The best way to learn and find inspiration is to study what other successful brands have done. Here, we’re going to look at several examples of SaaS companies that are rocking this business model.

Why is the SaaS platform so popular? Online-based businesses need a technological solution to handle their myriad of tasks, such as project management, marketing, accounting and file-sharing.

This is where SaaS companies come in. Many SaaS products can benefit your tech stack, offering seamless web platforms.

If you’re forming your own SaaS company, you’ll be inspired by these successful SaaS companies that have revolutionized the way businesses operate.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Get My Free Marketing Plan

What Is a SaaS Company?

SaaS, which stands for software as a service, is software that you can access via your Internet browser without the need to download it onto your computer, laptop, or smartphone.

So a SaaS company is a type of organization that uses software to deliver services to customers. These companies are responsible for the creation, development, hosting and continuous updating of their software products. One key advantage of SaaS businesses is their ability to reach a wide global market without facing additional costs when scaling their operations.

A SaaS business model usually comes as a subscription-based service where the user pays a fixed amount monthly or annually for using the software. All the user’s data are kept in the SaaS provider’s data center. Email services you commonly use, like Gmail and Yahoo, are probably the best examples of SaaS companies.

Also called cloud computing, SaaS is one of three main categories of cloud computing. The other two are infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS).

SaaS is a hot-selling business model because it provides greater flexibility to the customer, and every SaaS company works on specific verticals to differentiate their product from others. It won’t take long for the SaaS model to be adopted by almost all software developers looking to expand its reach globally.

Fun fact: SaaS is not a new concept.

It’s actually been a business model since the 1960s. Back then, computers were enormous (remember the computer room – yes, room – in the movie Hidden Figures?):

Computers were also very expensive, making it unrealistic for any company other than a large enterprise to purchase one, never mind several. That’s pretty much how the SaaS industry started – although back then they called it a “time-sharing system”.

Dive Deeper: SaaS CAC: A Guide to Customer Acquisition Costs

What Is B2B SaaS?

B2B SaaS, or Business-to-Business Software as a Service, are companies that offer software solutions to other businesses, as opposed to individuals (B2C), on a subscription basis.

These software products are designed to enhance efficiency, automate internal processes and streamline various business functions such as marketing, sales, customer service and operations. Think:

• invoicing software
• inventory management tools
• automated payroll and scheduling systems
• advanced analytics software
• project management and collaboration software

Companies that provide B2B SaaS solutions place a strong emphasis on the buying journey, as successful implementation of their products is key to maintaining customer loyalty and fostering growth. B2B SaaS buyers typically do more research and have longer buyer’s journeys than traditional B2C or even standard B2B marketing.

The trend in B2B SaaS is centered around creating user-friendly products that deliver tangible value to businesses while being adaptable and innovative to meet evolving customer needs.

Dive Deeper: What Is B2B SaaS? Everything You Need to Know

What Are the Types of Products Offered by Different SaaS Companies?

SaaS companies deliver diverse products that span across numerous industries and cater to a broad array of organizational needs. Here is a quick list of some of the different types of SaaS products:

• Slack delivers a collaboration hub for work, enabling teams to communicate and work together efficiently in a single place.
• Workday provides tools for financial management and human capital management, specifically designed for human resources teams.
• Salesforce offers a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, enhancing sales, customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development.
• Twilio aids in connecting people by providing businesses with effective communication tools for both internal and external stakeholders.
• Zoom provides video conferencing services, making remote meetings and communication seamless for businesses and educators.
• Veeva offers cloud solutions tailored for pharmaceutical and global life sciences applications.
• Shopify offers an e-commerce platform, allowing businesses to set up online stores and sell their products globally.
• Paycom’s software aids businesses in managing and optimizing their payroll operations efficiently.
• Asana delivers project and task management tools to help teams organize, track, and manage their work and projects more effectively.
• Adobe Creative Cloud provides a suite of software for graphic design, video editing, web development, photography, and more, catering to creative professionals across industries.

These SaaS products showcase the versatility and breadth of services available, supporting a wide range of business functions from communication and collaboration to management and specialized industry needs.

SaaS Company vs. Traditional Software Company

There are several differences between SaaS and traditional software. The major differences are:

Now that you’ve been refreshed on what exactly a SaaS model is, let’s take a look at some inspirational examples of SaaS companies.

Ready to elevate your SaaS venture to new heights? Single Grain’s SaaS growth experts specialize in scaling SaaS companies!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

10 Best Examples of SaaS Companies to Watch in 2024

SaaS products have changed business processes in the modern day. The era of the traditional software company is starting to ease into its retirement years, and we are moving towards a new era of SaaS products hosted on the cloud.

Here are ten great examples of SaaS companies to inspire you:

1) HubSpot

Overview: HubSpot is more than just a customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing platform; it’s a beacon of innovation in the SaaS world. With its holistic approach to inbound marketing, sales, and customer service, HubSpot has transformed how businesses interact with customers.

Why HubSpot Stands Out: While many companies focused on outbound strategies, HubSpot championed inbound marketing software, which emphasizes attracting customers through valuable content and tailored experiences.

Fun Facts: HubSpot released the HubSpot Academy in 2016. The HubSpot Academy consists of free courses in sales and marketing. Over 165K professionals have received certifications from the HubSpot Academy.

Why Choose HubSpot? HubSpot’s dedication to customer success goes beyond its products. With HubSpot Academy, users can access courses, webinars, and resources to refine their marketing and sales strategies. Plus, their annual INBOUND conference attracts thousands of marketers, salespeople, and business leaders, fostering a community of learning and collaboration.

2) Notion

Overview: Even though there are many project management software examples, few of them are flexible. This is where Notion stands out. Notion uses a block-based system so that you can customize your workspace to your liking. Their backend has a drag-and-drop capability, so it’s easy to change the style of your workspace. The UI/UX is very simple – especially for those without software development experience.

Why Notion Stands Out: This system has many features, such as AI, automation, analytics, tasks and deadlines. Notion offers many integrations, such as with Google Drive, and is available as an app.

Notion Success Story: Notion was originally created in 2013 but experienced serious failure in 2015. Since then, Notion has reformed with more funding. Today, Notion has over 4 million users globally and is worth $10 billion.

Why Choose Notion: Notion has free and multi-tiered payment plans, so small businesses can use this platform. The platform is customizable and can support teams of various sizes. Plus, Notion has a clean design, and it’s simple to use.

3) Salesforce

Overview: Salesforce is a cloud-based SaaS company that provides a complete software suite for customer service, marketing automation, and application development. By using this SaaS provider, marketers can process their deals faster by tracking customer information and engaging with their customers in a positive manner.

Why Salesforce Stands Out: Salesforce has plans and solutions for businesses of all sizes. Their huge service catalog supports businesses in all industries and offers several features. While Salesforce offers the most features for the sales process, customer service, and operation, they’re also a great choice for marketing and e-commerce functions.

Salesforce Fun Fact: Nearly 23% of businesses worldwide use Salesforce! Plus, over 50% of Salesforce’s U.S. workforce is comprised of people from underrepresented groups.

Why Choose Salesforce: Salesforce is an on-demand platform that enhances customer communication and offers tools for sales professionals. Since Salesforce operates on the cloud, team members can access the platform remotely.

4) Slack

Overview: One of the best-known examples of SaaS companies, Slack is a proprietary business communication SaaS company developed for businesses working with a remote team. It offers many IRC-style features, like persistent chat rooms (“channels”) organized by topic, private groups, and direct messaging. The software is designed to allow everyone on the team to get a shared view of progress and purpose, and it allows you to upload documents and videos.

Why Slack Stands Out: Slack revolutionized workplace communication. Users can join shared channels to access all chats and information. Team members can also have private conversations with one another. With Slack, users can make calls, share files, and use powerful project management tools. Plus, Slack features a ton of integrations, such as Workday.

Slack Fun Fact: Slack originally started with 80 employees and today they boast over 2,500. Also, Slack’s retention rate for paying customers is 98%!

Why Choose Slack: Slack operates as a messaging and project management platform. With its wide range of features and integrations, Slack is flexible enough for all businesses. Users can access Slack on their desktop and on their mobile app, keeping teams connected everywhere. Slack has many privacy and security features, so you don’t need to worry about hackers.

5) Mailchimp

Overview: Mailchimp is a cloud-based, all-in-one marketing platform with an email marketing service. With Mailchimp, you have many branding and design capabilities to make your marketing emails stand out.

Why Mailchimp Stands Out: Mailchimp is an all-in-one email marketing platform, perfect for businesses and creators with a newsletter or email campaign. With Mailchimp, you can also build landing pages for your newsletter and pop-ups to connect to your website. You can segment your audience to ensure your emails get sent to the right people and monitor your progress with analytics and performance management.

Mailchimp Success Story: Mailchimp was founded by Ben and Dan, two skilled professionals who met while working for Cox Media. When they were laid off from their jobs, Ben formed a web design company with another colleague, and he hired Dan. Soon, he realized his clients needed email marketing. They created an easy email marketing tool called Wemailer they used for clients but decided to open it up for customer use. This opened the door to the Mailchimp platform we know today.

Why Use Mailchimp: Mailchimp is an easy-to-use tool that helps you create personalized marketing campaigns.

6) Afterpay

Overview: We all want items now but may not have the money to pay for them. Afterpay revolutionized the buying process with its “buy now, pay later” structure. This program integrates with many e-commerce companies, so you can purchase the items you want or need and pay them back over a certain amount of time.

Why Afterpay Stands Out: Afterpay doesn’t charge interest to use their service, and divides your order total up into equal, more affordable installment payments.

Afterpay Fun Fact: The Afterpay SaaS company was built by Nick Molnar, a then 24-year-old e-commerce genius based in Australia. He knew people his age preferred a cashless lifestyle but didn’t want to incur debt, so he offered an innovative solution.

Why Choose Afterpay: Afterpay integrates with several huge stores, such as Target, J.Crew, and Adidas. You can select the Afterpay option during checkout and set up your installment plan. Afterpay is also available at physical stores. You only pay a fee for late payments.

Ready to transform your SaaS business? Connect with Single Grain’s SaaS growth experts for unparalleled growth strategies.👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

7) Intuit Mint

Overview: With the rising cost of living, managing your finances can be a pain. Fortunately, Inuit Mint (formerly called Mint) is a modern solution that compiles all your financial information, spending and saving in one easy-to-use interface.

Why Intuit Mint Stands Out: Intuit Mint gives you a snapshot of your earnings, savings, debt and investments. The platform includes robust financial management tools to improve your money management skills. Plus, Intuit Mint is simple to use and free.

Intuit Mint Success Story: Intuit Mint was an overnight success. It was launched as Mint in 2007 by entrepreneur Aaron Patzer. He aimed to create a simple financial app for the average adult rather than small business owners or wealthy individuals. Two years after its launch, Mint attracted 1.5 million individual and business users. After, financial software provider Intuit purchased the app for $170 million.

Why You Should Use Intuit Mint: With Intuit Mint, you can set and monitor your budget, limit spending, pay off debt, save money and accomplish other financial goals. Intuit Mint also includes features such as bill, low account balance, and late fees notifications, and credit score monitoring.

8) SurveyMonkey

Overview: Because of privacy laws, more businesses are collecting first-party data. Sending surveys is an effective way to collect customer data, and businesses can easily do this with SurveyMonkey. In addition to creating questionnaires, SurveyMonkey offers insights and solutions for businesses in different industries.

Why SurveyMonkey Stands Out: Businesses can create customer feedback campaigns with SurveyMonkey. You can customize your surveys and access insights to create better customer relationships. This way, businesses can offer better experiences, engage existing customers, and increase sales.

SurveyMonkey Fun Fact: Entrepreneur Dave Goldberg founded SurveyMonkey after his first company failed. Why did his first company fail? Workaholism. When Goldberg created SurveyMonkey, he focused more on productivity during the work day and getting home at 5:30 p.m. to spend time with his family. The result? SurveyMonkey became successful from day one and is a billion-dollar business today.

Why Use SurveyMonkey: SurveyMonkey changed the way businesses collect data. You can easily create and distribute surveys with this platform and access analytics to make data-driven decisions.

9) Shopify

Overview: Another of the best-known examples of SaaS companies, Shopify is a Canadian multinational e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Online retailers get a suite of services, including marketing, customer engagement, shipping, and payment tools, to simplify running an online store.

Why Shopify Stands Out: With Shopify, e-commerce store owners can manage every part of their retail business in one place. They have a convenient online store builder where they can brand their website, list their products, and accept payments. Shopify offers different payment plan options, so even brand new stores can get started with their services – and scale to a higher plan when they generate more sales.

Shopify Fun Fact: In June 2020, spending on Shopify overtook eBay for the first time. The biggest increase in spending was food, beverages and tobacco.

Why Use Shopify: Shopify allows businesses to build and customize an online store and features numerous apps and integrations so e-commerce owners can grow their businesses.

10) Grammarly

Overview: How often have you typed on your phone or computer, and the built-in spellchecker offered an incorrect suggestion? Grammarly sets the gold standard for AI-powered spelling and grammar checking. There are two plans: the Free plan, which acts as a spellchecker, and the Plus plan, a writing and editing aid. This platform offers better word and phrase recommendations, highlights bad writing such as passive voice, and corrects verbiage.

Why Grammarly Stands Out: Grammarly is a powerful and accurate spellchecker and editor that can help you write polished papers and more assertive emails. This is thanks to their powerful AI. Plus, Grammarly is inclusive and reduces biases in its suggestions. For example, Grammarly flags gendered wording and suggests alternatives (i.e., replacing “mankind” with “humanity”).

Grammarly Success Story: Grammarly grew backward. They started in 2008 as a solely monetized model, selling their AI spellchecker to universities. When they generated enough revenue, they expanded to the consumer market. The reason they did this was because Grammarly was a self-funded venture. By the time they were ready to offer a freemium plan, the platform already had millions of users.

Why Use Grammarly: Grammarly offers many functions, depending on the plan. On the free plan, Grammarly corrects your spelling and grammar mistakes – perfect for the average person to avoid typos in their emails and texts and to compile error-free school papers. ESL students also benefit from using Grammarly; the free plan improves their knowledge of the English language. But on the paid plan, Grammarly is an all-in-one AI aid for professional writers. It catches plagiarism, simplifies wording, and offers alternative word and phrase suggestions.

Benefits of a SaaS Company vs Traditional or Licensed Software

Software as a service offers several advantages over traditional or licensed software. The top SaaS advantages are:

👍 Low Cost: The top SaaS companies save you a lot of money because you don’t need additional support staff to install, maintain or upgrade the software.

👍 Easy to Use: You only need to access the SaaS website or app and log in to your personalized dashboard. From here, you can access all the software tools. Traditional software is not always easy to use because it requires a lengthy installation process and customization with regular upgrades that degrade the overall user experience.

👍 Offers Easy Integration with Other Software: SaaS software offers hundreds of integrations with popular software to combine the power of different software required for the smooth running of your business.

👍 Lots of Customization Available: SaaS companies offer you a personalized dashboard that contains the business data you want to see, and you can easily customize your dashboard to include other data and integrations to manage your business. You can choose your features and integrations to get started or add features later.

👍 Eliminates Workload of Upgrades: All the updates automatically happen in the server and are handled by the SaaS company. This is not true with traditional software, where updates are a constant, usually frustrating, process for the user.

👍 Flexible Pricing: With SaaS, you can begin by choosing a freemium plan or a trialware plan and then upgrading your plan according to your business growth. This is unlike traditional software, where you have to pay for and install the entire software suite just to get started.

👍 Automate Business Processes: The Software as a Service model can significantly automate business processes. In fact, it’s one of the primary benefits of SaaS products. Streamlined workflows, data management and analysis, and HR/payroll automation are some of the things a SaaS product can help businesses with.

Common Challenges of SaaS Companies

Although software as a service is the preferred business model for most IT companies, it does have some limitations. The most significant disadvantages of SaaS platforms over traditional software are:

👎 Security Risks: Data theft, phishing, malware, and hacking are some of the threats that leave existing customers at risk. Unauthorized access and data loss are common if proper security measures are not taken.

👎 Product Failure: Marketing a SaaS business model is pretty easy because people do not like installing extra software. Hence, most of the startups launching nowadays are adopting a SaaS model. However, most of the newly launched companies lack adequate software development experience, and if proper measures are not taken, the chances of product failure increase. About 92% of SaaS companies fail within the first three years.

👎 Limited Software Integration: Every company uses, at a minimum, an average of three to four software products to run their business. Now, imagine opting for another SaaS product and integrating the existing software. Not all SaaS providers offer software integration with every application that your company might be using currently. Hence, software integration capacity is limited.

👎 Dependency on Internet Connectivity: SaaS applications require a stable internet connection. If there’s an internet outage or if the service provider faces server issues, it can disrupt business operations, leading to potential revenue losses.

👎 Data Ownership Concerns: With traditional software, data is usually stored on-premises, giving businesses full control. In contrast, SaaS software stores data on external servers, raising concerns about data ownership, access rights, and what happens if the service provider is out of business or acquired.

👎 Customization Limitations: Traditional software can often be customized to suit a business’s unique needs. In contrast, SaaS might offer limited customization options, forcing businesses to adapt to the software rather than vice versa.

👎 Recurring Costs: While SaaS might seem cost-effective initially, the subscription-based model means businesses will incur ongoing expenses. Over time, these recurring costs might exceed the one-time purchase cost of traditional software.

👎 Data Transfer and Bandwidth Issues: Transferring large volumes of data to and from SaaS applications can be time-consuming and might incur additional bandwidth costs.

👎 Compliance and Regulatory Concerns: For businesses in regulated industries, using SaaS can pose challenges in ensuring that data handling and storage practices comply with industry-specific regulations.

SaaS definitely has its downsides, but the advantages clearly outweigh the limitations.

SaaS Subscription Models and SaaS Growth Strategies

Let’s take a quick look at two last important aspects of the SaaS business model – pricing frameworks and growth strategies.

Common Pricing Strategies in a SaaS Company

The top SaaS companies price their tools and services differently. To budget for the software, it’s important for businesses to understand the different SaaS company pricing strategies and to choose the one that will best benefit their bottom line.

Here are different SaaS application pricing models:

• Freemium: The basic version of the platform is free, but users can opt for the premium pricing models at any time to access more services and features.
• Free trial: Offers a preview of the full service or tools before the user pays for a subscription.
• Flat-rate pricing: Offer set features for a single price.
• Tiered pricing: Bundling features and setting them at different price tiers. The more you pay, the more features you can access.
• Seat-based pricing: Pricing customizations for users in different-sized groups and teams. The more team members on the account, the higher your price will be.
• Inverse pricing: Offers pricing customizations and discounts on higher-tiered plans, encouraging users to upgrade.
• Usage-based pricing: Adds costs for extra features and/or time spent using the product.
• Reverse trials: Users on the free plan can access time-limited trials to premium features.
• Customized pricing: Bundles chosen features and products to create a new product, which is sold to subscribers at a single price.

Growth Hacks and Strategies for SaaS Startups

Effective pricing models lay the foundation for revenue generation, and implementing growth strategies propels a SaaS company forward, ensuring long-term sustainability in a highly competitive environment.

Here are some growth hacks and strategies commonly employed by SaaS services:

📈 Freemium Model: Offer a free version of your product with limited features, encouraging users to upgrade to a paid version for full functionality.

📈 Referral Programs: Incentivize your current users to refer others by offering them benefits like additional features, storage or discounts. Evernote has a referral program in which you earn points (to use to upgrade to Premium) when you invite friends:

📈 Viral Loops: Design features that naturally encourage users to share your product with others. For instance, Dropbox offers additional free storage for users who refer others.

📈 Email List: Have an opt-in form on your website and use email marketing to offer free trials, discounts, bonus features on basic subscriptions, contests, and more.

📈 Organic and Social Media Marketing: Use organic marketing tactics to expedite your sales funnel. Examples include writing blog posts and posting on LinkedIn.

📈 Create a Wishlist: Before users can access your software, they must sign up for a wishlist. The idea of a wishlist is enticing for new users, especially if you’re releasing a new product or feature.

📈 Discounts: A timeless growth hack, offering discounts on a subscription price can entice new and existing users to upgrade to a higher-paid tier.

Remember, while these strategies can be effective, it’s essential to continuously test, measure, and refine your approach based on your target audience’s unique needs and behaviors.

If you need help growing your SaaS company, Single Grain’s SaaS growth experts are here for you!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Actionable Tips for Businesses Looking to Adopt a SaaS Model

Adopting a Software as a Service model can be a transformative step for both startups and established businesses. For those looking to adopt this model, keep these tips in mind for success:

✅ Understand Your Market: Research your target market thoroughly. Know your potential customers’ needs, pain points, and preferences. This understanding will help tailor your SaaS solution to meet market demands effectively.

✅ Develop a Strong Value Proposition: Your SaaS product should offer a clear and compelling value proposition. It should solve a specific problem or improve on existing solutions significantly.

✅ Focus on User Experience: Design your SaaS application with the user experience in mind. An intuitive, easy-to-use interface can significantly impact customer satisfaction and retention.

✅ Optimize for Scalability: Ensure your software architecture is scalable. As your customer base grows, your system should be able to handle increased demand without performance issues.

✅ Implement Robust Security Measures: Data security is crucial in SaaS applications. Employ strong security protocols to protect user data and gain trust.

✅ Embrace Agile Development: Use agile methodologies to continuously improve your product. Regular updates based on user feedback and emerging trends can keep your service competitive.

✅ Set Competitive Pricing Models: Your pricing strategy should reflect the value your service provides while remaining competitive. Consider different pricing tiers based on features and user types.

✅ Invest in Marketing and Branding: Effective marketing strategies can significantly boost your visibility. Use a mix of content marketing, SEO, and social media to reach your target audience.

✅ Offer Excellent Customer Support: Providing responsive and helpful customer support can lead to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. Consider various support channels like live chat, email, and phone support.

✅ Measure and Analyze Performance: Use analytics tools to track your performance. Key metrics might include user acquisition costs, churn rate, lifetime value, and daily active users. Use these insights to make data-driven decisions.

✅ Leverage Cloud Technologies: Use a cloud-based platform for flexibility, cost savings, and enhanced performance. Cloud services can also simplify scaling and maintenance.

✅ Build a Community: Foster a community around your product. Engaged users can provide valuable feedback, help with beta testing new features, and even advocate for your product.

✅ Compliance and Regulations: Ensure that your SaaS model complies with relevant laws and regulations, including data protection laws like GDPR or HIPAA, depending on your market.

✅ Partner Strategically: Consider partnerships with other businesses that can complement your services, extend your market reach, or provide additional value to your customers.

✅ Continuous Learning and Adaptation: Stay informed about the latest trends and technologies in SaaS. Be prepared to adapt your business model as the market evolves.

Adopting a SaaS model is an ongoing process that involves continuous learning, adaptation, and improvement. Staying customer-focused, innovative, and agile are key to succeeding in the dynamic SaaS landscape.

Tips for Setting Goals

Drawing from the successes reached by the successful SaaS organizations in this article, entrepreneurs and service professionals in the SaaS industry should target a set of detailed, actionable objectives tailored to their unique market position and operational strengths.

By pinpointing the features, services and innovations that have propelled demand and customer satisfaction in the SaaS sector, aspiring SaaS leaders can devise a strategic blueprint aimed at achieving sustainable growth. Specific goals might include:

🔲 Achieving and Maintaining High Customer Satisfaction: Implementing feedback loops and customer service excellence programs to continuously improve the user experience.

🔲 Cultivating Deep Customer Loyalty and Retention: Developing loyalty programs, engaging in meaningful customer communication, and offering tailored solutions to foster a strong, loyal user base.

🔲 Driving Product Innovation: Setting clear targets for product development based on market research and emerging technology trends to stay ahead of competition and meet evolving customer needs.

🔲 Expanding Market Reach: Identifying and entering new markets or niches within the SaaS space, guided by thorough market analysis and competitive intelligence.

🔲 Enhancing Operational Efficiency: Leveraging automation, AI, and data analytics to streamline operations, reduce costs, and increase scalability.

🔲 Building a Strong Brand and Online Presence: Crafting a compelling brand story and utilizing digital marketing strategies to enhance visibility and attract a wider audience.

These goals can be sculpted by conducting in-depth analyses of the business models, growth strategies, and customer engagement practices of successful SaaS firms, with a keen eye on differentiating factors relevant to B2B versus B2C dynamics.

Recent Trends in SaaS and Future Outlooks

The SaaS industry is booming, with businesses increasingly relying on cloud-based software for their operations. When getting inspired by these examples of SaaS companies, it’s wise to think about where this business model is heading.

Here are some of the recent trends shaping the landscape, along with what we can expect to see in the future:

AI-Powered SaaS

Artificial intelligence is rapidly being integrated into SaaS solutions, providing features like automated tasks, predictive analytics, personalized user experiences, improved security, and better data intelligence.

For example, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can automate customer service tasks, while AI-enabled SaaS platforms can enhance cybersecurity by quickly identifying and responding to potential threats through pattern recognition and anomaly detection.

Increased Focus on Vertical SaaS

Vertical SaaS refers to software products designed specifically for the needs of a particular industry or niche. This trend is driven by the growing demand for software that addresses the unique challenges of different businesses. For example, there are now SaaS solutions for healthcare, education, and e-commerce, each with features tailored to those specific sectors.

Rise of Low-Code and No-Code Platforms

Low-code and no-code platforms (LCNC) are a category of software that enables users to create applications with minimal coding. These platforms are designed to be user-friendly, making it possible for people with little to no programming experience to build applications, workflows, and processes. This trend is democratizing software development and making it accessible to a wider range of users.

Blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT)

New technologies such as blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) will start to be incorporated into SaaS solutions, opening up new possibilities for innovation.

Blockchain technology offers enhanced security and transparency for various applications, particularly in sectors like finance, supply chain management, and identity verification. This integration enables decentralized data management, ensuring tamper-proof record-keeping and improved trust among users.

Similarly, IoT technology allows for the seamless collection and analysis of data from a vast network of connected devices. This leads to smarter, more efficient business processes, and enables real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and smart home technologies. 

Evolving Security Landscape

As reliance on SaaS grows, as well as increasing cyber threats, so does the need for robust security measures. This involves implementing robust IT security measures and investing in secure cloud hosting solutions to protect customer data and maintain business reputation SaaS providers are investing heavily in security features like data encryption, access controls, and threat detection to protect user data.

Additionally, regulations like GDPR and CCPA are placing stricter requirements on how SaaS companies handle user data.

PaaS (Platform as a Service)

Another emerging trend is Platform as a Service (PaaS), which is a cloud computing model that provides customers with a platform to develop and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app.

Jump back up to What Is a SaaS Company? to see a chart that compares PaaS, SaaS and IaaS.

Continued Growth of Mobile SaaS

With the increasing use of mobile devices, the demand for mobile-first SaaS solutions is growing rapidly. SaaS providers are optimizing their products for mobile use and developing new features that take advantage of the unique capabilities of smartphones and tablets.

Some of the innovative features being developed for mobile-first SaaS solutions include:

• Biometric Authentication
• Augmented Reality (AR) Integration
• Camera Integration for Scanning and Image Processing
• Gesture-Based Controls
• Voice Commands and Integration with Virtual Assistants
• Wearable Device Integration
• NFC (Near Field Communication) Capabilities (for contactless interactions, like payments or data transfer)

Development of White-Label SaaS

White-label SaaS products, which are are prevalent in various industries, including digital marketing, fintech, and healthcare, are gaining traction. White-label SaaS are software solutions created by one company but sold to and branded by another company. Essentially, the company that develops the software allows other businesses to purchase it and then rebrand and resell it as if it were their own product.

The white-label SaaS business model offers cost efficiency, customization and flexibility, a quick route to market with ready-made solutions​​, and easier business expansion.

Final Word on Examples of SaaS Companies

There you have it. Ten examples of SaaS companies and a whole lot more! I think we’ve seen clearly that the software as a service model provides a lot of value to its users because it’s flexible and adaptable.

A SaaS business model is flexible enough to support tasks like project management and cloud computing services. But unless you know what you’re doing, success in the cloud services industry can be quite tough. Technology marketing is no walk in the park.

If you plan to launch your own SaaS company or want your current SaaS business to thrive, you’ll have to be better than the competition. Familiarize yourself with the examples of SaaS companies in this list to see how they’ve managed to be so successful – and then let them inspire you!

If you’re ready to level up your SaaS company, Single Grain’s SaaS growth experts can help!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Related Video

For more insights and lessons about marketing, check out our Marketing School podcast on YouTube.

Additional contributions by Stephanie Jensen and Sam Pak.

The post Top 10 Examples of SaaS Companies That Are Rocking It appeared first on Single Grain.

2-min audio summary:

Finding the right digital marketing agency isn’t easy. But the digital marketing case studies they showcase on their site can offer invaluable insights for businesses looking to hire an agency.

