Everything you need to send the perfect Happy New Year email

New Year’s email campaigns deserve as much fanfare as any other holiday email campaigns. And yet, so much time and energy goes into planning and executing Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas email promotions that poor New Year’s often gets forgotten.

Don’t let that happen this year. New Year’s is a great opportunity to connect with your subscribers and kick 2023 sales off with a bang.  

You don’t have to start from scratch to do it, either. To help you save time, AWeber has made several New Year’s-themed email templates. They’re mobile-friendly, easy to edit, and they’re animated.

We’ve also found 10 ideas for New Year’s emails that can spark your imagination. Use these ideas to help you write copy or to spur you to pull together a New Year’s marketing campaign. 

4 Happy New Year email templates 

To access the templates listed here, log in to your AWeber account — or get a free AWeber account — then go to “Messages” > “Create a Message.”

Happy New Year email template #1: Animated Happy New Year’s

The confetti animation here is simple, but it has just enough glitz to attract attention. This template has two different design options to select from, with different font treatments and icon options. Choose whichever version works for your brand. 

The “Happy New Year” template series is located in the template gallery under Holiday

Happy New Year email template #2: Happy New Year’s Fireworks

This New Year’s fireworks email template complements a clean layout with eye-catching graphics that will get your readers’ attention.

If you want to skip the animations, that’s okay, too. This third fireworks template uses a static image instead of the animation above.

The “New Years” template is located in the template gallery under Holiday

Happy New Year email template #4: Rooftop Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

It’s not too late to send a holiday message to your audience. This “Wishing You a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” email template series is festive enough to work for both holidays. There are two color variations to choose from. 

The “Rooftop” email series is located in the template gallery under Holiday

All of these email templates are available in any AWeber account. Click here to use the template you like and start writing your New Year’s email. 

10 ideas for New Year’s emails 

Now that you’ve got a template for a nice-looking New Year’s email, what should you say in that email?

We’ve got you covered here, too. Every one of these ten ideas for New Year’s emails have worked for some of the best newsletters and email marketers around. All you have to do is to pick the approach that works best for you. 

1. Send a survey email to find out what your subscribers think about this year or last year

Surveys give you information you can’t get anywhere else. They also give you insights about your audience that can help you make dramatic improvements to your business. 

Surveys don’t have to be hard, or take a long time to do. Even one or two questions might be enough. Use the survey responses for a new blog post, for your next newsletter, or for a few social media posts. 

Here's how Marketing Brew used some survey information in one of their New Year's emails:

2. Interview someone about their goals for the upcoming year, or about how they did with their goals for the previous year

Morning Brew did this for a section of one of their New Year’s emails from last year. The result is a clever blend of an employee profile and one person's experience with goal setting.

3. Offer a product or a product bundle that’s designed for what your audience needs right at the New Year

Everybody loves a deal. So if you’ve got a couple of products that could be grouped together, wrap them up as a discounted bundle. 

4. Put on a New Year’s Eve sale

Aka a “get what you really wanted” after Christmas sale. 

These can be especially effective if you’re a business coach or if you offer business services. Many solopreneurs or companies set their business year to close, appropriately enough, on December 31st. So they may have budget they need to spend, and they might as well spend it with you. 

5. Help subscribers ring in the New Year right

Crate and Barrel’s ecommerce email here is an obvious way to help people celebrate their holiday. But you don’t need to be selling physical goods to help people celebrate.

Maybe you’ve got a newsletter for introverts, and you could put together a few ideas for the perfect introvert New Year’s.

Or you’re a relationship counselor, and maybe you have a few suggestions for a romantic New Year’s. 

Or you have a baking or cooking blog, and you’ve got some ideas for a few quick and easy recipes for something delicious for New Year’s Eve. 

Any one of those ideas could make for a great New Year’s Eve email. Or a great New Year’s Day email, too. 

6. Write up your predictions or best advice for the upcoming year

In any industry or niche, there are usually a few new trends that have already developed enough that they're clearly going to matter for the next year or so. This means you don't have to make any crazy predictions — you just need to make a few educated guesses about what's likely to happen.

Or take the alternative approach: If you wrote about your predictions or advice for last year, check back and see how right you were.

7. Write up a “State of [Your Speciality]” for the upcoming year

This can be a great way to offer a high-ticket course, coaching, or your signature product. Here’s how blogger Ruth Soukup has framed her “State of Blogging in 2022” webinar as a way to sell her blogging course. 

8. Offer a few ideas for how to close the year out strong

A lot of people take the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. So if you write about anything that can be related to organizing or decluttering, now’s your time to shine. Your readers will have more time to follow your advice than usual.

Even Smashing Magazine, which is about digital design, thought of a way to write about decluttering: decluttering digital files. 

9. The anti-New Year’s resolution email

‘Tis the season for self-improvement kicks. But not for everyone. 

If you lean even a bit controversial — even a bit against the status quo — your subscribers might respond really well to the anti-resolution email. 

Here’s how money guru Denise Duffield-Thomas opens her anti-resolution email. 

You may not want to write an email this long, and you don’t have to. You could also record a video and talk about why you’re cool on the whole New Year’s Resolution thing. 

10. Send a "year in review" email

These are extremely popular among the startup crowd, but they can be good for anyone. Year in reviews are excellent for being real with your readers, highlighting what worked and what didn’t, and taking raw experience and distilling into insights and principles to live by going forward.

Extra credit: Ask your readers to share their year in reviews. You’ll get incredible insights into what they want, what they’re struggling with, and what’s working best for them. #brilliantaudienceresearch

Get your Happy New Year email ready today

New Year’s emails can be full of glitz and confetti or just a simple, genuine seasonal greeting. All that matters is that they're authentic to you and connect with your audience. So take what you've learned here, log into your AWeber account, and get started.

We'd love to hear what type of New Year's email you've decided to send, too. Tell us about it in the comments.

The post <strong>Everything you need to send the perfect Happy New Year email</strong> appeared first on AWeber.

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Top 14 project management software and tools to level-up collaboration

When you hear the phrase “work smarter, not harder,” what comes to mind?

