a bit. Sheena Russel of Made with Local – a B corporation that creates granola products – has social impact baked into their mission. This means, every step of the way, Sheena ensured that Made with Local was working with local farmers and food producers, which slowed the pace of their operations.a Made with Local granola bar “I’d be lying if I said, you know, there weren’t — I’m going to use air quotes here — negative impacts on the speed of our growth of our business…,” Sheena said. “That would be something I think in a conventional business space where people would see that as a potential negative, right? But it was a deliberate choice on our behalf.”But even then, Made with Local grew, they just took the “scenic route,” as Sheena says. Their story is proof that businesses can stick to their morals, make a social impact, and still thrive.These Small Businesses are growing their impact by uplifting their communitiesThe impact a business makes can manifest in various ways, and for these entrepreneurs, a huge purpose behind their small businesses is to positively impact their surrounding communities.Made with Local operates with a three-pillar impact systemEvery business decision Sheena and the Made with Local team makes, is based on their three-pillar impact system. Which consists of the following:A local, ethical, and transparent supply chain – The small business works with their local community to source everything for their granola, including their ingredients and packaging.Social impact manufacturing model – Made with Local partners with two social enterprise bakeries in Nova Scotia, who train and employ adults with barriers to the mainstream workforce. Not only do these individuals make all of Made with Local’s food, but they assist with the distribution as well.Community connection – Made with Local started out as a stall at a community farmers market. So it’s no surprise that maintaining community connection has been a main focus for Sheena. They are involved with community urban farms and mutual aid fridge projects and donate and volunteer with organizations fighting food insecurity in Nova Scotia.Abiding by these guidelines is a must for Sheena as she’s very deliberate about using her small business as a vehicle for a positive impact in her community.“For us, social enterprise means incorporating the concept of creating social impact into every business decision that we make…,” Sheena said. “Really knowing that we can take a business and use it as a force for good in the world.”Sparktoro donated $25,000 to charity when they launchedWhen Rand was getting ready to launch Sparktoro in the spring of 2020, it coincided with the beginning of the pandemic. People were scared, isolated, and job security and financial concerns were creeping in for many. Rand and his team knew that they wouldn’t feel good about launching their company unless they addressed the current events happening.“We felt that launching a software product for marketers at the height of the pandemic — it just didn’t feel like a cause that you could be 100 percent behind,” Rand said. “I mean, we were excited about it. We’ve been working on it for 18 months before that… but also, we wanted to do something that spoke to the broader ecosystem that we were in.”Sparktoro’s VP of Marketing Amanda Natividad (L) with co-founder Rand Fishkin (R)So, Sparktoro decided to partner with GiveDirectly, an organization that allows people to directly donate to individuals in poverty. For every person that simply tried Sparktoro for free during their launch, the small business donated GiveDirectly. At the time, the charity was fundraising money for Americans struggling in the wake of Covid-19. Sparktoro ended up donating a huge amount.“We ended up doing about $25,000 — a little bit scary for an early stage company to be giving away a hefty chunk of its investment,” Rand said. “But I think I think it was absolutely the right thing to do.”Rize Up Bakery hopes to work with at-risk youthAt Rize Up Bakery, founder Z is also hoping to make an impact through his work. Z opened up his San Francisco bakery in part because of the protests of George Flyoy’s murder in 2020, so representation has always been important to him. Specifically, he wants to help the at-risk youth in his community, as he was one himself.As a Black baker, Z believes he can help kids and teens realize that there are a world of options for them, even career paths they’ve never heard of.“Before I started doing this, I had realized I’d never even met a black Baker. Never seen a black Baker… it definitely doesn’t have very much representation,” Z said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rize Up Bakery (@rizeupbakery) Since Rize Up is still in its development phase, Z currently doesn’t have the bandwidth to launch a program just yet. But it’s something that he hopes to do soon, and he’s currently considering what schools and organizations he can work within the Bay Area to make this happen.