Category: Marketing Automation

Marketers looking to increase their brand visibility should consider how Google crawls their websites. They have to think beyond the product and consider how prospects search for it — and the solution lies with a proper understanding of SEO and SERP features.
Since 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else, marketers must ensure that prospects can find them conveniently — and Google has features to help you do that. In this post, we’ll discuss how SERP features can help and the most important ones to leverage.

These features appear on search engines like Google and provide a more unique and easy-to-interpret search result than your typical list of website links. And depending on the buyer persona you’re trying to reach, your business can leverage Google’s features to help attract more traffic to your website.

1. Featured Snippets
Best for: Quickly providing the most helpful steps or sentences for a search query.

Featured snippets are boxes that appear as the “first” search result, or as many call it, “position zero” before the actual organic results.
Google will take the most relevant portion of text from a domain and place it above the link, typically with a featured image presented alongside. It provides a more concise answer to a search query without clicking through.
2. Image Packs
Best for: Providing visual search results like images or GIFs without going to Google Images.

Image packs are search results that provide an array of pictures or GIFs for a more comprehensive search query.
Businesses can achieve a spot in an image pack by designing creative graphics or original photos with descriptive alt text to match relevant search inquiries better. Alt text is a major factor determining whether your image or video appears in the SERP and how highly it appears, so be descriptive with your photos or collateral.
3. Knowledge Panels
Best for: Briefly summarizing information on a topic based on Google’s understanding without going too far into details.

Knowledge panels are boxes of information that typically appear to the right of traditional search results in Google. They usually display information about a person, place, business, or other entity with relevant background underneath.
A business can benefit from publishing information on an “About Us” page on its website. For Google to index and display relevant data for better visibility, include details like the CEO, location, and contact information.
4. Local Packs
Best for: Local businesses to target nearby prospects in Google Maps.

Local packs are a SERP feature that usually highlight information about physical locations, combined with Google Maps interactive platform.
Local packs are extremely useful for small or brick-and-mortar businesses. By providing a full, indexable address and possibly good customer reviews, you’re more likely to be highlighted in this section.
5. “People Also Ask” Boxes
Best for: Quickly answering related questions to a user’s original search query.

Unlike other SERP features, “People also ask” (PAA) suggestions come after one or two organic search results to offer additional or adjacent information. They serve as quick FAQ sections and can expand when clicked.
If your website answers a big question that your target audience is looking for, try to include additional information in a frequently asked question section of your own, or throughout any articles or posts you publish.
6. Rich Snippets
Best for: Provide enhanced results in an effort to provide more engaging and useful information.

Rich snippets are self-explanatory — they provide richer information than a typical meta description in the SERPs.
This can efficiently display stock product inventory and product review ratings without a prospect having to scroll through your entire catalog. It can also help them find exactly what they’re looking for at the beginning of their search.
7. Sitelinks
Best for: Find shortcuts to save users time and help them navigate a site domain faster.

Sitelinks are a SERP feature that displays multiple links from the same domain or home page of a business. By clearly defining where users can find categorized information they’re looking for, you’ll better your chance of scoring this snippet and providing a better user experience.
8. Top and Bottom Ads
Best for: Reach target markets based on search queries that align with a service or product.

Top and bottom ads are an inorganic way for businesses to gain visibility through Google Ads.
These ads pop up before the first organic search results and at the bottom of the page results before you go to page two. Businesses pay to run ad campaigns targeting specific demographics and keywords to fit their niche.
9. Top Stories
Best for: Sharing breaking global, local, or niche news topics.

Top stories are a SERP feature highlighting trending or most recent news stories or headlines from various sources. They display linked headlines for users to navigate directly to the news story.
For businesses that strive to be industry thought leaders, posting the latest news or trending topics onto a dedicated blog, podcast, or video network can be a great way to gain attention from an audience invested in that market.
Pro Tip: Make sure to use good judgment and provide information based on facts. It’s better to report on something grounded in data and respect than to release false information and potentially biased statements.
10. Twitter Cards
Best for: Sharing popular or trending quotes, images, videos, or tweets from the Twitter platform.

Twitter cards are just that — a carousel of popular or trending tweets. It can either be centered on a specific topic or by account.
In social media strategy planning, it’s essential to leverage different channels, especially the ones where your target audience spends the most time. Businesses can chime in on what’s going on and even incorporate the buzz into their meme marketing for a chance to gain retweets and followers.
11. Video Carousels
Best for: Showcasing video content that can improve conversions or sales.