Is it ways you could automate processes? Breaking down silos at your company? Promoting seamless cross-functional collaboration?

If you answered yes, your current project management strategies and corporate communications tools might need an upgrade. It’s time to invest in  project management software to help you plan, coordinate and execute your team’s work at a higher level.

In this article, we share why you should use project management software, what to look for as you consider your options and the 14 best project management tools for different teams.

The benefits of project management software

Project management software helps keep teams organized and on track. It streamlines processes and ensures they’re followed, empowering employees to work smoothly and efficiently.

From daily, ongoing tasks to larger projects, a project management tool takes the guesswork and frustration out of collaboration so teams can focus on doing their best work. With project management tools, multiple teams and departments are enabled to join forces, allocate work, illuminate timelines and simplify approvals.

What to look for in a project management tool

Ultimately, your ideal project management software should fit your company’s specific needs. Consider your budget, team size, file storage requirements, security demands and existing integrations in your tech stack when assessing options. For example, a tool that works for a growing team of five might not be appropriate for a team of 1,000.

The most common features of a project management tool include:

• Time tracking
• Reporting
• Scheduling and planning
• Budget tracking
• Document storing and sharing

Here’s our list of the leading project management software broken down by use case:

• Best project management software for cross-functional collaboration
• Project management software for agencies
• Best project management tools for enterprise companies

Best project management software for cross-functional collaboration

monday.com

monday.com is a standard tool that offers scalable workflows, processes and tasks. The software can accommodate a growing team, and their templates make setting up your projects time-efficient.

monday.com has the functionality to cater to projects and workflows in marketing, IT, software development, sales and CRM, HR and operations. Its specialized functionalities allow you to bring different departments together into one workspace and streamline the project management process.

Key features:

• 40+ integrations including HubSpot, Google Drive, Slack and Zoom
• Budget planning and management capabilities
• Cost: $10/month per seat (Standard package)
• Free project management tools available for individuals

Trello

Trello is a user-friendly project management software with customizable playbooks for marketing, product development, management, startups and remote teams. If you need all members of your department or company to work within one tool, Trello’s software makes it possible.

Their customizable workflow templates and calendars are suitable for both everyday to-dos and long-term projects.

Key features:

• 192+ integrations including Jira Cloud, Salesforce, Slack and Microsoft Teams
• Budgeting and time-tracking capabilities
• Cost: $10/month per seat (Standard package)
• Free project management tools available

Smartsheet

With Smartsheet you can build sophisticated sheets, forms, dashboards and reports. The customizable solutions make the project management software a fit for cross-collaboration between departments like marketing, IT and operations.

Smartsheet can be scaled for enterprise companies with advanced needs due to its elevated capabilities and security features.

Key features:

• 80+ integrations including Google Drive, Microsoft Suite, Adobe and Salesforce
• Easy-to-create WorkApps based on your business need
• Scalable options for enterprise companies
• Secure request management
• Cost: $25/month per seat (Business package)

Zoho

Zoho offers all the essential project management software features: task management, team collaboration, calendars, project templates and time tracking. Their tool also includes live chat and sophisticated automation tools.

With an affordable price tag and basic capabilities, Zoho would work well for growing teams experimenting with project management tools for the first time.

Key features:

• 20+ integrations including Google Drive, Microsoft Suite, ZenDesk and Github
• Budgeting and time-tracking capabilities
• Live private and group chat
• Sophisticated automations with third-party integrations
• Cost: $3/month per seat (Standard package)

ClickUp

ClickUp is a strong choice for teams who require close collaboration in a distributed work environment. With live chat, whiteboards and editing features, ClickUp is a project management tool that replicates the experience of working in-person—a draw for hybrid and remote teams.

ClickUp’s time management tools are helpful for leaders who need to appropriately allocate and distribute work. The tools illuminate the productivity of individuals and entire teams.

Key features:

• 1,000+ integrations including Google Drive, Microsoft Suite, DropBox and Github
• Live chat, whiteboards and document editing
• Time management tools (tracking, estimates and reporting)
• Cost: $12/month per seat (Business package)
• Free project management tools available

Sprout Social

At Sprout Social, our expertise is in social media management, an essential part of your digital marketing toolbox. Sprout is an all-in-one social media management tool that allows businesses of any size to manage all aspects of their social media strategy and work together efficiently.

Our platform offers project management tools that streamline approval workflows and customer care, simplifying cross-collaboration between marketing and customer support teams.

Key features:

• Integrations with all major social media platforms, helpdesk, CRM and social commerce tools
• Social analytics, engagement, publishing, monitoring and listening
• Smart Inbox approval and response workflows
• Live activity and collaboration
• Cost: $399/month, $299 for each additional user (Professional plan)

Start your free Sprout trial

Best project management software for agencies

Teamwork

Teamwork is project management software built for agencies, creative teams and professional service providers to maximize their resources.

With free client users and billing software/integrations, Teamwork makes it possible to manage multiple complex customer relationships.

Key features:

• 80+ integrations including HubSpot, Slack, Outlook and Stripe
• Time-tracking and billing software
• Unlimited free client users
• Cost: $17.99/month per seat (Grow package)
• Free project management tools available for up to five users

ProofHub

ProofHub has workflows suitable for different agency departments, including marketing, HR and operations. The project management software addresses many business needs, from task management to streamlined client communication. ProofHub project templates and request forms make managing new projects easier.

Key features:

• 8 integrations including Slack, Box, Google Drive and Quick Books
• Time-tracking capabilities
• Live private and group chat
• Request forms
• Cost: $45/month per seat (Essential package)

Basecamp

Basecamp’s easy set-up and implementation make it an ideal fit for growing teams and boutique agencies. The project management tool is free for clients, contractors and outside guests, incentivizing communication and collaboration.

Key features:

• 400+ integrations including Adobe, Dropbox, Google Drive and GitHub
• Time tracking and reporting
• Live chats with team members and clients
• 500 GB storage capacity
• Cost: $11/month per seat

Wrike

Wrike’s project management software provides companies with project visibility, resource management and client collaboration tools. Wrike offers cross-functional features like cross-tagging, internal/guest approvals, plus live editing and proofing tools.

