How to assess which cultural moments are right for your brand to act on

A cultural moment can happen in an instant and dominate news feeds for days. The constant feed refreshing, the group DMs, the memes—it all combines to create a uniquely gripping spectacle that’s impossible to ignore.

These periods of high engagement are typically brought on by a real-time event or the onset of a new trend. In best-case scenarios, they create conversations that unite people over shared interests. It’s no wonder brands are eager to hop on these opportunities for cultural advertising.

That said, not all moments spark the same kinds of conversation. Culture moments can range from fun and lighthearted to serious and nuanced. More often than not, they’re a mixture of both.

Understanding your brand’s role in these high-value occasions can make or break your social media presence. In this how-to guide, we’ll share how to spot, vet and contribute to cultural moments in ways that resonate with your audience.

Let your values align your brand to cultural moments

Your core values should serve as a north star for all your marketing efforts, including your cultural advertising plays. It sounds simple, but it’s easier said than done. After all, cultural moments don’t come with brand guidelines.

To better understand how a social media movement aligns with your values, you’ll need to put your research cap on. Here are a few questions to think through as you get familiar with the conversation:

• What caused the spike in conversations? An inciting event can take even the most common topic and push it into the limelight. However, these inciting events aren’t always positive. Before creating social content around a moment, dig into what’s causing the conversation. If it’s scandal, outrage or negativity, you may want to steer clear.
• Who’s talking about it? Look into the people, brands and media outlets that are present in the conversation. Is there overlap with your target audience? Do you recognize any key contributors? Are any of your competitors showing up?
• What conversations are happening? A single cultural moment can spark a variety of reactions. Condense the conversation into a few major buckets to identify how your brand can best contribute.
• How do people feel about it? Remember: cultural moments are often nuanced. A conversation might be all fun and games at the surface but touch on some hard topics when you dive a few layers deep. If the conversation makes you feel out of your depth as a brand, you may want to opt for strategic silence.

As you work through these questions, you may identify gaps between the moment and your brand purpose. Don’t be afraid to sit out on a cultural advertising opportunity if it feels too forced. Not chiming into a discussion can be FOMO-inducing, but it’s better to stay silent than to share something inauthentic to your brand.

How to find the cultural moment that matters most to your customers

A cultural moment may align with your brand values, but if your customers aren’t talking about it, contributing to the conversation may fall flat.

Thanks to media fragmentation and the 24-hour news cycle, there have been some drastic changes in what counts as a moment. In the past, a single event could captivate audiences for weeks. Now, small-scale cultural moments happen all the time. How much they matter all depends on who you’re talking to.

So before you craft the perfect trend-jacking post, be sure to assess the moment for audience fit. You can do some hashtag research or use native analytics tools, but both of those options are fairly time-consuming and time is of the essence. If you want quick, comprehensive results, try social listening.

Using social listening to assess audience fit

Cultural moments generate a huge amount of messages across social. Listening is the key to tapping into those conversations for actionable insights. Think of it as a speedy alternative to a focus group.

In Sprout, Listening Topics automatically backfill 30 days worth of data—perfect for topical events and trends. Once you’ve created a Topic, you can dig into valuable demographic data and information on which profiles are driving the conversation forward. These insights can help you find intersections between your audience and the conversation at large.

The market research benefits of listening extend well-beyond demographic information. You can also use listening to validate the initial assessment of your cultural advertising opportunity. Here are some other key data points you can review once you’ve created your Listening Topic:

• Volume: Look for spikes in conversation volume, then review the messages from that day to find out exactly what caused the influx of conversations.
• Themes: If the culture moment sparks several conversations, use themes to categorize and identify patterns in messages.
• Sentiment: Get clear on how people feel about the moment using audience sentiment data, broken down into positive, neutral and negative.

Brands who got cultural advertising right

Now you know how to audit a cultural moment for brand and audience fit, but what does that look like in practice? Let’s look to three brands that nailed cultural advertising on social media for inspiration.

Calm + Naomi Osaka

What happened: In June 2021, tennis star Naomi Osaka decided to skip press conferences at the French Open, citing mental health. In response, the organization fined her $15,000, sparking a massive outcry from fans and mental health advocates alike.