Not only will you get a better idea of what they’re capable of, but you’ll better understand the impact of specific strategies and campaigns that the digital marketers used, too.

In this post, we’ll cover nine of our latest digital marketing case studies to dive deep into real-world scenarios in which we walk through the successes, challenges, and ROI that our clients experienced.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Successful Digital Marketing Strategies

In the competitive online world, digital marketing will engage your customers to drive business growth. That said, there are a number of marketing strategies that will accomplish your goals while making your ROI.

Here are the top strategies that should be added to every digital marketing campaign to drive measurable results.

Understanding Customer Behavior

When you understand your audience’s wants and needs, it can lead to an exceptional user experience.

In a survey, 94% of respondents stated that a positive experience made them purchase from the same brand again:

But these positive experiences vary, depending on what the customer is looking for.

There are four types of customer behaviors:

• Habitual buying behavior: Customers usually buy the same products from the same brand.
• Variety-seeking behavior: Consumers usually buy alternatives to products to achieve the same satisfaction.
• Complex buying behavior: When customers invest in high-value items or services that aren’t frequently purchased.
• Dissonance-reducing buying behavior: When a consumer is engaged in research but isn’t finding many options.

These behaviors vary depending on the level of involvement, products and industry, and competition between brands.

Creating Relevant High-Quality Content

53% of companies are improving the quality of their content – and for a good reason:

Content guides users down the sales funnel, educating them about your industry, what you sell, and why it solves their problems. The best type of content answers questions and keeps users engaged, all without sounding too promotional.

Popular examples of useful content include:

• Landing pages
• Blogs
• Podcasts
• Videos
• White papers
• Infographics
• Case studies (such as this one)
• E-books

Creating content for all sales funnel stages is the best course of action. For example, blog posts are popular for the awareness phrase, while a lead about to make a purchase may want to read your product white paper first.

Social Media for Relationship Building

4.9 billion people use social media worldwide, so it’s obvious that your customers are on various social platforms.

However, customers no longer want to be bombarded by various promotional posts and ads – they want to build relationships with brands. Businesses should consider the customer experience when creating social marketing strategies. And there are many ways for brands to meet this demand.

• Social listening is an exceptional way to satisfy customer demands while collecting first-party data. Various social listening tools track mentions, hashtags, and other branded terms so you’ll always know how customers feel about your company and products.
• 40%-60% of customers are also using social media as a support channel. Brands should always keep up with their DMs, mentions, and reviews.
• And don’t forget about personalization on social media. 89% of marketers see a good ROI and 40% enjoy higher revenue when using personalization in their campaigns:

In addition to offering exceptional social media customer service, going live and interacting with customers is another way to improve your personalization strategy.

Targeting Your Ideal Audience with Paid Advertising

Paid advertising offers many benefits. For example:

• The average paid ad campaign generates a 200% ROI!
• Paid advertising promotes your brand, increasing brand awareness and visibility.
• And since 65% of SMBs and medium-sized businesses have a paid ad campaign, investing in advertising ensures you keep up with the competition.

Because paid advertising is so effective, you can use PPC strategies on Google and most social media platforms.

Optimizing Your Website for Search Engines

Since 53% of website traffic comes from organic search engine results, it’s still integral to optimize your website for SEO:

Remember to:

• Always perform on-page tactics, such as using keywords in page titles, URL slugs, and headings.
• Keep an updated blog and optimize your content for high-ranking keywords.
• Run regular SEO audits to ensure no technical issues are decreasing your performance on SERPs.

Poring over a case study for digital marketing can be very helpful in visualizing these marketing strategies.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPIs are quantifiable indicators that prove your progress in your marketing campaign. Marketers can also measure KPIs to plan future campaigns, improve existing strategies, and create a basis for decision-making.

Here are the most vital KPIs for marketing:

• Traffic growth: Measures the increase of website visitors over a specific timeframe.
• Conversion rates: Metric that represents the percentage of website visitors who bought a product or responded to your CTA.
• Customer engagement: Measures how customers interact with your brand, i.e., how long they spend on your website per session.
• Revenue increase: How much money your business made in a certain period. Businesses often compare revenue increases over past periods.

In our digital marketing case study examples below, you’ll see how we tackle each of these KPIs.

Calculating ROI for Different Digital Marketing Channels

Before starting your marketing campaign, it’s essential to calculate ROI for different marketing channels to ensure that you don’t overspend. Every marketing channel comes with various strategies to calculate ROI.

Here’s a snapshot of each.

SEO Campaign ROI

Since SEO consists of multiple tactics, marketers should calculate ROI for all strategies. This can include any investments, such as tools and the personnel you hire or outsource to complete these tactics.

SEO ROI also varies by industry. All businesses can use a tool like Google Analytics to measure revenue from organic searches:

Certain industries, notably e-commerce companies, should also measure sales from organic search traffic. Other businesses can create a sales funnel and track conversions with each phase (for example, the percentage of leads who entered the awareness phase and who made purchases).

Once you have these figures, you can subtract the revenue you made from SEO from your investments.

Google Ads Campaign ROI

To calculate Google Ads ROI, Google suggests taking the revenue you generated from your campaign and subtracting it from your costs, then dividing that figure again by the costs. That formula looks like this: ROI = (Revenue – Cost of goods sold) / Cost of goods sold.

While tracking Google Ads conversions and purchases are the best ways to calculate paid ad ROI, your chosen method depends on your goals. Consider other goals, such as downloading a white paper or signing up for a free trial.

Social Media Marketing ROI

Social media marketing can be part of many strategies, such as a lead generation campaign. Some brands may also use social media to improve their brand awareness. This is why calculating your social media ROI depends on your goals.

You’ll first need to collect data on your campaign, such as engagements, impressions, and clicks. Compare these results against any expenses to run your campaign, such as advertising costs and any wages or rates you paid for staff members or freelancers.

Content Marketing ROI

Since content marketing involves many blog posts, videos, infographics, and other forms of content, many marketers calculate their ROI based on the total investments in a given time period.

Use this formula to calculate your content marketing ROI:

In this figure, you’ll add your overhead costs to get the investments, and you’ll find the return by adding your sales numbers. By subtracting and dividing the return by the investment and multiplying that figure by 100, you’ll get a percentage.

Now, let’s dive into a digital marketing case study for each of nine marketing areas.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

9 Successful Digital Marketing Agency Case Studies

Now that you know what exactly goes into a marketing strategy, let’s take a look at nine of our digital marketing case studies that showcase these strategies while taking you through the challenge, strategy and execution.

Paid Search

This case study is of a client that is an AI-powered workplace communications platform. They reached out to Single Grain to launch a paid social and search strategy for their digital marketing campaign.

Challenge

The client had low brand awareness and didn’t have a paid ad strategy in their digital marketing campaign before seeking our services. The company desired to build user demand with a social and search advertising strategy. They desired a full-funnel strategy, targeting leads at every stage of the buying process.

Strategy

We created a comprehensive paid strategy for search engines. We also used LinkedIn to establish our client as a leader in their niche to increase organic traffic.

Execution

For the paid search strategy, we targeted brand traffic, high-intent brand interest, and competitor searches. We took first-party data from LinkedIn to align the ads with their target audience, experimenting with different ads to match user intent.

We also used their LinkedIn page to establish the client as a leader in their niche. This helped to grow customer lists, improve their digital marketing efforts, and grow website traffic.

Results

The client experienced a 24% increase in lead submissions. LinkedIn is their main touchpoint for Tier 1 and 2 leads, and search is the driving force behind closing high-value accounts. We achieved these results while reducing costs by 16% and maintaining a CPA of -32%.

Takeaway

In only three months after paid search and LinkedIn campaign launch, the client achieved a 24% increase in conversions.

SEO: Gump’s

Gump’s San Francisco is a specialty goods store selling various home decor and jewelry items. After having a successful previous year, they sought help from Single Grain in March 2022 to advance the previous year’s sales with various digital marketing tactics.

Challenge

Gump’s doesn’t have many challenges as far as digital marketing is concerned. They had successful sales in 2021 and set goals to surpass these revenue records.

Strategy

For this digital marketing case study, we used cross-selling and digital marketing to retain existing customers while utilizing Google Search and Shopping to attract new customers.

Execution

We invested in paid ads across various channels while expanding its Google Search and Shopping strategy. We optimized Gump’s product listings for the home decor category, ensuring that we targeted their audience.

Results

Gump’s surpassed their 2021 sales goals. Their year-over-year sales are increasing by 92%, solely attributed to marketing. This led to a 79% increase in overall revenue. They achieved an over 40% increase in web traffic, a 79% increase in total orders, 104% Google ROI in the home decor category, and a 32% return customer rate.

By optimizing Gump’s product listings for home decor categories, we improved their ROAS by 104% – nearly double the amount of spend.

Takeaway

By targeting the home decor category on Google and retargeting existing customers, we conquered Gump’s 2022 sales goals with digital marketing and drove sales and revenue growth.

Programmatic Ads: Hestan Culinary

Hestan Culinary sells high-quality pots, pans, and other cookware that’s backed by Michelin-star chefs. After seeing sales drop, they needed an effective revenue growth digital marketing solution that also improved their ROAS.

Challenge

Hestan Culinary sells chef-grade cookware. While this is great for professionals, it doesn’t target the casual cooking enthusiast or those trying to cook more at home. Hestan Culinary’s products come with a longer buyer’s digital marketing journey, which posed a problem when they started seeing sales drop.

Strategy

Hestan Culinary needed to drive sales growth while improving its ROAS. This is why we expanded to programmatic ads with a full-funnel digital marketing approach. We used StackAdapt to reach a qualified audience, using different tactics to nurture them down the sales funnel.

Execution

Through the programmatic advertising StackAdapt strategy, we implemented catalog and native feed units for a stronger-performing ad campaign. By targeting qualified audience members immediately, Hestan Culinary improved its ROAS while increasing conversions.

Results

After the first month of the campaign, Hestan Culinary achieved a 218% increase in conversions and a ROAS that went from 1.91 to 9.20. We sustained these metrics for over 45 days after the launch, and Hestan Culinary achieved more revenue.

Takeaway

Hestan Culinary not only achieved more conversions and revenue, but programmatic advertising improved its full-funnel digital marketing strategy.

Landing Page and LinkedIn Marketing: Learning A-Z

Learning A-Z sells science and literacy blended learning products to students at Pe K-6 grades. We helped them with two strategies: landing page testing…

…and purchasing licenses by targeting school administrators on LinkedIn:

Challenge

Learning A-Z’s original landing page had far too many external links and CTAs, which very likely confused customers. They were also looking to increase sales for licenses on LinkedIn.

Strategy

First, we redesigned their existing landing page. We focused on simplifying their design so as not to deter customers away from their products and services.

To increase license sales, we used LinkedIn’s Job Title Targeting function to find school administrators and used digital marketing to target these consumers.

Execution

For the landing page, we created 1-2 CTAs driving conversions per page. We used one of two buttons for these CTAs: “Free Trial” or “Order Now.”

For the licenses, we used LinkedIn’s tools to write specific job titles that narrowed down the list of candidates to those with K-5 grade school administration roles.

Results

The redesigned landing page resulted in 73% more “Order Now” clicks, 42% more “Free Trial” clicks, and 125% more conversions.

By targeting K-5 school administrators on LinkedIn, Learning A-Z achieved 462 new users, notably one free trial, four new purchases, positive website metrics, and 12 sample downloads. However, our LinkedIn efforts resulted in a high CPA, so we turned our attention to Facebook Admin. Since then, Learning A-Z has achieved a 5.47 ROAS.

Takeaway

Learning A-Z’s simplified landing page resulted in more conversions. While they had some success on LinkedIn in increasing licenses, Facebook Admin resulted in a better ROAS.

Social Media and E-Commerce: LockNLube

LockNLube sells various greasing products and parts for cars. Single Grain helped them with various digital marketing strategies: optimizing for Amazon and eBay:

…along with developing a media strategy with a heavy emphasis on TikTok ads:

Challenge

LockNLube wanted to optimize its product listings for Amazon. Since they were heading into their peak season, they wanted to increase top-of-funnel awareness with various digital marketing strategies.

LockNLube was also struggling with eBay’s new marketing tool, Promoted Listings Advanced. However, there were few bidding controls.

Strategy

We gave LockNLube’s Amazon digital marketing strategy a complete makeover, rewriting their titles and descriptions. We also scaled Amazon ad spending.

For eBay, we used keyword bidding to make up for what eBay’s Promoted Listings Advanced tool lacked.

For TikTok, we took LockNLube’s previous creatives and re-optimized them for TikTok.

In addition to these standout cases, we created a complete media strategy for LockNLube, adding new digital platforms to their campaign. These included YouTube ads, demand-side-platforms (DSP), IG/FB Shopping, Walmart ads, top-of-funnel marketing, SMS marketing, relaunched branding and store pages, and Performance Max campaigns.

Execution

For Amazon, we implemented A+ digital marketing content for their Amazon product listings, A/B testing all images and content.

For eBay, we took top-performing keywords from Amazon and Google to begin their eBay campaign. We also added competitor keywords to the campaign. To test the success, we separated all keywords into three groups: Brand, Nonbrand, and Competitor. We observed these keywords to see which keywords were converting.

For TikTok, we redid the creatives to make them more creative and entertaining. In addition to the advertising and marketing campaigns we added to their overall media strategy, we also implemented “frequently bought together” features.

Results

Re-optimizing LockNLube’s Amazon page resulted in 54% revenue growth year over year while also maintaining ROAS. Optimizing their content led to over 100% increases in sessions and an increased 24.7% conversion rate.

For eBay, there are 21% more clicks, 74% more impressions, and 12%, with ROAS increased at 110%.

For TikTok, their engagement rate and CTR were fantastic while keeping CPCs and CPMs low. Since we didn’t achieve as good of a ROAS from direct response, we came to the conclusion that TikTok is better as an upper-channel digital marketing tactic.

From Q1 2019 to Q3 2022, LockNLube saw an overall revenue increase. We launched eight new channels, which resulted in a 42% increase in AOV, a 68% increase in paid traffic, and an 18% increase in the average YOY customer return rate.

Takeaway

We drove revenue for LockNLube thanks to the launch of eight new digital marketing channels and re-optimizing their existing Amazon, eBay, and TikTok strategies.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Google Ads: Peet’s Coffee

Peet’s Coffee sells high-quality coffee and tea, sourcing the best beans and leaves. They reached out to Single Grain to improve their Google Ads strategy.

Challenge

Peet’s Coffee has excellent brand awareness and digital marketing campaigns but had very little presence on Google Ads. Even though they saw a return from their existing strategy, growth was still stagnant.

Strategy

We focused on Google Ads and optimized their campaign for different types of keywords, as well as revamped the ad copy.

Execution

We bid on high-ROI keywords, such as branded and product name terms. We rewrote the ad copy to fit the landing pages better and focus on the UVP of the product. We also tested non-branded keywords, scaling them to improve their ROI.

Results

Peet’s Coffee saw a 455% increase in revenue and 676% more orders, all with a 158% increase in ROAS and a reduced 72% cost per order. This was thanks to our efforts aligning searcher intent with ad copy.

Takeaway

Revamping Peet’s Google Ads strategy resulted in huge sales growth while improving ROAS.

PPC: Simon Pearce

Simon Pearce is an entrepreneur who reached success by selling handmade pottery and glassware. He approached Single Grain to improve his ROAS on his paid search campaign.

Challenge

Simon Pearce’s ROAS was declining YoY from January 2022 to January 2023. Not only that, but CPC was up by 168%.

Strategy

We realized the rising CPC was directly affecting Simon Pearce’s ROAS. To cut back on costs, we created a manual bidding strategy and scrapped the previous automated bidding campaign.

Execution

Even though branded digital marketing keywords are some of the most affordable, Simon Pearce was spending more than he was getting in return on these search terms. We experimented with manual bidding and doing away with their previous automated strategy to try and improve the ROAS.

Results

Early digital marketing results were extremely strong. By manually bidding on keywords and watching spend, we decreased his CPC by 60% and improved their ROAS by 135%. These tactics didn’t compromise impressions; Simon Pearce achieved a 60% CTR and a 17% increase in impression share.

Takeaway

This digital marketing case study shows that using manual bidding on Google Ads improved ROAS for Simon Pearce.

SEO: The Mom Project

The Mom Project (TMP) is a recruiter that connects talented women to companies and job opportunities. They reached out to Single Grain to decrease their costs per lead in their digital marketing campaign.

Challenge

While The Mom Project had a digital marketing search campaign, it was failing to capture total search demand. They needed a solution to decrease their costs per lead while better targeting their audience.

Strategy

Single Grain revamped TMP’s search copy to target a qualified audience better. We also separated the job titles into different audience signals, giving Google a better idea of the audience we were trying to target. We used Performance Max to find qualified clicks.

Execution

The digital marketing audience signals we created for the strategy were Custom Segments (keywords related to hiring intent), Interests (audience members who connected with TMP based on interests and demographics), and Your Data (people who previously interacted with TMP).

From here, we were able to redo customer lists, assess lead quality, use location targeting and bid adjustments, and create ad schedules. Performance Max leveraged automation to find qualified clicks on display, search, video, discover, and Gmail, lowering costs.

Results

By using Performance Max, we achieved a lower CPA and CPC, down 51.3% and 91.2%, respectively. Performance Max also helped us use this data to target TOFU audiences.

Takeaway

By using Performance Max, we were able to improve TOFU digital marketing search demand and improve CPA for The Mom Project.

Pixel and Google Tag Manager: Inkbox, Airbnb and Spearmint Love

This digital marketing case study targets remarketing for three brands: Inkbox, Airbnb, and Spearmint Love. We collected data on revenue and conversions from these brands to determine the impact of our remarketing campaign.

Challenge

• Inkbox is a temporary tattoo company that wanted to retarget marketing leads on Reddit, hoping it would lower their CPA.
• Property rental giant Airbnb used Google to improve vendor collection, prevent bottlenecks between operations and marketing, avoid unnecessary tagging replication, and minimize snippet size.
• Kids clothing and accessories company Spearmint Love used Facebook to retarget moms.

Strategy

• For Inkbox’s social marketing retargeting, we used a Reddit Pixel that captured a larger audience and tracked conversions.
• For Airbnb, we implemented Google Tag Manager and built a data layer.
• For Spearmint Love, we added Facebook Pixel to automate audience targeting, simplified ad creation and targeting, and tracked ROAS.

Execution

• For Inkbox, the Reddit Pixel helped us understand Inkbox’s Reddit audience, so we were able to customize messaging and creatives to target their consumers. This helped return customers to the sales funnel.
• For Airbnb, Google Tag Manager launched new programs, tools, and vendors quicker. It also cut tag deployment to hours (was previously at days).
• For Spearmint Love, we integrated Facebook Pixel with their BigCommerce platform, which boosted their business and resulted in more hires from within.

Results

• For Inkbox, we helped them achieve 1.5x higher CTRs and lowered CPAs by 86%.
• For Airbnb, we helped them achieve an 8% increase in website speed, more optimizations, accurate data collection, and a better ROI.
• For Spearmint Love, we helped them achieve a 38x ROAS, with 14.6x of that figure return going toward Facebook. Their advertising success also led to a 12x YoY growth in revenue.

Takeaway

By enacting a remarketing strategy for Inkbox, Airbnb, and Spearmint Love, we helped these brands achieve more CTRs and revenue growth on various social media platforms with improved ROAS, CPAs, and ROI.

Common Themes and Insights

While all of these digital marketing case studies are different, there are many parallels between these brands:

Many of these brands executed their own advertising strategy but were struggling to improve their ROAS on their own.

Because of higher CPCs, this made achieving an ad return even more difficult.

Single Grain’s digital marketers had to think outside the box for these clients, using strategies such as manual bidding and relying on unconventional social media platforms such as Reddit.

Some of these platforms, such as eBay, lacked essential advertising marketing strategies with their own tools, so we implemented additional strategies to increase impressions and CTRs.

Final Recommendations

Here are our overall final recommendations:

• While many businesses can handle an ad strategy DIY, trusting a digital marketing agency like Single Grain will result in the most conversions and the best ROAS.
• Use different tools, such as Performance Max and Pixel, to better entice your target audience.
• While advanced advertising technology such as programmatic ads can increase conversions, manual tactics, such as bidding, can still keep costs down.
• Less is more, especially when it comes to ad copy and landing page design.
• Diversifying your channels and targeting specific audiences on those platforms is the real revenue driver for TOFU targeting.
• Don’t overlook the power of remarketing to an existing audience.

Conclusion

Because of the complex world of digital marketing, even the biggest companies may need help with their campaigns. That’s why they hired professional digital marketers.

While all these case studies are different, they have one thing in common: We increased impressions and revenue while improving ROAS.

By diversifying their platforms, adding new channels, and revamping existing strategies, our digital marketers helped these brands increase web traffic, sales, and return customer rates.

Seeking help from a professional is also a smart idea when creating a new ad strategy, especially if you have low brand awareness and don’t know your target audience. This way, you know you can convert leads while achieving exceptional ROAS.

Remember: Reading a case study on digital marketing (or, better yet, several case studies) can help you learn not only what kind of success can be had, but how exactly the marketing agency you’re thinking of hiring went about it.

If you’re ready to level up your business, Single Grain’s digital marketing experts can help with paid ads, SEO, content marketing and more!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

The post 9 Successful Digital Marketing Case Studies That Boosted Growth appeared first on Single Grain.

When countless pieces of content compete for attention, a compelling headline is not just a necessity — it’s your first and often only chance to make an impression. But the question is: how to write headlines that grab attention and drive clicks.

The right headline can skyrocket your blog post up the SERPs and significantly increase your click-through rate.

This guide delves into the elements that make a headline irresistible, introduces you to several hero headline formulas that consistently deliver results, and provide examples throughout to see click-worthy headlines in action.

Elevate Content Visibility with Killer Headlines

The Importance of Headlines in Content Strategy

Great headlines are the lifeblood of your content. You can have have the best blog post in the world but if your headline doesn’t do it justice, you’ll be reeling from the lack of likes, shares and comments – not to mention readers. According to Copyblogger:

About 80% of people will read your headline, but only 20% will read the rest of your content.

The job of a good headline is to get people to click through to your content, but here’s the problem – the Internet has a practically infinite amount of content and most people are suffering from a severe info-overload coma.

The Internet is a crowded place:

• On average, 252,000 websites are created every single day.
• About 7.5 million blog posts are published every day.
• 500 hours of video are uploaded every minute on YouTube.

So how do you get people to care about your piece amidst an avalanche of great content? Simple. By writing catchy headlines that pull the reader into your post. A hero headline zaps people out of their info-overload comas and compels them to read your article that you worked so hard to produce.

As a business owner or marketer who is blogging, your ultimate goal is to get more readers, convert them to more customers, and make more money. Whatever the reason for writing your blog posts, headlines are a crucial element of a successful content marketing strategy.

Understanding the pivotal role of powerful headlines in digital content is fundamental for any content creator aiming to boost their visibility and click-through rates.

Elements of a High-Converting Headline

First, let’s look at what exactly entails a headline that gets the clicks.

Crafting a headline that converts requires more than just a catchy phrase; it demands a strategic blend of elements that are crucial for capturing attention and encouraging readers to engage with your content, whether it’s an article, blog post, advertisement, or any digital content.

Here are the key elements that make a headline high-converting. Keep in mind that killer headlines often combine several of these elements to create a compelling reason for readers to engage with the content.

Clarity: The Foundation of Effective Headlines

Confusing headlines in the SERPs will be skipped over. Clarity is non-negotiable. Your headline should communicate the essence of your content in a straightforward manner, leaving no room for ambiguity. Readers should understand the value proposition or what they will get from clicking on the headline.

You do not want a reader’s expectations to be dashed when they click through to find the article is not aligned with the headline.

• Clear Headline: “10 Proven Strategies to Increase Your Website Traffic in 30 Days”
• Unclear Headline: “Get More Visitors Without Trying Too Hard!”

Curiosity: Sparking the Reader’s Interest

While clarity tells readers what they can expect, curiosity entices them to want to discover more. The best headlines strike a balance between providing enough information to be clear, but withholding just enough to pique interest.

Phrasing your headline as a question, presenting a surprising fact, or teasing a compelling benefit are effective ways to invoke curiosity.

• Curiosity-Provoking Headline: “Why You’re Not Losing Weight: 5 Surprising Habits to Avoid”
• Headline That Does Not Provoke Curiosity: “Common Weight Loss Tips”

Urgency: Motivating Immediate Action

Creating a sense of urgency in headlines compels readers to act swiftly, underlining the idea that they might miss out if they don’t engage with the content right away. This tactic is particularly effective in a world filled with distractions, as it cuts through the noise by presenting the content as time-sensitive or limited in availability.

Incorporating phrases like “Act Now,” “Limited Time Offer,” or “Before It’s Too Late” can significantly increase the effectiveness of a headline by instilling a fear of missing out (FOMO).

• Urgent Headline: “24-Hour Flash Sale: Get Your Exclusive Discount Now!”
• Non-Urgent Headline: “Comprehensive Guide to Starting Your Own Garden”

Relevancy: Aligning with Your Audience’s Interests

For a headline to be high-converting, it must resonate with the interests, needs or problems of your target audience. This means understanding your demographic well enough to create headlines that speak directly to their desires or challenges.

Tailoring your headlines to the current trends, questions or discussions relevant to your audience can dramatically improve the performance of your content.

For this example, let’s say your audience is made up of young entrepreneurs looking for ways to grow their startups:

• Relevant Headline: “5 Growth Hacking Strategies for Young Entrepreneurs in 2024: Boost Your Startup Now”
• Non-Relevant Headline: “10 Timeless Gardening Tips: Enhance Your Home Garden Today”

Uniqueness: Standing Out in a Crowded Field

Uniqueness ensures that your headline stands out in an oversaturated market. A unique angle, an unexpected insight or a fresh take on a common topic can make readers more likely to choose your headline (and, thus, your content) over the others.

Avoid clichés and strive for originality to differentiate your headlines from the sea of content online.

• Unique Headline: “Discover the Secret Language of Plants: How Your Garden Talks to You”
• Non-Unique Headline: “How to Care for Your Garden”

Benefit-Driven: Highlighting the Value

Highlighting a clear benefit tells readers what they can gain from the content, such as solving a problem, learning something new, or understanding a topic better.

When a headline promises a specific advantage, it’s more likely that readers interested in that particular benefit will want to learn more. This approach makes sure the content is perceived as valuable and directly applicable to the reader’s life.

• Benefit-Driven Headline: “Slash Your Energy Bills in Half with These Simple Home Improvements”
• Non-Benefit-Driven Headline: “Different Types of Home Improvements”

Numbers: Adding Specificity and Structure

Incorporating numbers into headlines (e.g., “5 Ways to…”) introduces specificity and a clear structure, which can make the content more appealing by setting clear expectations. An article that starts with “5 Ways to…” instantly communicates that the article will provide five specific pieces of advice, making it appear organized and easy to follow.

Numbers in headlines can also highlight the tangible benefits or actions, making the content seem more practical and authoritative.

• Numbered Headline: “3 Steps to Turn Your Hobby into a Thriving Business”
• Non-Numbered Headline: “How to Make Money from Your Hobby”

Emotional Appeal: Connecting on a Deeper Level

Headlines with an emotional appeal tap into the reader’s feelings, creating a deeper connection and compelling them to click. This can be achieved by using words that evoke happiness, excitement, fear or any other potent emotion related to the content’s message.

Emotional appeal makes the content more relatable and memorable, significantly enhancing engagement.

• Emotional Appeal Headline: “Reignite Your Passion: Find Love Again in Your 50s”
• Non-Emotional Appeal Headline: “Dating Tips for People in Their 50s”

Action Words: Encouraging Engagement

Action words (i.e. verbs) in headlines create a sense of dynamism and urgency, encouraging readers to engage with the content. These headlines often start with verbs like “Discover,” “Transform,” “Learn” or “Overcome,” directly calling for action.

Using action words makes the headline more compelling and can significantly increase click-through rates by motivating readers to take immediate action.

• Action Headline: “Transform Your Mornings with These Energizing Yoga Poses”
• Non-Action Headline: “The Benefits of Yoga in the Morning”

Although not a verb, it’s worth mentioning that adjectives can also encourage engagement. Adjectives are words that modify nouns. Words like “effortless,” “incredible” and “essential” emphasize your point, add emotional weight and increase the power of your headline.

Examples with adjectives:

• Original – How to Overcome Failure and Succeed at Anything
• Better – How to Overcome Soul-Crushing Failure and Succeed at Absolutely Anything

By integrating these elements — clarity, curiosity, urgency, relevance, uniqueness, benefit-driven, numbered, emotional, questions and action words — into your headline strategy, you can significantly boost your content’s visibility and click-through rate.