Video carousels are an array of relevant Youtube video search results, often optimized with segmented parts.
Businesses can share “how-to” videos about their products or services and provide customers with solutions to issues that might not warrant a call to customer support. This can include instructional guides, showcasing multipurpose features, or providing tips and best practices to make their experience with your business more enjoyable.
Use SERP Features to Your Advantage
Optimizing how your business uses Google can tremendously help get the visibility your brand needs. If you’re trying to leverage any of the SERP features we’ve shared, I’d recommend focusing on knowledge packs, local packs, rich snippets, and top and bottom ads to better position yourself from the competition.

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Not all marketing changes are here to stay, just as not all fads are trends. What’s shaping the future of digital marketing? Read more: https://www.martechcube.com/digital-marketing-trends-to-watch-out-for-in-2023/ submitted by /u/MarTechCube [link] [comments]

Marketers are pushing their brand advertising with more creative video content to make a difference. Are you prepared to catch the video advertising trend? Read more: https://www.martechcube.com/best-video-advertising-trends-for-2023/ submitted by /u/MarTechCube [link] [comments]

Newsletters have become a trendy and cost-effective way for businesses to maintain consistent outreach with their subscribers and alert them of important milestones and rollouts. With an eye-catching design, easy-to-read layout, and a clear purpose, your newsletters can become more engaging for your audiences, leading to higher open rates that turn into conversions. However, the…
The post 5 Newsletter Templates Ideas That Will Help You Increase Conversions appeared first on Benchmark Email.

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Interested in learning who’s still leading and how this relationship is evolving across different org. submitted by /u/seanrrwilkins [link] [comments]

ChatGPT has skyrocketed in popularity — it grew to 1M users in just five days.
ChatGPT is a conversational AI, and its celebrity comes at a time when many businesses are adopting similar time-saving tools into their marketing processes.
This post will go over everything you need to know about conversational AI, including:

What is conversational AI?
Conversational AI vs. Chatbots
How does conversational AI work?
Examples of Conversational AI
Benefits of Conversational AI
Challenges of Conversational AI
Conversational AI Statistics

At its core, it applies artificial intelligence and machine learning. Common examples of conversational AI are virtual assistants and chatbots.

Conversational AI vs. Chatbots
Conversational AI and chatbots are often discussed together, so knowing how they relate is important.
Chatbots are an application of conversational AI, but not all chatbots use conversational AI. Most chatbots are rule-based, where they’re preprogrammed with specific canned responses and scripts and can’t handle more complex conversations.
AI chatbots can handle multiple types of conversations and topics and use data to give the most accurate response.

How does conversational AI work?
Conversational AI exists through machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and natural language generation (NLG).

Machine learning is how a conversational AI tool gets its intelligence. It begins with human input, where someone feeds a machine a unique data set to learn from. It studies the data, understands connections, and eventually becomes ready to have real conversations with real humans.
Natural language processing is the machine’s ability to recognize words and phrases from conversations with humans because of the original data it learned from. The tool then uses NLG to develop the best possible responses to human queries.
Conversational AI only gets better and more accurate over time as it continuously learns from every conversation.
The overall process is this:

Input is received as text or audio (spoken words or general sounds).
The machine analyzes the input with natural language processing to uncover what the input means and what a response could include.
Once the input is understood, conversational AI brings a user the best and most accurate information (NLG).

Machines use data from every conversation to build knowledge and generate more accurate responses.

Examples of Conversational AI
A common marketing application of conversational AI is content generation tools that research topics online and create content outputs like blog posts, emails, and even ad copy.
HubSpot’s content assistant is a great example of a tool that uses generative AI to help marketers create written content.
You can simply tell HubSpot what you’d like to write about, and the content assistant can do things like:

Generate a list of blog topics your audience cares about
Create an outline to kickstart your writing process
Write crisp and compelling copy optimized for your readers and search engines.

The AI content assistant natively integrates with your favorite HubSpot features.
Another application is text-to-speech tools that convert text to natural-sounding speech, improving accessibility for people using assistive technologies. Social listening and monitoring tools also use NLP to understand the tone and intent of online conversations to understand how people feel about your brand.
HR and recruiting tools also scan through resumes and cover letters for keywords and phrases to identify ideal candidates for job postings.
Other applications are smart home devices, like Google Home, and virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri.
To stay on the cutting edge of a growing market, check out HubSpot’s playlist, The Business of AI, which features shows that discuss future business applications of AI.