“The concepts of inspiring and working with youth and helping people find love the same way that I have in [baking], I feel would be something really worth spending time doing,” he said. “So I’m going to be working towards that in the future.”Growing impact by supporting employees and suppliersA small business’s employees and suppliers are an integral part of the company. Here’s how these entrepreneurs ensure they’re prioritizing these very relationships.Made with Local ensures their partnerships alignWhen considering which suppliers to work with, Sheena has a unique approach. Her small business sends a questionnaire to each and every potential partner to verify their values align with Made with Local’s missions.“We have a series of questions that we asked [our suppliers] about their environmental impact, and also their social impact. And those are things that clearly loop back into the values piece for us,” she said. “But we want to see specific examples of how they are prioritizing positive impact and the social and environmental space.”In this way, Sheena supports other businesses that are doing good. This positively contributes to Made with Local’s overall impact as Sheena is uplifting and supporting other small businesses that put their community first, champion the environment, and are striving to be as sustainable as possible.Rize Up Bakery raises team members’ salaries frequentlyZ is very passionate about cultivating a positive and supportive environment for his employees. When he onboards a new employee, he does his best to show them the ropes and teach them techniques to make the best sourdough bread – their signature item.Employees at Rize Up start at $18 an hour – impressive considering California’s minimum wage for businesses that have fewer than 25 employees starts at $14. After two months, Rize Up team members are then eligible for a $2 raise. Z is also open to giving his staff multiple raises in a year if he sees improvement. His head assistant baker has been with him for just over a year and has already had her salary increased thrice.“[My head assistant baker] just keeps getting better and better,” Z says. “And she handles more and more responsibility. If you keep learning and keep working and keep wanting more responsibility, and I can count on you more than that means you are earning your keep.”Taking care of his employees connects Z back to his broader mission – making a positive impact on his community. For the entrepreneur, his bottom line is not how much he can make, but how much he can contribute to the bakery and its employees.“And the way I think about it is, well, how much can I invest? Right? Because I want people to walk away with the skill set. I would love to have people learn from me,” Z said. “And then when they go off and do their famous amazing things. They know that the person that taught them cared about them.”Small Businesses can be a vehicle for greater social impactOne of Rand’s goals is that everyone who comes across Sparktoro, from customers to suppliers, takes away something positive from his small business. For one, the entrepreneur wants to make audience research accessible to all individuals – something that has typically only been available to larger corporations.But on a smaller scale, Rand also strives to empower and support the individuals who’re contributing to his company. While Sparktoro’s core team consists of three employees, there are dozens of contractors and other organizations the software company works with, and Rand hopes they’re all benefiting from their involvement with Sparktoro.“We have a ton of people in our orbit and ecosystem who’re small and medium businesses. I hope we’re helping by being great partners and customers of theirs,” he said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Made with Local (@madewithlocal) Businesses like Sparktoro, Made with Local, and Rize Up Bakery are why Holly got into consulting in the first place, as she loves to help entrepreneurs make a difference. She’s optimistic about the future of small businesses, as she’s seeing more and more organizations wanting to do good.“So in the 10 years that I’ve been consulting, I’ve definitely seen [ the B corp certification] become a priority. And that people want to create good jobs. And that’s something that really inspires me… I really felt like businesses can be a real force for good.”Want more on making an impact? Check out the full episodeThe businesses we interviewed in this episode have further insights to share about making an impact and its value for brands. Check out the full episode here.