Optimum Length for a Headline

There is a lot of discussion about how long your headline should be. But is there actually a magic length for a headline that helps drive more engagement? Does it really make much of a difference? As it happens, yes there is, and yes it does.

Some experts argue that the best headlines are the ones that are short, sweet and to the point, while others have testified that longer headlines, as many as 18 words, drive the most engagement.

BuzzSumo tested this on 100 million headlines. In the articles they analyzed, they checked for the number of words in the headlines and cross-referenced them to the average number of Facebook and Twitter engagements.

They found that the ideal headline length is 11 words or 65 characters:

• 5-Word Headline: “Boost Savings with Investment Tips”
• 11-Word Headline: “Double Your Savings in a Year with These Proven Investment Strategies”
• 18-Word Headline: “Discover How to Effortlessly Double Your Savings in Just One Year by Following These Expert Investment Strategies”

Having trouble writing engaging, keyword-rich headlines that drive substantial traffic? Single Grain’s SEO copywriting experts can help!👇

Elevate Content Visibility with Killer Headlines

Using SEO to Enhance Headline Effectiveness

Remember, headlines do more than capture attention — they also play a crucial role in search engine optimization. A well-optimized headline can significantly increase your content’s visibility on search engines, driving more organic traffic to your site.

Here’s how to leverage SEO when writing headlines to make them more effective:

• Keyword Integration: The strategic placement of relevant keywords within your headline is crucial. Keywords act as signals to search engines, indicating the content’s subject matter. Be sure to include them naturally and, if possible, put your focus keyword at the beginning.
• Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords, which are longer and more specific phrases, can be less competitive and more targeted towards niche demographics. Incorporating these keywords into your headline not only attracts a more defined audience, but can also inform your headline and make it easier to write.

• Search Intent: Beyond mere keywords, understanding the search intent — or the reason for a user’s search query — behind those terms is essential. Tailoring your headlines to match this intent (be it informational, navigational, transactional or commercial) can improve your content’s relevancy and search engine ranking.

• Length and Readability: The length of your headline also impacts its SEO effectiveness. Search engines typically display the first 50-60 characters (roughly 8-10 words, which is slightly shorter than the ideal headline length) of a title tag, so keeping your headlines within this range ensures that they’re fully visible in search results.
• SEO Tools for Optimization: Use tools to help you optimize your headlines for the search engines. SEO and keyword tools offer insights into keyword popularity, competition levels and even headline performance predictions. By using these tools, you can fine-tune your headlines to better match what your audience is searching for, thereby enhancing your content’s online visibility.

A headline that balances the art of engagement with the science of SEO is more likely to attract both search engines and human readers, driving traffic and engagement for your content.

5 Formulas for Writing Hero Headlines (+ Formula Chart)

A great headline is the result of both art and science, combining creative flair with proven formulas. These formulas are not just guidelines; they are tested strategies that have consistently yielded high engagement and click-through rates across various content types.

Here are five hero headline formulas that can transform your titles from overlooked to must-click (scroll down to see the handy headline formulas infographic!):

1) The How-To Headline

The how-to headline – such as “How to Write Hero Headlines to Skyrocket Click-Through Rates” 😜 – is powerful because it offers direct value and actionable insights. This formula is an age-old classic because it promises a specific solution to a specific problem. In other words, it directly addresses the reader’s desire for improvement or learning.

Another important point is that how-to posts work particularly well for organic traffic as many people start their search terms with “how to” when looking for answers to their questions – like “How to Get Away with Murder” 😉:

The “how to” formula, by the way, can also be used in a “how not to” way, as in “How NOT to Pack When Going on Vacation” or even “Never Paint Your Room This Color.”

One final note: For whatever reason, people like being addressed with the second-person tense (you/your). It adds a personal touch to your writing and makes the reader feel more directly involved with your content. Writing in this way works really well not only for headlines but for the body of your content, too.

Examples:

• “How to Increase Your Blog’s Traffic by 200% in One Month”
• “How to Make a Perfect Cup of Coffee”

2) The Secrets Revealed Headline

Intrigue sells, and the promise of revealing secrets is a surefire way to spark curiosity. This type of headline suggests that the reader will gain access to knowledge that’s exclusive and often “never before seen”:

Examples:

• “Secrets Revealed: How Successful Entrepreneurs Start Their Day”
• “5 Design Secrets Every Marketer Should Know”

3) The Question Headline

Asking a question in your headline can be very effective, especially if it’s a question that your target audience often asks.

Use the WHW formula: Why, How, What. These are known as trigger words because they initiate a process or course of action – the action of clicking on your post in this case.

Why: Provides the rationale or the benefit, answering the reader’s implicit question, “Why should I care?” This highlights the value or impact of the information. Sometimes it works to actually voice what the reader is thinking:

What: Specifies the topic or the subject matter, giving readers a clear understanding of what the content is about.

How: Indicates the method, strategy or approach that will be discussed, offering a promise of practical advice or insights.

• Original – This CEO Went from Bankrupt to Billionaire in 6 Months
• Better – How This CEO Went from Bankrupt to Billionaire in 6 Months

This approach not only piques curiosity but also encourages readers to seek the answer. Keep in mind that you don’t always have to write the question word, as in the first example below.

Examples:

• “Do You Know the Number One Trick for Getting More Email Subscribers?”
• “Why Aren’t Your Headlines Driving Traffic?”

Just want someone to do all the work for you? Single Grain’s SEO copywriting experts can help!👇

Elevate Content Visibility with Killer Headlines

4) The Numbered List Headline

Numbers work really well because they stand out from the rest of the headline. They satisfy our organizational minds by showing us something in a logical and orderly fashion. Orbit Media found that headlines with a number had a 37% higher CTR:

More than just numbers in a headline (like “75%”), listicle headlines (and articles) are popular because they offer content that’s easy to consume and share.

Check out the difference between a headline that starts with a number and the same one that doesn’t:

• Original – Online Business Ideas that You Can Start Today
• Better – 7 Online Business Ideas that You Can Start Today

Numbered list headlines set clear expectations for the reader, providing a sense of order and digestibility.

Examples:

• “10 Easy Steps to Writing Irresistible Headlines”
• “7 Mistakes to Avoid in Email Marketing”

5) The Clarification Headline

Using specific punctuation like brackets, a colon or a hyphen is a simple yet powerful technique to enhance the effectiveness of headlines. This method leverages the psychological effect of providing additional context or specifying the type of content, making it more attractive to potential readers.

Using brackets to include clarifications or additional details can significantly increase a headline’s click-through rate. For example, adding “[New Report]” or “[Case Study]” at the end of a headline serves multiple purposes:

• It highlights the value by indicating that the content contains specialized information, such as research findings or in-depth analysis.
• It captures attention by breaking the monotony of plain text, making the headline stand out visually in a sea of content.

Studies found that headlines with bracketed clarifications such as “[New Report]” get 112% higher conversion rates than headlines without brackets.

Colons and hyphens are also effective for adding explanatory phrases or benefits without cluttering the headline. They help create a two-part structure that balances a catchy lead with informative or enticing details. Using the example “How to Save Money on Groceries: 10 Easy Tips”:

• Before the Colon or Hyphen (“How to Save Money on Groceries:”): This acts as the primary hook, capturing the reader’s interest with a compelling statement or question.
• After the Colon or Hyphen (“10 Easy Tips”): Here, you can elaborate on the headline, offer a promise, or specify the content format.

10 Tried-and-True Headline Formulas

​​These formulas have been tested across various content types and platforms, proving their effectiveness in attracting readers.

Here are some of the top formulas for writing great headlines (feel free to download it and save it for later!):

Summary: How to Write Headlines That Attract Readers

Mastering the art of headline writing is an essential skill for any content creator looking to stand out in the SERPs. As we’ve explored, engaging headlines are the cornerstone of successful content, driving visibility, engagement and click-through rates.

Remember, a headline is more than just an introduction to your content; it’s an invitation, a promise and a challenge to the reader.

So put these strategies into practice! Write headlines that resonate, engage and inspire. Write a headline that stops people in their tracks, and then watch as your visibility and click-through rates soar.

If you’re ready to level up your content with killer headlines, Single Grain’s SEO copywriting experts can help!👇

Elevate Content Visibility with Killer Headlines

The post How to Write Hero Headlines to Skyrocket Click-Through Rates appeared first on Single Grain.

A Facebook Group is one of the most underestimated marketing tactics when it comes to generating leads – and that’s why Facebook Group engagement tactics are so important.

I have seen marketers using Facebook Groups as a strategy to increase referral traffic but, alas, this is not the best way to leverage the power of Groups.

If promoted correctly, these Groups have the potential to generate direct leads and even sales. All you need is a high engagement rate where people share, discuss, respond and start buying from you – and it’s all for free!

So, how do you get a high engagement rate from your Facebook Group? Read on to find out! And scroll to the bottom for an infographic takeaway.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Understanding Facebook Groups

Before diving into the 15 tactics that will improve your Facebook Group engagement rate and leads, let’s understand what the different types of groups are, why you should create one, and how to create one.

What Is a Facebook Group?

A Facebook group is different from a Facebook page:

• A Facebook page is an official profile of your business.
• A Facebook group is a place where people discuss and share their passion for similar interests.

Facebook pages are for your existing customers who already know your business, whereas a Facebook group is a place where you can attract and engage with new and potential customers.

The below table lists the differences between a Facebook group and a Facebook page:

Why Should You Create a Facebook Group?

Facebook groups are a great way to indirectly promote your business and build loyal followers. Hence, I would recommend that every business owner create groups related to their niche and nurture their target audiences.

Let me give you an example.

Suppose you are the owner of an online pet food shop. Wouldn’t it be great if you could create groups related to “pet grooming,” “pet food,” “German Shepherd,” “Doberman,” etc.? You can create groups related to different dog types or create general groups related to dog care and grooming and share real advice on how to groom a dog or what food types are best for them.

Slowly and gradually, you will develop a loyal following of dog owners who will look for your next tips and advice. Unlike the more salesy or one-on-one business pages, groups are the best place to learn from the experience of others. Dog owners can unite to share their knowledge with the community so that the rest of the members can learn real, practical tips from them.

This concept of learning and sharing is what makes this a nice way to build a loyal community among your members and stimulate Facebook group engagement.

How Do You Create a Facebook Group?

Creating a group on Facebook is easy. Follow the below steps to get started:

1) On the left-hand column of your Facebook page, click on Groups:

2) Then click on + Create new group:

3) Provide a name for your group. For example, “Technology Icons”:

4) Select the privacy option. If you selected private, select whether to make your group visible or hidden.

5) Invite people to your group to get the conversation started. To invite new members to a group:

• From your News Feed, click Groups in the left menu and select your new Group.
• Click+ Invite, which is below the cover photo.
• After choosing which method to invite people, enter the names (or emails) of those you want to add and then click Add.

Different Group Types: Public, Closed and Secret

1) Public

Anyone can see the group name, posts and members. Public groups also appear on searches and news feeds. New members can add themselves without admin approval.

If you’re using your Facebook group to promote your business, a public group is beneficial. You can grow your Facebook group quickly. Your members can also share valuable content and engage in conversations with your business.

The main disadvantage of a public Facebook group is the lack of privacy. Since anyone can join, there are spam and fraud risks. If you keep your group open then anyone can join and start spamming your members by sharing promotional posts which might degrade the entire purpose of your group.

Beyond the security risks, you and your members may be bogged down by the notifications. And don’t forget, you still lack control over the ownership of the Facebook group if it’s public.

2) Closed

Closed Facebook groups are slightly more exclusive than public ones. Facebook users can view the group name, description and member list. But new users need approval before they can view the group’s content.

Communication that happens in a closed group can only be seen by other members of the group, making it a place that only specific people can access.

Many businesses choose a closed group because you can maintain the uniqueness of your group and enable safe conversations among your customers and peers. Your audience will still see your promotional posts, such as special offers and events.

The main disadvantage to a closed group is you’ll need to hire an admin to approve new user requests and monitor the conversations.

3) Secret

Secret Facebook groups are only accessible to its members. These groups don’t appear in searches or on news feeds, and non-members won’t view any details.

Since non-members can’t see or engage in group conversations, this is the best option if you need privacy. For example, a private option is best if your Facebook group members are employees. Your staff will feel comfortable asking questions and sharing concerns within the organization, rather than to use it as a promotional tool.

The main disadvantage is you’ll limit your growth opportunities, if you want to use a Facebook group to enhance brand awareness.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

15 Proven Facebook Group Engagement Tactics

Here are the top tactics that have been proven to raise Facebook group engagement levels:

1) Welcome New Members of Your Group

When you welcome new members of your group, you automatically establish a connection with that member right from day one. This connection helps your members feel included and comfortable enough to open up so they can share their thoughts easily with other group members. Or you can encourage them to create a welcome post.

Members who have joined your Facebook Group in the last 7 days are considered new members. On your group page, click Members on the top menu:

Also, there is a clickable link with a strip of thumbnail photos displaying the number of new members that have been added to your group. Just below that, you can click on Write welcome post to customize your message and share it with all your new members:

2) Ask New Members to Introduce Themselves

You can ask all your new members to introduce themselves. This is a nice way to make the new members comfortable and get the conversation started.

When people introduce themselves, they feel valued and they consider the entire group as a family because it is easy for them to engage with the members in future.

You can also send personalized messages to other group members because this is a solid way to get them involved and engaged as well. Simply click on the person’s name to take you to their profile, then click on Message that appears on the top right:

3) Recognize and Reward Active Members

There are many ways to highlight top contributors on your company’s Facebook group. You can create posting tiers and reward your contributors with company merch. If your group is public, you can reward customers for referring new members.

Giveaways are some of the best Facebook group engagement posts. Post the contest’s details on the group and let your most devoted customers have first access. Instead of a one-time giveaway, you can also host monthly recognition awards to frequent participants.

You can identify the key contributors of your group with the help of Facebook Group Insights. Group Insights will display all the members in your group who are top contributors based on the number of new posts they have created or the number of comments they have posted in the group.

Go to your Facebook group’s page where you’ll see a list of admin tools on the left-hand side. Click on Membership under Insights to find a list of your top contributors.

4) Leverage the Power of Storytelling

Storytelling, especially visual storytelling, is a great way to engage your audience. Create videos that portray a story that ignites the passion that all members share.

Brands like Old Spice have harnessed the power of visual storytelling to generate tons of engagement:

You can ask group members to submit their images so you can share them with everyone. This is an awesome way to generate lots of engagement. People like things that are kept real. Pro Dive Cairns follows this strategy to good effect:

5) Post Polls, Surveys and Quizzes

There is nothing better than a poll, survey or a quiz to keep your members hooked. Engagement happens when you directly ask the users for their comments. It should be a no-brainer!

Posting a poll, survey or quiz lets group members quickly share their opinion and engagement happens almost instantly. One of the best ways of using a poll is to identify the current trends related to your niche and create a poll based on that.

To create a poll in a Facebook group:

• Go to facebook.com/groups and select your group.
• Click Write something… and then click the three dots in the bottom right and select Poll.
• Enter a question and then fill out options.
• Click Post.

Surveys are something that people like in a limited manner, so you need to use it sparingly. Also, quizzes should be easy to answer because if you make the quiz too tough then nobody will participate. In order to motivate your members to take the quiz, you can add a prize. When people are getting something in return, they are most likely to participate in the game.

6) Ask Different Types of Questions

Posting direct questions is a simple but great way to get the conversation rolling. Think of question as a call to action that persuades people to quickly jump into the conversation and share their thoughts. You can ask the following question types with your group members:

• Closed questions like “Do you like the new Apple iPhone X?” People will respond to it with a straight ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. These are quick and easy to answer, which is a great way to elicit engagement among participants. As long as the questions are well-written, you can extract valuable data from them.
• Open-ended questions like “What did you like the most about the new Apple iPhone X?” There can’t be a straight answer to this question and every member will answer differently. You’ll gain more insight from these questions, and members are willing to provide more information.
• Image-based questions where an image is shared along with the question so that people are able to grasp the question easily. Visual questions are often easier to understand than text-based ones. These questions are especially popular among younger audiences on your Facebook group, who are more visually driven:

• Debate-oriented questions like “Do you think homework should be banned?” People can respond and share their answers either supporting the argument or answering against it. When conducted responsibly, debate encourages innovative ideas.
• General questions like “Who is your favorite footballer?” These types of questions are a no-brainer. It’s easy, simple and people like to jump into these conversations. Plus, general questions reflect shared interests and improves the understanding of a topic.

7) Post Photo Quotes

Picture quotes works tremendously well for increasing engagement among your group members. You can rock your Facebook group engagement marketing strategy with it!

You need to find a simple photo and add an inspirational or humorous quote to it (try Hootsuite’s Free Caption Generator). Once done, share it with your members and people will start reacting to it.

The key here is to find images that match well with the genre of your group. Keep in mind the likes and dislikes of your audience before you use any image because an incorrect choice of image might backfire. Keep the post simple.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

8) Share Edu-tainment Posts

There is no need to post three times a day or more for Facebook group engagement posts. The frequency of your posts has nothing to do with engagement.

A study was published by Buffer that proved that not every content type is perfect for Facebook. The content that works best for Facebook is a combination of education and entertainment – or “edu-tainment”. For example:

The ideal frequency of posts should be 1-2 posts per day. When you share just one piece of content each day, then it compels you to share the best content you have instead of everything that you have.

Put time and effort into the type of post you want to share because the Facebook algorithm will perceive your posts as high quality if they receive positive and higher engagement.

Following the above strategy, Buffer was able to reach more than 150,000 people per week on Facebook:

9) Maintain a Regular Posting Schedule

Consistency is key for any social media strategy, but especially on Facebook groups. By posting frequently, your group stays active and you’ll keep your members informed of your new products, sales and events. If you and your team aren’t posting regularly, you can quickly lose your audience.

The best course of action is to have a regular posting schedule. If you can, avoid sporadic posting – post on the same days or times so your audience can expect when to hear from you.

10) Make Sure Your Timing Is Correct

You need to make sure that the timing of your posts are correct because incorrect timing will lessen the engagement.

You can schedule a post on Facebook by following these steps:

• Click Groups in the left menu and select your group.
• Click on the clock symbol next to Post and select Schedule Post.
• Select the date and time when you want the post to publish.
• Click Schedule.

This chart from Influencer Marketing Hub displays the best time to post on Facebook – depending on your type of business:

11) Use Facebook Live Videos

Yes, you can leverage the power of Facebook Live videos even though you are running a group. Here are the steps to go live on a Facebook group:

• Download the Facebook Mobile App.
• Go to your Facebook group.
• Click on the button to create a new post.
• Select the Live video for group icon.

Live video is an amazing way to reach your target audience and boost Facebook group engagement:

When you go live consistently then people start to recognize you, and conversions are easier when people know you.

What type of live videos should you create? Popular examples include:

• behind the scenes
• ask me anything (AMA)
• announcements
• events and webinars
• recaps
• daily thoughts
• general discussions

12) Ask Members to Put Notifications On

Make it a point to ask all new members who join your group to keep the notification on.

You want your members to get notified whenever a new post is added to your group so they don’t have to constantly remember to check out the group page in order to stay updated. How do you make that happen? By (politely!) asking them to turn Group notifications on, with a simple message like this:

Add instructions for how to turn notifications on – and don’t forget to add the actual name of your group. You could also briefly remind members of the benefits of the group and use a catchy post or visual to draw attention.

Here is the process to turn notifications on in a Facebook Group from a desktop computer:

• From your News Feed, click Groups in the left menu and select your group.
• Click the settings icon in the top left and then select Customize notifications:

• From here, you can select All Posts (you’ll get notifications any time members post in the group) or Highlights (to get some or most posts):

Instructions for Android and Apple phones are here.

13) Like, Comment and Respond to Others

You need to remain on your toes if you wish to see better engagement happening in your group. As a group admin, your role goes beyond just monitoring; it’s about setting the tone and leading by example.

One of the best facebook group engagement tactics is super simple – just show up! Also:

👍 Engage Actively: Make it a habit to like, comment on, and respond to posts by members. This not only acknowledges their contributions but also encourages a culture of active participation.

🌟 Build Trust and Rapport: When members see that their input is valued, they’re more likely to engage consistently. Your responsiveness demonstrates that you’re attentive to their feedback and genuinely care about their experiences.

💬 Strengthen Community Bonds: Engaging with members helps forge deeper connections, turning casual members into loyal community advocates. Even a simple acknowledgment, like a “like” or a brief comment, can make a member feel seen and appreciated.

🔄 Create a Ripple Effect: Your active engagement sets a precedent. When members observe your consistent interactions, they’re more inclined to do the same, creating a ripple effect of increased engagement throughout the group.

By taking these steps, people become more comfortable with doing the same and engagement will start to happen more and more.

14) Post Interactive Content

Interactive content is any type of post that encourages user participation. Common examples include:

• Memes
• GIFs
• Videos
• Quizzes
• Polls
• E-books
• Infographics
• Animated content

The goal of interactive content is to include your customers in your discussions, offer them something fun and/or of value (like Pete & Pedro: Men’s Hair Styling Aid Tool), add more personalization in your group:

This makes your group more memorable and engaging, so your audience keeps returning.

As a business, you’ll also learn more about your audience. Plus, your audience may feel more compelled to share the content with others. If this interactive content is branded, such as a business-specific meme, this can improve your brand awareness. Tampa Airport does an excellent job creating hilarious and engaging branded memes.

Regardless of the interactive content you share, ensure that it fits your theme and industry.

15) Tap Into the Power of Facebook Group Insights

Facebook Group Insights is a great way to measure the level of engagement with your members. With the help of Group Insights you can:

• Understand how members like to engage
• See the most active members of your group
• Identify the posts that receive the best engagement

When you have such crucial data in your hands, you can easily see what is working and manipulate your existing strategy accordingly.

Simply click on Group Insights seen on the left side of your group dashboard:

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Mistakes to Avoid for Maximizing Group Engagement

While Facebook groups are an effective way to increase brand awareness and connect with your audience, there are common mistakes that can jeopardize your strategy.

Here are 10 mistakes to avoid if you want to maximize group engagement:

• Neglecting to Set Clear Guidelines: Without clear Group rules and expectations, a community can quickly become chaotic. Ensure that you have guidelines in place and enforce them consistently.
• Infrequent Posting: If you’re not regularly posting and sparking discussions, group members will lose interest. Consistency is key to keeping the group active.
• Not Responding Promptly: Delayed responses or ignoring members’ posts and comments can make them feel undervalued. Always aim to respond in a timely manner.
• Over-Promotion: Constantly promoting products or services can deter members. While occasional promotions are fine, ensure your group offers genuine value beyond just sales pitches.
• Not Encouraging Member Participation: Relying solely on admin-generated content can stifle member involvement. Encourage members to share, post and initiate discussions.
• Allowing Negative Behavior: Tolerating spam, trolling or any form of negativity can deter genuine Facebook Group members from participating. Address and rectify such behaviors immediately.
• Lacking Variety in Content: Posting the same type of content repeatedly can become monotonous. Mix it up with different post formats and topics.
• Not Using Group Features: Facebook Groups offer various features like polls, events, and Q&A sessions. Not using these tools can mean missing out on engagement opportunities.
• Failing to Highlight and Reward Active Members: Recognizing and appreciating your most active and valuable members can motivate others to participate more actively.
• Not Evaluating and Adapting: What worked a few months ago might not work now. Regularly assess your engagement strategies and be ready to adapt based on feedback and changing group dynamics.

Leveraging Facebook Ads for Group Engagement

Group members have the option to allow ads in Facebook groups. These ads aren’t intrusive – they’re single image ads that blend in with organic content. All ads have a “Sponsored” tag to make sure the purpose is separate from organic posts.

As a business, you can create Facebook Ads for your groups. These result in offsite conversions that increases the reach on your business Facebook page.

Groups is part of Meta Advantage+. To sign up for Meta ads, go to Ads Manager and click Create in the top left. When signing up for Meta ads, select this option if you want your ads to appear in groups. Remember that you must also select Feed so your ads also appear in groups.

3 Inspiring Examples of High Engagement Groups

Let’s have a look at some of the best examples of posts that are useful to use in your group. These posts have a unique idea and you can utilize these depending on your group niche.

1) Instant Pot Community

Instant Pot is the brand of electronic multi-purpose slow cookers. They’re popular among cooking enthusiasts because they offer an all-in-one approach to meal preparation. Plus, they’re simple enough for cooking newbies and the busy person – just put everything in the pot, turn it on low, and walk away for 6-8 hours.

Instant Pot hosts their own Facebook group where users share recipes and ask questions. Even if your business isn’t in the food or cooking industries, these posts can generate come excellent Facebook group engagement ideas. Cooking and recipe blog owners are often on the group, sharing recipes they made in their Crock Pot, such as this delicious vegetarian quinoa dish.

This not only increases engagement of your Facebook group posts, but also inspires members to use their Instant Pot. The group is public and anyone can post and join in on conversations, as long as you follow the Group rules.

2) Natural National Geographic Photo of the Day

The magazine National Geographic has many Facebook groups, but this is one of the most engaging. Users share their “natural photo of the day,” and members can view everything from plant life to animals.

Members are free to share their photos, so it’s a great group for professional and aspiring photographers to get their work out to the masses. All photographers share the gear, camera settings and location in this post.

This “lady in red” is an example of the photos members can expect to see:

3) Netflix Recommendations

We all know what it’s like to spend more time scrolling on Netflix rather than finding something to watch. That’s why Netflix created a group where users can offer TV show and movie recommendations on the popular streaming platform.

If your business is struggling to entice responses from your Facebook Group members, even when posting open-ended questions, you’ll want to join this group to see how users word their queries.

For example, this member wants to know what others on the group thought of the series Call the Midwife. Even though the question was simple, it attracted over 200 likes and comments in only a few hours. Most users responded positively, but some addressed concerns such as how the series isn’t available in their country.

Conclusion & Key Takeaways

Facebook groups provide your business with a free channel to grow your fan base. You can easily build a like-minded community of people who share the same passion as you, which will increase Facebook Group engagement and the chance of conversion.

Some takeaways to remember from this article include:

• Decide if you want your group to be public, private or secret
• Encourage new members to make a welcome post
• Post personable and interactive content to increase engagement
• Reward top contributing members
• Don’t forget to add media, specifically images and video, and not rely on text posts
• Remember the different types of questions you can ask
• Follow a regular posting schedule
• Go live when appropriate
• Request that members turn on notifications in a not intrusive way
• Interact with members
• Enable ads and post your own
• Look at the inspiring Facebook group engagement posts

If people are interacting with each other and everything is going well, sit back and concentrate your efforts on promoting the group. Facebook group engagement has a lot of potential to take your business to the next level.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

The post 15 Proven Facebook Group Engagement Ideas & Tactics appeared first on Single Grain.

If you’re deterred by perceived high costs or a lack of in-house expertise, not to worry!

After reading this post, you’ll be inspired by these successful video content marketing examples. You’ll have a better idea of how to produce your own excellent content depending on which specific type of video would work best for your business goals.

Key Highlights on Video Content Types

• A rundown of ten popular video types that grab attention and keep viewers engaged across different platforms.
• Exploration of how each video format serves unique audience needs, like tutorials for learning or live streams for real-time interaction.
• Real-life examples of brands successfully using these video types to build stronger connections with their audiences.
• Tips on matching video formats to specific marketing goals like boosting brand awareness, driving conversions, and building a social media presence.
• A mix of short-form and long-form content types, so there’s something here for every video strategy.
• A resource for marketers, content creators, and business owners looking to level up their video content strategy and engage viewers in meaningful ways.

Book My Free Video Marketing Consultation

What Are the Most Popular Video Content Types?

The most popular video content type often varies based on the platform and the audience. But according to Statista, the most popular video content types worldwide in the second quarter of 2023 are:

• Music Video
• Comedy, Meme or Viral Video
• Video Live Stream
• Tutorial or How-To Video
• Educational Video
• Product Review Video
• Sport Clips or Highlights Video
• Gaming Video
• Influencer Videos and Vlogs

It’s important to note that the top category listed is “Any kind of video” with a significantly higher percentage of 92.3%, which indicates that the respondents likely consume various types of video content, not exclusive to one category.

The popularity of these types of content can change rapidly with online video trends and technological advancements, so what’s most popular today might be different in the near future.

How to Make Your Video Content More Engaging

Creating engaging video content involves a blend of creativity, strategic planning and understanding your audience. Remember, a good video isn’t just about delivering information, it’s about captivating your audience and leaving them wanting more.

Here are key steps to create video content that engages and retains viewers:

✅ Understand Your Audience: Tailor content to the interests and preferences of your target audience, a key factor in video marketing. What are their interests, pain points, and preferred content format?

✅ Define Your Objectives: Be clear about what you want to achieve with your marketing video. Is it brand awareness, product promotion, education, entertainment, or engagement? Your goal will influence the type of video you create.