To support Osaka’s decision, meditation app Calm pledged to donate $15,000 to a French organization dedicated to promoting mental well-being through sports and physical activity. The company also offered to cover fines for any other tennis player that would like to opt out of media appearance to prioritize mental health.

Mental health is health. 🎾

To support Naomi Osaka’s decision to prioritize her mental health, Calm is donating $15,000 to @LaureusSport in France, an organization doing incredible work in the mental health space to transform the lives of young people through the power of sport. pic.twitter.com/C53ptXsks5

— Calm (@calm) June 2, 2021

Why it worked: Osaka’s personal decision created major public dialogue around mental health. Athletes, celebrities and fans took to social media to defend Osaka from backlash around the move, commending her for her bravery and resilience.

I am so sad about Naomi Osaka.I truly hope she will be ok. As athletes we are taught to take care of our body, and perhaps the mental & emotional aspect gets short shrift. This is about more than doing or not doing a press conference. Good luck Naomi- we are all pulling for you!

— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) May 31, 2021

As a mental wellness app, it’s not hard to see the connections between this cultural moment and Calm’s brand purpose. Their product and content offerings constantly underscore the importance of taking time to focus on mental health.

What makes this a truly standout cultural advertising effort is the bold action Calm promised alongside the Tweet. In an age of conscious consumerism, it showed the brand wasn’t just paying lip service to the conversation.

Aldi UK + Wordle

What happened: In a few months, Wordle went from a simple game created for personal amusement to a full-blown cultural phenomenon. From January 1 through January 31, there were more than 8.2 million mentions of Wordle on Twitter, up 9,971% from December 2021.

It didn’t take long for brands to join the conversation. Many found success mimicking the emoji grid the game generates to help people share their scores. After the game’s acquisition by the New York Times, Aldi UK jumped into the mix with a simple, effective quip on who really should’ve bought Wordle.

Should have sold Wordle to us, would have made a cracking SpecialBuy

— Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) February 1, 2022

Why it worked: If you scroll through the Aldi UK Twitter feed, you’ll find memes, jokes and sarcastic commentary on current events. The brand could have easily contributed to the conversation with an earnest ‘guess the five letter word’ post, but it wouldn’t have stayed true to the tone they’ve cultivated with their online audiences.

By choosing to lean on their brand of dry humor, they zigged where others zagged. It shows that you don’t need unlimited creative resources or a cutting-edge idea to chime in on a cultural moment. You can keep it simple and see the same returns as long as you stay true to your voice.

Squid Game + Semrush

What happened: In September 2021, Netflix hit it big. Squid Game was released and went on to become the biggest title at launch, reaching 111 million global accounts in its first 17 days on the platform. The series dominated conversations across social, increasing its popularity through word-of-mouth recommendations and, of course, memes.

Brands wanted to get in on the conversation, but the cultural moment presented a complicated dilemma for marketers. How can brands chime in on a conversation on a TV show about the pitfalls of capitalism without sounding out of touch?

we got your back, literally pic.twitter.com/MUzKdHmOo6

— Semrush (@semrush) October 5, 2021

Semrush, a keyword research tool, pulled it off by focusing on a fan-favorite moment in the show, rather than the show as a whole.

Why it worked: The conversations around Squid Game fell into two primary buckets: global critiques of capitalism and memes. By steering clear of the iconography associated with the overall series, Semrush’s cultural advertising effort stays playful and topical.

This proves that you don’t have to entirely ignore complicated topics. You just need to identify entry points that resonate with your audience.

Crafting a social media strategy to support cultural and social movements in 3 simple steps

Unfortunately, you can’t plan for a cultural moment. By nature, they strike at random. What you can do is create processes that streamline trend-spotting and content creation. Here’s how to get it done:

Step 1: Facilitate collaboration

Social media teams are notoriously lean. Staying on top of current events and trends while planning, creating, scheduling and reporting on content can become a quick path to burnout. That’s why it’s important to lean on your colleagues outside of social for help spotting emerging cultural moments.

Block off time to discuss things that are happening in your industry and within the culture at large. This can be done async using business messaging tools or live during team standups. You don’t need to leave every discussion with an established plan for a cultural advertising opportunity. You just need to help your coworkers become trendspotters in their own right. Soon, they’ll be looking at their social feeds as ripe sources of cultural advertising inspiration.