Running your own business can be a great career choice for people living with long-term disability or health condition.
This may relate, in part, to the increased flexibility around working hours that self-employment brings. Working for oneself can also promote a sense of being a master of one’s destiny and not having to contend with misconceptions and discriminatory attitudes from others that are often encountered while job hunting.
For entrepreneurs of any background, business networking, be this receiving the support and advice of others, identifying collaborative opportunities, or expanding the customer base, remains an essential undertaking.
Unfortunately, as in almost every other walk of life, networking is not without barriers for disabled entrepreneurs. In this post, we’ll discuss why networking can be a challenge and best practice approaches to networking that disabled entrepreneurs can put in place to stay on top of both the competition and their own health.

Why can networking be a challenge for disabled entrepreneurs?
As Bill Sahlman, a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School explained in the online course Entrepreneurship Essentials: “All great companies — even those with iconic entrepreneurs — had many other people who were involved and, without whom, the company might not have made it so big.”
Networking can be a challenge for disabled entrepreneurs for various reasons, ranging from needing to expend a great deal of time and effort performing in social scenarios when one’s energy is already compromised to facing unpredictable building access issues at venues.
At the same time, a legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic remains an increased openness within the mainstream business community to conducting meetings and events remotely – allowing disabled networkers to engage with new people from the comfort of home and extend well beyond the limits of their immediate geographic location.
So, within this new post-pandemic reality of hybrid online and in-person networking opportunities, what are some excellent networking tips? Below we’ll discuss them.
5 Networking Tips for Disabled Entrepreneurs
1. Research disability-entrepreneurship organizations that can help you.
As explained previously, entrepreneurship is a popular and well-trodden path for many people living with a disability. With this in mind, there are numerous organizations out there dedicated to providing support to disabled business owners.
One such organization is the American Association of People with Disabilities which provides entrepreneurial advice, scholarships, and internships to its members.
Disability:IN is another national body offering support and advice to disabled business owners. It offers an accreditation plan called Disability-Owned Business Enterprise (DOBE) certification, and it’s meant for businesses that are at least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by an individual with a disability.
Additionally, there are local and state-run resources available to disabled business owners, as well as those catering to specific groups such as veterans.
Thoroughly researching and identifying all such organizations should be part of the early-stage due diligence of any disabled entrepreneur, as this type of highly tailored resource is low-hanging fruit for disabled business owners looking to grow their network.
2. Be realistic about the impact of your disability.
Running your own business can be physically and mentally exhausting, regardless of whether someone has a disability or not.
As the meeting and greeting that accompanies in-person networking events can be particularly draining – it’s vital that disabled entrepreneurs set realistic goals around what they can manage and understand exactly how their disability might impact them in different situations.
Going to networking events can be a great way of meeting new business contacts, but if the price of attendance is having to spend the following day in bed, entrepreneurs must weigh these considerations carefully.
Diego Mariscal, who has cerebral palsy, is the founder and CEO of 2Gether-International – a community for disabled founders offering peer support and expert mentoring. “A lot of people will go to an in-person networking event and there’ll be this frenetic competition to see how many business cards everyone can collect,” remarks Mariscal.
“That just does a disservice to both yourself and the people you’re trying to meet because, realistically, you just can’t follow up with 20 different people in any kind of meaningful way,” he continues.
“Particularly for somebody living with an energy-limiting condition – a better approach would be to pick one or two people that are going to be in attendance that you want to connect with. Once you’ve met those people – just stop. Chill, relax, and decompress because it’s going to be much easier to follow up with two or three people and build meaningful relationships than trying to do that with twenty.”
3. Be confident enough to use your disability and personality as a positive differentiator.
People with disabilities can often feel self-conscious about standing out, particularly at public events common with in-person networking. Nonetheless, at events where everyone is competing for eyeballs and attention, standing out from the crowd is potentially no bad thing, especially if it is augmented by an engaging, self-confident introduction and a display of strong interpersonal skills.
Networkers with disabilities should not be ashamed of their impairments and seek to conceal them but instead explore ways in which their disability could be viewed by others as a positive differentiator.
Heather Lawver is the founder and CEO of Perfectly Pitched, which helps early-stage social entrepreneurs develop compelling pitch decks and advanced marketing strategies. She also lives with two rare genetic conditions that cause her to experience significant levels of pain throughout the day.
Recounting her experiences working in an incubator program in 2014, Lawver says, “It has to start with you as the entrepreneur and being comfortable enough with your disabilities and who you are to ask for accommodations.”
She continues, “When I was in the incubator program, I got it into my head that, if you were pitching, it had to be done standing up because, if you were sitting down, you weren’t commanding the room. This was a problem for me with my pain issues and someone from the program offered me a chair but, at the time, I didn’t feel comfortable accepting this accommodation because I didn’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons.”
She says doing so was a mistake, that she ended up in so much pain she couldn’t speak and had to force her way through the pitch. Looking back, she recounts that she should have spotted the opportunity that sitting down to pitch could be a differentiator in storytelling style.
“It’s all about being comfortable in who you are and working out how you can turn it into an advantage rather than a disadvantage,” she adds.
4. Fine-tune and personalize your communication strategy.
If you’ve concluded that in-person events pose too many obstacles and you might be better off with online networking – be sure to take the time to hone your online communications and make them stand out.
Platforms like LinkedIn provide a great system for growing your network of like-minded professionals, but it’s vital to ensure that your online communications are polished and personalized.
Business leaders receive multiple emails and social media introductions daily.
To make yours stand out, avoid spamming generic introductory message templates in the hope of gaining someone’s attention. Instead, focus on personalizing messages and honing in on how you think a business relationship might benefit both parties.
Take the time to read the person’s profile and background to identify where their expert knowledge lies. That way, you can demonstrate a genuine appreciation of their thought leadership and how it might relate to your particular area of business.
5. If your differences make you feel awkward about approaching people, practice makes perfect.
Whether online or in-person networking, one way to ease the nerves or any awkwardness about appearing different might be to practice introductions with friends, family, and colleagues before taking the plunge into higher-stakes official networking events.
This might be particularly useful if adaptive technologies, equipment, or other accommodations are used. For someone with hearing loss, this might be trying out Zoom calls with and without an interpreter.
Someone with mixed mobility needs, who may alternate between using a wheelchair and other walking supports, might consider experimenting with both and doing some trial runs to establish what feels most comfortable when interacting with others.
Over to You
Like most activities in business, effective networking is as much an art as it is a science.
To maximize opportunities, entrepreneurs with disabilities have to begin with an honest appraisal of their health condition.
Rather than just trying to slide into a preconceived profile of what a successful business networker looks like, embrace your uniqueness and diversity, as that will be the quickest shortcut to getting to grips with your strengths and weaknesses both in business and in life.