✅ Use Visuals Creatively: Employ attractive visuals, graphics, and effects in your brand videos to keep viewers visually stimulated.

✅ Sound Matters: Make sure you have clear audio with good microphones and background noise reduction. Consider adding music or sound effects to enhance the mood and atmosphere.

✅ Focus on the First Few Seconds: The opening of your video is crucial. You need to grab your audience’s attention in the first few seconds. Start with a strong opening: something surprising, an intriguing question, or a visually appealing scene to hook viewers.

✅ Be Yourself: Authenticity is key, especially in marketing videos. Let your personality shine through and engage with your audience directly.

✅ Humor Goes a Long Way: A well-placed joke or funny anecdote can break the ice and make your video more enjoyable, thereby bolstering your video marketing efforts.

✅ Dynamic Editing: Use cuts, transitions, and visual effects to create a smooth and engaging experience. Add subtitles or text overlays for clarity and accessibility.

✅ Include a Call to Action: Encourage viewers to engage with your online videos, whether it’s subscribing, commenting, or sharing. Tell viewers what you want them to do next, whether it’s subscribing, visiting your website, or sharing the video.

✅ Optimize for Different Platforms: Tailor your marketing video for the platform where it will be shared. Consider aspect ratios, video length, and platform-specific features (like captions for silent viewing on Facebook).

Now that we’re clear on the best practices for video marketing, let’s take a look at some excellent examples of marketing videos that convert.

21 Engaging Video Content Types that People Love to Watch

Now that you’re aware of the importance of video marketing, let’s go through the 21 most engaging types of video so you can see which formats may be best for your business goals.

1) Podcast Videos: a16z

Podcasts have been taking storm over the last several years. As of 2023, there are 464.7 million podcast listeners worldwide.

Podcasts have notoriously been replacing vlogs over the last few years. These days, you can watch a podcast on YouTube or access the audio on Spotify. This makes podcasts very versatile.

Since podcasts are popular among consumers, marketers have taken note. A podcast can boost your brand awareness by 89%, but only if you make an engaging channel.

If you need a podcast for inspiration, the a16z podcast is the perfect example. A16z is a technology podcast focusing on AI and machine learning topics:

They cover business and consumer tech, so their content appeals to a wide audience. A16z currently has 109K subscribers, and their podcasts stand out from other ones in the tech industry since each episode plays out like a TV show.

In one episode, a16z’s host, Steph Smith, rides in a Waymo self-driving car with chief product officer Saswat Panigrahi. This episode attracted over 18K views in three months.

All a16z episodes encourage users to ask the same question: “Now what?” A16z not only reports on the latest in AI and machine learning, but comes to a deeper understanding of how this technology affects us now and how it will change our society.

Takeaways:

• Podcasts have been replacing vlogs because they’re more versatile. Users can watch a video or stream the episodes in audio-only format.
• With podcasts, you can create industry-related content that reports on the latest innovations in your niche and interviews key players.
• To make your content more like a podcast and less like interview videos, use a common message in your podcasts to entice subscribers and increase brand awareness, such as a16z’s “Now what?” message in response to AI and machine learning.

2) How-To: Shopify

Shopify is an excellent example of video marketing done right, with 399K subscribers. Their offer is a platform for small-to-medium e-commerce businesses geared mostly towards solopreneurs.

Therefore, their channel consists mostly of how-to videos that teach viewers how to run an e-commerce store. The twist that makes their videos a success is that every video is advice from a real customer:

For example, 5 Ways to Find Business Ideas that Are Profitable is created by a successful Shopify store owner, Jason Wong of Doe Lashes:

These how-to’s by real enterpreneurs not only increase the credibility of the content, but also makes Shopify a more legitimate brand.

They also have an interesting selection of videos from customers of when things go wrong in e-commerce and how to solve those problems:

Takeaways:

• Create how-to videos that help people make the most out of your platform. The more success customers have with your product/service, the more likely they will continue to use it.
• Use customer stories (user-generated content) to capture interest. Advice from a successful customer is much more persuasive than from one of your employees (who may have never run an e-commerce business).
• Address real pain points around your industry. These raw customer stories are uncomfortable yet invaluable to other customers.

Just want someone else to do all the hard work for you? Single Grain’s video creation and marketing experts can help!👇

Book My Free Video Marketing Consultation

3) Presentation: TED

TED has amassed an impressive following of 19.9M subscribers, and the majority of its videos are nothing more than recorded live events.

The draw to their brand is the impressive people who speak and their interesting viewpoints on various issues, from science to arts, from the prison system to self-expression:

One of TED’s most popular talks was from Brené Brown, a “researcher story-teller,” called “The Power of Vulnerability,” which has 20M views:

Therefore, if you are already hosting an event or mastermind of impressive people, start recording the talks. If you host dinners with friends, it could be something as simple as recording dinner conversations in a vlog-style video.

If you don’t know anyone impressive and don’t have a brand, think about how you can make it worthwhile for someone to speak for you.

For example, when Jayson Gaignard of Mastermind Talks was building his brand, he wanted Tim Ferriss to speak. At the time, he had no brand, yet he heard that Tim was doing a book launch, and the person who bought the most copies could have Tim speak at their event. So he found a way to purchase the most copies of his books, and Tim spoke at Jayson’s event.

Worth noting: Before you pursue speaking gigs to get valuable video content, it helps to own your own domain to build your credibility — instead of relying solely on social media profiles.

Launching your personal site doesn’t need to be a huge project, either. You can connect a custom domain to a platform like HubSpot to build a landing page in an afternoon. Start with a simple overview of your career accomplishments. Make sure to link to any recordings of past talks if you have them.

Takeaways:

• If you’re already hosting an event, record it and post the video to YouTube.
• An impressive lineup of speakers will make your content more successful, so think about how you can provide enough value so they will want to speak at your event.
• Be mindful of the community you create. If you bring on a host of impressive speakers, your audience will be much more impressive.

4) Explainer Video: Coinbase

Coinbase is a B2C company in the crypto space. Unsurprisingly, most of their videos are crypto how-tos about using their product, making them perfect for explainer video inspiration.

This video series is an excellent example of what they do:

Rather than interviewing a team member or a customer, they use an animated explainer video. This can be an excellent option for larger companies that worry about talent leaving their show. For example, if the person who typically hosts your videos leaves, it’s likely that a percentage of your audience becomes attached to that person and will quit watching when they leave.

Coinbase also livestreams AMAs (As Me Anything) with the CEO. He even goes into Reddit to answer common crypto questions:

This is a super easy format to duplicate, particularly if your industry is trending. For example, if you have a fitness offer, you could have a fitness professional (ideally your founder) do an AMA. Or you could ask the expert to go through common Reddit questions on fitness and provide advice.

Takeaways:

• If you’ve built an audience, ask your CEO to jump on an AMA. If you don’t have an audience, go onto Reddit and answer questions in your industry.
• An explainer video series (animated or live) is ideal for a product in a particularly complex industry like Coinbase. Since the market is so new and their product is relatively cheap, creating videos that generate brand awareness will also likely generate conversions.

5) Animated: Various

Animated videos are a fantastic way for small businesses on a budget to produce video content, as you can create them on your laptop with animation software that ranges in price from free to free trial to paid.

For those with technical or complex products, animation videos are a great way of breaking down complicated subjects into an easy-to-digest medium that anybody can understand. For that reason, it’s no surprise that animated videos are most often used as explainer videos (see #4 above), which work well on a sales landing page.

Several types of video content feature animations:

• Trying to explain to someone what phishing means is a lot easier when you can show them, and what better way than with a 2D animated video (from Cisco):

• Here’s an example of a 3D animated video from Gore Medical that shows their medical device in action with more detail than a 2D video:

• Breadnbeyond created a moving typography video, which can be great for storytelling (text pops onto the screen while the narration is going on in the background):

• Whiteboard animation is another great format for an explainer video, as shown in this RSA video because it uses a combo of text and image:

Takeaways:

• With a good smartphone, simple editing software and a keen eye, you can probably produce a quality video for free. A video animation tool like Vyond can help you do this.
• Animated videos are great for any budget. 2D videos can cost between $1K and $ 5K, within budget for many small businesses. Whiteboard animated videos can cost between $3K-$10K. 3D videos can range between $10K-$30K to produce. And moving typography videos are also about $10K-$30K.
• Choose the right animated video style based on your business and what you’re trying to communicate. For a topic like phishing, a simple visual like a 2D animated video can help, while a 3D animated video is better suited for a medical device company because it allows them to illustrate the intricacies of how the device works. Whiteboard animation works well when you have a lot of text/narration that can’t necessarily be illustrated with an image.

6) Unboxings: Dope or Nope

Unboxing videos have been a massive trend for years, which isn’t expected to slow down. In fact, unboxing videos have generated 60 million hours worth of views.

Why are unboxing videos engaging? It’s simple – 62% of people who watch unboxing videos are looking for a particular product. They will also watch reviews before buying it.

Plus, unboxing videos are interesting. While some hosts focus on the features and specs of a product, other hosts are more animated and make the unboxing process fun. This is the case with Dope or Nope, a channel that blends unboxing and product reviews with comedy:

While some of their videos focus solely on the comedy aspect, such as buying every Jar Jar Binks toy, they do plenty of subscriber box videos.

In this video, they unbox all three subscriber tier boxes from Vat19, a company specializing in mystery and gift boxes. Their host Matt cracks jokes as he’s doing the unboxings, making the videos more engaging.

Does your business need to add a comedy aspect to unboxing videos? No, but having a theme is an effective way to increase your viewership. After all, Dope or Nope has 7.4M subscribers.

Other ways that brands can enhance the performance of their unboxing videos is by focusing on a specific aspect (such as “mystery” or “special edition”), accentuating the price, demonstrating how to use the product, or sharing an innovative or outside-the-box feature.

Takeaways:

• Unboxing videos are popular since viewers want to see products before investing in them.
• Dope or Nope makes videos with a comedy aspect. While you don’t have to make your videos funny, focusing on a theme is beneficial so your unboxings don’t seem like a breakdown of features and specs.
• Focus on a theme that fits your brand, products, and/or industry.

7) Live Streams: Lofi Girl

Live streaming videos have always been popular, but they especially surged during the pandemic. Even though life has returned to normal, live video has remained a massive part of a content marketing strategy, so much so that 52% of viewers watch live social media video content.

Plus, there are many different ways to make and share live videos. While live recording events and conferences are an effective tactic, consumers love tuning into engaging video content whenever they want.

Take Lofi Girl as an example. To say this channel “blew up” is an understatement: Lofi Girl has 13.4M subscribers, and tens of thousands of viewers tune it at any given time:

So, what is Lofi Girl? The video shows an animated girl studying with a cat sitting on the windowsill. Relaxing Lofi hip-hop music plays in the background. Viewers can also access Lofi Girl on other streaming platforms, such as Spotify, and YouTube offers a chat where viewers can talk amongst themselves.

Why is Lofi Girl so successful, even though this channel only shows the same video clip with background songs?

This live channel caters to audience demand. Lofi music streams increased by 200% because the music is very relaxing:

Users love listening to Lofi music while working, driving or just to listen to chill music. This genre is also perfect for multiple businesses since it appeals to a vast audience.

Even if your business isn’t in the music industry, you can take Lofi Girl’s template for your video strategy. Understand what your customers demand from your video content, and make that accessible at all hours of the day.

Takeaways:

• Live streaming videos surged in popularity during the pandemic and are still essential to a company’s content marketing strategy.
• Lofi Girl’s live videos are simple but successful. That’s because they appeal to consumer demand – specifically to offer a constant stream of Lofi music.
• Create live videos that consumers demand, and make them available 24/7.

8) Interviews: Leveling Up

Our own YouTube channel, Leveling Up, has been growing steadily over the past several years to almost 77K subscribers. This channel combines interviews with entrepreneurs:

Marketing tips:

And YouTube shorts that are bite-sized excerpts, often from podcast host Eric Siu’s speaking engagements:

One of the key insights from the Leveling Up show is that many of these videos are just repurposed from live streams and podcast interviews. This means they can get several pieces of content by repurposing one recording.

This is also an excellent example of a B2B business channel that a single host runs. As Eric owns the company, he doesn’t have to worry about the host leaving the show. The only downside is that this asset won’t be very valuable if he ever decides to sell the business.

Takeaways:

• If you’re already doing a podcast or live streams, just start video recording them and add them to your YouTube channel.
• Interviewing others is a great way to generate buzz around your YouTube channel.
• If you decide to have a host, make it the company owner.

With a popular YouTube channel of our own, we understand video audience engagement. Single Grain’s video creation and marketing experts can help you!👇

Book My Free Video Marketing Consultation

9) User-Generated Content: GoPro

GoPro is known for its contests where videos of epic adventures (filmed with a GoPro camera) are submitted directly by customers. UGC videos are fun and exciting to watch, and each one is a case study of how you can use a GoPro video camera.

Some of their videos collaborate with athletes and influencers, though they also have a popular competition for the coolest videos. Their challenge gives $1 million to the most epic video submitted.

By emphasizing user-generated content, they have a better chance of customers sharing more of their adventures with GoPro and increasing their customer reach.

So if you have customers already doing entertaining activities with your product (using your clothing brand at a sporting event, using your bike on a mountain ride, etc.), create a contest!

For example, ask users to submit videos of themselves using your product in extreme conditions by tagging you on social media. This is one of the best ways to turn your customers into brand advocates.

Takeaways:

• Use contests to incentivize your customers to make videos and share them on social media for you.
• GoPro’s videos are almost exclusively customer-shot adventures. If that’s the one video format that works for you, double down on it.

10) Video Listicles: WatchMojo

Listicles quickly dominated the content marketing world. Since the average web user skims articles, listicles ensure that they retain all important information. This is why 54% of bloggers write these types of engaging blogs.

Are listicles also a successful type of content for video? Absolutely. And channels such as WatchMojo, that often features the “top 10″ format, prove this:

WatchMojo is a YouTube channel covering different types of video content, including shopping, business, entertainment, and finance. But all videos have one thing in common: they’re in listicle format.

The best part of a listicle is you don’t need to cover new information. The countdown structure intrigues viewers, who will be interested to see which items get mentioned and when.

Take the video Top 10 World Events That Left Us Speechless. WatchMojo uploaded this video in August 2023, yet some of these events occurred decades ago. Still, the video has generated 191K views at the time of writing.

As a business, you can make listicle videos about anything in your industry. You can report on past events, create best-of content, and even “most underrated” videos.

Takeaways:

• Listicles are engaging video content popularized by the blogging industry in response to skimming readers.
• WatchMojo proves you can create a listicle about anything, even past events, and still gain viewership.

11) Ask Me Anything: Elle

Ask Me Anything (AMA) is viewer-facing content where you invite your audience to ask any question. This type of content is popular among your audience since your viewers can interact with you, resulting in content like personalized videos. However, it can be difficult to interact with a celebrity or major influencer.

Fashion magazine Elle blurred that line by hosting AMAs with major celebrities. They ask them personal questions, such as a memory they could relive over again. This interview they did with actress Zendaya generated 921K views in one month:

As a business, hosting an AMA is a chance to get more personal with your customers. Invite them to ask questions about you and your business. While the best course of action is to go live, you can also have your audience members send questions separately, and you can answer them in a pre-recorded video.

Takeaways:

• Ask Me Anything is interview content where audience members interact with an influential figure.
• Elle Magazine interviews celebrities using an AMA format so that fans can learn more personal information about them.
• You can host AMAs directly with customers, either live-recording the video or answering their questions in a separate video.

12) Testimonial Video: Conversion Rate Experts

While most of the examples we’ve discussed this far are typically brands that leverage YouTube, Conversion Rate Experts is an excellent example of a company that incorporates video testimonials onto its website.

Given that they are the Conversion Rate Experts, it’s no surprise that these testimonial videos likely convert extremely well:

Rather than housing these videos on YouTube, they chose to keep them on their website, since this helps convince people to consider converting. However, it’s unlikely that these testimonials would drive traffic to a YouTube channel.

Takeaways:

• Use video testimonials on your sales page, and don’t be afraid to include several. CRE has a total of 83 testimonial videos on its sales page!
• While video testimonials are excellent for conversions, they won’t drive traffic and followers to a YouTube channel.

13) Gaming Videos: IGN

There are 3.09 billion gamers globally, making this one of the most profitable industries. It should be no surprise that players consume gaming content, specifically videos.

IGN is one of the channels that has dominated the gaming sphere:

They create different types of video content in the gaming sphere, such as news, reviews, clickbait, and playthroughs. Even if your business isn’t in gaming, you can take some lessons from IGN’s YouTube channel.

Look at this Resident Evil 4L Separate Ways Original vs Remake Comparison. The video shows the improvement in gameplay and graphics, offering Resident Evil fans a unique yet compelling way to view their favorite game. In three hours, the video generated 19K views (85K views after 3 weeks) – clearly a successful one for the channel.

If you’re stuck on creating content, use the IGN YouTube channel as inspiration to create effective and popular videos.

Takeaways:

• Since gaming is a popular industry, companies like IGN have successful YouTube channels.
• Businesses in all industries can use channels such as IGN’s as inspiration for their own video marketing strategy.

14) Interactive Videos: PopMov

Since video content has taken over the internet, more users demand innovation from brands. Interactive videos have served that demand since they’re a form of personalized videos – so much so that interactive videos generate 18% more leads, 25% better conversions, 11% more referrals, 21% more web traffic, and 14% more sales than passive videos.

There are many ways to make an innovative video. You can make quizzes, surveys and games available in a video format, where users can control the video on their smartphone or computer.

The YouTube channel MindPop specializes in interactive videos, such as “We Read Your Mind 12 Times” and “We Know Which Card You Will Pick.”

They have multiple channels, such as an entire series dedicated to the popular Netflix show Squid Game. If you’re looking for a child-friendly option, PopMov has different options available, such as this Mario video.

Takeaway:

• Interactive videos are an innovative format that increases conversions, leads, web traffic, and sales.
• While PopMov makes interactive gaming videos, you can also make quizzes and surveys in video format.

15) Unscripted Reality Videos: Miller Farm Media

Reality TV has been dominating entertainment for years. For example, the reality TV show Survivor attracts 2.5 billion viewers. Reality television is popular because the cast consists of real people – not celebrities – faced with realistic challenges. Plus, reality TV is cheaper than scripted shows, making it more appealing to production companies.

The good news is that your company can use these same benefits with your video content marketing strategy. And don’t worry, you don’t need to include fights or parties!

Miller Farm Media created a reality TV show spoof video called “Shoot for Broke”:

The video is a The Office-esque glimpse into a video marketing company and what goes behind the scenes in video production. The video features interviews with the employees, shots of Orange County, CA, and several funny clips.

Even though Miller Farm Media explains they’re often broke in an over-saturated market, this type of video isn’t expensive to make. All you need is some good filming and editing equipment and staff members who are willing to participate. Plus, reality show-inspired content makes great company culture videos.

Takeaway:

• Unscripted reality TV is engaging, and production companies save money on script writing and professional actors.
• Miller Farm Media proves that businesses can use this video type in their marketing strategy, taking on a theme similar to shows such as The Office.

Having difficulty figuring out which video content type is best for your business goals? Single Grain’s video creation and marketing experts can help you!👇

Book My Free Video Marketing Consultation

16) Behind-the-Scenes: Victoria’s Secret

Victoria’s Secret has one of the most popular YouTube channels, and after receiving backlash for insensitive content, they have rebranded and grown their channel to nearly 2M subscribers.

Some of their most successful videos thus far are behind-the-scenes clips of shoots, interviews with designers, and vlog-style videos with their models:

People love to see behind-the-scenes videos, so if you’re an e-commerce store, try incorporating more of them into your YouTube channel.

In addition, the marketing team was smart to realize that people love Victoria’s Secret models. Many of these models already have YouTube channels of their own. Therefore, they did videos with several of the models who already had channels, and the effect was similar to hiring a very famous influencer.

For example, this video with model and YouTuber Romee Strijd is one of the most popular on the channel, with nearly 185,000 views. As you can see, the video next to it with a model that doesn’t have a YouTube channel only has about 15,000 views.

While you may not have a group of Victoria’s Secret models for your marketing video, think about which of your employees already have a following on social media. How can you incorporate them into your marketing strategy?

If you don’t have any thought leaders in your company, is there a way you can create some? For example, can you choose a brand ambassador and send them to conferences, make them the face of your brand, and build their online presence?

Or can you partner with influencers? A long-term partnership may be one of the best ways to bring people closer to your brand.

Takeaways:

• Leverage influencers for your videos or make one of your employees an industry influencer.
• Create behind-the-scenes shoots and share your philosophies and brand story.

Learn More:
* Top 5 Reasons Why Your Videos Are Not Performing Well
* 9 Tips to Close Sales with Video Content
* 20 Pre-Production Tips to Create Successful Video Content in 2023

17) 360°/VR: National Geographic

Virtual reality (VR) is booming, and while we’re not quite at the point of offering a full-on VR experience through video content, 360° videos are a pretty good alternative. These immersive-style videos use fisheye lenses to place users in the center of the action, allowing them to pan around the scene with their finger (smartphone) or mouse (laptop).

If you want to make educational videos or want to take your viewers on a new journey, this is a great format.

This VR video from National Geographic Explorer Martin Edström takes the viewer into the wild to get a close-up view of some lions. (Once you hit play on this video, touch/click and hold to move the video/your point of view back and forth.)

These types of VR videos offer an exciting and immersive experience for the viewer right in the comfort of their own home while allowing marketers to optimize content that is truly memorable. And National Geographic’s content is particularly well-suited for 360-degree videos:

You don’t, of course, have to make a VR video of your CEO in the Amazon Rainforest. But at the very least you can make a virtual tour video of the inside and/or outside of your business to include on Google Maps street view feature:

Takeaways:

• Equipment for making a 360 video can get expensive, but “even if you just have a small budget, there are still some good possibilities for shooting 360-degree videos. For example, providers such as Insta360 have action cameras that are both affordable and deliver astonishingly good quality. The Insta360 cameras also offer what is known as ‘Flow State’ image stabilization, which works amazingly well.”
• 360-degree videos can be filmed, distributed, and optimized with various Google tools, such as Cardboard Camera or VR View.

18) Event Coverage

Event coverage videos are a great way to showcase the highlights of conferences, concerts, festivals and other events.

With the use of multiple cameras and skilled video production, viewers can feel like they are right in the middle of the action. Event coverage videos capture the energy and excitement of live events, giving viewers a taste of what it was like to be there in person.

Event coverage videos can include behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with key players or performers, and shots of the audience enjoying the event. If your content includes interviews with your staff members, this can also be a great company culture video.

These videos can promote future events, highlight sponsors or provide a memento for attendees. By showcasing the best parts of an event, event coverage videos can help to build excitement and anticipation for the next one.

Event coverage videos allow organizers to reach a wider audience and provide a valuable resource for those unable to attend in person. Event coverage videos can be shared on social media, YouTube, or other platforms, making it easy for viewers to relive and share the experience.

This video is a recording of the first day of Lollapalooza 2021 Livestream, which is a virtual music festival that features top artists from various genres:

Takeaways:

• Event coverage videos capture the excitement and energy of live events and can be used to promote future events, highlight sponsors, or provide a memento for attendees.
• Event coverage videos are an excellent way to allow organizers to reach a wider audience and provide a valuable resource for those unable to attend in person.

Related Content: Is YouTube a Good Source for Organic Customer Acquisition?

19) Webinars: Marketing Secrets

Platforms like Zoom revolutionized the webinar, an online class or conference held via video conferencing. Since Zoom offers the option to download the video after live recording, many businesses post the video on YouTube and other social media platforms.

Why are webinars so popular among businesses? In a survey, 89% of respondents said webinars generated more qualified leads than other channels, making them effective marketing videos. Since webinars are perfect as master classes, they’re also perfect as educational videos.

Plus, webinars are affordable. All you need is a Zoom account, a computer with a webcam, an effective course, and someone on your team willing to host the webinar.

Many businesses host webinars, but Marketing Secrets is one of the most prestigious examples:

Marketing Secrets creates various types of video content, from small business videos to sales techniques. But they often host webinars, such as Secrets Masterclass. You can watch the entire video on YouTube for free.

Takeaways:

• Webinars are effective for generating qualified leads and are affordable to make.
• You can download the webinar from Zoom and upload it to YouTube and other social media platforms.

20) Promotional Videos: My Switzerland

Promotional videos are types of video content that most businesses make. After all, promotional videos explain your business and why you should shop there. But without the right angle, a promotional video plays like a commercial.

There are plenty of brands that make creative promotional videos, such as the travel agency My Switzerland. To sell a vacation to Switzerland, you don’t need to do much. After all, the country is beautiful, the food is delicious, and it’s full of activities. But that’s the angle My Switzerland has for its videos – Switzerland is so perfect there aren’t many ways to market the country.

How does My Switzerland use this angle? By getting celebrities involved, of course. Former tennis player Roger Federer is the spokesman, and he tries to woo celebrities into filming a commercial for My Switzerland.

From Robert de Niro declining a commercial because “there’s no drama”:

…to Anne Hathaway and Roger taken out of the commercial to not take away from Switzerland’s beauty, each video is unique and compelling – all featuring Switzerland’s perfection.

Takeaway:

• Promotional videos are a popular type of content, but can seem too much like a commercial without the right angle.
• Travel agency My Switzerland gets creative with their promotional videos, having celebrities decline or be unsatisfied with commercials because the country is too perfect for their performance.

21) Fake Documentaries: Slack

Documentaries are the second-most commonly released films in North America. Viewers love documentaries because they’re informative yet entertaining. Plus, documentaries can fit different genres: you can find documentaries about crime, politics, and even cats.

Because documentaries became so popular, the “fake documentary” genre emerged. While Borat is the most famous example, these types of videos cover everything from conspiracy theories to made-up bands.

Because fake documentaries are engaging and simple to make, businesses can use these as marketing videos. That’s exactly what Slack did:

Slack collaborated with Sandwich Video, Inc., creating a spoof documentary in which Slack hired Sandwich Video to create a commercial for them. Sandwich Video had never heard of Slack and tried to integrate Slack’s simple business messaging system into its unorganized communication and file-sharing strategy.

The result? Well, Sandwich Video promoted Slack in a company culture video. The video features interviews with Sandwich Video’s staff members and how they used Slack to communicate with the production team and share files.

The video is also humorous since the staff members admit they also use Slack outside of work activities, such as to send funny pictures.

Another great example is Zendesk. Google search was flooded with the keyword “zendesk alternative,” so they took back the traffic by creating a fake documentary of a grunge band called Zendesk Alternative.

Takeaway:

• Documentaries and fake documentaries are informational yet entertaining forms of video content.
• Slack got creative with its video marketing strategy, collaborating with Sandwich Video, Inc. to create a fake documentary where Sandwich Video’s production team uses Slack for the first time.

Last Word on Engaging Video Content

So if you’re not riding the video wave, you’re likely sinking. Ignoring video content isn’t just a missed chance to captivate your audience — it’s practically handing your competitors the spotlight.

Remember: Creating a brand video doesn’t require a Hollywood budget. Your iPhone is more than enough to kickstart your video journey.

By crafting interesting videos in different formats that resonate with your business’ ethos, target audience and objectives, you’re not just creating content — you’re building connections. And in the end, it’s these genuine connections that drive action and foster loyalty.

If you need to produce engaging video content to grow your business, Single Grain’s video creation and marketing experts can help!👇

Book My Free Video Marketing Consultation

Related Video

For more insights and lessons about marketing, check out our Marketing School podcast on YouTube.

Additional content contributed by Stephanie Jensen and Sam Pak.

The post 21 Engaging Video Content Types That Convert appeared first on Single Grain.

Since mobile devices now play a key role in the overall growth of marketing spend worldwide, mobile advertising has become a primary mode of digital advertising. It’s both cost-efficient and conversion-oriented.

In this post, you’ll find 11 mobile ad examples that proved to be a hit with their target audience and a big success for their brands.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

The Benefits of Mobile Advertising

Before we get to our list of mobile advertising examples, let’s take a quick look at the benefits:

👍 Reach a Wider Audience: Data from GlobalStats shows that mobile boasts a larger market share (54.46%) than desktop (43.67%). Meanwhile, mobile accounts for over half of global internet traffic. The takeaway is simple: Mobile advertising gives you the potential to reach a much broader and diverse audience compared to other types of digital advertising.

👍 Reach a Younger Audience: If you’re targeting a younger market, mobile marketing will ensure that your ads are seen by the right crowd. People between 18 and 34 years are far more likely to access the internet on their mobile phones than on a desktop or laptop computer. This means that mobile advertising can be a more effective method for connecting with your target audience demographic.

👍 Precise Ad Targeting: Even in an age where privacy is a top priority, mobile phones are intimately linked to their users’ behaviors and online identities in a way that other devices and media platforms just aren’t. This allows you to draw on a wealth of valuable data to target your ideal customer with pinpoint precision.