If you find that your colleagues have a hard time getting into brainstorm mode, try using these prompts to generate discussion:

• What social trend has been making you laugh lately?
• What news story is really sticking out to you right now?
• Who are your favorite brands on social? What do they do that wows you?

Step 2: Practice listening

Social listening is both a tool and a skill, and skills don’t come without practice. Don’t wait until a social media movement is in full effect to get started.

Set aside time to get to know your listening tool by using it for ongoing brand research. In Sprout, you can do this by using one of our pre-built Topic Templates.

Use these templates to get to know the different data points that can be found within a Listening Topic. Once you’re ready to take things to the next level, you can try making your own custom topic.

Experiment with different keyword additions and exclusions, choose different channel sources and preview your query to see what results it yields. The more experience you have with the tool, the easier it will be to create a timely Listening Topic when you need it.

Step 3: Embrace flexibility

Participating in cultural moments can require you to deviate from an established content plan. That doesn’t mean you have to scrap your scheduled posts. It just means you need a social media calendar that supports flexibility.

Using a scheduling tool with drag-and-drop content planning features (like Sprout’s) can help you reorganize your content calendar at a moment’s notice. If the moment is causing uncertainty within your industry or the world,  you may also want to consider pausing all unrelated content to avoid being perceived as insensitive.

Be ready when the moment strikes

Cultural advertising opportunities can be tricky to pull off, but with data-backed insights, any social media manager can rise to the challenge. All you need is the right processes and tools in place.

If you want to learn more about connecting the dots between your audience data, your content plan and your creative strategy, check out this social media success toolkit. Inside, you’ll find tips on creating memorable content and campaigns that are impossible to scroll past.

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Six Essential Elements Every Email Newsletter Should Have

Despite the rise of social media and instant messaging, email newsletters are still one of the most effective digital marketing methods. Email newsletters help you build brand awareness, establish your brand as a credible source of information, and can provide product or event promotion opportunities. 

There are 3.9 billion email users globally, more than the number of Facebook and Twitter users combined. Due to its low cost and extensive reach, email marketing ROI is one of the highest among marketing channels. The average return on investment is $36 for every $1 spent. 

To enjoy the benefits of email marketing, you need to follow a newsletter structure that encourages readers to open your email, engage with your content, and click through to your site. 

This article will teach you how to structure a newsletter by using six essential email newsletter elements. Read on to learn more.

Why does your newsletter need structure?

If you’ve ever received an email newsletter that consists entirely of a single block of text, you probably would have closed it right away. Let’s face it – email newsletters that look like they were written on the fly just aren’t very engaging. In fact, most of your subscribers won’t read your entire newsletter and will instead look for something that will catch their eye. 

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, many readers consume content by scanning in a pattern resembling the letter “F”. They look for something striking first, then continue down the rest of the content if they see if it’s interesting enough. 

The newsletter above accommodates the reader’s tendency to scan content for something interesting. Now, compare the newsletter above to the one from Devex below:

The newsletter in this example doesn’t read like a newsletter at all. It feels like reading a very detailed blog. This might be fine if you have enough time to read the whole thing, but not if you just want to know the gist of the content now and read more about it later.

Implementing a newsletter structure should account for the way your readers consume content. It increases email open and click-through rates and leads to more traffic to your website. It also makes your email newsletter look more professional and organized. 

Six elements of a great email newsletter

A crucial part of structuring your email newsletter is deciding which elements you should include. While it’s tempting to cram a lot of content into one email, this doesn’t result in a very good reader experience, especially if you consider that up to 77% of your subscribers may read their emails on mobile devices. 

For more effective emails, it’s best to use a newsletter structure that uses the six basic elements of a newsletter:

A clickable subject line 

Your email's subject line is the first thing anyone reads. It's your one shot to capture the recipient's attention, and you don't want to leave that to chance.

So, what makes a good email subject line? 

Well, it's a combination of being relevant, concise, and unique. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, the main thing is to be mindful of your target audience. Make sure the subject lines are about them and not you. 

While you can mention your brand name or products, you should be careful not to make it a habit. Steer clear of that “look at us” statement in the subject. Instead, use the same tone you’d use to talk to people in person, be conversational. 