Looking for some new leadership podcasts to check out? We’ve got you covered.
From tips on how to be a better leader to interviews with top CEOs, these top leadership podcasts will help you develop your skills and knowledge.
Whether you’re a new or a seasoned leader, there’s something here for everyone.

1. CEO School

If you’re a leader who is also taking on entrepreneurship, you’ll enjoy this podcast.
Host and founder of a billion-dollar fintech company, Suneera Madhani, regularly brings on experts to discuss everything from scaling your business to creating a positive work culture. In her solo episodes, she shares advice based on her experience running her successful company.
Standout Episodes:

How to Have Effective 1:1s with Your Team to Drive Results with Empathy
Establishing a Culture that Drives Business Success
A Billion-Dollar CEO’s #1 Fundraising Tip

2. HBR’s IdeaCast

If you struggle to find time to listen to podcasts, this bite-size one is a great option.
Each week, HBR’s IdeaCast tackles one facet of leadership in 30 minutes or less. With over 600 episodes, this longstanding podcast has covered just about everything you might want to know about being a better leader.
Standout Episodes:

One Way to Fight the Great Resignation? Re-recruit Your Current Employees
It’s Time to Fine-Tune Performance Management
Fighting Bias and Inequality at the Team Level

3. Let’s Take This Offline: The Podcast for Everyday Leaders

In this podcast, host and former exec Kishshana Palmer looks to redefine what leadership looks like.
“Let’s Take This Offline” breaks down unpopular topics within the leadership space, such as doubt, vulnerability, and shame. Consider this a safe space for leaders who don’t feel like they have it all together and want reassurance that it’s OK.
Standout Episodes:

Summer Well Series: Create Your Leadership Roadmap
How Doubt Can Boost Your Leadership
No Second Guessing, You Are Enough

4. How Leaders Lead

When you’re working on improving yourself as a leader, it’s vital to get advice from all angles. This podcast does just that.
“How Leaders Lead” is an interview-style podcast that gives you access to top leaders in business, sports, entertainment, and more. Its host, David Novak, is the co-founder and former chairman of a Fortune 500 company who knows what questions to ask and which insights leaders are looking for.
Standout Episodes:

Embrace Big Changes with Curiosity
Bill Harrison, JPMorgan Chase Former Chairman & CEO – Preparing the Next Leader
Rob Manfred, MLB Commissioner – Finding Common Ground

5. Coaching with Leaders

Want to listen to a leadership podcast but don’t have a whole hour to dedicate to it? Then, this is the podcast for you.
With each episode averaging around 30 minutes, Coaching for Leaders is a short and sweet podcast on all things leadership, from giving feedback and managing difficult stakeholders to fostering inclusivity and improving communication.
Every episode is filled with tactical, actionable advice that you can use every day as a leader, making it a great listen for the morning when you’re getting ready for work.
Standout Episodes:

How to Involve Stakeholders in Decisions
How Top Leaders Influence Great Teamwork, with Scott Keller
How to Lead and Retain High Performers