👍 Use Personalization to Your Advantage: The aforementioned user data can make a big difference when it comes to delivering personalized offers directly to your users’ devices. Ad messages can be tailored to pre-defined preferences and behaviors, and as we discussed in this guide to personalizing the customer journey, this can have a positive impact on your ability to generate greater brand loyalty and revenue.

👍 Optimize Your Ad Spend: Compared to traditional advertising channels like TV or print, mobile marketing can be more cost-effective. Mobile ads allow for precise targeting and real-time adjustments, meaning you can allocate your advertising budget more efficiently by consistently investing in those campaigns and ad creatives that produce the best ROI.

👍 Encourage an Immediate Response: The convenience of smartphones removes all the friction between your ads and your customers’ actions. Whether it’s downloading an app, making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, your ads can include CTAs that compel audiences to take action right away. Ultimately, this can mean faster results and better conversion rates than other types of advertising.

👍 Use Cross-Device Targeting: In today’s digital-centric world, it’s not uncommon for users to switch between smartphones, tablets and other devices depending on their current circumstances. With mobile ads, you can maintain a consistent and cohesive advertising presence across all these devices, ensuring that your messages reach users no matter which one they’re using, ultimately reinforcing that all-important brand recognition.

The Various Types of Mobile Advertising

Ok, almost there! Before studying the following mobile advertising examples, it’s worthwhile to familiarize yourself with the different ad formats:

📲 Banner Ads: Banner ads are one of the most common types of display ads found on websites and apps. Typically positioned at the top, bottom or sides of a page, these ads are designed to attract the viewer’s attention and encourage clicks.

📲 Interstitial Ads: Interstitial ads are immersive, full-screen ads that demand attention by occupying the screen during transitions between content; for example, during app loading screens or when navigating between app pages.

📲 Native Ads: Native ads blend seamlessly with the content of the platform they appear on, matching the design and style of the surrounding content to create a non-disruptive and more natural advertising experience.

📲 Video Ads: One of the most self-explanatory ad types, video ads are the kind of short video clips that can appear before, during and after multimedia content (such as YouTube videos). That said, you may find video used for stand-alone display ads on websites, social media and apps.

📲 Rich Media Ads: Rich media ads are perfect for creating interactive ads that foster a sense of urgency in your audience and encourage them to take immediate action. Going above standard text and images, these dynamic ad types will often incorporate elements like animations, videos and interactive features to encourage maximum engagement.

📲 In-App Ads: This essentially refers to any type of advertising a user sees while using a mobile app, whether that’s the standard banner display ads, interstitials or reward ads.

📲 Rewarded Ads: Rewarded ads are a type of in-app ad that offers users a reward, like in-game currency or content, in exchange for engaging with the ad. This strategy can prove highly effective for incentivizing users to take action.

📲 Gamified Ads: Not too dissimilar from reward ads, gamified ads are based on game-like elements or interactive challenges that can be used to engage audiences. This makes them a great choice for mobile gaming apps, though it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that you could use a creative gamified ad to promote your e-commerce business.

📲 Push Notifications: Push notifications are short messages sent directly to users’ mobile devices. While not traditional ads, they can be a great way to reengage lapsed users of your app or send targeted offers.

📲 Location-Based Ads: Location-based ads use a user’s geographical location, like when they are near a specific location, to deliver relevant content or special offers via push notifications or ads. This can be done via GPS technology or beacons in physical stores.

📲 Social Media Ads: Like video ads, social media ads require little explanation. They appear within social networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn. The unique thing about social media ads is that they’re perhaps the most versatile, expanding the number of advertising options available to include things like sponsored posts or short-form video stories that can be highly targeted based on users’ demographics.

📲 Mobile Search Ads: Search ads appear at the top of search engine results pages when users search for specific keywords or phrases. They’re commonly one of the most popular forms of digital advertising thanks to their unique targeting and budget management features.

📲 SMS/MMS Marketing: SMS/MMS marketing involves sending promotional text messages or multimedia messages to users’ mobile devices. These messages can include offers, updates or other mobile marketing content. MMS is similar to SMS, but allows the inclusion of multimedia content like images, audio, and video clips.

📲 Pop-Up Ads: Perhaps the most intrusive and maligned types of advertising, pop-ups are exactly what they sound like: small windows that pop up on website pages and in mobile apps, often to promote a special offer or encourage mailing list sign-ups. While they can certainly prove effective in demanding users’ attention, using them without restraint can often be to the detriment of your overall user experience.

📲 Voice Search Optimization: Optimizing content for voice search to target users who use voice assistants on their mobile devices.

📲 Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Ads: These innovative ads offer immersive experiences through mobile devices, often used in gaming, retail and real estate.

📲 Email Marketing: Optimized for mobile devices, these campaigns are designed to be easily readable and engaging on small screens.

📲 QR Codes: Our final mobile advertising example format is the QR code. Quick Response codes that users can scan using their smartphone’s camera to access specific content, offers or websites, often used in print marketing.

Different Types of Mobile Marketing Campaign Goals

Mobile marketing campaigns can have a variety of goals, depending on the overall strategy and objectives of a business. Some common goals include:

✅ Increasing Brand Awareness: Using mobile channels to introduce a brand or product to a wider audience and create brand recall.

✅ Driving Sales: Encouraging immediate purchases through promotions, special offers, or exclusive deals available only on mobile devices.

✅ Lead Generation: Collecting contact information from potential customers for future marketing efforts. This can be achieved through sign-up forms, contests, or downloads.

✅ Enhancing Customer Engagement: Using interactive content, social media integration, or personalized messaging to increase customer interaction and loyalty.

✅ Boosting Website Traffic: Directing users to a website or landing page to increase traffic and engagement with more detailed content.

✅ Improving Customer Retention: Engaging existing customers with loyalty programs, personalized offers, or customer service initiatives to encourage repeat business.

✅ Gathering Customer Insights: Collecting data on customer preferences, behaviors, and feedback to inform future marketing strategies and product development.

✅ Location-Based Marketing: Targeting customers in a specific geographic area to drive foot traffic to physical stores or to offer location-specific promotions.

✅ Enhancing User Experience: Providing a seamless and enjoyable user experience on mobile apps or websites to strengthen brand perception and customer satisfaction.

✅ Social Media Engagement: Increasing followers, likes, shares, or interactions on social media platforms through targeted content and campaigns.

✅ Event Promotion: Using mobile marketing to promote events, webinars, or workshops, including registration drives and reminders.

✅ Cross-Selling or Upselling: Encouraging existing customers to purchase complementary or premium products through targeted recommendations.

Each goal requires a specific approach and strategy in terms of campaign design, content, and target audience. The effectiveness of a mobile marketing campaign in achieving these goals is often measured through key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversion rates, click-through rates, engagement rates, and return on investment (ROI).

Get My Free Marketing Plan

11 Mobile Advertising Examples from Top Brands

Now that we know all about ad campaign formats, benefits and goals, let’s get to our list of mobile advertising examples!

1) Domino’s

With over 91% of sales coming from digital channels, Domino’s Pizza is a leading brand that considers itself to be a “truly digital-first business,” so it’s no surprise that the company knocked it out of the park with its Points for Pies campaign:

One of the first brands to demonstrate how effective rewards-based mobile advertising can be, Domino’s initially launched its campaign for a limited 12-week period, timed to coincide with the annual Super Bowl.

At the time, customers could open the Domino’s app, upload a picture of a pizza (even one from a competitor such as Pizza Hut) and receive points that were later redeemable for free pizza. The campaign was hailed as a “brilliant idea,” and helped the company improve customer loyalty and app sign-ups.

Takeaway: By integrating gamification, user-generated content and a competitive reward system, along with genius timing with the Super Bowl, Domino’s strengthened customer engagement and loyalty with an innovative approach to enhancing brand loyalty and digital sales.

2) Netflix

Netflix has often garnered just as much attention for its outside-the-box approach to marketing as it has for the shows it markets.

Such was the case with the way it incorporated mobile advertising into an integrated campaign for its hit show Wednesday:

Promoting the permanently pessimistic title character, the company launched an “anti-marketing” campaign, with darkly humorous creatives running on Uber, mobile videos and display ads.

The result was not only a bronze Clio Award, but also a successful campaign that resulted in Wednesday becoming the second-most popular English-language show on the streaming service, with over 1.02 billion total hours viewed across 150 million households in just three short weeks.

Takeaway: Netflix’s mobile ad campaigns for its hit show “Wednesday” showcased an inventive “anti-marketing” approach, blending dark humor and unconventional creatives. This strategy, applied across various mobile platforms, effectively captured the show’s unique tone and the character’s pessimistic persona.

3) Ruffles

Ruffles is the world-renowned potato chip brand that has been marketed by Frito-Lay since 1961.

Thanks to a strong partnership with the NBA, the brand has taken major strides to integrate itself into the sports market as a means of targeting a young, male demographic. To achieve that objective, the company launched its #RoughLife campaign, taking a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek look at “first-world” problems:

The campaign happened in two key stages: First, the company partnered with the New York Jets wide receiver, Eric Decker, to increase awareness and social media engagement among sports fans. Then, it launched a series of tongue-in-cheek ads placed entirely on mobile and digital platforms.

The campaign reaped significant rewards for the popular chip manufacturer, including:

• 8% increase in sales
• 121% increase in brand mentions
• 1,300% brand engagement boost

Takeaway: Ruffles’ clever approach, humorously addressing “first-world” problems, demonstrated the effectiveness of targeted, platform-specific, and relatable advertising in driving significant commercial and engagement outcomes.

4) Starbucks

Whether you’re a coffee aficionado or not, there’s no denying that Starbucks has always led the way when it comes to keeping up with the times and giving its customer base what it wants.

It launched its mobile app years ago, and at one point, it was the most successful payment app on the market, with more active mobile users than Apple’s and Google’s own payment apps:

Sales from the app account for 25% of all the company’s transactions, and this will continue if Starbucks maintains its efforts in providing customers with deeply personalized advertising experiences.

The global coffee brand harnesses the power of AI to power an algorithm that generates in-app ads and recommendations based on a user’s purchasing habits and preferences, all while tying them into the brand’s current mobile marketing objectives.

The ROI on its personalized mobile marketing campaigns has been so significant that the brand referred to it as the single biggest factor influencing an increase in spend per customer.

Takeaway: The success of this mobile advertising example is largely due to their focus on delivering deeply personalized advertising experiences. By using AI algorithms, the app generates targeted in-app ads and recommendations based on individual purchasing habits and preferences, aligning with the brand’s current mobile marketing goals.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

5) Hopper

Hopper is a mobile travel app, akin to Booking.com and Expedia for the younger generation of travelers. Knowing that its audience is skewed toward the younger demographics, the platform opted to create a unique mobile advertising campaign with user-generated content on TikTok:

Its agency partnered with top creators on the social media platform, who created their own short videos promoting Hopper.

By tapping into the authenticity and sense of social proof that influencer marketing has to offer, Hopper was able to increase conversions while simultaneously lowering ad spend.

Takeaway: Hopper’s mobile advertising strategy smartly targeted younger demographics by harnessing the power of TikTok’s influencer marketing. By collaborating with top content creators on the platform, Hopper leveraged user-generated content to promote its services, showcasing the impact of influencer-driven, platform-specific advertising in the digital age.

6) Sephora

European beauty brand Sephora successfully launched an Instagram mobile ad campaign for its new fragrance line, designed to boost brand awareness for a new line of fragrances.

Sephora Collection France used a unique strategy that combined influencer marketing with augmented reality (AR) filters: Neuroscientist Jessica Herrington contributed to the development of AR filters, while 3D animator Roman Bratschi crafted captivating videos.

This collaboration aligned with the campaign’s “Smell with Your Eyes” theme that translated scents into visual experiences.

The result was a 17-point lift in ad recall and a 1.3-point lift in purchase intent compared to the brand’s standard day-to-day campaigns.

Takeaway: Sephora’s Instagram mobile ad campaign for its new fragrance line proved highly effective, demonstrating the power of integrating cutting-edge technology and creative content to elevate brand awareness and consumer engagement.

7) M&M’s

Leading candy brand M&M’s used mobile search marketing with cross-browser targeting as part of a strategic campaign designed to boost click-throughs, conversions and revenue.

To do this, the company increased its efforts in geographical targeting and deployed multi-device marketing for the launch of its MY M&M’s service, where customers could design their own personalized candies:

By creating ads targeting 150 carefully selected keywords, the company was able to produce strong results, including:

• 41% conversion rate increase
• 31% return on ad spend increase
• 22% revenue increase

Takeaway: M&M’s mobile search marketing campaign for its MY M&M’s service, where customers can personalize candies, skillfully made use of cross-browser targeting and geographical targeting alongside multi-device marketing. This strategic approach showcased the effectiveness of targeted keyword advertising and geographic specificity in driving measurable business results.

8) McDonald’s

McDonald’s may have no problems in the brand recognition department, but the iconic fast-food chain still proved that even the biggest companies in the world can benefit from mobile advertising.

The company aimed to increase engagement in its My McDonald’s Rewards app. To do that, the brand employed InMobi to develop a rich-media interstitial ad unit with an in-built game:

The game challenged mobile users to earn points by adding McDonald’s items to a takeout bag, after which they were directed to an app download landing page with details of how they could redeem their points.

The results were impressive:

• 1.01M unique users
• 400K engagements
• 12.29% engagement rate (more than 10% higher than the industry average)
• 87.82% MOAT (Measurement of Attention and Transparency) viewability

If you’re looking for proof that gamification really can work in the mobile advertising arena, the success of this particular campaign must surely be it.

Takeaway: This mobile advertising example of Mickey D’s My McDonald’s Rewards app brilliantly utilized gamification to enhance user engagement. This campaign stands as a compelling testament to the effectiveness of gamification in mobile advertising, demonstrating its potential to significantly boost user interaction and brand engagement.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

9) Headspace

Headspace is a transatlantic healthcare company that can attribute the runaway success of its meditation app (70 million users and counting) to its simple-yet-effective mobile ad campaign:

Knowing full well that 85% of video ads are watched with the sound off, Headspace skipped the audio altogether to create short, silent ads — an approach perfectly in keeping with a brand that’s all about helping people achieve a calm and peaceful mindset.

Takeaway: Headspace’s ad campaign for its meditation app excelled through a simple yet impactful approach: creating short, silent ads. This strategy was informed by the insight that 85% of video ads are watched without sound, making it a perfect fit for a brand centered on promoting calmness and peace. This clever adaptation to user behavior highlights the importance of brand consistency and audience understanding in crafting successful mobile advertising campaigns.

10) The Walking Dead Chop Shop and Hyundai

The Walking Dead Chop Shop was an innovative advertising campaign designed to increase recognition and positive sentiment toward the Hyundai automotive brand by tying it in with the hit TV show.

The campaign involved creating a unique app in which users could build and customize their own vehicle that would (in theory anyway) help them survive a zombie apocalypse:

Winning multiple awards including Best of Show at the Digiday Awards, a Webby Award and a gold Clio Award, the campaign boosted Hyundai’s website traffic by 150%, while the brand became the fastest-growing car company on Facebook.

Takeaway: The central feature of this mobile advertising example was a unique app that allowed users to design and customize their vehicles, tailored to surviving a zombie apocalypse. This creative and engaging concept showcased the effectiveness of interactive and themed mobile apps in driving brand growth and audience engagement.

11) Samsung

How do you advertise to an audience that loathes advertising?

If you’re electronics giant Samsung, you flip the whole process on its head, making your ads so rare and exclusive that even the most anti-advertising young people want to actively hunt them down:

That’s precisely what the company did with its Flipvertising campaign, which saw it promote the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 by giving away a free one to those who saw its short pre-roll ad placed on video apps.

There was just one catch: The company had deliberately used targeting options that would make it incredibly difficult for anybody to be served the ad.

Like the hunt for Willy Wonka’s golden tickets, this sparked something of a frenzy as Gen Zers (the most skeptical audience when it comes to advertising) set off on a digital scavenger hunt in the hopes of landing a free mobile phone.

This involved users making search after search for Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 related terms in the hopes that the algorithm would serve them the elusive ad.

With each search, users would be shown more and more organically produced, unsponsored Flip 4 content, like product reviews, unboxing videos and tutorials, none of which cost Samsung a penny of its ad budget.

By figuring out this clever way to draw an advertising-cynical Gen Z audience to its brand, Samsung netted a 34% sales increase on the Flip 4 and enjoyed engagement rates that were 600% higher than industry benchmarks.

Takeaway: Samsung strategically limited their ad’s reach through precise targeting, spurring Gen Zers, known for their skepticism towards advertising, on a fervent quest. This clever strategy not only drew a traditionally advertising-cynical audience to the brand, demonstrating the power of creative and unconventional advertising approaches in capturing the attention of challenging demographics.

Last Word on Mobile Advertising Examples

Mobile advertising is one of the best options to get the word out about your brand, and essential as part of an overall effective mobile marketing strategy. There are numerous ad formats for mobile phones that easily allow you to reach your current and potential customers like never before.

The ad spend on mobile (and subsequent conversion rates) is way higher than any other digital advertising platform, so if you want to reach a wider range of demographics, from Boomers and Gen Xers to Millennials and Gen Z audiences, then mobile should be your preferred platform for advertising.

The list above showcases some of the best mobile advertising examples delivered by some of the best brands around the world. Let these ideas for different types of mobile ads inspire your own mobile marketing efforts and take your business to the next level!

If you’re ready to maximize your conversion rates with mobile ad campaigns, Single Grain’s mobile advertising experts can help!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Additional content contributed by David Borgogni.

The post 11 Mobile Advertising Examples to Inspire Your Next Ad Campaign appeared first on Single Grain.

A Facebook Group is a powerful tool for building a community and promoting your brand. But if you’re asking yourself how to grow a Facebook Group with little or no money, you’ve come to the right place.

After the Facebook algorithm update that deprioritized brand content several years ago, Groups have become even more important for connecting with your followers. Growing a Facebook Group from scratch can be a daunting task, though, especially if you don’t have a budget for paid advertising.

But don’t worry, because it’s absolutely possible to build a thriving Group without spending a dollar!

Whether you’re a small business owner, a marketer or a community manager, these tips will help you increase your Group’s visibility, engagement and member base. We’ll show you how to grow a Facebook Group from 0 to 10,000 members using proven strategies that don’t require any money.

Key Highlights on Growing Your Facebook Group

• Comprehensive guide to organic growth with specific steps for reaching 10,000 members without spending on ads.
• Engagement tactics that work: Tips like hosting live Q&As, creating polls, and sparking discussions that keep members engaged.
• Maximizing Facebook’s built-in tools: Effective use of Events to schedule meetups, Units to organize content, and Announcements to share important updates.
• Promotion strategies for visibility: Cross-promotion on other platforms, partnerships with influencers, and delivering consistent, high-value content.
• Building a positive community culture: How to foster a supportive environment that keeps members active and encourages them to invite others.
• Case studies with actionable takeaways from groups that achieved rapid growth, showing what really works to scale a community.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Get My Free Marketing Plan

What Specifically Is a Facebook Group?

A Facebook Group is a place where an online community can come together to engage on a shared interest, whether that’s a cause, an issue or an activity. A Group is not the same as a Facebook Page (aka Facebook Business Pages), which was designed to be the official Facebook presence for brands, business and celebrities.

For example, let’s say you’re a fan of the Netflix show The Crown. If you want to keep up to date with the latest information about the show, you’d connect with the official Facebook Page:

Alternatively, you could join a The Crown Facebook Group to chat about what’s happening on the show with fellow fans:

There’s one other key difference. Whereas Facebook Pages are automatically public, meaning that anyone can see them, Groups can be set up in one of three ways:

• Publicly Available: Anyone can join.
• Administrator Approval: The Facebook Group admin reviews applications to join and decides whether or not to approve them.
• Private Group: Group membership is by invitation only.

The Benefits of a Facebook Group Page

You might already be posting regularly on LinkedIn and other social networks, alongside a host of paid and organic search activity. So, what’s so special about having a Facebook Group? Why should you be paying attention?

Since Facebook tweaked its algorithm a few years ago to promote more social media posts from family and friends and less commercial content, the reach of organic posts from businesses became more limited. This forced brands to choose between investing more money in Facebook Ads or building a vibrant Group to continue reaching their target audience on the platform.

Here are the top benefits of having a Facebook Group:

• Generates Better Engagement: Facebook Groups have far better engagement than fan pages and can create an active community centered on your products or services. They can be professionally focused, hyper-locational, service-based or related to your hobbies and interests.
• Helps You Connect With People Sharing Similar Interests: Facebook Groups are created around specific topics, niches, hobbies, industries or causes that might not have a large presence on other social media platforms. By joining or creating a Group, you’re likely to encounter individuals who are experts, enthusiasts or professionals in the field.
• Makes It Easier for You to Share Important Announcements: Group posts often appear prominently in members’ feeds, increasing the likelihood of your announcement being seen. Besides, announcements within the Group don’t get lost in the noise of a general feed. Group members are more likely to pay attention to content that’s relevant to their interests.
• Helps You Get Quick Feedback: Facebook Groups foster open communication and encourage members to share their opinions. They also let you create polls and surveys to collect structured feedback. Polls are quick and easy for members to respond to, making them a useful tool for gathering insights.
• Offers Networking Opportunities: Groups can serve as virtual networking events. You can connect with professionals, experts and peers in your industry or field. Networking opportunities within a Group can lead to collaborations, partnerships and even job opportunities.
• Helps You Create a Fan Base: As you engage with new Group members and consistently provide valuable content, you can attract a loyal following. These enthusiastic members can become your advocates, spreading the word about your brand or content and contributing to the growth of your fan base.
• Enhances Visibility for Your Content: Facebook’s algorithm tends to prioritize content from Groups in users’ news feeds. This means that posts from Groups are more likely to appear prominently in members’ feeds compared to posts from personal profiles or Pages. Also, since Facebook Group members have joined the Group based on shared interests, the algorithm considers Group content as highly relevant to them.
• Builds Brand Loyalty: Creating a Facebook Group centered on your brand or product gives your customers and followers a dedicated space to connect, share and interact. In a Group, you can also interact with members on a more personal level compared to public posts. Responding to comments, addressing questions and acknowledging members’ contributions humanizes your brand and builds a stronger connection.

Eager to make your Facebook Group the talk of the town on social media? Single Grain’s social media growth experts can help!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

11 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Group

So, you’ve put in the hard work. You’ve figured out what you’re trying to achieve, you’ve got the time and resources to make it happen, and you’ve drawn up a clear set of guidelines.

Now, let’s discuss the best tips on how to grow your Facebook Group.

Give People a Compelling Reason to Join

Wondering how to grow your Facebook Group fast? Here are some excellent ways to create a compelling reason for users to join your Group:

• Use the “About” Section: This can help explain exactly what makes your Group so great. Detail the Group’s purpose, the sort of Group posts they can expect to see and the kind of experience that users can expect. You’ve only got 3,000 characters to play with, so use them wisely.
• Give Users an Incentive to Sign Up: We’re not saying you have to give away a discount code or free shipping the second they join, but you should outline your value proposition. For example, let them know if you run weekly giveaways, competitions and promotions that are exclusive to Group members, or promise to give them the first look at your upcoming product launches.
• Pick an Engaging Theme for Your Group: It should be something that people will want to talk about with other like-minded people. Take a leaf out of social media maven Sunny Lenarduzzi’s book; she has several Groups are based on topics that are relevant and interesting to her audience:

Encourage Engagement and Interaction

A pretty easy way to grow your Facebook Group is to foster the community spirit by encouraging engagement! Sounds easy, but if you’re hard up for how to do this, check out these tips:

• Respond to Comments Promptly: Make it a point to actively respond to member comments. This shows that you value their input and encourages a two-way conversation. Personalize your responses to make members feel acknowledged.
• Seek and Act on Feedback: Regularly ask members for their thoughts on how the group is run, potential topics for discussion, or types of content they’d like to see. Use surveys or polls for structured feedback and demonstrate that you’re implementing suggestions, which can increase members’ sense of ownership and investment in the group.
• Create Interactive Posts: Design posts that invite interaction, such as “fill in the blank” posts, opinion polls, or asking members to share their experiences or tips related to the group’s theme. Use photos, videos, or infographics to make these posts more engaging.
• Implement Themed Days: Establish regular themed days like “Motivation Monday” or “Fun Fact Friday” to create a predictable and engaging routine. Encourage members to contribute their own content on these days, fostering a collaborative environment.
• Host Q&A Sessions: Schedule live Q&A sessions where members can ask questions either in advance or in real-time. These could be open forums or centered around specific topics. Consider inviting guest experts for these sessions to add value and variety.
• Member Spotlights: Regularly feature members in the group. This could be highlighting their achievements, sharing their stories, or showcasing their contributions to the group. Member spotlights not only engage the featured members but can also inspire others to participate more actively.
• Regularly Update Group Content: Keep the group fresh and interesting by updating pinned posts, changing the group cover photo, or introducing new discussion topics. This shows that the group is actively managed and keeps the environment dynamic.

Inform Your Existing Audience

Unless you’re a completely new brand, you’ll already have some sort of audience, whether that includes visitors to your website, previous and prospective customers, subscribers to your newsletter or readers of your blog.

Let them know that your Facebook Group exists:

• Mention it in email blasts. Many Facebook Groups adopt this strategy to cross-promote and encourage users to join them. Highlight what new subscribers can gain from joining the group. For example, digital graphics service Bannersnack created an FB Group to connect with its clients and then promoted the Group through email newsletters like this one:

• Announce it on your website and personal Facebook account. This can be through banner ads, pop-ups invitations, or dedicated blog posts about the group. Don’t forget to provide the Facebook Group link!
• Drop a call to action into your blog posts. (For example, “Like what you read? Be the first to know about our latest guides by joining our Facebook Group.”)
• Share your message on various social media platforms where your target audience is likely to be active. Tailor the message to fit each platform’s style and audience.
• Word of mouth. Encourage friends, family, and colleagues to spread the word. Personal recommendations can be very persuasive.

Get in Front of New Audiences

While there’s certainly value in building a tight-knit community of people who are long-time followers of your brand, chances are you’ll also want to attract users who aren’t so familiar with you.

Here are a couple of our favorite tried-and-trusted ways to promote your Facebook Group:

• Guest Blogging: Reach out to a website owner with a relevant audience and offer to write about a topic that would interest them — in return for mentioning (and, ideally, linking to) your Group.
• Offer Yourself Up as an Interviewee: Ask people to interview you (or some other figurehead for your business) on their blog or podcast. You don’t need to be a big name; you just have to have something interesting to say. Just be sure to mention your Facebook Group.
• Create Webinar Content for Group Members: Offer your members exclusive access to a webinar. Promote it outside the Group — in your newsletters and via your other social profiles — to get the word out. For bonus amplification, get a co-presenter on board and ask them to promote it to their audience, too.
• Reach Out to Influencers: Identify people with large, engaged followings who operate in the same space as you and ask them to promote your Facebook Group. While you’ll almost certainly need to give them a reason to do so, this doesn’t necessarily mean paying them. If your content is of high quality and genuinely unique, there’s a much better chance that influencers will be prepared to recommend you.
• Cross-Promote on Other Facebook Groups: Use your existing audience (Facebook Page followers, blog readers, video viewers) and promote on other social media platforms, personal networks, and through guest blogging, influencer outreach, interviews, and podcasts.

These approaches can be really effective, but there are no guarantees that people will say yes. If you ask 100 people to guest post or interview for them, maybe only five to 10 will agree. Don’t take it personally; instead, keep going. Eventually, the numbers will pay off for you.

Use Facebook Group Features

Take advantage of Facebook’s tools like group descriptions, tags, pinned posts, and topic organization. Enhance the member experience with features like polls, live videos, and events.

Here’s an elaboration on how to make the most of these features:

• Add Tags: Select relevant tags for your group to help potential members find your community when they search for specific topics on Facebook. Regularly update these tags to reflect the evolving focus and discussions within the group.
• Pin Posts: Use pinned posts to highlight important information, such as rules for the Group, upcoming events, or featured discussions. Update the pinned post regularly to keep the content fresh and relevant.
• Organize by Topic: Categorize posts into topics to keep the group organized and help members easily find content that interests them. Encourage members to tag their posts appropriately.
• Conduct Polls: Create polls to gather opinions, preferences, or feedback from group members. This not only engages members but also provides valuable insights. Use poll results to shape future content and activities in the group.

Use Facebook Live to Drive Visibility

As its name suggests (and as you probably already know), Facebook Live allows you to broadcast live video to a Group or Facebook Page. Seeing as we’re trying to grow your Facebook Group faster, you’ll want to go live from your Page.

Struggling for a topic for your video? Draw inspiration from the news and trends affecting your audience.