Here’s few good example:

The idea is to personalize your subject lines, make sure they are relevant, and connect with the overall email. Also, try to keep the tone of your subject line neutral so you don’t sound too spammy.

Once the email subject line catches the reader’s attention, the text that appears after it, also known as the email preheader, gives them a better idea of what’s inside and improves open rates dramatically. AWeber offers an easy way to add various preheaders to email newsletters, including personalized preheaders, FOMO, or CTAs. 

Preheader placement in an email's inbox

Fantastic email marketing content is useful only if your subscribers open your emails. Learning how to write better subject lines and preheaders will increase your click-through rates dramatically and improve your conversion rates too.

Attention-grabbing images

Many marketers underestimate the role of images and other types of visual content. Images support the primary thrust of your messaging and help the user understand your content better. In addition, images grab your readers’ attention and spur them into action. Look at the email newsletter from Tasty below:

I can’t imagine an email about a recipe that doesn’t include an image of the dish itself, and your subscribers can’t, either. Even if your content doesn’t promote products that depend heavily on images to sell themselves, adding images to your email newsletter will get your subscribers curious, give them an idea of what they’re about to read, and convince them to click on the link. 

Clear, concise headlines

The primary purpose of headlines in email newsletters is to provide structure to your content. They indicate where one piece of content starts and another ends. In addition, a clear headline is just as important as body text when it comes to sparking your subscribers’ curiosity. 

Many email newsletters do away with body text and just send content headlines instead. 

This approach is prevalent in mobile-friendly newsletters where space is at a premium:

Aside from giving your readers an idea about your latest content, clear headlines help them easily find your content in their inboxes. For instance, if you’re looking for an email newsletter above because it has a link to an article about folding fitted sheets, searching for “how to fold a fitted sheet” will give you the result below:

By adding clear headlines to your email newsletters, you don’t just pique your subscribers’ curiosity. You’re giving them something to remember you by, making it easier for them to find your content among heaps of email newsletters. 

Intriguing content descriptions

Most reputable email newsletters nowadays no longer send entire articles. Instead, they send headlines and links to content on your website. While a great headline is often enough to make the reader click through to your site, a matching content description reinforces the headline and convinces the reader to go ahead and click on the link. 

Depending on your target audience, the content descriptions in your email newsletters can range from just a few words to an entire paragraph. You can also summarize the article, tease the reader with a factoid that stands out, or provide some context to the article. 

Engaging CTAs

A call to action (CTA) is a button with a short, actionable phrase. While CTAs usually appear at the end of marketing emails, a newsletter may have more than one, depending on the number of products or content pieces it promotes. With CTAs, you encourage the reader to take any action that moves the deal forward for conversions, whether it’s a subscription or an affiliate marketing transaction. 

To make the most out of your CTAs, make it easier for the reader to locate them. You can use a button to make the call-to-action prominent and more accessible for the users to get there. The example from edX below uses brightly-colored CTA buttons against plain backgrounds:

An effective CTA also contains compelling copy that tells users what they need to do. The CTAs use “Explore courses” and “Keep reading” in the example above. By keeping the copy short and straightforward, edX tells the user what to do while setting clear expectations: the reader can browse through online courses and read more about MBA curricula, respectively. 

Social media links

While your email newsletter is a venue for sharing curated content with your subscribers, you probably update your social media more often. You need to reach your audience through the channels they typically use. Adding links to your social media accounts to your email newsletter footer will allow your subscribers to visit and follow your accounts:

You might be wondering whether clicking on the buttons will affect email read time, which is a crucial email marketing metric you can use to gauge subscriber engagement. Fortunately, this action will open your brand’s social media account in a new browser tab, ensuring that the reader can quickly return to your email newsletter. 

Wrapping up

Email newsletters have come a long way from the blocky, unfriendly news digests of the 1990s. Today’s newsletters seek to accommodate user behavior preferences, especially the shift to mobile devices. By adding structure to your email newsletter, you improve its readability, ensure that it’s accessible regardless of screen size, and increase click-throughs to your site.