6. The Unburdened Leader

When we talk about leadership, we rarely dive into the toll it can take on your mental health. Rebecca ching, LMFT, is here to tackle it.
With a background in family therapy, Ching has built her career around helping leaders navigate through the complex emotions and events associated with this path.
In each episode, she leans on experts in various fields to discuss leadership through the lens of mental health.
Standout episodes:

Leading Authentically After Hard Falls with Ref Rodriguez
The Intersection of Leadership, Brand, and Inner Work
Challenging the Fear of Rejection and Leading with Vulnerability

7. Coaching for Latina Leaders

While this podcast was designed with Latina leaders in mind, it’s a great listen for any leader.
What’s great about this pod is that it looks at leaders from a holistic perspective, helping them see how their personal lives impact their work lives.
That’s why you’ll see episodes focusing on journaling and meditation while others focus on leadership frameworks.
Standout episodes:

Living and Leading with ADHD
Lead at Work as Powerfully as You Lead at Home
Arrival Fallacy: How to Enjoy the Journey Toward Your Next Big Success

8. Coaching Real Leaders

Backed by the Harvard Business Review, this podcast is led by leadership coach Muriel Wilkins and is geared toward high performers struggling to grow as leaders.
Every episode starts with one question and one leader’s challenge to frame the episode. In one hour or less, Wilkins uses her background in coaching to help her audience navigate everyday challenges.
Standout Episodes:

How Do I Move from a Specialist to a General Leadership Role?
How Can I Lead Authentically?
Finding My Leadership Voice

9. Dare to Lead

In 2018, author Brene Brown wrote the New York Times Best Selling book Dare to Lead which serves as the basis for this Spotify Original podcast.
According to their blurb, this podcast features riveting conversations with “change-catalysts, culture-shifters, and as many troublemakers as possible.”
Standout Episodes:

Leading with Purpose In the Digital Age
Armored versus Daring Leadership
Why Every Leader Needs to Worry About Toxic Culture

10. Self-Control and Cheese

Ever wish you could talk candidly with your peers about the challenges you’re going through at work? Consider this podcast that safe space.
Hosts Bridget and Sara, two young leaders working at fast-growing tech companies, talk about everything from securing that promotion to navigating difficult conversations with your direct report.
If you work in tech (or plan to), this is the podcast to hear about what it’s really like and how to move within this space.
Standout Episodes:

It’s Not Job Hopping If The Company’s Toxic
The Leadership Crash Course
30 Under 30s A Scam

So, if you’re looking to up your leadership game, or just want to learn more about the art of being a great leader, then check out some of these top podcasts on leadership.

Growing followers on TikTok can seem like slow process. And if you’re putting in the hard work to create amazing content, it can feel extra frustrating.
To help speed things up, we’ve compiled a list of the best strategies to gain followers on TikTok — fast. Of course, nothing can replace good content, but there are a few tricks you can try to explode your engagement, visibility, and, most importantly, your follower count.
Let’s dive into the best tips and tricks to grow your TikTok.
1. Stop appealing to everyone.
When you try to appeal to everyone on TikTok, the opposite happens: you end up resonating with no one.
This may sound counterintuitive. After all, to get more followers, shouldn’t you appeal to more people? In reality, targeting a niche gives you a greater chance to be seen by a pool of engaged users.
For example, fashion is a popular category on TikTok. So much so, the hashtag #fashion has over 188 billion views on the platform. If you want to post fashion-related content, you might get lost in this competitive vertical. Instead, you could focus on a sub-niche like street style or mid-sized fashion, which has a fraction of the views but a more engaged audience.
The easiest way to niche down is by knowing your audience and what they want to see. Be specific. If you’re unsure, take a look at your competition. What do they do well? What videos get the most engagement? And, of course, use your buyer personas as a compass when brainstorming video ideas.
2. Post at the right time.
Sometimes, it’s not just what you post but when you post. This is especially true on TikTok.
A recent HubSpot Blogs survey of 300+ marketers identified the best and worst times to post on TikTok. Here are the results:

The best time of day: 3-6 PM and 6-9 PM
The best days of the week: Friday and Saturday
The worst time of day: 6-9 AM and 9-12 AM
The worst days of the week: Monday and Tuesday