Let’s say you’re running a marketing agency. Create a video to cover your reaction to a big development in the industry, such as an algorithm update by Google or the launch of a new feature by Facebook. If it makes for a good blog topic, chances are it’ll make for a good video.

Write down some talking points, do a couple of rehearsals and give it a go. We’ve found it’s often easier (and less intimidating) if you stage the video as a discussion with a colleague or a fellow expert.

Here are some tips on how to grow a Facebook Group with Facebook Live:

• Regular Live Streaming Sessions: Host live streams regularly (weekly or bi-weekly) to establish a routine that your audience can look forward to. Announce upcoming live streams in your group and on other platforms to build anticipation and ensure a good turnout.
• Engage with Your Audience: Use the live sessions for Q&A, discussions on topics relevant to your group’s theme, or to address members’ questions and comments in real-time. This interaction increases engagement and value for viewers. Acknowledge viewers by name, respond to their comments, and make them feel seen and valued.
• Provide Exclusive Content: Offer content in your live streams that isn’t available elsewhere, like exclusive tips, insider information, or early announcements. Invite guest speakers or influencers relevant to your group’s niche to join your live streams, which can attract their followers to your group.

To go live from a phone or tablet, just follow these simple steps:

Whatever topic you choose, remember to mention your Facebook Group and encourage viewers to join for exclusive video content (and more).

Collaborate With Influencers

Partnering with relevant influencers is another great way to grow your Facebook Group and reach a wider audience.

Look for micro influencers who are active in your niche and have an engaged and relevant audience. Check their social media platforms, content quality, engagement rates and alignment with your Group’s focus.

Understand the demographics, interests and preferences of the influencer’s social media followers. Ensure that their audience aligns with your target Facebook Group members.

Suggest collaboration ideas that suit the influencer’s strengths and content style. This could involve a live Q&A session, a guest post, a webinar or hosting a themed discussion. Emphasize how the collaboration can benefit both parties. It’s not just about your Facebook Group; explain how their involvement can help them connect with a new audience.

Discuss the specifics of the collaboration, including content format, date, time and any compensation, if applicable. Also, offer any necessary information, guidelines and resources that the influencer might need for their contribution.

Finally, when the collaboration goes live, promote it across your social media channels and within the Facebook Group.

Use SEO to Drive Traffic from Search to Your Facebook Group

SEO is another powerful tool when it comes to growing your Facebook Group. By optimizing your website to rank for certain related keywords, you can capture that traffic and redirect it to your Group.

For example, if you run a paleo Facebook Group, work on ranking for “paleo diet recipes” on Google. Then use a pop-up on your website landing page to direct those blog visitors to your related Facebook Group.

Here’s a brief guide on how to leverage SEO to drive traffic to your Group:

• Identify Relevant Keywords: Find keywords related to your group’s theme. For a paleo Facebook Group, keywords might include “paleo diet recipes,” “paleo diet tips,” or “paleo lifestyle advice.” Use SEO tools like Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, or Ahrefs to research and select the most effective keywords.
• Optimize Website Content: Create high-quality, informative content around these keywords. This could be blog posts, articles, infographics, or videos. Ensure that your content is engaging, provides value, and is optimized for search engines (using the selected keywords naturally in the text, meta titles, descriptions, etc.).
• Create a Direct Path to Your Facebook Group: Once visitors land on your website, guide them towards your Facebook Group. Use clear and compelling calls-to-action (CTAs), like pop-ups, banners, or dedicated sections in your content, encouraging visitors to join your group for more information, exclusive content, or community discussions.
• Leverage Internal and External Links: Internally link to the pages with these CTAs from other parts of your website to increase their visibility. Gain backlinks to these pages from other reputable websites to improve their search engine ranking.

Use Other Groups for Cross-Promotion

Ask your members who else should be in the Group and incentivize them to bring in new members by offering them a free e-book, a place on an exclusive webinar or even some type of promo code. This can be particularly effective when your members are in other relevant Groups, providing them with an easy platform to promote your Facebook Group.

A word of caution here, though: While some Facebook Group owners will be more than happy for you to engage in a bit of cross-promotion, others will frown on it and might even kick you out. They’re well within their rights to do this; it’s their Group and their rules.

Do what we do: Reach out to admins before you try to coax their members into your Facebook Group. Good manners cost nothing. Ask really nicely, and some admins might even be willing to pin your promotional post for a day or so, guaranteeing you plenty of visibility.

Spread the Word Through Social

While your potential members obviously have Facebook profiles, chances are they’ll also be active on other social media platforms. Encourage your existing members to link to your Facebook Group on other (relevant) social networks:

• Instagram
• Quora
• Reddit
• Tumblr
• Twitter

As with the previous step, you might want to incentivize them to do this. But if your Group is genuinely useful, funny or interesting (or even all three), it should simply make sense for members to reference it in their conversations on other platforms.

Say your Facebook Group is dedicated to curating the best Indian food recipes … why wouldn’t your members want to link to it if they come across a similar discussion on a different site?

Bonus: Use Your Facebook Group to Quickly Grow Your Email List

Here’s an underused hack you’ll want to know: A Facebook Group is one of the best ways to build an email list. That’s because Facebook allows you to set up new membership questions:

Basically, you can ask folks any number of questions when they first join your Group, including this magic question:

“If you’d like to join our email newsletter to stay in the loop, what’s your email address? We’ll send you occasional, educational content on [Group topic].”

You’ll find that a portion of new members will happily give your email list a try. To set this up, you can use software like Group Collector to automatically sync emails from your Facebook Group into your email marketing platform:

Powerful, right?

Just want someone else to do all the hard work for you? Single Grain’s social media growth experts can help!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

How Do I Set Facebook Group Rules?

The best Groups have clear guidelines in place about how they operate. This sets user expectations from the moment they join and keeps things running smoothly (as long as Group admins enforce them).

Again, this might sound obvious, but we’ve seen plenty of Groups that don’t do this — and they rarely work as well as those that do.

Creating rules for your Group is simple if you follow these steps:

1. From your News Feed, click on Groups (on the left-hand side menu for desktop and the right for mobile), and select your Group. If you don’t see Groups, click See more.
2. Click on Group Rules on the left menu.
3. Click on Get Started, then click to add from the example rules or write your own.
4. Click on Create.
5. To adjust the order in which rules appear, click on the icon with the six gray dots, and drag and drop the rules into the order you’d like.

So, what should your rules look like? The guidelines you put in place will obviously depend on your brand and audience, but as a starting point, here are the kinds of things you should include:

• Group Description: An in-depth explanation of the Facebook Group’s background.
• Group Goals: Your goals for the community, such as promoting Group chats about a certain topic.
• Group Privacy: A clear explanation of what sort of activity is considered “spam” or disrespectful to other members, and the actions you’ll take to police it. This is important to maintain the safety and comfort of all members.
• Group Resources: A rundown of resources available to Group members, like videos and guides, and how to find them.
• Group Names: A list of all current admins, plus details of their authority level.

Once you’ve created your rules, save them in a Facebook document and make this your pinned post, so that they’ll appear at the top of the Group at all times.

You’ll also need to dedicate the time to enforce your rules. If you can’t commit the time yourself, you’re going to need to either bring on moderators (volunteer or paid) or invest in a different marketing tactic.

Facebook Group Do’s and Don’ts

Over the past few years, we’ve been a part of dozens of Groups, and we’ve picked up plenty of insights along the way about what to do and what to definitely not do when running one:

Once you’ve got the basics down, you’re in a great position to shift your focus toward increasing your membership. Follow these tips, and there’s no reason why you won’t be able to grow your Facebook Group to thousands of members without having to spend a single dollar.

Key Points for Starting a Facebook Group

Although we’ve mostly discussed how to grow a Facebook Group you already run, it’s worth adding a section here about what to consider if you’re thinking about launching a Group. Here are a few key things you’ll want to keep in mind to make your launch a success.

Define a Clear Purpose

Ask yourself why you want to launch and grow your Facebook Group. Let’s assume the reason isn’t simply to acquire thousands of followers, but also to drive sales or generate leads.

Here are some potential purposes a brand could have for growing a Facebook Group:

• Community Building: To foster a loyal community around the brand, encouraging customer retention and advocacy.
• Customer Feedback and Insights: Gathering valuable customer feedback and insights on products or services for improvement and innovation.
• Product Promotion and Launches: Creating hype and awareness around new product launches or exclusive offers.
• Brand Awareness and Reach: Increasing brand visibility and reaching new potential customers.
• Customer Support and Engagement: Offering a platform for customer support and engaging directly with customers to enhance customer experience.
• Content Marketing: Sharing valuable content to establish brand authority and thought leadership in the industry.
• Lead Generation: Using the group as a funnel for generating leads by nurturing potential customers.
• Market Research: Conducting informal market research by observing discussions and trends within the group.
• Networking and Partnerships: Building relationships with influencers, industry professionals, and potential business partners.
• Exclusive Access and Loyalty Programs: Offering exclusive content, discounts, or early access to products/services to group members.

Whatever your purpose, it needs to be reflected in your Group’s Facebook posts — through exclusive offers, previews of upcoming product releases, or video tutorials demonstrating how your product or service works.

And don’t forget: You need to be able to measure your performance. Do this by setting actionable KPIs using the “SMART” methodology:

Time Commitment

Like any organic marketing tactic, Facebook Groups don’t blossom overnight. Real effort will make your Group a success and give users a reason to sign up. If you can’t commit time or resources to your Facebook Group, don’t expect a strong, engaged community on the platform.

Initially, you should expect to invest several hours per week to create engaging content, facilitate discussions, and interact with members. This includes:

• Content Creation: 2-3 hours per week. This time includes brainstorming, creating, and scheduling posts.
• Member Engagement: 2-4 hours per week. This involves responding to comments, participating in discussions, and engaging with members’ content.
• Moderation: 1-2 hours per week. This includes reviewing posts, enforcing group rules, and managing membership requests.
• Promotion: 1-3 hours per week. This involves strategies to increase group visibility and attract new members, like sharing the group link on other platforms or engaging with potential members.

In total, you should expect to dedicate roughly 6-12 hours per week to effectively manage and grow a Facebook Group (these hours will vary, obviously, depending on the size and activity level of the group).

Moderation and Guidelines

Clearly outline the rules and expectations for Group behavior, content and interactions; mention respectful communication, spam prevention, self-promotion rules, language use, appropriate content, etc.:

Use examples to show what’s allowed and what isn’t. This reduces confusion among members. Decide how strictly you’ll enforce the guidelines (consistent enforcement maintains the group’s integrity). Communicate the guidelines when members join, and have them easily accessible in the Group description or pinned post.

If needed, enable post approval by moderators before they appear in the Group.

Content Strategy

Create a social content calendar outlining when and what you’ll post. Plan content in advance to maintain consistency and avoid last-minute scrambling. Identify key content categories that resonate with your target audience and align with your Group’s niche:

• tips and tutorials
• industry news
• member spotlights
• discussions
• challenges
• behind the scenes, etc.

Use a mix of content formats to keep your Group dynamic and engaging. You can also run contests, challenges or quizzes to actively involve members and encourage participation.

Success Metrics

Set a target for the number of new group members you aim to attract within a specific time frame. Monitor the growth rate to ensure you’re consistently bringing in new members. Similarly, you should also monitor other metrics like:

• engagement rate
• post reach
• comments per post
• retention rate
• conversions

Last Word on Growing Your FB Group from 0 to 10,000 Members

Hopefully you learned how to grow a Facebook Group with a zero-dollar budget! It might seem intimidating, but all it takes is time, patience and a little effort (plus some help from your earliest members).

To summarize how to take your Facebook Group from 0 to 10,000 members without spending a single cent:

• Come up with a compelling theme for your Group — something that people will want to discuss and that you can offer genuine expertise on.
• Give people a reason to join. Tell potential members about the fantastic content you create and the exclusive giveaways and offers you run.
• Let your existing audience know that the Group exists, and encourage them to join (people who already follow your Facebook Page, read your blogs or watch your videos).
• Get in front of new audiences through guest blogging, influencer outreach, interviews and podcasts.
• Provide consistent and quality content, encourage interaction with questions or polls, and respond quickly.

Follow these steps, iterate as necessary and watch your Facebook Group subscriber count grow!

If you’re ready to level up your brand via social media, Single Grain’s social media  marketing experts can help!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Here’s a summary infographic of how to grow a Facebook Group!

!function(e,n,i,s){var d=”InfogramEmbeds”;var o=e.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];if(window[d]&&window[d].initialized)window[d].process&&window[d].process();else if(!e.getElementById(i)){var r=e.createElement(n);r.async=1,r.id=i,r.src=s,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,”script”,”infogram-async”,”https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js”);

The post How to Grow a Facebook Group from 0 to 10K Members Without Spending a Dollar appeared first on Single Grain.

Digital marketing campaigns are one of the most successful ways to reach potential customers at scale – but producing a campaign is costly and time-consuming, and there’s no guarantee that it will net you a positive ROI.

The best way to improve or learn how to reach, connect with and convert potential customers is by looking at those brands that are already successful and analyze what they’re doing.

We put together this list of 17 of the most dynamic digital marketing campaigns that increased company ROI and added value to their customers – and explain why they work.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

What Is a Digital Marketing Campaign?

A digital marketing campaign is an online strategy using various digital platforms and tools with the goal of promoting a business’ product or service by increasing engagement, traffic and conversions.

Basically, a marketing campaign is any effort to connect your brand with potential prospects. That could be a billboard informing drivers about a hotel nearby or it could be a YouTube channel with an influencer discussing a product that’s relevant to the audience.

Some marketing campaigns are more focused on conversions (such as a blog post about “best video editing tools”) whereas others are more focused on driving brand awareness (such as a TV commercial).

So that leads us to the next question….

What Makes a Successful Digital Marketing Campaign?

We’ll dive into the 21 marketing campaign examples below to show you that each one has a unique structure and purpose. But in a more general way, what should a digital marketing campaign include?

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re launching your own marketing campaign:

• Establish Your Goal – All successful digital marketing campaigns begin with a clear goal, whether that’s increasing conversions, driving traffic or generating more leads.
• Pick a Format that Aligns with Your Goal – Think about the kind of content that best works for your product and your goal. For example, if your product is an alternative to SurferSEO, consider writing a post like “SurferSEO Alternative,” since people searching for this term are already aware of the problem and solution. They are literally ready to buy your solution.
• Effective Targeting – Define your target audience clearly and understand their demographics, interests and online behavior.
• Compelling Messaging – Create a message that resonates with your target audience, speaks to their needs and desires, and offers a clear solution.
• Strong Call to Action – Throughout your campaign, use well-defined CTAs to make it clear to your audience what you want them to do as a result of consuming your content.
• Execute Swiftly – One mistake that a lot of marketers make is spending too much time making it perfect rather than just getting something out. This slows down production significantly and will sacrifice growth. Shoot your first few videos on an iPhone and then upgrade to better equipment when you know that it works.
• Track Your Campaign  – After executing your campaign, measure your results and look at what worked best. This will give you an excellent idea of the campaigns that you should abandon and the campaigns that you should double down on (tweak and improve).

If you need help executing your marketing campaign, you can always hire a reputable and experienced digital marketing agency!

17 Best Digital Marketing Campaigns You Can Swipe

And now, without further ado, let’s dive into some examples of successful digital marketing campaigns that you can learn from.

1) Single Grain

When it comes to learning from the best, we think that our digital marketing agency is a masterclass in omnichannel domination and data-driven growth. We walk the walk, not just talk the talk, regularly achieving impressive results for our clients and ourselves.

The power of consistent, high-quality content across multiple platforms is key. That’s why we make an omnichannel content strategy a huge priority:

• Blog: We have a well-known marketing blog that is a goldmine of insights and how-to’s to educate the reader. It attracts some high-profile guest writers like Backlinko’s Brian Dean to continue to build our brand authority.
• Podcast: Eric Siu, our fearless leader, has a daily bite-size (5-10-minute episodes) marketing podcast (co-hosted with Neil Patel) called Marketing School.
• YouTube Channel: Eric also has a weekly Leveling Up podcast where he interviews world-class entrepreneurs and a YouTube channel where he expands to give tactical tips and strategies for fellow marketers, entrepreneurs and business owners:

• Social Media: Single Grain and especially Eric Siu has an active social media presence where he engages with his audience on platforms like Twitter/X and LinkedIn. He offers thought leadership on cutting-edge and other important topics:

In addition, we also do Facebook Lives, masterminds, content collabs with other brands, interviews, and speaker events.

And Single Grain continuously incorporates additional elements into their digital marketing campaigns, such as:

• Early adoption of new channels and technologies: From TikTok to Web3 to AI-powered marketing, our agency stays ahead of the curve, experimenting and sharing our learnings with the community.
• Emphasis on data-driven marketing strategies: We base our strategies on data. We meticulously track results, A/B test everything, and continuously refine our approach for ourselves and our clients.
• Offer resources and tools: We offer valuable free and paid guides, templates, webinars/livestreams and speaker events, democratizing access to marketing knowledge.
• Behind-the-scenes insights: We don’t shy away from sharing our own successes and failures, or what we learned from other successful businesses that bounced back from failures, because we think they can be valuable lessons for others to learn from.

Some of our campaign highlights include:

• Nextiva: Reducing cost per click by 41.37% while increasing leads through targeted Google Ads campaigns.
• Twenty20: Slashing cost per MQL by a whopping 72.49% thanks to data-driven lead nurturing strategies.
• Harris Teeter: Boosting social media engagement by 400% with creative and interactive content.

The Lesson: Create a multimedia strategy using multiple digital channels. The best part is that you don’t have to come up with separate topics for each channel. Take the topics that performed well on one channel and repurpose them into a piece of content for another segment of your audience.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

2) Burger King – You Rule

There was no escaping Burger King’s catchy “Whopper Whopper” jingle no matter where you turned in 2023:

The ads ran on both TV and social media platforms, but it was the way the company tied the jingle’s “you rule” message into a successful digital marketing strategy that earns it a place in this guide.

Burger King used their social platforms to celebrate their audience, curating and sharing user-generated content from the very customers who made the jingle go viral.

The Lesson: Other than the power of user-generated content, the key takeaway from Burger King’s “You Rule” campaign is that digital marketing campaigns don’t (perhaps, shouldn’t) exist in a silo. By consistently incorporating a central theme or message across various marketing channels, brands can maintain a unified identity and resonate more deeply with their audience.

3) MrBeast

Mr. Beast is an American YouTuber who has amassed a startling following of roughly 219 million subscribers:

He is known for doing extreme challenges, such as being buried alive for 50 hours, as well as giving away a million dollars, and giving away houses to pizza delivery men.

While these shocking digital campaigns may seem rather strange and outrageous, they have earned him a remarkable following and he now has a massive brand as an influencer.

Eric did an interview with Mr. Beast’s manager, Reed Dushscher, who mentions that many of these campaigns aren’t immediately profitable, but the attention does go along way to increase brand awareness:

The Lesson: Even if you don’t make an immediate ROI from your marketing campaigns, brand awareness is very powerful. So think about what you can do that no other brand has done and invest in creating content that is both entertaining to watch and attention-grabbing within your industry.

Dive Deeper: 18 Brands with the Best Content Marketing Campaigns

4) Cadbury

Cadbury, renowned for its delectable chocolates, has been revolutionizing Easter celebrations since 2021 with its innovative “Annual Easter Egg Hunt.”

Partnering with Google Maps, Cadbury transformed the traditional egg hunt into a global Easter egg hunt in which users can hide virtual eggs for their friends and family to find. Once the digital eggs have been found, the “hider” can then choose to send a real egg directly to the “finder.”

They use a combination of innovative technology, creative storytelling and emotional connection helped the brand engage their audience, raise their brand visibility and bolster sales of Cadbury chocolate throughout the Easter period:

• Innovative Use of Technology: The campaign leveraged Google Maps’ expansive platform, allowing users globally to hide and seek virtual Easter eggs. This clever integration of technology not only attracted a tech-savvy audience but also provided a unique, interactive experience.
• Creative Storytelling: Cadbury’s campaign was infused with creative storytelling. Each virtual egg contained a delightful story or message, turning each discovery into a memorable moment. This approach fostered a deeper emotional connection with the brand.
• Emotional Engagement: The campaign tapped into the nostalgic joy of Easter egg hunts, evoking childhood memories. By enabling users to hide eggs for friends and family, Cadbury fostered a sense of community and togetherness, even for those separated by distance.

This digital adventure significantly raised Cadbury’s brand visibility and boosted sales.

The Lesson: By creating an engaging experience that directly tied the virtual Easter egg hunt to the purchase of real Cadbury eggs, the campaign demonstrated the effectiveness of gamified marketing in driving tangible sales results.

5) The Barbie Movie

Did anything generate a buzz in 2023 bigger than the movie Barbie? Based on the globally successful doll product line, the blockbuster movie was everywhere, especially on TikTok:

Recognizing the app’s value in targeting a younger demographic, the movie’s marketing team partnered with Nikki Minaj and Ice Spice to create a viral song about Barbie, helping them generate over 1.5 million followers who would then see clips, trailers and exclusive content in the build-up to the movie’s premier.

The Lesson: The success of the Barbie TikTok campaign reveals the importance of building hype for a product, service or event before launch, meeting your target demographic on the platforms they use the most. Warner Bros. did this with Barbie, and the movie went on to make $1.441 billion USD.

6) Lyft

The average American spends about $4,000 on convenience per year and the leading share of it goes towards ridesharing. Realizing this, the rideshare company Lyft saw that because people already love their service, they just needed their current customers to spread the word.

So they implemented a referral program – and the company grew almost entirely through word-of-mouth marketing, which is a very high-converting channel.

Lyft offers incentives for riders to act as advocates for the business by providing referral codes for their friends in exchange for free or discounted rides:

Combining Lyft’s amazing and convenient product with a powerful referral system is making the startup grow like wildfire.

The Lesson: Start by offering a great service and then build a referral program for word-of-mouth marketing. It’s often more cost effective than buying ads and is much more fruitful since friends love to give each other recommendations.

Dive Deeper: Analysis of 1 Million Backlinks: Lyft

7) Dove

Dove produces some of the best marketing campaigns with their touching commercials that go against the grain by changing beauty standards.

They started their Real Beauty campaign with an ad focused on a forensic artist who created two blind sketches of several women – one from her description of herself (he couldn’t see her) and one from a description of her given by another person. The sketches of the women describing themselves were all much less flattering than when someone else described them:

Since beginning this campaign, the company has nearly doubled its worth to a $4.5 billion valuation, proving the importance of joining a movement and listening to what your customers really want.

The Lesson: Understand the underlying pain of your customers, because they’re probably just using your product as a tool to accomplish a larger goal. The women in this campaign were buying a self-care product, but they didn’t just want soap, they wanted to feel more beautiful in their own skin. Dove did this in a big way. Consider the bigger solution that your company can provide.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

8) Airbnb

Airbnb has changed the way we travel and look for accommodations. Launched when its founders couldn’t afford their own rent, the site now boasts:

• Airbnb users have booked over 1.5 billion stays worldwide.
• Over 4 million hosts have 7 million global listings on Airbnb.
• The company has a total valuation of $35 billion.

Their digital marketing strategy relies primarily on:

• User-generated images and videos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X (highlighting the cities and properties in its stable)
• How-to videos and posts geared towards owners
• Popular city guides

They are known for their social media influencer collaborations. Mariah Carey was the first celebrity to use Airbnb back in 2015, and when the company’s marketing team saw that her post got 45K likes, they jumped on the opportunity to collaborate with her – the first of many influencer campaigns:

Airbnb went on to host Lady Gaga for her Super Bowl performance, as well as Drake, Martin Garrix, Wiz Khalifa and Stefanie Giesinger at their Coachella performances.

The Lesson: Create demand around your product or service by finding a topic related to your business that’s interesting. For example, Airbnb is ultimately a crowdsourced hotel business, so interesting content for them is related to travel sites around the world. Generate interest with content, and the dollars will follow.

Dive Deeper: Analysis of 1 Million Backlinks: Airbnb

10) Spotify Wrapped

Every December, Spotify delivers a special gift to its users in the form of “Wrapped,” an annual campaign that provides a personalized, data-driven snapshot of each user’s listening habits for the past year:

This strategy demonstrates the power of personalization and the ability to tap into an audience’s fear of missing out. Making Wrapped available for a limited time only creates a sense of urgency and encourages users to engage before it disappears.

What’s more, Wrapped is designed to be sharable, with pre-built stories and captions that make it easy and fun to show off your listening habits.

The result? A 21% increase in Spotify app downloads in the first week of December (when Wrapped is released), and millions of organic social media engagements. People even make videos about their Spotify Wrapped playlist:

The Lesson: Spotify Wrapped’s success teaches marketers the power of personalized data and social sharing. By tailoring messages to individual users and creating content that is inherently shareable, it’s possible to create a successful digital marketing campaign, build deeper connections, encourage engagement, and spark organic conversations.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

11) Coca Cola

Given the runaway success of tools like ChatGPT over the past year, it’s no surprise that many brands have found ways to incorporate AI into their digital marketing campaigns.

Yet few did this better than Coca Cola, whose “Create Real Magic” platform allowed fans to create and share digital holiday greeting cards using iconic brand imagery like Santa Claus, Coca-Cola Caravan trucks, and polar bears.

These brand-focused user-experiences not only demonstrated the effectiveness of harnessing emerging popular technology, but also helped to foster a deeper sense of brand loyalty by giving users a sense of ownership via user-generated content.

The Lesson: Capitalizing on emerging trends can be a great way to capture public attention, especially if it can be combined with interactive experiences.

12) Skillshare 

Online course platform Skillshare boasts over 13 million registered users and over 500K paid subscribers, a number it earned on the back of an attractive affiliate program designed to entice influencers:

The strategy worked. Here’s why Skillshare’s digital marketing deserves a place on our “swipe-worthy” list:

Forget cookie-cutter affiliate programs. Skillshare recognized the power of targeted influencer partnerships:

• High Commissions: They offer a generous 40% commission on every new paying member, not just paid subscriptions. This incentivizes influencers to go the extra mile, knowing that any nudge towards a free trial can turn into significant earnings.
• Curated Content Connections: Instead of one-size-fits-all banners, Skillshare lets influencers promote specific classes relevant to their audience. This fosters trust and authenticity, leading to higher conversion rates.

By combining high commissions, even on free trial sign-ups, and the ability to share courses that aligned with the interests of affiliates’ audiences, Skillshare not only incentivized high-profile YouTubers and Instagramers to share their affiliate links, but also generated a loyal community of learners and creators. This community, in turn, fueled the platform’s growth.

The Lesson: Affiliate programs are typically one of the most overlooked digital marketing strategies, but here, Skillshare demonstrates just how effective they can be. Give creators enough incentive and the right tools, and you’ll be able to tap into new audiences that may be off your radar, driving sign-ups and sales in the process.

13) Heineken: Beer Matchmaking

Capitalizing on the continued rise of social gaming, Dutch brewers Heineken launched their Beer Matchmaking marketing campaign that matched gamers in Brazil with their ideal gaming partner.

Users created profiles based on their favorite games, skill levels and availability, and the platform matched them with compatible opponents or teammates.

This gamified experience cleverly integrated Heineken branding while catering to a specific pain point within the gaming community: finding compatible teammates or opponents with the same skill level. The campaign’s success highlights the importance of several key points:

• Identify niche passions within your target audience.
• Create interactive experiences that go beyond traditional advertising.
• Subtly integrate your brand message into the experience.
• Build a community around your brand to foster loyalty.
• Track data and continuously improve your campaign.

The Lesson: Heineken’s campaign shows a forward-thinking approach to targeting new audiences. While the gaming community may not have always been on Heineken’s radar, the Beer Matchmaking app was successful because, despite it’s innovative nature, it stuck to what matters most – understanding your audience and providing experiences that truly resonate with them.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

14) Sephora

While many brick-and-mortar businesses have been struggling, Sephora has managed to maintain strong growth by expertly merging the digital experience with offline retail.

They launched an app that uses augmented reality and artificial intelligence to let users try different makeup products they find online or in the store.

When the Coronavirus hit, people were banned from trying on makeup in the store and eventually were banned from entering the stores altogether. This led to an opportunity for Sephora as they already had a way for people to try on their cosmetics virtually.

The app gives people tips and recommendations along the way and is connected to their e-commerce store so that customers can add items directly to their cart for purchase.

The Lesson: Some brands are struggling today as the economy shifts more and more to “on-demand.” It’s especially challenging for brands that sell products that consumers want to test and experiment with before purchasing. But technology is advancing to keep pace with consumer tastes and there are ways you can use tech to easily allow your customers to sample your different products both online and in-store.

15) Trello 

Trello is another B2B business that is killing it on social media. One of their latest campaigns, #WhereITrello, encouraged users of Trello to share how they use the product.