The simplified intake process and time tracking/budgeting capabilities make Wrike especially conducive for agency work.

Key features:

• 400+ integrations including Salesforce, HubSpot, WordPress and Google Drive
• Time-tracking and budgeting tools
• Security features like locked spaces, encryptions, two-factor authentication and single sign-on
• Cross-functional, live tools
• Cost: $24.80/month per seat (Premium package)
• Free project management tools available

Best project management software for enterprise companies

Asana

Asana provides company-wide project management tools for a variety of use cases—including approvals/feedback, pipeline projects and planning large-scale goals. With Asana, users can upload and create an unlimited number of projects, tasks and documents.

Asana Enterprise grants users access to their full suite of features and advanced security functionalities.

Key features:

• 200+ integrations including Adobe, Asana for Salesforce, Jira Cloud and DataGrail
• Unlimited projects, tasks and storage
• Scalable for enterprise companies
• Cost: $10.99/month per seat (Premium package)
• Free project management tools available for basic plan

Jira

Jira is a project management tool specifically designed for software, marketing, HR, legal, operations, IT, finance and incident response teams. The tool helps teams build new products, craft campaigns from start to finish and respond to issues quickly.

Jira’s advanced capabilities work well for enterprise companies with complex projects, timelines and security needs.

Key features:

• 3,000+ integrations including Figma, Adobe, Zendesk, GitHub and Trello
• Time tracking and reporting
• World-class security and compliance
• Suitable for large, complex projects
• Cost: $7.75/month per seat (Standard package)
• Free project management tools available for up to 10 users

Confluence

Confluence is a collaborative team workspace for creating and organizing your work/processes. It’s ideal for mission-critical, high-stakes projects that require formalized communication and operations. Confluence must be hosted on the cloud, in a data center or on a server.

Like Jira, Confluence is an Atlassian product. The products work well together.

Key features:

• Integrations including Google Drive, Draw.io, Lucidchart and Miro
• Unlimited storage, spaces and pages
• Complex project management functionality
• Security features like data residency, IP ranges and spaces permissions
• Test product sandbox and release tracks
• Accommodates 35,000 users
• Cost: $11/month per seat (Premium package)
• Free project management tools available for up to 10 users

Scoro

Scoro project management software is appropriate for company-wide collaboration across industries. The tool delivers business intelligence data including detailed financial reports and real-time KPI updates. Scoro has role-based access control and enterprise-grade security.

Time management tools and activity logs within the platform help leaders capacity plan and illustrate the impact of their team’s work across the company.

Key features:

• 1,000+ integrations including Slack, Asana, Jira, Basecamp and Trello
• Time management tools and activity logs for capacity planning
• Detailed, real-time financial reports and other KPI data
• Purchase orders and expense processing
• Role-based access and enterprise-grade security
• Cost: $37/month per seat (Standard package)

Create a culture of collaboration

Make silos, redundant tasks, messy email threads and frustrating collaboration a thing of the past. With this list in hand, you have all the information you need to find the right project management software for your team.

Project management tools are the key to unlocking efficient collaboration, streamlined processes and visibility.

Want to start encouraging collaboration between your sales and social teams today? Learn how you can work together to produce customer-centric content that impacts the bottom line.

The post Top 14 project management software and tools to level-up collaboration appeared first on Sprout Social.

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Establishing and protecting your brand’s reputation online

You did it. You built your brand into one that consumers love and trust. You might be thinking the ride is smooth sailing from here, but the work is just beginning. Now you have to maintain the momentum and manage your brand reputation.

Building and maintaining your brand in a crowded market is no easy feat. According to Nielsen Media, as of 2022 there are over half a million brands globally. That’s a lot of competition for your audience’s attention. In these times of uncertainty and rapid change, consumers gravitate toward brands they trust. Building that trust isn’t your job alone, it takes a collective effort between yourself and your audience.

In this piece, we’re digging into why managing your brand reputation on social matters along with tools to help you measure your reputation performance.

Why is brand reputation important?

Today, consumers expect more from a brand. It is not just price and quality they’re after. They’re also seeking authentic interactions on their favorite social platforms. With the fast pace of social, positive and negative interactions with your brand can spread like wildfire. Managing your reputation on social helps your brand stay healthy through the ups and downs by addressing these key benefits:

Aligning with customer values

Shoppers and consumers are eager to know that the brands they love share their values. According to The Sprout Social Index™, 71% of consumers believe it’s important that brands take a stand on social issues. To establish a strong brand reputation, take a stand on issues that matter to your organization and your customers. Then, make those values known on social.

Patagonia, known for being environmentally conscious, recently changed their mission  to a very clear purpose: “Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.” Their values are clear across their social channels. For example,  their “Worn Wear” campaign on Twitter highlights sustainable fashion that is meant to last.

Trends don’t last a lifetime, but our gear does and so do the memories you make in it.

This holiday season, gift your loved ones better than new gear from https://t.co/yfLaH63M6S.#QualityForLife #holiday #gifts #WornWear #climb pic.twitter.com/9Zh8u71gm5

— Patagonia (@patagonia) December 13, 2022

On TikTok, the brand expertly showcases their mission by connecting their audience with grassroots organizations through Patagonia Action Works. Looking at the comments, their customers value this differentiation and commitment to saving our planet. If you know your audience shares in your brand’s beliefs and mission, lean into it.

@patagonia

Together, we can make a big impact. Ready to get involved? Patagonia Action Works makes it easy to find & support grassroots organizations near you!

♬ original sound – 🅿️atagonia – 🅿️atagonia

Supporting your community

Taking a stand on social issues ultimately supports the larger community while building a brand’s trust, reputation and business. When a brand takes a stance that consumers align with, 36% of customers said they’ll purchase more from that company.

Nike is a solid example of a brand executing its mission and beliefs. Their Twitter profile proudly displays #BlackLivesMatter. Recently, the athletic brand took it a step further, announcing its partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country. Nike’s Yardrunners Collection celebrates the history of HBCUs with clothing that emphasizes student leaders and alumni who are paving the way for excellence in their community.