Since TikTok is popular with the Gen Z crowd  — and they’re in school for a good part of the day — the morning and early afternoon “dead zone” makes sense.
When posting content on TikTok, stay clear of these slow hours, and try posting towards the end of the week or during the weekend.
3. Duet or Stitch top-performing videos.
TikTok offers a number of features to collaborate with others — which is key to getting more eyeballs on your content. Let’s talk about two features in particular: Duet and Stitch.
The Duet feature lets you play your video next to another user’s video. This is ideal if you want to add commentary or a funny reaction to the original video.
The Stitch feature enables you to play up to 5 seconds of someone else’s video as an intro to your own. 
The best way to leverage these features is by engaging with top-performing videos in your niche. You can do this by using the search bar and typing keywords relating to your brand. Then, once you’ve zeroed in on a video you like, tap the Stitch or Duet button and let your creativity fly.
But there’s more — you can also encourage others to Duet or Stitch your videos.
For example, Tesco, a British grocery chain, asks users to Duet the following video for a chance to become the new voice of their checkout machine:

@tesco Audition to become the new voice of Tesco checkouts by duetting with me & including
#TescoVoiceOfCheckout.
♬ original sound – Tesco

The result? Tesco’s original video scored 22 million views and thousands of Duet submissions.
4. Participate in a challenge (or create your own).
Challenges are infamous on TikTok, and they have the power to explode your follower count. The trick is finding the right one for your brand. After all, some challenges fizzle out before they hit the ground, while others spread like wildfire.
Once you find a challenge you can work with, it’s important to put your own spin on it. That’s how you’ll really stand out.
You can also create your own challenge — just make sure it’s relatively simple to do. For example, Chipotle started the #LidFlip challenge, which encouraged users to flip the lid of their burrito bowl with style:

@chipotle
#lidflip
♬ original sound – Chipotle

In the first six days, the challenge generated over 100,000 video responses. Even more impressive, it created a record-breaking sales day for Chipotle.
 
5. Jump on trending sounds and songs.
88% of TikTok users say sound is essential to the TikTok experience. Thanks to the algorithm, it’s also critical for driving more engagement.
TikTok has an extensive library of sounds — but you should prioritize the ones that get a lot of love from the community. This is because the TikTok algorithm tends to favor videos that leverage trending sounds. Plus, 67% of TikTok users prefer branded videos that feature popular or trending songs.

To get started, check out TikTok’s Creative Center which ranks the most popular sounds each day. You can also filter by region, which is helpful if your audience lives in a different location from you.
6. Cross-promote your TikTok.
Odds are, your audience is active on other social media besides TikTok. For this reason, it’s important to cross-promote your videos to other channels, such as Instagram or YouTube.
Remember that Instagram’s algorithm will not promote videos with a TikTok watermark, so you’ll need to upload the original video. YouTube, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same restriction.
It’s also worth noting that Reels cannot exceed 60 seconds, while TikTok videos can go for 10 minutes. So, you may need to trim your videos to adhere to Instagram’s time constraints.
Back to You
Ultimately, you’re only as good as the content you create. Although these tips can boost your visibility in the short run, it’s the quality of your content that influences people to hit “follow.” As a marketer, this means putting your audience at the heart of your strategy and creating content that speaks to them.

There are multiple terms in digital marketing which have different meanings. People related to digital marketing know all of those terms as they are pro marketers. But people who are not much aware of digital marketing or the ones who are new in this field don’t know much about it. But no worries I’ll be telling you a few terms related to Digital Marketing you need to know: Here are some basic digital marketing terms you certainly need to know: Bounce Rate: It is the term used to find out the number of visitors who left without visiting the second page of your website. It helps you to keep better track of your website’s efficiency. CTA: call-to-action is a link or pop-up that encourages the visitors of your website to take the desired action. CTR: Click-through rate determines the rate of clicks you have received on your ad. Conversion Rate: it is the number of people who converted to as a client through your website. CPM: CPM in digital marketing means Cost-Per-Thousand-Impressions. The meaning of CPM is very much clear with its full-form but still, we can define CPM as the price that you are willing to pay for every thousand views you get on your ad. It is a really effective factor if you want to increase your brand awareness, but to be true it does not guarantee an increase in sales. CPC: Cost-Per-Click we can define CPC as the price that you are willing to pay for every click you get on your ad. PPC: Pay-Per-Click is a bid per click on different keywords in paid ads above or beside free search engine listings. ROI: It is Return-on-Investment or we can say the percentage of profit you receive from your digital marketing activity. Impressions: It is the number of times your ad is shown on a search result page. Inbound Link: this is a link on your website from some other website. It is also called Backlink. Organic traffic: The amount of traffic you receive on your website via any unpaid medium. Do upvote if you find shared information useful and comment if you need more information regarding some similar terms of digital marketing. submitted by /u/zacedwardss [link] [comments]