Trello—the productivity app that lets you get work done anywhere and everywhere. 🏖️🚠🚕

Use #WhereITrello on your photos—we love to see your remote work setups and global work travels! pic.twitter.com/DXRZi1dW6l

— Trello by Atlassian (@trello) October 17, 2023

The challenge is to “Post a pic of Trello on your desk, farm, rug, wherever you work and tell us your Trello story using the hashtag #WhereITrello for a chance to win limited edition swag every week!”

The campaign was successful because it targeted their ideal customers (SMBs and solopreneurs) who are proud to be remote. Therefore, it wasn’t that difficult to encourage them to post about where they work.

Remember: 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand’s social media are more likely to recommend it to a friend, which helps brands increase their referral opportunities.

The Lesson: Before running a social media campaign, think about what your customers are proud of and how you can tap into that. If you give customers a reason to share what they are proud of, your campaign will be a success. Plus, UGC also provides social proof to prospective customers.

Related Content: 8 Ways to Encourage More User-Generated Content (UGC)

17) L’Oreal

L’Oreal unveiled a campaign called “This Is for Men.” A brand known for empowering women, L’Oreal wanted to draw attention to a statistic that their research uncovered: 91.4% of Germany’s management and governing boards are comprised of men.

They also found that although there were less women in management and board roles, those that are in those roles significantly outperform their male peers:

When women occupy 30% of management positions, profitability was found to increase by 15%.

Their social media campaign addressed this issue boldly by creating “a series of gender stereotype reversal print ads to convey their findings to men in tongue-in-cheek fashion” with banners featuring lipstick, mascara and other makeup products and the words “This Is for Men” emblazoned across the banner:

The advertisements themselves were created in collaboration with McCann Worldgroup who reported that the advertisements were blowing up on social media: The first post generated over 1,500 shares and even more interactions and likes.

The Lesson: The lighthearted approach by L’Oreal made a potentially divisive topic more approachable, inviting diverse opinions and sparking dialogue. Often times marketing outside of the box and using bold or unexpected humor combined with data-driven messaging can spark viral engagement and drive awareness beyond the initial target audience.

Digital Marketing Campaign Templates

If you feel overwhelmed by all of the marketing campaigns above, here are some templates that can help you get started:

• General Marketing Campaign Template: This template from Atlassian will help you create the blueprint of your project early on so there’s no risk of confusing things like campaign goals, what deadlines are coming up, or how the budget is being allocated.
  
• Video Content Marketing Template. Jumping in front of the camera without a clear plan is intimidating. Or maybe you have some footage, but don’t know how you should you put it together. These video marketing templates can help you out.
• Email Marketing Template. Email marketing is still one of the best marketing campaign channels as it can produce a huge ROI at low cost. While there are virtually endless ways to structure your email marketing campaigns, these are a few of our favorite templates.
• Social Media Marketing Template. If you’re working with influencers or focusing heavily on brand awareness, you’ll probably do some social media marketing. Fortunately, Hootsuite has provided a selection of virtually every social media marketing template you could possibly think of.
• Blogging Marketing Template. If you’re looking to build your brand and further explain your product or service (particularly B2B companies), blogging is an excellent way to do so. These blogging templates will get you off to a great start.

Last Word on Digital Marketing Campaigns

Almost all the brands discussed in this list are well established and these campaigns were certainly not their first ones, so don’t be discouraged if your first campaign doesn’t immediately trend on Twitter! Start by getting a firm understanding of your audience’s needs, desires and pain points.

Once you have a deep understanding of your audience, A/B test various campaign messages and draw inspiration from the above-mentioned digital marketing campaigns.

If you create an amazing product and offer amazing support, it’s only a matter of time before your campaign will be listed here!

If you’re ready to level up your marketing campaigns with measurable growth results, Single Grain’s digital marketing experts can help! (We’ve helped Amazon, Airbnb, Lyft and others!)👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

The post 17 Successful Digital Marketing Campaigns You Can Swipe appeared first on Single Grain.

From setting a realistic budget to developing captivating creatives that make key decision makers in your industry sit up and take note, you need a simple step-by-step instructions on how to create successful LinkedIn Ads.

With a 930+ million user base of professionals, you’ll easily attract more qualified leads and generate a positive ROI on your ad spend.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn how to create effective, high-converting LinkedIn Ads that can change the game for your B2B business.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Understanding LinkedIn Ads

To get started, click here to jump below: Creating a LinkedIn Ads Campaign Step by Step

First things first, why bother with LinkedIn Ads?

The world’s largest professional network doesn’t quite make it on the web’s top 20 most-visited sites (it’s #21), while other platforms that also have advertising programs, including Google, YouTube and Facebook, all dominate the top 3 with billions of users between them.

The answer is simple.

What the platform has that others don’t are: qualified and engaged B2B leads and an opportunity to ensure that your enterprise paid ads are seen by those professionals with the authority to OK high-value purchases.

LinkedIn may not have the reach of other platforms, but what good is the potential to reach millions of people if very few of them are a good fit for your product or service?

LinkedIn itself notes that 4 out of 5 of its users have decision-making power within their organization:

Benefits of LinkedIn Advertising

LinkedIn advertising has the potential to reach a little over 16% of the world’s Internet population, and though that may sound small compared tot Facebook and Google, it’s by no means insignificant:

What’s more, the site’s potential ad reach has enjoyed a year-over-year increase of more than 11%. Not only do you have an opportunity to generate high-quality leads, but generate lots of them.

Solid Return on Ad Spend

If you read our LinkedIn statistics post, you may recall that 58% of marketers say that this platform produces the best value with regards to Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). When you look at the numbers, that’s hardly surprising.

Sources: LinkedIn, Google, Facebook CPC, Facebook CPM 

The table above shows the average Cost per Click (CPC) and average cost per 1,000 impressions, known as the Cost Per Mille (CPM).

Here, we can see that LinkedIn beats out both Facebook and Google in terms of impressions, and is only narrowly more expensive than Facebook in terms of CPC, making it a strong option for startups and growing businesses with a limited ad budget.

Most importantly, LinkedIn’s competitively priced ad rates produce results.

Brands who advertise on LinkedIn typically see a 33% increase in search intent, while 82% of B2B marketers say they get the most success from LinkedIn ads compared to other social media channels.

Further, as Google Ads’ cost-per-lead (CPL) continues to increase at the same time as its conversion rate goes down, Sprout Social notes that LinkedIn’s CPL is 28% lower than Google’s, while the average CTR ranges from 30% to 65% depending on the ad type.

For many B2B companies, this can make all the difference when it comes to creating a successful advertising campaign that produces a substantial return on investment.

Here are other great benefits of LinkedIn Ads:

• Professional Audience: LinkedIn is a platform primarily used by professionals, providing access to a high-quality audience in a business context.
• Advanced Targeting Options: Advertisers can target users based on job title, industry, company size, and other professional criteria, enabling more precise targeting compared to other social platforms.
• B2B Focused: LinkedIn is particularly effective for B2B marketing due to its professional user base.
• Increased Credibility: Advertising on a professional platform can enhance the credibility of your brand or product.
• Variety of Ad Formats: LinkedIn offers a range of ad formats, including sponsored content, sponsored InMail, and display ads, catering to different marketing goals.
• Lead Generation Capabilities: LinkedIn’s advertising tools are designed to support lead generation and conversion tracking.
• Analytics and Reporting: LinkedIn provides detailed analytics to track ad performance and user engagement, helping advertisers optimize their campaigns.
• Networking Opportunities: Ads can help in building connections and networks within specific professional communities.
• High Engagement Rates: LinkedIn users are often engaged with content relevant to their professional interests, potentially leading to higher engagement rates with ads.
• Access to Decision Makers: Many users on LinkedIn are decision-makers within their companies, which can be beneficial for certain types of marketing campaigns.

What Are the Different Types of LinkedIn Ads Campaigns?

Another factor working in LinkedIn’s favor as a useful advertising platform is that it offers four different types of advertising designed to suit different campaign goals and budgets.

Here’s a breakdown of LinkedIn ads for each type, along with a handy cheat sheet to help you determine the best ad format for your business.

Sponsored Content:

• Description: These are native ads that appear directly in the LinkedIn feed, similar to regular posts, but with a “Promoted” label. They can include images, videos or carousels.
• Ideal for: Companies looking to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website or lead magnet, share content or promote events to a wide audience on LinkedIn.

Sponsored Messaging:

• Description: These are personalized messages sent directly to LinkedIn users’ inboxes, essentially LinkedIn’s own internal email marketing solution, and appear as if they are part of a natural conversation. There are two formats to choose from: conversation ads or message ads.
• Ideal for: Businesses aiming to engage in direct, personalized communication with potential clients or customers, and reach specific decision-makers to nurture leads.

Text and Dynamic Ads:

• Description: Text Ads appear in the right rail and include a headline, brief description, and optional image. Dynamic Ads are personalized ads that automatically populate with user profile data.
• Ideal for: Advertisers seeking a cost-effective way to generate leads and drive traffic to their website or landing page, or for personalized engagement in highly targeted campaigns focused on driving clicks and conversions.

Lead Gen Forms:

• Description: These are pre-filled forms (auto-populated with the user’s LinkedIn profile data) attached to LinkedIn Ads, making it easy for users to share their contact information without leaving LinkedIn.
• Ideal for: Businesses looking to generate high-quality leads directly on LinkedIn, especially useful for B2B companies and those hosting webinars or offering downloadable content.

Display Ads:

• Description: These are visually striking, banner-style ads that appear on various pages of LinkedIn, outside the user’s feed, and are probably the most familiar.
• Ideal for: Brands looking to make a strong visual impact or retarget website visitors with high-visibility ads that drive traffic to specific pages.

Editor’s Note: As of December 7, 2023, LinkedIn no longer offers programmatic display ads on the desktop experience. This means you can’t create or run ads that appear on the right-hand side of the desktop feed or on other partner websites within the LinkedIn network.

Which LinkedIn Ad Type Should You Use? A Handy Cheat Sheet

Creating a LinkedIn Ads Campaign Step by Step

Now that you know how and why a LinkedIn advertising campaign can benefit your B2B company, it’s time to learn how to create one.

Below, we’ll outline each stage of the process, with simple, step-by-step instructions you can follow to set up your first successful advertising campaign on the platform.

For this process to work, you’ll need to access the LinkedIn Campaign Manager, which you can do by logging into your account and going to Business > Advertise:

Section 1: Setting Goals and Budget

Once you’re logged in to campaign manager, select Create > Campaign:

A) Set Your Campaign Objective

LinkedIn is an objective-based advertising platform. This means that, rather than creating an ad and then choosing the target audience and where it will be placed, you start with the objective and work backward from there:

It makes sense this way round. Choosing your objective first means that all the decisions you make about the type of ad, the audience, the budget, etc. are based on your objective.

After all, if you were planning a road trip, you wouldn’t start making decisions about which way to turn without knowing where you want to end up. To do that, you need to know your destination before you set off.

The same goes for any ad campaign. Your ultimate objective should influence every decision you make.

The objectives here are split into three categories, aligning with the buyer’s journey stages:

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Decision (or, from our point of view, Conversions)

Your first step then, is to pick one of the following objectives that most closely aligns with your business goals:

Awareness:

• Brand Awareness: Ideal for increasing brand recognition and establishing your company as a thought leader in your industry.
• Website Visits: Focuses on driving traffic to your website, landing page or LinkedIn Company Page with the objective to either generate leads, land a sale or simply provide potential clients with information that could help them make a purchasing decision.

Consideration:

• Engagement: If you’re looking to grow your audience and nurture leads, engagement is a good one to go for as it deals with how many users engage with your content. It’s used to drive followers to your Company Page, increase social engagement and encourage shares, comments and other interactions.
• Video Views: Use this objective to get more eyeballs on your videos by sharing them with a wider audience. It helps you target the people who are most likely to view your videos, increasing engagement and clicks to your website or landing page.

Decision:

• Lead Generation: This objective is specifically designed to generate high-quality leads by prompting users to fill out a form with their contact information. It’s an effective way to build your sales pipeline and generate qualified leads for your business.
• Website Conversions: Use website conversions if you want users to take a specific action on your website, such as making a purchase, signing up for a free trial or downloading a white paper. It’s ideal for businesses that want to measure the direct impact of their LinkedIn advertising on their bottom line.
• Job Applicants: If your goal is to attract top talent, this objective allows you to target your ads to specific job seekers based on their skills, experience, and industry.
  

  

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to focus on getting more conversions from the landing page for our PPC agency.

B) Set Your Budget

Next, it’s time to set your budget.

Here, it’s important to note that LinkedIn requires you to bid a minimum of $2 per click or 1,000 and spend a minimum of $10 per day on your campaign.

Knowing this in advance will help you determine how much you’re willing and able to spend to generate results from your ad campaign. To give you an idea: 57% of businesses dedicated up to 20% of their overall advertising budget to LinkedIn Ads, with 48% spending up to $500 per month.

Tips for setting a realistic budget:

• Start with a small budget and gradually increase it as you see results. This will help you avoid overspending and allow you to optimize your campaigns based on real data.
• Consider your campaign objectives. If you’re primarily focused on brand awareness, you may be able to get away with a smaller budget. However, if you’re looking for lead generation or website conversions, you’ll need a larger budget to achieve your goals.
• Turn on Budget Optimization. This will allow LinkedIn to distribute your advertising budget and get the best possible results.

Section 2: Targeting Your Audience

With your objective and budget set, it’s time to take advantage of LinkedIn’s comprehensive set of targeting options to ensure your ads reach your ideal customers with pinpoint accuracy.

As with all the major social ad platforms, you can target by location and demographics like age and gender, which are all very useful:

But LinkedIn really comes into its own with its business targeting options. You can dive into specifics, targeting by industry, job title, education, job experience, and interests (based on which LinkedIn groups people follow):

You can also harness the power of your own data to set up  retargeting campaigns, get your ad in front of existing contacts and connections, or create lookalike audiences.

Note: Just be careful if you decide to use Lookalike audiences. If you are running a campaign with multiple audiences targeting different demographics and you’re using Lookalike audiences to target similar people, there’s a risk of audience overlap.

If the same people are seeing your ads multiple times, you risk audience fatigue which could damage your reputation and hit your conversion rates hard. Effective management of your campaigns will reduce the risk of this happening.

Section 3: Choose Your Ad Formats

The type of ad content you create will ultimately depend on the format you choose.

LinkedIn offers eight different ad formats which are listed in the table below:

Helpfully, the campaign manager suggests the formats that best align with the campaign objective you set earlier:

Here, you’ll see we’re going to use video ads, though  you may want to pick a different LinkedIn ad format depending on your campaign goal.

Section 4: Launching Your Campaign

With everything in place, it’s time to launch your LinkedIn ads. There are four stages to this process.

A) Select Ad Placements

First, you’ll need to determine where your ads will be served.

By default, your options are set to display ads both on LinkedIn itself and third-party platforms via retargeting:

If you’re worried about your ad campaigns running on third-party sites that may not align with your brand values, you can use the Brand Safety options to exclude certain types of publishers and categories, or create a custom-list of the select publishers you’ll allow to run your ads.

B) Set Up Conversion Tracking

Next, you can set up conversion tracking.

Although this is an optional step, it’s certainly worth doing. After all, how are you going to measure the effectiveness of your LinkedIn ads if you’re not tracking the number of users taking a desired action on them?

To do this, click on Create new conversion:

And then use the form options to configure a conversion measurement that aligns with your business and campaign objectives:

C) Create Your LinkedIn Ads

Now comes the fun part – actually putting your ad together!

First, click on Create new ad(s):

Then give your ad a name so that it’s easy to find in the LinkedIn campaign manager and add some introductory text:

From here, the exact options you’ll see in the ad creator will depend on the type of LinkedIn ads you’re running. Since we’re doing video ads, we have the option to upload our creatives, add that all-important heading and include a link to our landing page:

If you’re running text ads with no visuals, you naturally won’t need to upload any creative assets, while message ads will likewise present you with different options relevant to that format.

No matter which format you’re using, it’s worth keeping in mind that LinkedIn can be a highly competitive platform where your ad creatives need to stand out not only among other advertisements, but also the deluge of organic content filling up your audience’s timeline.

To do that effectively, aim for:

• Clarity and Simplicity: Strive for clear and concise messaging that immediately conveys your value proposition quickly and lets your key message shine through.

• High-Quality Visuals: Few factors will make a big difference to the success of your LinkedIn advertising campaign than high-resolution images and videos that are relevant to your target audience and align with your brand identity.

• Eye-Catching Design: Employ visually appealing elements like bold colors, contrasting fonts and well-balanced layouts to grab attention and make your ads stand out from the crowd.

• Compelling Ad Copy: Craft ad copy that is tailored to your target audience and resonates with their interests. Here, you’ll need a strong, attention-grabbing headline that stops users mid-scroll, captivating body text that clearly demonstrates your value proposition and, of course, a powerful Call to Action (CTA) to get users clicking on your ads and becoming leads or paying clients.

• Brand Consistency: Ensure your ad creative aligns with your overall brand identity in terms of color palette, typography, and imagery. This helps maintain brand recognition and reinforces your brand message.

Finally, use the Call to Action menu to set the action you want users to take when they see your LinkedIn ads:

With that done, save your ad and prepare for launch!

D) Review and Launch Your Campaign

Finally, you’ll be able to review all the details of the campaign to ensure that everything is set up just the way you like it.

From there, all that’s left to do is enter your billing information, hit Agree & Launch, and your ads will start rolling out to your audience.

Section 5: Measuring Success

Just because your ads are live now, doesn’t mean you’re done yet!

Your final task is to pay close attention to your campaign’s performance so that you can not only make on-the-fly adjustments for your current LinkedIn ad campaigns, but also learn how to improve your future paid campaigns.

Once you create your first ad, the dashboard will transform into this:

Of course, it will be full of zeros until your ads start getting some traffic and data points to measure.

Once the data arrives, you’ll be able to use the charts here to track all the important metrics of your campaigns, like CTR and Avg. CPC.

Which metrics are “good” depends on your business and your marketing objectives, but generally you’ll want to focus on minimizing CPC and CPM numbers, as that means you’re spending less per customer that you reach, maximizing the number of people you can reach with your budget and maximizing your ROI.

If you’re running multiple ads on the same objective (for example, generating leads for your PPC Advertising business), you should keep an eye on their comparative CPC. If you notice that one is significantly outperforming the others, you should put more of your budget into that ad. This will help you reach more people at a lower cost and maximize your ROI.

It’s important to also track the quality of clicks you are getting. To do this, you should set up conversion tracking in Google Analytics or a similar tool.

If you noticed that leads coming in via one of your campaigns are converting at an extremely low rate, you need to adjust that ad to better qualify your leads. Otherwise, you’re spending money to attract people who aren’t interested in your offer.

Likewise, if you have a campaign running with a low CTR or high CPC, but the traffic is converting very well comparatively, you might consider letting it run despite the engagement metrics.

At the end of the day, it’s CPA (cost per acquisition) that matters.

So if you’re paying $2 per click, but converting 1-in-4 clicks, you’re actually outperforming the campaign that costs $1 per click but only converts 1-in-10.

Remember: Keep an eye on the numbers over the medium to long term, but don’t worry about monitoring campaigns day-to-day too much. In fact, I’d urge you to avoid doing that.

Campaigns fluctuate naturally every day and you could make poor decisions if you get wrapped up in those daily shifts. Just check in on them once every two weeks or so to make sure that your costs are reasonable and your leads are converting well.

You may also like: Ad Fatigue: What Is It and How to Deal With It

Last Word on LinkedIn Ads

If you’ve followed this guide to the letter, you should now have a successful LinkedIn ads campaign up and running just by completing a few simple steps, including:

• Choosing the types of LinkedIn ads that align with your objectives: The platform offers multiple ad types such as message ads, text ads, and even sponsored content, each one designed to help you achieve specific business goals.
• Setting a budget: Keeping in mind the minimum spend requirements ($2 per click and at least $10 per day), you may find it helpful to use the budget optimization tools within your campaign manager to automate your bidding strategy for maximum results.
• Ad targeting: Take advantage of LinkedIn’s extensive targeting and customer profiling features to ensure your ads are seen by the right audience.
• Creating and launching your ads: Select the LinkedIn ad format that is best suited to getting your ideal customer to take a specific action before using compelling copy, a powerful CTA, and attention-grabbing visuals which encourage them to take that action.

If you need some help with LinkedIn advertising, that’s where we come in. Our results-focused digital experts can give you the level of support you need to get the most from your LinkedIn ads!

If you’re ready to level up your B2B lead generation with LinkedIn Ads, Single Grain’s LinkedIn Ads experts can help!👇

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Additional content contributed by David Borgogni.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Creating a LinkedIn Ads Campaign in 2024 appeared first on Single Grain.

From the immersive realms of the Metaverse and Augmented Reality to the precision of programmatic SEO and hyper-personalization through Big Data, this article will walk you through 24 of the latest digital marketing trends you can’t ignore.

Key Highlights of 2025 Digital Marketing Trends

• AI Search & AI Overview Optimization – Optimize for AI-generated search results (Google SGE, ChatGPT) to stay visible.
• AI-Powered Marketing – AI is transforming content creation, automation, and personalization.
• Short-Form Video & Social Commerce – TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels drive engagement and sales.
• Privacy-First Marketing – With third-party cookies fading, first-party and zero-party data are essential.
• Programmatic SEO & Advertising – AI automates content and ad targeting for efficiency.
• Searchless Discovery & AI Chatbots – Consumers rely more on AI assistants over traditional search.
• Live Shopping & Shoppable Ads – Interactive, real-time shopping boosts conversions.
• Native & Contextual Advertising – Privacy-driven, content-aligned ads outperform traditional targeting.
• Website Security & Trust – HTTPS, privacy compliance, and trust signals impact rankings.
• Connected TV (CTV) Ads – Streaming services fuel digital TV ad growth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Get My Free Marketing Plan

24 Digital Marketing Trends You Can’t Ignore

Understanding these marketing trends is critical, not just for staying relevant, but for forging a path of growth and engagement in an increasingly digital world. Let’s dive in and explore the forces shaping the future of digital marketing landscape.

1) Optimizing AI Search Recommendations

Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google Gemini are key digital marketing innovations that have quickly found their utility for hundreds of business categories, from helping people draft emails, organize and tabulate data, and generating ideas, they are the next evolution of productivity.

Gemini is naturally tied to Google’s search engine, meaning that it has dynamic access to Google’s entire index as often as it’s updated, so Gemini can give highly accurate and relevant information no older than a few hours.

When you think of the different ways people are using tools like Gemini to answer their questions, there’s always a likelihood that Gemini will refer to topically authoritative brands that support its response to the user’s prompt.

What this means is that someone could use a prompt that asks Gemini to come up with a list of the best restaurants in their area, and Gemini will generate a list of what it deems to be the most qualifying restaurants for that list:

As Google frames it, Gemini is not equivalent to a search engine, but rather it’s “a complement to Google Search.” It essentially takes information from Google and presents in a more conversational way. To many, this is a preferable method to answering a query than traditional search.

Herein lies the opportunity. Marketers ought to optimize their content basically as they would for regular SEO, but also for recommendations by up-to-date language models like Gemini.

There are a few things you can do to increase the chances of Gemini listing your brand in its responses:

• Create quality and useful content for users. This will help to improve your brand’s visibility and authority in Google’s search results, which Gemini uses to generate its responses. Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines are a useful rubric.
• Build a quality backlink profile. Backlinks from other high-quality websites are a signal to Google that your website is authoritative and trustworthy.
• Make sure your website is well-optimized for search engines. This means using relevant keywords in your titles, meta descriptions, and throughout your content.
• Claim and verify your Google Business Profile. A Google Business listing will help ensure that your business information is accurate and up-to-date in Google’s search results and on Google Maps.
• Encourage your customers to leave positive reviews. Reviews are another signal to Google that your business is trustworthy and reputable.

Gemini is trained on a massive dataset of text and code, including a lot of information about brands and businesses. If you can identify the keywords and phrases that Gemini is most likely to use when referring to your brand, you can incorporate those terms into your own content to increase the chances that Gemini refers to your brand.

2) AI Marketing

Starting us off is a subject that could easily fill dozens of articles with strategy and speculation with all the different ways it is evolving. Yes, we’re speaking of AI.

The use of artificial intelligence in digital marketing has never been more prominent than in our current year, and it’s a digital trend that’s only going to get better in the coming years. AI-driven digital marketing campaigns can provide faster and more accurate insights into customer behavior, leading to higher campaign success rates.

AI Marketing Automation

AI can be used to automate mundane tasks such as data collection and analysis, freeing up marketers’ time for more complex activities like creative strategy development. By leveraging the potency of AI-powered marketing automation in digital marketing strategies, businesses can gain a better understanding of their customers and maximize their digital ROI:

AI for Content Creation

Jasper is an example of AI-powered software that is used for content creation. By using this AI writing tool (or others, such as Byword or SurferAI), marketers can quickly generate relevant content – for ad campaigns, email campaigns, blog post writing – without having to manually search for content ideas or create new content from scratch.

With features like automated keyword tracking, trending topics analysis, and personalization capabilities, as well as the ability to create headlines and outlines, Jasper makes content marketing easier than ever before.

AI can also analyze consumer behavior and search patterns, and use data from social media platforms like Instagram and blog posts to help businesses understand how customers find their products and services.

One such company that has made AI the center of its value proposition is Google through its search generative experience (SGE):

Over the last few years, their implementation of AI has allowed their search engine to understand with higher precision what people are looking for and what kind of content best serves their search intent. Google is getting so good at anticipating users’ intent that it’s now fashioning tailored SERPs with information connected to the user query.

Multimodal AI

Then there’s multimodal AI, which is the culmination of all new developments in the world of AI, working together. Multimodal AI is a type of AI that can process and understand multiple types of data, such as images, text, audio and video.

Multimodal AI models often use vector embeddings to represent the different types of data that they process. For example, an image classification model might use vector embeddings to represent the visual features of an image, such as the shapes, colors and textures of the objects in the image. A text classification model might use vector embeddings to represent the semantic meaning of a piece of text, such as the topics and entities that are mentioned in the text:

Once the data has been represented in a vector space, the multimodal AI model can use a variety of techniques to learn and reason about the data. For example, the model might learn to identify patterns in the data or to group similar data points together. The model can then use this knowledge to perform tasks such as image classification, text classification or machine translation.

With AI-driven tools, such as chatbots, digital assistants, multimodal AI, and natural language processing (NLP), becoming increasingly sophisticated, artificial intelligence is the way of the future for all things marketing.

Dive Deeper: 10 Easy Ways to Get Started with Marketing AI (Artificial Intelligence)

3) AI Overview Optimization

AI Overview Optimization: How to Get Your Brand Featured

With AI-driven search experiences like Google SGE, ChatGPT, and Perplexity AI, users now receive instant, summarized answers instead of clicking through search results. Brands must adapt to AI Overview Optimization (AIO) to ensure their content is cited in AI-generated responses.

How to Optimize for AI Summaries:

• Use a Q&A Format → Structure content with clear, direct answers to common queries.
• Provide Concise, High-Value Insights → AI prefers 40-60 word explanations for summarization.
• Leverage Structured Data (Schema Markup) → Implement FAQ, How-To, and Author schema to improve AI visibility.
• Follow E-E-A-T Principles → Establish expertise and credibility through fact-based content and authoritative sources.
• Optimize for Conversational Queries → AI search favors natural, user-friendly language over keyword stuffing.
• Include key highlights at the tops of articles → Google Gemini searches for the most readable content that it can condense into short answers for its AI Overviews. When you have content higher up on the page that provides this sort of succinct answer, it makes it all them ore likely that Google will feature your page as a corrobrating source for its overview.

📌 Why It Matters: AI-generated search results are reducing traditional website traffic. Brands ought to ensure their content is recognized, cited, and included in AI-driven answers to stay competitive.

If you’re interested in how to rank your content in AI overviews, we’ve assembled a list of steps you can take to rank in AI overviews here.

4) Augmented Reality (AR)

Virtual and augmented reality tend to go hand-in-hand, but they’re definitely not one and the same from a digital marketing angle. Although virtual reality (VR) gets everyone excited with grand sci-fi ideas, augmented reality (AR) has been more realistic for marketers as of late.

Facebook recently launched an improved version of their Meta Smart Glasses, which allows you to play music, take photos and video, and even start a Livestream. These smart glasses, a significant evolution from the first generation in just a couple years, are just the beginning of what could be game-changing AR technology:

Other companies have launched their AR apps, like IKEA. Their IKEA Place app allows users to take a picture of a room in their homes with a smartphone camera (with just iOS 11.0.1 for now) to “test drive” IKEA’s furniture in it. Users can move the furniture around in the app to see how it looks from different angles:

L’Oréal is another brand that is making good use of AR with their Style My Hair app, which allows you to get a makeover or try out various hairstyles without touching a single strand on your head.