Diversity and inclusion within their organization have also been a staple to the brand, pledging $10 million in scholarships and academic partnerships to increase interns and direct hires from HBCUs.

Introducing our 2022 Yardrunners, otherwise known as the student leaders and alumni who continue to build upon a legacy of Black excellence at HBCUs. pic.twitter.com/XepcCROJM1

— Nike (@Nike) October 28, 2022

Meet #Yardrunners 2021: former student-athletes turned pharmacists, entertainers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and the world’s next leaders coming out of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The 2021 #Yardrunners Collection is available now.https://t.co/6pNcwP5PaA pic.twitter.com/6ayaxH0jts

— Nike.com (@nikestore) September 13, 2021

Maintaining customer loyalty

Consumers have endless options. Yet, 90% still consider themselves brand loyal. Social media is a great way to build and maintain loyalty. Your audience is already invested in your brand story, so use social media as a way to expand on your social proof and foster brand advocacy. Brands like Orange Theory have used their social presence to create a space for loyal advocates who love their classes and want to tell their friends.

We're so proud of you for crushing your goals—keep up the amazing work 👏👏👏

— Orangetheory Fitness (@orangetheory) November 16, 2022

A loyal audience can boost your brand reputation for you while also driving new business. They spread information about your brand, tell their friends and give honest reviews.

The impact of social media on brand reputation

Social media and brand reputation go hand-in-hand. From the value of your products to the quality of customer service, people are likely already talking about your brand online.

And this creates opportunities for brands to manage their public persona on social media.

Digital word-of-mouth matters

Some 53% of consumers like or follow a brand page on social media to learn about new products and services. When it comes to purchasing decisions, digital word-of-mouth is crucial for growing your audience and reputation.

There’s also power in brands prioritizing online conversations that are visible to the masses. According to The Sprout Social Index, with more than three-quarters of consumers expecting a response on social within 24 hours, being responsive on social shows future and current customers you care. Social media allows brands to use reputation management to engage, answer questions and interact with their customers, humanizing your brand, which turns out, consumers appreciate.

Reputation can take years to build and seconds to lose

Social media is authentic and mostly unfiltered, making it ripe with opportunities for success or misstep. With just one post, the reputation you’ve built can falter. But the organic conversations on social also give you ample chances to listen and learn from your customers, reshaping your brand reputation with genuine feedback to correct any missteps. Like many hospitality brands, Airbnb has seen their fair share of negative reviews from renters and hosts.

Just dropped: the biggest change to Airbnb in a decade. Meet the new Airbnb for a new world of travel. 👇 https://t.co/xcHMqJsRcr

— Airbnb (@Airbnb) May 11, 2022

By monitoring their reviews and listening to their audience, Airbnb was able to make strategic moves to better its reputation. In May 2022, they launched a new “AirCover” protection plan for guests and hosts, promising quick reimbursement for hosts and up to $1 million in damage protection to address concerns about protecting personal property.

🛡️ AirCover for guests: the most comprehensive set of free protections in travel. pic.twitter.com/suzyy0ltuE

— Airbnb (@Airbnb) May 11, 2022

3 tools to help you protect your brand reputation

As your brand grows, you’ll need to employ tactics that build, maintain and protect your brand at scale. The key to online brand reputation management is to be proactive on social by building your brand and monitoring sentiment. Here are three ways you can use social media to manage brand reputation.

Social listening

Social listening taps into online conservations centered around your brand or industry. Listening not only gauges public perception of your brand, but enables you to find relevant conversations surrounding your brand or reputation that you may not be tagged in.

Social listening can help uncover:

• How customers feel about your brand or product
• How popular a conversation is around your brand
• If sentiment is trending up or down
• The kind of content people share about your brand

With Sprout Social Listening, you can analyze comments or sentiment surrounding your brand while gaining actionable insights into your customers, their habits, pain points and overall customer experience.

Social analytics

Using social media analytics tools gives you a pulse on the social sphere. You can dig into the essential data influencing your reputation, such as trends, voice of consumer data, engagement rate, volume of comments or messages and more. Sprout Social’s Analytics enable you to see the bigger picture of your presence online while allowing for complete oversight of all of your social profiles. By leveraging Sprout’s analytics tools, you can gather data and apply it to your social strategy all in one place.

Direct messages & inbox management

One of the biggest benefits of social media is its ability to strengthen customer relationships. As customer service becomes a point of differentiation for brands, direct messages (or DMs) are a growing convenience for a customer. When a customer messages your brand, it’s important to respond quickly and personalize your responses.

With a tool like Sprout, you can monitor your messages and comments across networks, so you can triage customer questions or concerns while not missing an opportunity to connect directly. Inbox management tools can help visualize your inbound message volume, find new conversations and help your team enact quick responses. Features like Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox help streamline your messages in one place, supporting your customer service process within social to build and protect your brand reputation.

This will help the customer feel seen and foster a positive experience. Direct messages are also helpful for handling negative comments or reviews, allowing you to move the conversation to the privacy of a DM and reducing damage to your reputation.

Be proactive about brand reputation online

Building a positive brand reputation and having the tools to manage it are essential to maintaining a positive image and building trust.

To manage brand reputation is to know how you can build your brand’s experiences around your consumer’s expectations and values, ultimately shaping how they perceive you. Take it a step further with our corporate communication plan template so you have a set plan of action for any situation. 

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Shifting strategies: What you can learn from a network-specific social program

As 2022 comes to a close, we’re looking back on our own year in social at Sprout. Like most social media teams, we’re taking stock of what went well with our social media marketing and what we can improve on as we enter 2023.

At Sprout, this year looked a little different since we debuted a new network-specific social media strategy at the beginning of the year. We learned a lot from taking a new approach and hopefully, you can learn from our strategic wins–and mistakes.

Setting expectations

As we surveyed the social landscape, we classified networks into two different categories–engagement and awareness. As for our internal team model, we divided our social team’s responsibilities to align with these types of networks. This allowed each team member to create platform-specific content that fit exactly what users were looking for.

What is an awareness network?