Much like advertising and branding itself, email marketing campaigns are more of an art than a science.  It takes a compelling idea, great visual design, and excellent copywriting to increase the chances of your email marketing campaign being successful, maximizing clicks, and converting readers into buyers. Email marketing campaign templates can help, but it’s hard…
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🖊️We created this new dashboard during Build Week, where the entirety of Buffer came together in small teams to spend a week focusing on building and shipping new features. Read more about Build Week here.This specific project was meant to help our team members prioritize their mental health by providing a deep dive into how we utilize our vacation time as a company. Amy Lee Bennett, Carlos Muñoz, and Juliana Gomez also contributed to this blog post.Transparency is one of our core values at Buffer. We’ve found that it builds trust, holds us accountable, and can push our industry forward, and one of the ways we embrace this value is by publishing public dashboards to share things like our salaries and revenue.We’re excited to add a new transparent dashboard to share our time off stats here. We hope this will contribute to conversations around healthy workplaces and how employers can better support their employees’ mental health and well-being through four-day work weeks and various types of personal leave.Our teammates need planned time away from work to stay healthy. Many studies have shown that time away from work improves mental and physical health, prevents burnout, and promotes a better work-life balance. But according to Expedia’s 2022 Vacation Deprivation report, 61 percent of American workers feel that their vacations don’t feel like “true vacations” and unplugging from work is steadily becoming more challenging. A whopping 71 percent of workers are feeling more burned out than ever.Why an unlimited vacation policy, isn’t always the best policyInitially, we believed an unlimited vacation policy would be the solution and we felt it aligned with our intention to offer generous compensation and benefits. And who wouldn’t love unlimited time off from work, right? Ironically, fewer team members took time off, and it wasn’t just the case at Buffer: studies have shown that unlimited vacation policies can actually hinder employees from taking time off work. So we went back to the drawing board and decided to go in an entirely different direction: encouraging all teammates to take a minimum of three weeks off per year (15 days), in addition to national holidays.So far, this feels like a good balance for our team. We can still provide parameters around minimum vacation time (which mitigates any awkwardness or qualms about taking time off under unlimited vacation policies) whilst facilitating other flexible paid time off options. Some of these include:Asking all new parents to take 16 weeks off for family leave and any additional time needed for birthing parents.A six-week paid sabbatical for every team member after five years, which teammates can use however they’d like. We’ve seen team members travel the world, focus on side projects, and spend quality time with family.Volunteer leave to empower team members to take time off work to make an impact on initiatives they feel called to support.A Local Election Day, so teammates can take time off to vote and participate in any election activities, such as working at polls.A Wellness day for teammates to receive preventative care, such as dental cleanings, and physical and vision exams. Why we’re transparently sharing how Buffer teammates take time offWe know that one of the most significant benefits of a fully remote team is our teammates’ flexibility and autonomy in organizing their work and schedule. We don’t quite want to erode that autonomy by enforcing time away, but we do want to ensure that teammates are taking adequate time off and getting the rest they deserve.This was the driving force behind us building this dashboard: to evaluate trends and habits related to how teammates take time off and make certain that teammates are taking advantage of our time-off policy to optimize their health and happiness. Below is a quick preview, you can check our full live dashboard here.A graph tracking our team’s vacation statistics In addition to building out our transparent time off dashboard, we learned that our team has taken a total of 1151 vacation days in 2022 so far, meaning we’re averaging about 13.71 days off per teammate. So we should be on track to meet our goal of an average of at least 15 vacation days per teammate by the end of 2022. Additionally, we did a drill-down by team and found that our Engineering team seems to be trailing other teams with how much vacation time they’ve taken:Product: Average 16 daysMarketing: Average 15.6 daysAdvocacy: Average 15.2 daysFinance: Average 15 daysExecutive: Average 14.5 daysPeople: Average 13.7 daysEngineering: Average 11.8 daysSpotting these trends helps us focus our efforts to ensure teammates feel empowered to take a vacation and explore if there are any barriers to booking that time.Finding the right balanceTo fully disconnect from work and experience the health benefits of a vacation, we’d hope to see team members take advantage of