You just upload your picture (or use their preloaded image of a model) to see what you look like with different hairstyles or makeup:

With AR improving rapidly, we will see a huge uptick in brands finding useful applications for the technology in the future.

Related Content: Beginner’s Guide to Virtual Reality Ads

5) Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is the process of using AI to automate ad buying. By removing humans from this operation, companies receive a more reliable and cost-effective solution to their needs.

Here’s a quick look at how programmatic advertising works:

One of the key strengths of programmatic advertising is its ability to operate at a massive scale. Unlike traditional ad buying, which is often manual and limited by human capacity, programmatic advertising can process and analyze vast amounts of data from numerous sources in real-time. This scalability allows for a broader reach, enabling advertisers to target and retarget audiences across multiple platforms and devices efficiently.

According to SmartyAds:

“Most search-driven manual advertising campaigns (even those performed with professional tools) take into account three or four targets: the keyword, time of day, and location. Such tools like programmatic demand-side platforms can use hundreds of targeting signals to individualize the advertisement and even target according to lifestyle or behavior habits when integrated with customer data platforms.”

One popular application of programmatic ad buying you should consider adopting is real-time bidding (aka. RTB), which uses real-time auctions to buy guaranteed ad impressions in advance from specific publisher sites.

If paid media buying, like Google Ads, is a crucial customer acquisition channel for you, you should start paying attention to programmatic advertising.

Get My Free Marketing Plan

6) Programmatic SEO

Similar to programmatic advertising, programmatic SEO or “pSEO” is basically the premise of building content at scale, particularly landing pages, with the aid of AI:

The bones of pSEO is in the data that informs it, combined with the instructions you give it. From there, AI writing tools like Jasper or Copy.ai can be leveraged to build SEO-optimized site pages in a fraction of the time it would take to build them normally.

But, as you might be suspecting, this is a double-edged sword.

If you leave all of your new content development up to AI, you might see limited bursts of rankings, but they’re not likely to last long.

Search engines like Google are bound to detect patterns of “content thinness” as is often a byproduct of pure AI output.

To that end, you may achieve a higher density of content, but the depth of that content won’t be sustainable and you’ll be left with pages on your site that have nominal impact (or no impact) on your rankings.

Here are a couple of thoughts on how you can leverage programmatic SEO to it’s fullest potential:

• Start with a small number of pages and gradually scale up your operation as you assess the performance of the new pSEO pages. QA every one of them to make certain that they’re maintaining a good standard of quality.
• Do conversion rate optimization (CRO) programmatically. Since CRO and SEO go hand in hand, you ought to devise a repeatable and reliable method of incorporating CRO elements on these new pages. This could mean writing a script that ensures a specific CRO-related element is always present on the new pages.

7) Conversational Marketing

With all that talk about chatbots, artificial intelligence, and personalization, the reality of modern digital marketing becomes clear: it’s more conversational than ever.

Conversational marketing is a digital marketing tactic that involves creating real-time conversations with prospects or customers to build relationships, increase engagement and even make sales. The aim of conversational marketing is to create unique experiences for each user by providing an interactive experience through chatbots, voice search, SMS and other digital channels.

By leveraging AI technologies such as natural language processing (NLP) to analyze customer intent and provide personalized responses, businesses can offer more engaging interactions while gathering valuable insights into their target audience. This allows them to deliver personalized experiences at scale which can ultimately lead to increased conversions.

Keep in mind: When consumers have a question, 82% want an “immediate” response.

Conversational marketing facilitates a personal, instant connection between marketers and customers:

Unlike traditional strategies, this form of marketing is now available across multiple channels, allowing brands to meet customers on their terms: on the devices, platforms and time schedules that suit the customer best.

The primary goal of conversational marketing is to enhance the user experience through a feedback-driven model that fosters higher engagement, greater loyalty, and more sales.

Some methods companies use to execute a conversational digital marketing strategy include:

• Chatbots
• Personalized videos
• Personalized emails
• Virtual selling assistants

One example of a company that benefited from conversational marketing is ThoughtSpot which, after its implementation, saw 10X more sales conversations, 70% more marketing-qualified leads, and 64% more meetings booked:

Many customers today prefer interacting with chatbots because of their accessibility. They are responsive 24/7, give answers promptly, and accurately recall their entire buying history. These virtual assistants offer outstanding customer service by meeting customers’ expectations and automating repetitive tasks, freeing your resources for more important work.

As more consumers become accustomed to chatbots, they will become increasingly crucial for a positive customer experience.

Dive Deeper: 13 Messages Your Chatbot Should Be Saying to Prospects

8) Hyper-Personalization Through Big Data

If you want to stand out, you need to personalize your marketing, which means personalizing content, products, emails, etc. And what better way to do that than with vast amounts of data?

This short clip from the movie Minority Report may be a bit of an exaggeration (not to mention completely overwhelming), but it shows a world of ongoing personalization:

It turns out that consumers like personalization:

72% of shoppers act on marketing messages only when they are customized to their interests.

Big data plays a critical role in hyper-personalization. When you collect and analyze huge swaths of data from a variety of sources, you can gain a deeper understanding of your customers and identify patterns and trends that would be difficult to see otherwise.

This data can then be used to create personalized experiences across all channels, including email, websites, social media, and in-store.

When you want to study examples of the power of personalization, it’s hard to overlook Netflix and Amazon (two reigning kings of big data), with their incredibly successful recommended products or movie titles.

Cadbury’s created a personalized video campaign that matches a Dairy Milk flavor with users based on data from their Facebook profile, including age, interest and location. The campaign generated a 65% click-through rate and a 33.6% conversion rate, proving that the personal touch works.

Dive Deeper: 3 Ways to Personalize the Customer Journey Experience

9) Zero-Party Data Strategy

Zero-party data is data that customers voluntarily share with brands. It is the most valuable type of data for brands, because it is first-party data that is collected with the customer’s consent:

In the coming year, zero-party data will be essential for brands to provide personalized customer experiences. Here are a few ways that businesses can use zero-party data to improve customer experience:

• It will help personalize product recommendations. Brands can use zero-party data to learn about customers’ preferences and interests, and then use this information to recommend products and services that the customer is most likely to be interested in. This can be done through interactive experiences like polls, quizzes, and preference centers.
• It can create targeted marketing campaigns. Brands can use zero-party data to segment their customer base and create targeted marketing campaigns. This allows brands to send customers messages that are relevant to their interests, which can lead to higher conversion rates.
• It will help provide better customer support. Brands can use zero-party data to learn about customers’ support needs, and then use this information to provide better customer support. For example, brands can use AI-driven interactions with chatbots to answer customer questions and provide support, even outside of normal business hours.

Dive Deeper: 9 Ways to Deliver the Best Digital Experience to Your Customers

10) Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Account-based marketing is a (typically B2B) marketing strategy that targets specific accounts rather than a broad audience. ABM tailors its messaging and campaigns to specific accounts or customer segments, creating personalized and highly relevant experiences for each account.

This approach involves understanding the specific attributes and needs of an account and then crafting customized strategies to engage decision-makers within that account.

This strategy also allows businesses to save time and resources by focusing on the accounts that are most likely to be successful. The goal of ABM is to foster deeper and more meaningful relationships with high-value accounts, which can lead to higher conversion rates and increased customer loyalty.

With ABM, you have a marketing funnel that looks like this:

Bizible is an example of a company using an ABM approach to connect with their target prospects by sending them a physical care package through the mail.

After identifying who the key decision makers were in their account list, Bizible:

• Created 37 custom care packages which included a physical copy of their Total Economic Impact Bible
• Donated to an environmental charity in their prospect’s name
• Sent them a handwritten card:

Afterward, Bizible followed up with every single one of their prospects to ensure that they received their care package and sent them links to customized landing pages that addressed the decision maker and their business by name.

In using an ABM strategy, Bizible generated over $33,000 in additional revenue and beat their quarterly sales quota by 15%.

If you’re curious how to scale your ABM on social platforms like LinkedIn, then you should check out Karrot ABM. The whole idea behind Karrot is helping brands target enterprise-level prospects quickly and efficiently with ads on LinkedIn, in a fraction of the time it would normally take.

11) Video Shorts

Video is one of the most important digital marketing trends today and likely will be for the foreseeable future. Here we’ll touch on both short-form videos and longer, traditional videos.

Videos are 2X as likely to be shared on social media compared to other types of content.

Short-form video can be highly effective and offer significant ROI, due to several factors:

• Short-form videos are concise, easy to consume and can be highly entertaining or informative, which resonates well with social media users.
• Many social media platforms (like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts) are prioritizing short-form video content via algorithms that favor these formats.
• Creating short-form videos can be less expensive compared to other forms of content, potentially offering a higher ROI, especially for small businesses or those with limited budgets.

But rather than inundate all these video platforms with your short videos, remember to focus on just 2-3 channels that your audience is using.

You can use video shorts to create:

• Product teasers
• UGC
• Behind-the-scenes videos
• Quick explainer videos

And video advertising is driving engagement like never before:

• The average video has a 2% conversion rate, which is ideal for generating and converting leads.
• Since 84% of people say they bought a product or service after watching a brand’s video, video advertising can result in more conversions.

Its unique ability to combine storytelling with visual and auditory stimuli makes it highly effective in creating memorable and impactful brand messages.

12) Visual Search

Visual search is still a fairly new practice where people can upload an image into a search engine. First you upload a photo:

Then up pops all the websites where that image appears so you can get more info about it:

There are two companies that are leveraging visual search:

A) Pinterest

Pinterest jumped on the visual search bandwagon with the launch of Pinterest Lens, a visual search tool that allows users to click on a button in the bottom right corner of the pin to find out where to buy it online, search for similar products, or view pinboards of related items.

It will even pull up all related images and keywords, too, which is perfect for marketers to see which keywords Pinterest is associating your content with:

Pinterest’s Lens recognizes 2.5 billion home and fashion objects and has inspired over 600 million searches on Pinterest’s mobile apps and browser extensions. Since its launch, they have seen a 140% growth in Lens usage.

Pinterest has continued to update its functionality with the launch of the following features:

• Pincodes, which use QR codes to find inspiration while their users are out shopping or flipping through their favorite magazines.
• Collages is a new feature designed to help users personalize ideas and visualize the possibilities by allowing users to cut objects out of a Pin and combine them with other cutouts to create interactive collages of their favorite ideas.

• E-commerce integrations with Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Adobe Commerce which makes it easy for merchants to manage their Pinterest product catalogs and generate growth on Pinterest.

A related item on this digital marketing trends list is Google Lens.

B) Google Lens

Google Lens is a visual search engine by Google, which recognizes objects and landmarks through a camera app: “Not sure how to describe it in words? Use your camera or an image to search.”

Here’s what you can do when you take a photo of the following items:

• Apparel and home goods: Find similar products and where to buy them.
• Barcodes: Use a barcode to find info about a product, like where to buy it.
• Business card: Save the phone number or address to a contact.
• Book: Get a summary and read reviews.
• Event flyer or billboard: Add the event to your calendar.
• Landmark or building: See historical facts, hours of operation, and more.
• Painting in a museum: Read about the artist and learn more.
• Plant or animal: Learn about species and breeds.

Visuals are an incredibly powerful way to engage audiences. With a great-looking visual – videos, images, charts, GIFs, infographics – you can create a much stronger connection with potential customers than if you were just relying on text alone.

13) Live Stream Shopping & Shoppable Ads

Live stream shopping and shoppable ads continue to emerge as significant digital marketing trends for the coming year, driven by their ability to engage consumers in a unique, interactive and highly effective manner.

Live stream shopping, also known as live shopping or shoppertainment, is a strategy in which retailers host live video streams to showcase and sell their products. During these streams, viewers can watch product demonstrations, interact with hosts or experts in real-time through comments or questions, and make purchases instantly.

The biggest draw to live shopping is that it makes good use of “FOMO” (fear of missing out).

According to McKinsey, the most popular product categories for live stream shopping are apparel and fashion, beauty products, food, consumer electronics, and furnishing and home decor. For optimum live stream e-commerce shopping, they recommend starting with infrequent streams focused on 1-5 products.

They also suggest using TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or Amazon Live, and then moving on to a “dedicated in-house team or agency staff to plan and develop content for livestreams, including storylines, scripts, and hosts or micro-influencers” and broadcast them across multiple channels.

Also, because of Apple’s privacy and data update, more and more advertisers are experimenting with shoppable TV ads. Advertisers are turning to Roku’s new shoppable ad pilot, which allows viewers to buy items at Walmart from their Roku devices simply by pressing “OK” on their remote control while watching a shoppable ad.

14) Voice Search (VSEO)

Voice search optimization is becoming increasingly important as the use of digital assistants continues to rise and more people become more comfortable with using their voices to search online.

71% of searchers prefer to conduct queries using voice instead of typing.

VSEO involves optimizing your website content so it can be easily understood by digital assistants like Siri and Alexa, helping them deliver faster and more accurate search results. To remain competitive, businesses will need to ensure that their content is easily found via voice search:

Voice search already plays a crucial role in providing relevant information for search engine users. Google Assistant has 1 million actions and Alexa has over 100,000 skills, which represent functions that allow their voice assistants to react very specifically to user commands and queries:

Not only will more brands produce audio content in the hopes of gaining appearing in voice search results, but ads are on their way next. This means that Alexa will tell you the answer to your question along with a “word from her sponsor.”

The latest data (which is now a few years old, so we can assume that this number is higher) shows that 27% of all searches on mobile devices are voice-activated, meaning that they come from a set of “trigger words” such as “how,” “what,” “best,” and “easy.”

The launch of voice assistants has disrupted more than the search engine world. As it turns out, consumers don’t just like to use them to execute their search queries — they also like to use them to purchase.

15) Social Media Stories

Social media stories have been gaining popularity since Snapchat first came out with Stories, and for good reason.

Stories (now available on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter) are an effective way to engage users and drive visibility to your products or services. Stories are posts that disappear after 24 hours and offer a unique format that can be used to promote events, showcase products, announce deals, or even just tell a story.

Here are some ways you can use social media stories on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat to engage with your audience:

• Behind-the-Scenes Content: Share glimpses of your day-to-day operations, giving your audience a more personal and relatable view of your brand.
• Polls and Q&A Sessions: Use interactive tools like polls or Q&A stickers to gather feedback, answer questions, and engage directly with your audience.
• Limited-Time Offers and Promotions: Create urgency and exclusivity by sharing special offers or promotions available only for the duration of the Story.
• User-Generated Content: Share or feature stories from your audience, like testimonials or photos of them using your product, to build community and authenticity.
• Teasers and Previews: Use Stories to tease upcoming products, events, or announcements, building anticipation and keeping your audience engaged.

In addition, you can:

• Add Links to Your Social Media Stories: This is particularly effective on platforms like Instagram, where you can direct viewers to your website or a specific product page.
• Take Advantage of Snapchat Geofilters: Custom geofilters can enhance local engagement and brand visibility, especially for location-based marketing.
• Add Location Tags: Location tags increase the discoverability of your Stories, attracting local audiences or those interested in specific locations.
• Add Mentions for Other Brands and Your Fans: Tagging enhances engagement, fosters collaborations, and appreciates fan content.
• Give Live Video a Try When Creating Stories: Live videos can drive real-time engagement, offering an unfiltered, immediate connection with your audience.
• Invite Followers to Explore More with Clear Call-to-Actions: Encourage action, such as visiting a website, signing up, or checking out a new product, making your Stories not just engaging but also conversion-focused.

By using these social media marketing strategies, you can create an engaging, interactive, and personable experience that resonates with your audience and strengthens your brand’s presence on social media.

Dive Deeper: How to Create Instagram Stories Ads that Your Ideal Customer Will Swipe Up

16) Interactive Content & UGC

In the coming year, we’re destined to see even more of a shift from traditional text-based content to dynamic interactive content that offers users an immersive experience, such as:

• Quizzes and polls
• Embedded calculators
• Augmented reality ads
• 360-degree videos

Here’s an excellent example of a 360 VR video by National Geographic (be sure to use your mouse or finger to move the video left, right, up, down):

And here’s an example of our Marketing Impact Calculator to help you calculate how much more money you’ll make with marketing:

Interactive content belongs on this list of digital marketing trends because it is more engaging, more memorable and more likely to generate the results your business needs. People like it not just because it’s fresh and original, but because it makes them feel more connected to brands and more involved in the buying process.

And user-generated content goes hand in hand with interactive content. UGC is content that is created and shared by users on social media. It can include images, videos, reviews and blog posts about products or services.

Using UGC in your marketing strategies has numerous benefits:

• It increases brand visibility and engagement as customers share their positive experiences with the product or service to their friends and followers.
• It builds trust between the brand and its customers because user-generated content is seen as more authentic than traditional media campaigns since it comes from people who have actually tried the product or service themselves.
• It provides valuable feedback which can be used to improve customer experience and make the product or service even more appealing to potential customers.

Encouraging your audience to create and share UCG can be as easy as a customer posting their favorite Starbucks treat  and tagging the company:

Or the GoPro Million Dollar Challenge, which comes out every year with GoPro’s newest camera and encourages both the purchase of the camera and the creation of quality UGC content:

Dive Deeper: 8 Ways to Encourage More User-Generated Content (UGC)

17) Blockchain Applications

As defined by Blockgeeks, a blockchain is:

“A time-stamped series of immutable data records that is managed by a cluster of computers not owned by any single entity. Each of these blocks of data (i.e., block) is secured and bound to each other using cryptographic principles (i.e., chain).”

Here’s a visual representation of how a blockchain works:

Despite being initially focused on cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies and their applications are far more wide-reaching than just the financial world. Here are a few examples.

Integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Blockchain:

• AI can enhance blockchain’s capabilities in areas like data analysis, security, and automation.
• This integration can lead to more efficient and intelligent blockchain applications.
• Marketers can leverage AI-powered blockchain solutions for targeted marketing campaigns, personalized customer experiences, and data-driven decision-making.

Blockchain as a Service (BaaS):

• BaaS provides businesses with an easy-to-use platform for developing and deploying blockchain applications.
• This lowers the barriers to entry for blockchain adoption and expands its reach to a wider range of businesses.
• Marketers can use BaaS platforms to create blockchain-powered loyalty programs, supply chain tracking systems, and secure data management solutions.

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Boom:

• NFTs are unique digital assets that represent ownership of items like artwork, collectibles, and virtual goods.
• The NFT boom has opened up new opportunities for marketers to engage with communities, create exclusive experiences, and monetize digital content.
• Marketers can explore NFT-based campaigns, influencer marketing partnerships, and virtual merchandise to connect with tech-savvy audiences.

Growth of Decentralized Finance (DeFi):

• DeFi offers financial services like lending, borrowing, and trading without the need for traditional intermediaries.
• DeFi’s growth is democratizing access to financial services and disrupting traditional financial institutions.
• Marketers can leverage DeFi platforms for targeted financial marketing, customer acquisition, and loyalty programs.

Dive Deeper:
* The Ultimate Guide to Blockchain Digital Marketing and Cryptocurrency
* How Blockchain Can Be Instrumental in Preventing Digital Fraud

18) First-Party Cookies & Data Privacy

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) were passed into law to put limits on the way companies use their customer’s data.

Since then, dozens of the largest companies in the world have been fined exorbitant sums of money due to user privacy violations, such as:

• Amazon — $877 million
• Google – $57 million
• British Airways – $26 million

The implications of the new data privacy laws are far more reaching than economic. Marketers are now faced with a situation that has always been their biggest nightmare: the end of third-party cookies.

While it’s arguably less convenient than the use of third-party data, first-party cookies are very much the new standard of collecting user data while maintaining their privacy.

First-party cookies allow brands to collect valuable data about their customers without overstepping on any privacy boundaries. This data can be used to improve the customer experience and deliver more relevant and effective marketing campaigns.

With the end of third-party cookies — such as the ones most marketing tools used to power their technologies — companies can only rely on their own collected data.

In an effort to streamline a bloated digital advertising infrastructure and help create a new set of user privacy-focused open web standards, Google announced that it was ending support for third-party browser cookies in its Chrome browser with its Privacy Sandbox.

The data collected by these tiny scraps of code beams a huge range of information about customer preferences back to third parties, who often sell that data to a range of businesses and individuals:

First-party cookies will force marketers to be mindful of the data they collect and how they use it.

Here are a few of the best, most current ways brands can use first-party cookies to improve data privacy in their marketing strategies:

• Personalize the website or app experience. Brands can use first-party cookies to track which pages users visit, what products they view, and what items they add to their cart. This data can be used to personalize the user experience by showing users more relevant content and product recommendations.
• Send targeted marketing messages. Brands can use first-party cookies to segment their customer base and send targeted marketing messages. For example, a brand could send an email to customers who have abandoned their shopping carts with a reminder to complete their purchase.
• Measure, measure, measure. Brands can use first-party cookies to track the performance of their marketing campaigns. For example, a brand could track how many people clicked on a link in an email or how many people made a purchase after seeing an ad.

It might feel like we’ve taken a step backward in the way we collect and leverage user data, but it’s ultimately a more ethical means of delivering your brand’s messaging to your audience in a way that they will be more receptive to.

Dive Deeper:
* Google Privacy Sandbox: What Does It Mean for the Future of Targeted Ads?
* How Apple’s iOS 14 Release May Affect Your Ads (& What to Do About It)

19) Website Security

Another digital marketing trends candidate is online security. In the same breath as privacy, website security is becoming more important than ever.

When a visitor lands on your site for the first time, they’ll make up their mind about your security within seconds. If they don’t feel safe, they won’t stick around, which leads to a lower dwell time, which is a relatively recent Google ranking factor.

That means you may see a decrease in rankings if people don’t feel safe on your website.

In addition, prominently displaying a security seal of trust or trust badge on your website will reassure your site visitors that you take their safety seriously:

Dive Deeper: How Poor Website Security Negatively Impacts SEO Rankings

20) Podcasts

People like listening to podcasts, whether they are from individuals or companies. One source indicates that 80% of people will listen to most of a podcast episode.

And with Google now displaying podcast episodes directly in its SERPs…

…you must put more emphasis on optimizing your podcast.

Additionally, “people are set to interact with voice-enabled devices more often, so podcasters can increase brand awareness and audience engagement with voice SEO tactics,” including:

• Choose a keyword for each podcast episode
• Create a specific page for every episode
• Create a blog post of ~300 words for each episode

However, podcasts can be tricky for marketers as listeners may not be prompted to take action, such as signing up for an email newsletter. In the next few years, marketers will take a more user-friendly approach that will prioritize:

• Using one call to action per episode
• Summarizing the episode’s key points
• Making it easy to listen to a podcast — that means not requiring a sign-up, download, or any other issues just to listen to an episode

Dive Deeper:
* The Ultimate Guide to Podcast Advertising
* 9 Podcast Trends You Can’t Ignore
* Audio SEO: The Complete Guide to Ranking Your Podcast Successfully

21) Native Advertising & Contextual Advertising

Is it a surprise to say that people hate online ads?

It shouldn’t be, considering that 31% of Americans use ad blockers to avoid ads, which forces marketers to try new acquisition channels.

Among the many options available, some of which we mentioned here, marketers have found native advertising.

Native advertising is a type of non-disruptive digital advertising in which the ad seamlessly blends in with the design of the web page it is published on. Consumers usually can’t distinguish native ads from the digital content in which they show up — hence the name “native”:

An AppNexus study found that native ads see an average CTR of 0.80%, while display ads see 0.09% — that’s 8.80x higher than display ads:

Contextual advertising is another type of digital marketing trend that places ads next to relevant content. This is in contrast to behavioral targeting, which tracks users’ online activity and shows them ads based on their browsing history and interests.

Contextual advertising is becoming increasingly popular as a way to reach consumers with relevant ads without invading their privacy. In particular, it is poised to become the next big thing in marketing for the following reasons:

• It is more effective. Studies have shown that contextual ads are more likely to be clicked on and remembered than behavioral ads. This is because they are more relevant to the content that consumers are already viewing.
• It is more privacy-friendly. Contextual advertising does not require marketers to track users’ online activity. Instead, it relies on the content of the page that the user is viewing to determine which ads to show. This makes it a more privacy-friendly alternative to behavioral targeting.
• It is more scalable. Contextual advertising can be used to reach a wide audience across a variety of platforms. This is because it is not limited to specific websites or apps.

Dive Deeper: How to Scale Your E-commerce Traffic Acquisition with Native Advertising

22) IoT Advertising

The “Internet of the Things” (IoT) has been making a lot of noise over the last decade.  To understand its place in this digital marketing trends list, let’s quickly define it:

The IoT represents a network of devices, from smart cars to household appliances to wearable tech, that are connected between each other and the Internet. In this network, the connected devices can gather, share and analyze information and create actions synchronously.

A few examples of IoT are:

• Controlling a home thermostat remotely using a mobile app
• DHL tracking vehicles and monitoring warehouses using environmental sensors to optimize their processes
• A smart toothbrush that encourages good brushing habits
• A health monitor that reports on a variety of biometrics and will contact your healthcare provider if needed
• A smart refrigerator that writes a grocery list

IoT advertising involves connecting digital screens to specific products and services in order to inform customers about them. This works by gathering data from sensors installed on the digital screen and then using this data to personalize advertisements for customers.

For example, Tide partnered with Amazon to leverage Amazon’s Dash buttons. Customers would attach this physical button to their dryers, and when the detergent was close to running out, the customer simply presses the button and a new pack is delivered to their home:

And, of course, Google’s local search ads make good use of IoT in advertising. When people search locally on their smartphones, they’re shown relevant ads based on their current location

Now let’s just hope that these devices don’t start to read our minds…

23) Connected TV Advertising & Self-Service Ads

Connected TV (CTV) advertising is currently one of the fastest-growing segments of the digital advertising market, and it is poised to continue its meteoric rise in the coming year.

According to eMarketer, CTV ad spend in the U.S. is expected to reach $29.29 billion by next year and within the next few years come closer to a 50-50 split between traditional TV ad spending and CTV:

One of the key drivers of CTV growth is the increasing adoption of streaming services: 85% of U.S. households now have at least one streaming subscription.

And 4% of consumers have turned over their phone number in order to get updates from an advertiser after seeing a CTV ad:

This shift away from traditional cable TV is creating a new opportunity for advertisers to reach their target audiences on the big screen.

Another key factor driving CTV growth is the rise of self-service advertising platforms. In the past, CTV advertising was only accessible to large enterprises with deep pockets. However, self-service platforms are now making it possible for businesses of all sizes to run CTV ads.

This is a major game-changer for digital marketers. Self-service platforms give businesses more control over their CTV campaigns and allow them to target their ads more precisely. They also make CTV advertising more affordable and accessible to a wider range of businesses.

Here are a few key things to look out for pertaining to CTV advertising and self-service ads:

• Access to new technologies and ad formats: Self-service platforms are constantly innovating and developing new technologies and ad formats.
• Improved targeting and measurement: Self-service platforms give digital marketers more control over their CTV campaigns and allow them to target their ads more precisely.
• Reduced costs: Self-service platforms typically offer lower ad costs than traditional CTV advertising methods.

Looking for a full-service marketing agency? Check out:
The Absolute 20 Best Marketing Agencies

24) Searchless Discovery: AI Chatbots & Recommender Systems

Consumers Are Searching Less & Relying on AI More

Instead of Googling for information, many consumers now ask AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, and Google Gemini for product recommendations and research.

How Brands Can Adapt:

• Build AI-Optimized FAQ Pages → Ensure your website answers common questions in AI-friendly language.
• Claim Your AI Business Listings → Just like Google My Business, AI tools will reference structured business data.
• Invest in Chatbot Marketing → AI-powered chatbots on your site can provide real-time answers and guide users to the right products.
• Be the “Best” Answer → AI assistants prioritize authoritative sources—focus on content that AI platforms trust.

Why It Matters: AI-powered search assistants are shifting user behavior away from Google—brands must optimize for AI-driven discovery.

Final Word on New Trends in Digital Marketing

For anyone in digital marketing, change is an integral part of the job. You must stay ahead of the game and strive to embrace new technologies, tools, and digital marketing efforts to gain an edge over your competitors.

This isn’t to say old school marketing techniques are no longer relevant, but a combination of both old and current marketing trends is a prudent strategy. Significant digital marketing trends such as Position Zero and IoT advertising can provide brands and marketers with unprecedented insights and opportunities to succeed.

By understanding and leveraging these marketing strategies today, businesses can stay ahead of their competition and be successful! Good luck!

If you want to  grow more efficiently, our experts can audit your marketing and bring you fresh ideas for Paid Media, SEO, Digital Content, CRO, and more. Just click the button below to book a chat with our team!

Get My Free Marketing Plan

Related Video

For more insights and lessons about marketing, check out our Marketing School podcast on YouTube.

Additional contributions by CJ Haughey, Ivan Kreimer, Sam Pak, Alex Raza, and Selena Templeton.

The post 24 Digital Marketing Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2025 appeared first on Single Grain.