Awareness networks, like TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube, are where people go for inspiration. We used these networks to share insights and new perspectives with our audience. Ultimately, posts to these networks aimed to inspire creativity about the possibilities of social–and establish Sprout as a go-to resource for that inspiration.

Awareness content is more about what you’re posting than how people interact with it. We still wanted people to like and share the content we were creating, but the main goal was to increase awareness of Sprout.

What is an engagement network?

Simply put, engagement networks are shareable. These networks, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, are primed for community-building posts. Whether you’re encouraging users to share content with their personal audiences or creating space for dialogue in the comments, engagement networks are all about building conversations.

2022 Wrapped: SMM Edition@Spotify: Your publishing playlist@Grammarly: Most frequently used words@SlackHQ: Top reacjis to campaign pitches@canva: How many _final_final_ForRealFinals you created

What ones would you add? 👀

— Sprout Social (@SproutSocial) November 30, 2022

Our goal for these networks was to create relatable and bold content that made people want to talk. The conversations were about topics like the state of social, what it’s like to work in social media or thoughts about where social media is heading.

Establishing network by network goals

After establishing the purpose of each network for our teams, it was time to set our goals. We set both hard and soft metrics for each platform so we knew exactly how to tailor content to reach our goals. Each network got an overall soft goal like reach, inspiration or amplification. Our hard metrics stayed the same, looking at social media metrics like impressions and engagement. By setting goals for the new strategy early on, we were able to establish expectations and give ourselves a yardstick to measure progress.

Looking back

Spoiler alert: Sprout won’t be continuing with a network-specific approach next year. It wasn’t the right fit for our team, but we did learn some valuable lessons in the process and gained powerful insights that wouldn’t have been possible without trying this out. Consistently testing new strategies is the most important piece of a sustainable social media strategy, and we’re happy we tried this, even if we won’t continue in the new year. Here are a few lessons we learned on our network-specific journey.

Win: Gaining individual insights

A network-specific strategy is excellent for determining how you’re performing on each network. Algorithms and audiences differ, and putting each platform under a microscope gave us invaluable insights into our performance. We were able to make intentional content shifts in real-time that will have a lasting impact on how we structure our content and prioritize networks in the future. These insights made our team feel more confident in proactively creating social content for each network.

I felt like I could really own the networks I had. That allowed me to be more proactive with content since my focus wasn’t spread as thin across all of our networks.

Olivia Jepson
Senior Social Media Strategist

Win: Getting intentional

This strategy forced us to really think about why a user visits a platform. We had to constantly ask ourselves what our users wanted when they logged on. This kind of intentionality creates better content. Even as we’re structuring our team and strategy differently, we’re looking at which platform is best suited for which content in a whole new way.

Loss: Scaling sustainably

Simply put, this strategy isn’t built for scale. Unsurprisingly, having a separate strategy for each social network is hard. As more and more platforms join the chat, creating effective strategies for each of them is virtually impossible.

We also learned that silos kill scalability. Teams need to collaborate and communicate to create lasting outcomes, and that became increasingly difficult after we split our team in half. It’s possible to focus too hard and we definitely learned that during this process. We didn’t see a clear path to growth with this strategy.

Moving forward

Even though we won’t bring this strategy with us into 2023, we’re taking the lessons we learned and the pieces that worked with us. From a holistic perspective, we’ll never be able to look at individual networks the same way, and that’s made us better social media marketers. This approach is a great way to gain valuable insights, get better data and build an understanding of your audience platform by platform.

Looking for more ways to level up your social media strategy?

Start your free Sprout trial

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10 New Year’s marketing campaigns to boost early sales in 2023

Every holiday is an opportunity to make more sales — and New Year’s is one of the best. In the new year, your customers and prospects prioritize new beginnings and life improvements. And no matter what you sell, there’s an opportunity for you to make a splash, especially after you've got proven ideas for New Year's marketing campaigns.

No matter what you sell, or how you want to promote your work, at least a few of these New Year's marketing campaigns can work for you.

1. Highlight the best of 2022
2. Run a New Year’s challenge
3. Sell product bundles
4. Survey your customers
5. Share your own New Year’s resolutions
6. Offer a yearly subscription or membership
7. Throw a party (online or in-person)
8. Host a shared live on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Twitch
9. Offer a seasonal discount
10. Reward loyal customers

1. Highlight the best of 2022

You provided a ton of value to your audience this year — whether in your newsletters, on social media, through creating new products, or with educational resources like ebooks and videos.

Create a “most popular” list of how you helped people in 2022, and share it with your audience. You likely have new followers who missed out the first time. And loyal fans would love a reminder of your best tips and most popular products.

Whether delivered via blog post or newsletter, your 2022 highlights are sure to be popular — and you can pair them with a year-end promotion to help drive sales.

2. Run a New Year’s challenge

Click to copy this landing page into your AWeber account.

Whether you are a coach, influencer, or anyone else, you are an expert in your field. The New Year is the perfect time to run a challenge, especially if it’s your first. 

Nutritionists could offer a 10-day dietary cleanse with recipes. Educators could offer a 4-week 2023 planning challenge. Photographers could give daily tips on self-portraits for two weeks. 

Think about the advice you’d give to your audience — but keep each section small and achievable. That way you can grow your followers, gain trust, and get a boost in loyal customers throughout the year.

Related: Learn how to create a challenge via email.

3. Sell product bundles

Group related things you offer into packages — called bundles — and sell them at a small discount. Bundled products are a great way to upsell to customers who love your stuff and are likely to buy more if they can save some money.

To encourage an extra boost, create urgency with a time-sensitive offer (only available through January). Or, offer bundles at a certain price for a New Year’s special, and let your audience know they’ll be more expensive later in 2023.

4. Survey your customers

The best way to market to your customers is by knowing their goals and interests. And your audience may have changed a lot in 2022.

Learn who reads your newsletters, follows you on social media, and buys your products with a year-end survey.

There are two easy ways to do a survey: Send a form via email or ask questions using polls in your social channels. Or why not try both?

Get a few sales in the meantime by incentivizing your survey with a discount code. You get more responses and sales and your customers get 10% off. It’s a win-win!