Benefits of Conversational AI
With these examples in mind, what benefits can conversational AI bring to a business?
1. Conversational AI can save time.
Conversational AI can take charge of conversations with consumers and bring relevant results, helping teams focus on more pressing issues that require a human touch.
Conversational AI can also process large amounts of data points and bring insights and answers to business teams quickly, helping make data-driven decisions and freeing up the burden of data processing.
2. Conversational AI gives data-driven insights
The data that conversational AI tools collect can be helpful resources for businesses to learn about consumers and what they want, whether it’s commonly asked questions that can be used to update a FAQ page or to learn more about how people talk about you online.
3. Conversational AI can drive purchases.
Conversational AI tools can use NLP to understand customer queries, learn needs and pain points, and generate product or service recommendations that inspire purchases.
4. Conversational AI can find best-fit customers.
Conversational AI can sort through many data points to help you find ideal customers.
5. Conversational AI can conduct brand monitoring.
As mentioned above, conversational AI can analyze what people say about your business online and scan for common phrases and keywords to understand brand sentiment. This is a significant time saver, as marketers can spend less time sorting through hundreds of conversations and interactions.
This is where there are drawbacks to conversational AI, as nothing can mimic the importance of human understanding.

Challenges of Conversational AI
Conversational AI is an exciting front for marketers, but it’s always important to understand the entire picture, as there are two sides to every coin.
The most significant way brands can go wrong with adopting conversational AI is if it takes over functions that can still benefit from human monitoring and interaction.
For example, a tool can monitor online conversations, but a human can pick up on subtleties that a machine can’t. An HR tool can sift through job applications for specific keywords and phrases to find best-fit candidates, but a human reviewer can tell when a candidate has the commensurate experience that makes them a great fit, even if their resume doesn’t contain target keywords.
Some additional challenges of conversational AI include:

Language Input: Dialects, slang, and even background noise can impact a machine’s ability to process language input.
Privacy: Conversational tools store and collect data to improve its processes, but security or data breaches can cause safety concerns if consumers’ personal information is exposed.
Human and Cultural Development: Machine learning must continuously progress to learn alongside human cultural development, whether general cultural knowledge or something more specific like showtimes for a newly released movie.

Conversational AI Statistics
AI is an ever developing field. If you’re on the fence about adopting it or simply looking to learn more about the field, here are some vital statistics to know.

The global conversational AI market size is projected to reach $32 billion by 2023. (Allied Market Research)
Digital voice ecommerce is expected to triple to an $80 billion industry by 2023. (Juniper Research)
The number of digital voice assistants will reach 8.4 billion units by 2023. (Statista)
eMarketer predicts that 126 million US adults will use voice assistants at least once per month. (eMarketer)
1 in 5 consumers uses live chat or in-app chat daily. (Vonage)
62% of marketers report using artificial intelligence in their marketing strategies. (Statista)
Marketers that use automation in their roles are more likely to report an effective marketing strategy than those that don’t. (HubSpot Blog Research)
In 2021, natural language processing was the most popular type of AI adoption for businesses. (Stanford University AII)
The top performing AI systems estimate sentiment correctly 9 out of 10 times. (Stanford University AII)
Abductive language inference is drawing the most plausible conclusions with limited information. The human baseline for accuracy is 92.90% and AI systems is 91.87%. (Stanford University AII)
While AI use has increased, there have been no significant increases in mitigation of AI risks since 2019. (McKinsey)
15% of Americans are more excited than concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence and 46% express an equal amount of concern and excitement. (Pew Research Center)

According to HubSpot research, 77% of social media marketers say their marketing specialty has been somewhat to very effective for their company this year. With 4.70 billion worldwide users, social media is a force to be reckoned with.
Our phones might as well become extensions of our hands — from blasting off spur-of-the-moment tweets to perusing Instagram for makeup inspiration, social media is a dominant force in our lives that spans generations. That’s why businesses need to tune into social media for lead generation.
How can you leverage social media in your business’ favor and turn it into a force for lead generation?
In this post, we’ll cover the following topics:

What is social media lead generation
Why businesses generate social media leads
How to generate social media leads

The platforms mentioned above are just a few examples of the social media channels people frequent to share content, catch up with friends, read up on the latest news, gather inspiration, or simply browse.
A quality social media lead is one that will provide useful information and engage with your business. While useful information varies, it generally includes name, occupation, and email address.