the policy and book at least one whole week off annually. For now, 15 days feels like a solid sweet spot, as we’ve seen reports (both through external research and anecdotes shared by teammates internally) that teammates feel more well-rested with at least two weeks off from work. Mattress company The Sleep Judge studied how time off policies impact employees’ overall well-being. Regarding ideal vacation length times, most participants felt more well-rested, productive, and energized after 11-15 days off.Benefits of time off by duration, and readiness to return based off time and type of vacation. Data sourced from The Sleeping Judge, Vacation Time and Employee Health, (2022).We also see higher rates of return readiness with extended vacations and with actually going somewhere on vacation as opposed to a staycation. We understand that domestic and international trips aren’t always realistic options. Still, we hope that encouraging teammates to unplug fully will help them feel more well-rested.Have 4-day work weeks impacted how much time we take off?We found our teammates took less vacation time in 2021 & 2022To see how four-day work weeks may have impacted how our team takes time off, we’ve pulled in historical data from Timetastic (a tool we use to manage and record leave), and in the graph below we can see that our team booked fewer vacation time in 2020 and 2021.After the introduction of our 4-day work-week in May 2020, we see how much of an effect it’s had on how our team takes time off. Many teammates have reported that since the introduction of this new workweek schedule, they’ve felt a better sense of work-life balance and improved stress levels. As a result, we speculate that this has led to teammates feeling the need to take less time off due to having consistent consecutive three-day weekends. We also considered the following factors:Long weekends feel like a “mini-break” ahead of each work week.Taking a week off work uses only four days of vacation allowance rather than the five days previously needed, thus making it possible to book a week away from work and use only four days of your vacation allowance, potentially giving each team member an additional 52 days away from work each year.Limitations and concerns around travel due to the COVID pandemic may have impacted teammates’ willingness to travel.We’re curious to see how this data trends as we move forward, and while it may seem like teammates are taking less time off, it appears that overall our team feels happier with four-day work weeks and can take time off as needed throughout the year easily.Time off trends may surface some disparities amongst different demographicsWe know cultural factors influence an individual’s decision about booking time away from work. Research shows that U.S. workers are less inclined to take time off due to the fear that booking vacation indicates a poor work ethic. So much so that in 2018, Americans left over 768 million days of paid time off unused.We also learned that gender and age can impact time-off habits. For example, in Fortune’s article on vacation habits, it was reported that only 44 percent of millennial women use all their vacation time compared to 54 percent of millennial men. In Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation report, younger employees (Millennials and Gen Z) take less time off and are more likely to experience burnout than their counterparts aged 50 and older.Reluctance to take a vacation may also be related to the fact that paid time off in the U.S. is a benefit rather than a statutory entitlement (the U.S. is the only industrialized nation where this is the case). Commonplace at-will employment contracts, where employees can be fired without reason, can also contribute to this reluctance. Being a workaholic might feel like a wise strategy to minimize the risk of falling out of favor with your employer.At Buffer, we want everyone to take a healthy and enjoyable time away from work and fully disconnect. We see this as one way to hold ourselves accountable to that goal.Our main takeawaysThrough much trial and error, we’ve found a few benefits that seem to work well for our globally distributed team, and we’d recommend these particular approaches for similarly structured organizations seeking to support their team’s health and well-being:Implementing a four-day work week.Instituting a minimum vacation policy.Observing all national and local holidays where teammates are located.Providing Wellness days so teammates feel empowered to take care of themselves without the worry of planning around their work schedules.This project, and the research and analysis around it, have prompted a few questions for us. Is there a correlation between planned time away (vacation) and sick time? Between vacation time and salary? Our sample size of 83 teammates is likely too small to generate definitive conclusions, but it could be interesting to explore. We could also look into surveying teammates just before and after a week or more vacation to better understand how vacation impacts well-being and performance.Thanks so much for reading. Over to you! Is there any information or context that we are missing? Perhaps you’d like to see an annual report based on this data? Send us any questions you may have on the topic on Twitter!