5. Share your own New Year’s resolutions

You have goals for 2023 — just like your audience. Sharing what they are is a great idea for New Year's marketing campaigns.

You’ll get at least two benefits when you share your New Year’s resolutions with your audience:

1. They can identify better with you. Even though you’re the expert, people like to see that you have room for growth just like them.
2. They can help you with your goals. Are you looking to grow your newsletter list or social followers this year? Your current audience can help just by forwarding your newsletter to a friend or engaging with more of your content.

So share your journey and goals this January on your newsletter, blog, and social media channels.

6. Offer a yearly subscription or membership

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Do you sell products, premium content, or services? Then why not try a subscription model? 

To boost revenue early in the year and create long-term customer loyalty, you could create a membership (charged monthly, quarterly, or yearly). Have the subscription include new products, content, or services every month, plus access to a community you can build in Facebook or Discord. (Note: To keep fees low, use AWeber as your sales platform.)

Many businesses who have added subscription models found it to be their largest source of revenue after a couple of years.

7. Throw a party (online or in-person)

Hosting an event is a sure-fire marketing strategy — and New Year’s is one of the best times to celebrate.

Your party’s theme could be customer appreciation, highlighting something new, sharing New Year’s resolutions, or just getting together with like-minded people. 

If you have a physical office and many local customers, an in-person party could be perfect. But if you have more of a digital presence, a Zoom call with games and discounts may be a better fit.

The best New Year's marketing campaigns give your customers a time and reason to celebrate — and a discount too. That way, as you’re saying thanks, you’re also making sales.

8. Host a shared live on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Twitch

Some audiences are too big for a virtual party — so host a New Year’s live stream instead. And, as a bonus, include customers, influencers, or other company owners on your live stream. 

This is a great way to celebrate your followers and grow your audience. Plus, you can learn a lot from them and give them something fun to do.

Make sure you have a plan for your live stream to keep it interesting. Here are some ideas:

• Run a quiz and give away small prizes for the first people to answer in the chat
• Do polls on New Year’s resolutions
• Bring on pre-vetted customers to talk about their successes
• Cover highlights from 2022 in your industry or field
• Good old-fashioned jokes and games — just make it fun

Include a call-to-action for people to sign up for your newsletter on the live so you can get a boost in subscribers to start your year!

9. Offer a seasonal discount

This may sound obvious, but each holiday is an opportunity for a sale. Create a discount that fits with your profit margins and send out an email notifying your subscribers.

A subject line that includes “sale” or “20% off” is sure to get some attention and potentially give you a boost in revenue.

Want to get rid of last year’s inventory? Offer a deeper discount on old products to get them off the shelf. Once your customers are on your website for the big sale, they’re likely to buy something newer, too. 

10. Reward loyal customers

New Year’s marketing campaigns should double down on your loyal customers. Offer them bigger discounts, special content, premium events, and exclusive memberships.

Did you know that your loyal customers could be the best source of new customers? If you haven’t already, create a loyalty program to give them discounts or benefits for referring people to your business for the new year.

Which ideas for New Year’s marketing campaigns will you choose?

Let us know in the comments what you plan to do to get a boost in revenue at the beginning of 2023!

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How to build a Facebook business Page that attracts customers

Facebook commands a massive user base and is still the largest social network. The latest Facebook stats show that the platform currently boasts 2.89 billion monthly active users. That’s 2.89 billion users you could miss out on reaching if you failed to maintain a proper Facebook business Page.

A Facebook business Page is central to any Facebook marketing strategy. It’s where you can share information about your business and promote your new products. Moreover, your Page serves as a channel to provide your customers with assistance. In this guide, we show you the step-by-step process of building a Facebook business Page that attracts your audience.

Table of contents:

• What is a Facebook business Page
• How to create the perfect Facebook business Page
• Tips to maintain an engaging Facebook business Page

What is a Facebook business Page

A Facebook business Page is a public Facebook account that represents a commercial organization. You can use the Page to share information about your business such as your address, contact details and hours of operation. Additionally, it’s the perfect place to share updates about your business and promote products, services and events.

As such, a Facebook business Page allows you to create a space to connect with your audience. Additionally, by setting up a business Page, you’ll gain access to Facebook Shops and advertising tools. This allows you to list your products for sale on the platform and even create paid advertisements to grow your reach.

Meanwhile, a personal Facebook account represents the individual. It can either be private or public depending on your settings. While people can Like and follow a business Page, they can only add a personal profile as a friend. Moreover, a personal profile doesn’t come with marketing and advertising tools that are available on business Pages.

How to create the perfect Facebook business Page

Ready to create your very own Facebook business Page? Follow the steps below to get started.

Step 1: Create a new Page from the “Pages” section

From your Facebook homepage, click on “Pages” in the left-hand panel. This will open up a dashboard to manage all your Pages and profiles. Click on the “Create New Page” button under “Your Pages and profiles.”

Step 2: Enter your Page name and category

Next, enter the name of your Page. This should be similar to your official business or brand name so your audience can instantly recognize it. In other words, choose a name your customers will use when searching for your brand.

After this, you’ll need to include a business category. Type in a keyword or two in the given field and Facebook will offer a few relevant suggestions. You can select up to three options to categorize your Page. This is essential to help people understand what your business is all about.

Step 3: Add your Page bio

While the bio is an optional section, including a short description of your business can be helpful. This is where you can provide more information about what your brand does and what it stands for. Your bio can only be about 100 characters so be sure to keep it clear and succinct.

The bio will show up prominently below your Page name, so it needs to be catchy and relevant. Consider using your brand slogan here instead of coming up with a new bio. Once you’re done, click on “Create Page.”

Step 4: Include your business details

Now that you’ve created the Page, it’s time to make it more complete by including additional details about your business. To finish your setup, you’ll need to include the following information about your business:

• Website
• Phone number
• Email address
• Physical address
• Hours of operation

After you’ve filled out the details, click on “Next” to get to the next step of your Page setup. Optionally, you can skip this step for now and add those details later.