Why Businesses Generate Social Media Leads
Why turn to social media to generate leads? Social media is pervasive — it has become interwoven into our daily lives. According to Pew Research Center, 7 in 10 Americans use social media.
With the vast majority of people on social media, it would be imprudent for brands to overlook it as a bountiful and rich source for generating leads.

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Both B2B and B2C marketers can implement a wide range of strategies to capture leads.
Social media helps businesses enhance lead generation efforts by increasing brand awareness, fostering engagement, and driving website traffic.
Factors That Boosts Social Media Lead Generation
Brand Awareness
Increasing your brand awareness is key to reaching your target audience. It is the foundation of acquiring a customer audience and helping them learn more about your products and services with authentic, informative, and engaging content.
Social media is excellent for building brand awareness and showcasing your brand’s ethos. According to HubSpot research, content that reflects your brand’s values and showcases your products/services have the highest ROI on Instagram.
Engagement
Sharing relevant and high quality content leads to increased engagement with your audience. Engagement is key to retaining loyal customers who can vouch for your brand.
Website Traffic
Social media presents a great opportunity to drive website traffic. With content offers, you can bring visitors to your website.
How to Generate Social Media Leads
Generating leads on social media can take form in a number of ways.
In this section, we highlight the best strategies overall, then dive into targeted strategies for specific social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Best Strategies Overall
1. Optimize your social media pages.
Your profile is what people click on when they are intrigued and want to learn more, upon viewing your content. Your profile can also be the first thing people see. It is critical to get your profile in shape.
This means the following:

Providing clear contact information: Make it easy for people to get in touch with your business. This can include an email, phone number, or link to a contact page on your website.
Include a clear CTA, or multiple CTAs: Be strategic about your CTAs, and update them as your business needs change. CTAs can include signing up for a demo or newsletter, booking a consultation, or a link to shop

2. Create engaging content.
Once again, creating relevant and high-quality content will pique customers’ interest. In the algorithm-driven world of social media, creating content that stands out is especially important.
To create compelling content, mapping out user personas can help you better understand the audiences you’re trying to reach and the content that would attract them.
Understanding different content formats will help your business’ content strategy.
A HubSpot study found that short-form videos is the top social media format used by 54% of social media marketers, followed by live streaming, live audio chatrooms, and user-generated content.
It also doesn’t hurt to take risks. Being creative can lead to great payoffs. Keeping track of your different social campaigns can seem daunting, but HubSpot’s Social Media Management Software helps you run all your social campaigns from one place.
3. Create targeted ads.
Paid social media advertising can help your business generate more leads. By leveraging paid ads, you can create offers targeted to your audience’s interests. Your business can be hyper-specific about who your ads are served to.

As Mailchimp demonstrated, ads are a good opportunity to flex your creative muscle. Advertising can complement your organic lead generation efforts — they don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
4. Design a compelling landing page.
You’ve done all the hard, strenuous work to get someone to click on your CTA. Good job.
Don’t waste your efforts with a lackluster landing page. A good landing page should be user-friendly and contain a clear path. HubSpot’s free Landing Page Builder can help you seamlessly create a landing page designed to convert.
Targeted Strategies for Leads on Top Social Platforms
Each social media platform is different and has its unique quirks. People use different platforms for different reasons, and there is even preference for one platform over another based on generation.
For example, TikTok is overwhelmingly favored by Gen Z while Instagram is favored by Millennials. In this section, we highlight some strategies tailored to each social media platform.
Instagram Leads
Instagram started primarily as a photo sharing app in 2010. But times have changed. Instagram has since expanded to support more features: reels, stories, and shop, to name a few.
The social media platform is also where people interact with businesses — according to Instagram, 90 percent of Instagram users follow a business.
Here are some tips:

Use reels. Reels are all the rage. 82% post video content on the platform and the content formats they use most are video-based, according to HubSpot’s research.
Prioritize visuals. First impressions matter. When someone scans your page, the content you’ve posted will appear in a grid format. Unlike Twitter, which is primarily text-based, Instagram is a primarily visual platform.
Leverage Instagram Shop for instant revenue. While leads are key to moving the sales process along for prospects, Instagram Shoppable posts allow you to send serious buyers directly to product landing pages or your own social media shop where they can convert immediately.
Explore Ads. There are numerous advertising options for almost all Instagram content formats including in-feed posts, Stories, Reels or live video. If you have an advertising budget and a large following on Instagram, you might want to explore if any are right for you.