Step 5: Put together your profile imagery

One of the most crucial steps is customizing your Page with high-quality imagery. Your Page’s visuals are what will help you make an impression on your audience. So it’s important that you carefully choose images that truly represent your brand and are instantly recognizable.

The first thing you’ll need is a profile picture. As highlighted in our social media image size guide, this should be at least 180 x 180 pixels. Remember that this picture will come out as a circle, so avoid including any important details in the corners.

Ideally, businesses should be using their brand logo as a profile picture. This helps the audience to instantly associate the Page with the brand they already know. Alternatively, local businesses may consider including a picture of the storefront or the owners. Some may even use a picture of their best offering instead.

As for your Facebook cover photo, the recommended size is 820 x 312 pixels. Any photo smaller than this will appear stretched and distorted. Consider using existing templates from photo editing tools like Canva to ensure that your cover photo is perfectly sized.

You can also choose to include an action button to show up at the top of your Page. This will help direct Page visitors toward the action that you want them to take. Perhaps you want them to book an appointment, view your shop, call your business, send a message or even get tickets. Choose the most relevant option, click on “Next” and hit “Save.”

Other optional steps include connecting WhatsApp to your Page and inviting your friends to Like the Page. You can choose to skip these steps for now and hit “Done.” But keep in mind that you’ll still need to complete those steps later on to improve your Page health.

Improving your Page health is essential to create a business Page that people would want to engage with. At the top of your Page, Facebook will provide you with suggestions on what actions you can take to make improvements. Your Page health will improve as you complete these actions.

Now your Page is all set up so you can start creating posts or even run ads to promote it.

Tips to maintain an engaging Facebook business Page

Setting up your Facebook business Page is the easy part. What’s challenging is getting your Page off the ground and sustaining that growth to build an engaging business Page. Here are some social media management tips to help you out.

Keep your business info updated

Remember that people use your Facebook Page to learn about your business. They may use it to find out where you’re located or when you’re open. Make sure to include the most updated info about your business so your Page becomes a reliable source of information. If you’re changing your operating hours for the holidays, for example, make sure to add that detail.

Set specific goals

Working towards something specific can give you a sense of direction with your Facebook marketing. Start by thinking about the purpose of your Facebook page and who your target audience is. Are you looking to support a community of current customers? What about attracting new ones?

Decide on specific goals that are achievable and can contribute to your Page growth. These goals will ultimately inform every aspect of your Facebook strategy. This includes the resources you put behind your Facebook business Page to your overall content strategies.

Create a Facebook content strategy

Given what we know about the Facebook algorithm, brands must be cautious of being over-promotional. Knowing when and how often to post on Facebook is critical.

Based on our research on how often to post on social media, most brands post at least a few times per week.

Moreover, it’s not enough to just keep creating content that you want to create. Think of what your audience wants to see from you so you can come up with a content strategy that delivers results.

Here’s what consumers want to see from brands on social, according to the latest Sprout Social Index.

Engage with your customers

It’s important to realize that your Facebook page is not something that you can “set and forget.”

You may get customers commenting on your posts and asking you questions via Messenger. Failing to respond to customers promptly could result in lost sales or followers.

So you have to be present on social media and be ready and willing to engage. This doesn’t mean you have to answer every single question posted to your timeline or in your inbox immediately. It does mean you need to keep a close eye on notifications and conversations.

This would involve investing in social media management tools that can help you stay on top of those messages. For example, Sprout offers a Smart Inbox where you can keep track of all your incoming messages, comments and social media mentions in one place. From here, you can quickly see and respond to your Facebook messages and comments.

Use analytics to chart your path forward

Your Facebook Page Insights can tell you a lot about how your current Facebook strategy is working. It can show you how people are engaging with your posts and how your Page is growing. Use these insights to inform your decisions and make improvements to your existing strategy. For example, you may want to share more videos because your analytics tell you that people are engaging a lot with your video posts.

Once you start running ads from your Page, you’ll be able to see how your promoted posts are performing. Experiment with different variations of your ad copy, placement and creative to see what has the biggest impact. This will allow you to build a Facebook advertising strategy that keeps evolving.

Start growing your Facebook Page

The tips highlighted above can help you get the ball rolling and build an engaging Facebook business Page. Make sure you use them alongside a solid marketing strategy to grow your audience. Check out our guide on how to use Facebook business manager for more tips and tricks to help you out.

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Organic vs. paid social media: A hybrid strategy that works

Let’s cut to the chase: It’s not organic vs. paid social media—it’s organic and paid social media.

As social becomes even more of a pay-to-play game, “organic social is dead” has become a popular catchphrase for marketing thought leaders. While organic social media definitely isn’t what it used to be, it certainly isn’t dead.

The truth is you need an effective organic social media marketing strategy if you even want to succeed with ads.

For the sake of maximizing your reach while keeping your budget in check, a hybrid paid and organic social media strategy provides brands with the best of both worlds. In this post, we’ll highlight the strengths of organic and paid channels, and then show you how to combine your efforts to give you the most bang for your buck.

What are the differences between organic vs. paid social media?

The true differences between organic vs. paid social media lie not in the definitions but in the benefits.

But before we can get into any of that, we need to make sure we have the basics in place. Keep reading for quick primers on organic and paid social, plus details on how they benefit your social media strategy.

What is organic social media?

Organic social media is any post shared for free without any money spent to increase reach or conversions.

Despite the popularity of ads and constant algorithm changes, organic social media isn’t going anywhere. In fact, brands can still promote themselves and their products organically. The key is to not hit your followers over the head with sales pitches post after post.

Here are three benefits of organic social media that prove some things just can’t be bought.

It raises brand awareness

For starters, your organic presence goes hand in hand with brand awareness.

Brand awareness is the first step in any customer journey. A consistent organic social media strategy can make your business a familiar name for countless existing and future customers. It may be a long game, but that familiarity is proven to drive future sales.

Take cues from brands like Impossible Foods. Their quick video recipes provide fans with creative ways to use their entire roster of plant-based meat products. These posts take the brand’s Facebook page from a simple promotional page to a content hub of vegan and vegetarian-friendly recipes.

Impossible Sausage Patty French Toast Breakfast Sandwich

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Posted by Impossible Foods on Sunday, November 20, 2022

It powers your social customer care strategy

According to The Sprout Social Index™ 2022, more than half of all consumers expect a response from a brand within 12 hours of the initial message. In today’s world, the speed and quality of your service on social can be a major differentiator.

That’s why managing customers and communities is a vital part of your organic presence. Offering an instant, free channel for people to get in touch will always be in demand, even as paid social media grows.

Hi Josh, please send us a DM with the brand information and we'll be happy to look into other options for you!

— Petco (@Petco) September 19, 2022

It drives more authentic customer-centric content

Questions and concerns aren’t your only opportunity to connect with your customers.

For example, social media is the perfect place to pick your followers’ brains for future content ideas. Also, it’s a prime place for curating user-generated content like customer photos and videos so your fans can see your product or service in action.

What is paid social media? 

As you may have guessed, paid social media is any sponsored social advertising content that targets specific audiences.

Running social ads allows you to go beyond the confines of an algorithm to reach your target audience. Rather than get buried beneath competing content, ads put your stuff front and center in people’s feeds.

Although goals and KPIs might differ from business to business, below are three primary benefits of paid social.

It supports targeting

Facebook and Instagram’s respective ad platforms get ultra-granular in terms of targeting. This allows you to reach relevant prospects based on their activity, location, age and so on.

This Publix ad from Facebook is a good example. Given that their stores are only located in the Southeastern United States, highly targeted ads based on geography make sense. Furthermore, this particular ad is only for those 21+ and includes store-specific promotions in its CTA.

It boosts lead generation

If you have a strong piece of gated content, a paid campaign helps ensure that it doesn’t go unseen. For example, this promoted LinkedIn post from Smartsheet is driving leads by enticing people to download their latest guide to project management.

Whether it’s a case study, webinar or any other prioritized promotion, such items are brilliant ways to encourage visits from new and former fans alike.

It helps you reach new audiences quickly

If organic social is a marathon, then paid social is a sprint. A single, well-targeted campaign can bring a ton of new fans to your social profiles. It’s an ideal trick to have in your back pocket if you notice organic social media growth stalling.

Creating a hybrid strategy that isn’t strictly organic vs. paid social media

Now that we understand how paid and organic social media work on their own, let’s get into how they work together.

Below are six key ways to combine your paid and organic efforts.

Budget for social media marketing efforts

It’s impossible to maintain a hybrid organic-paid strategy if you run out of budget halfway through the year. That’s why it’s so important to monitor your social media ad budget regularly.

Set aside a designated time to check in on the performance of your paid ads. Measure the actual costs against what was initially allocated toward the campaign. That way, you can anticipate whether it’s performing reasonably or if it’s time to pivot.

Use this social media budget spreadsheet template to track organic and paid social media marketing expenses. Alternatively, if you’re using Sprout, you can keep an eye on your paid spend by toggling through the reports located under Paid By Network in the Reports Home.

Set date comparisons to see how your paid performance metrics are trending month over month and make strategic decisions from there.

Determine your most popular content

If you have a particular piece of content that converts well or enters into viral territory, it might be the perfect material for an ad. For example, you can quickly boost a Facebook post to convert your content into a promotion in a matter of clicks.

Looking at your social analytics is the first step to running any successful paid advertisement. Variables such as imagery, calls-to-action and copy all deserve your attention when it comes time to whip up a paid post. Metrics such as clicks and followers earned are good starting points for spotting top content.

If you’re using Sprout, turn to the Post Performance Report to analyze your published content across all social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and TikTok.

Remember that not all promotional posts should be paid

Your social data can help you identify which posts have the potential to work as an ad, but only some high-performing posts call for paid ad spend.

Look for content that aligns with your marketing and business KPIs to determine which posts are worth throwing some extra dollars behind. For example, if a high-priority goal for your team is to drum up registrations for an upcoming event, it makes sense to promote a big agenda announcement or a last call for tickets.

On the other hand, if your goal is to raise brand awareness or promote a new product, rely on your organic social media toolkit.

For some inspiration, check out the example from Auntie Anne’s Twitter profile. Combining the power of the cover photo and pinned tweet creates an eye-catching promo for a new menu item.

Use A/B testing

We’ve shared a bit about how your organic strategy can inform your paid efforts. Now let’s get into the reverse with social media testing.

Testing on social media—whether A/B or multivariable testing—can provide meaningful insights on what works best for your audience. The only caveat? Substantial results require a substantial audience.

Think about it: Testing creative organically within a small audience won’t give you the impressions and engagement data needed for statistically significant results. Paid, however, can give your post the reach it needs to confirm or refute a hypothesis.

You can then use these results to inform your organic strategy in the future.

Try retargeting and lookalike audiences

Retargeting via Facebook or Instagram is one of the most popular and high-converting types of social promotions. These ads allow you to create a custom audience to target former customers, site visitors, people on your email list or CRM leads. You can also create lookalike audiences to target new prospects who share characteristics with your existing fans.

And with Meta’s latest ad roll-out, you can specifically target people who’ve previously engaged your content on either network.

In other words, these tools give you the power to capitalize on organic interactions for more conversions down the line.

Monitor your data and measure results

The common thread between combining your paid and organic social strategies is data.

No matter how you slice it, social ads can get pricey. For the sake of your ROI, it’s to your benefit to have a consistent pulse on your social data both before, during and after your paid campaigns.

Keeping an eye on metrics will ensure that your paid social media strategy is working in harmony with your brand-forward organic approach. That’s precisely why Sprout’s custom reporting options are a game changer for brands. Use it to elevate the metrics that matter most for your strategy in a single, easy-to-interpret report.

Organic and paid social go hand in hand

Rather than thinking of it as “organic vs. paid social media,” try looking for ways one strategy could support the other. That’s how you’ll get to the bottom of what drives the best results for your brand.

Of course, double the strategies mean double the metrics. Use this social media analytics template to track your efforts. It provides a birds-eye view of your performance so you can easily tie it back to business goals.

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