 

 

 

 

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Facebook Leads
Facebook was founded in 2004, fresh off the heels of the MySpace era. Despite being around for a while, it hasn’t sunk to the grave like its predecessor. In fact, it is still quite robust, with 1.96 billion daily active users as of Q1 2022.
Here are some tips:

Post shareable content. The share button is a highly useful feature to get your content in front of a wider audience. Sharing links to enticing content like an interesting blog post will not only promote sharing, but also lead people directly to your site.
Go live. Creating Facebook Live Videos is a great way to engage your audience and give them an opportunity to react in real time.

Need ideas for Facebook posts? We have a handy guide.
YouTube Leads
Videos are not going anywhere. YouTube ​​generates over 1.7 billion unique monthly visitors. Videos about seemingly anything, from cooking tutorials to music videos, can be found on YouTube.
Here are some tips:

Create a branded YouTube channel. Creating a branded YouTube channel helps you consolidate your content and grow subscribers.
Incorporate links to your videos. Embedding relevant links to your videos, like a link to your product, helps your audience find what they’re looking for.

TikTok Leads
TikTok has quickly established itself as the social media platform to watch. From 2020 to 2021, TikTok was the most downloaded app.
It has also proven to be effective for commerce — two out of three users are likely to buy something on TikTok while using the app.
Here are some tips:

Partner with influencers. Influencers run rampant on TikTok — why not work with them? These partnerships can bring more eyeballs to your page.
Be versatile with your content. TikTok trends are ever-evolving. Because of the extremely fast-paced nature of the platform, it is important to be versatile, observing trends and adjusting your content accordingly.

LinkedIn Leads
LinkedIn has more than 830 million active users in 200 countries and regions worldwide. The most professional of all social media platforms, LinkedIn is a great source for generating leads for B2B marketers.
Interestingly enough, the best days to post on LinkedIn are Saturdays and Sundays, according to HubSpot research.
Here are some tips:

Create a standout page. Your business needs a page that regularly shares insightful and thought-provoking content that sparks conversations.
Join groups. Groups are a great way for you to connect with customers. Though LinkedIn is a professional social media platform, it is still a place for community and connections.

LinkedIn’s VP of Marketing offers more tips on how to generate leads on the site.
Twitter Leads
23 percent of adults in the U.S. use Twitter. Of all the major social media platforms, Twitter is the wordiest. It has garnered a reputation for being the place for opinions and public meltdowns.
Here are some tips:

Create clever content. Twitter is a wordy platform, which means it is a great opportunity to let your brand’s witty and pithy side shine.
Leverage Twitter Spaces. Twitter Spaces is a fairly new feature that enables you to have live audio conversations on the app. It is a smart way to engage your audience.

gunna be thriving this whole year 🌱 pic.twitter.com/dPMamwchTN — Benefit Cosmetics US (@BenefitBeauty)
January 6, 2023

For additional ideas of platforms you could leverage for lead generation and tips on how to boost your presence on each, check out our Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing, and stay tuned for our State of Social Media Report, coming in February.
Social Media Lead Generation Tools
HubSpot Marketing Hub

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HubSpot Marketing Hub is a comprehensive platform with social media management software that helps you create and execute social media campaigns, keep track of social mentions, and report on social media marketing ROI.
These tools help with lead generation efforts by automating processes so you can focus on strategy and content creation. The Marketing Hub also integrates with HubSpot’s CRM.
Pricing: There are free and paid tiers. The paid tier ranges from $45 to $3,600 per month.
ProProfs Quiz Maker

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Quiz marketing can help capture leads from websites and social platforms. You can customize quizzes and optimize them for social sharing.
The platform also contains lead forms and reports to analyze results. ProProfs Quiz Maker also integrates with HubSpot.
Pricing: ProProfs Quiz Maker offers a free tier. The paid tier ranges from $20 to $200 per month.
Stay Competitive by Harnessing Social Media for Leads
Social media has taken the world by storm. It is ever-changing and multifaceted, which can make navigating how to generate leads a challenge.
Now that you’ve learned more about lead generation across these platforms, HubSpot’s guide below can help demystify the additional complexities of social media and make the most of it.