We’ve discussed six common elements of high-converting email newsletters: subject lines, images, headlines, content descriptions, CTAs, and social media links. Together, these elements contribute to a positive user experience and ensure that your readers stay on your subscriber list. 

So what are you waiting for, send your first email newsletter today. Need help getting started, don’t worry, AWeber has different email newsletter templates to help.

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Mobile commerce: what it is and why you should care

Mobile commerce has long been touted as the future of ecommerce itself.

Well, it looks like the future is here.

Mobile transactions are poised to make up more than 10% of all retail sales in the United States by 2025.

At a glance, this might not seem like breaking news. The concept of mobile shopping is pretty universal, right?

Checking reviews before buying in-store. Browsing brands on Instagram.

And of course, making impulse purchases on the go.

But just because consumers can buy from you via mobile doesn’t mean that your storefront is optimized. Not by a long shot.

Below we’ve broken down why brands need to prioritize mobile commerce and how to create a better customer experience.

What is mobile commerce?

Mobile commerce (also referred to as “mcommerce” or “m-commerce”) is a branch of ecommerce that covers any transactions conducted on a mobile device.

Beyond direct purchasing, activities associated with mobile commerce also include: engaging with mobile ads, communicating with sales reps via smartphone and researching brands on a mobile device.

The continued boom of mobile commerce goes hand in hand with the growth of multichannel marketing. Brands with a strong mobile presence can reach customers anywhere and anytime.

With consumers so glued to their devices, streamlining the process of smartphone shopping is a must-do for modern brands (see below).

What are some examples of mobile commerce?

Mobile commerce is about more than just “using your phone to buy stuff.” The broader definition of mobile commerce includes any purchasing activity made on an app or mobile browser. This includes:

• In-app purchases
• Mobile browser transactions
• Social commerce: researching or buying products directly from social media or social media ads (see below)
• Livestream shopping: where customers make purchases through real-time streaming via Amazon, Facebook or Instagram
• AR shopping: using camera apps to preview products in virtual spaces (think: the IKEA app for furniture or the EyeBuyDirect app for virtual glasses try-on)
• Conversational commerce: completing transactions with the assistance of mobile reps (through chat apps or social media)

4 must-know mobile commerce statistics and market trends

The amount of time and money spent on mobile transactions is staggering.

But don’t take our word for it.

Below are some recent mobile commerce statistics that highlight the dominance of smartphone shopping and why brands can’t ignore it.

1. Mobile commerce sales in the United States grew 41.4% in 2020 alone

From grocery orders and basic necessities to retail therapy and beyond, the COVID-19 pandemic saw mobile commerce explode.

The rapid growth of smartphone shopping isn’t just an anomaly for 2020, though. Consider that consumer behaviors from the early pandemic will likely continue — that means fewer mobile skeptics and ongoing reliance on smartphone shopping from the public at large.

2. Smartphone shopping will generate $295.41 billion in US sales in 2021, making up 82.2% of total retail mcommerce sales

With nearly $300 billion on the table, companies literally can’t afford to treat their mobile presence as an afterthought.

Keep in mind that these sales aren’t solely the result of allowing shoppers to make smartphone purchases. The popularity of mobile marketing tactics such as social selling, retargeting ads and mobile-only offers will continue to move the needle.

3. Over half of all retail ecommerce sales in Latin America will take place via mobile in 2022

Given that 80% of the world has smartphones in their hand, this shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Either out of preference or necessity, embracing mobile commerce is crucial for the sake of expanding into new markets. This is especially true in regions where mobile network accessibility is greater than traditional Internet access.

4. Smartphone traffic continues to outpace desktops, with 55% of all web traffic coming from mobile devices

For those of us that almost exclusively shop via desktop, this might be an eye-opener.

Especially among younger consumers, smartphones represent the primary means of Internet access. This highlights how improving your mobile presence should be a priority whether you’re a merchant or not.

What are the advantages of mobile commerce?

The benefits of mobile commerce are well-documented for consumers and brands alike.

Below we’ve broken down some of the key benefits to consider.

For consumers

• Convenience. This is the big one. The ability to make purchases from anywhere, not stuck at a desktop or tied to traditional business hours, speaks for itself in terms of convenience.
• Immediacy. If you see it, you can buy it. Time-sensitive transactions such as emergency buys, last-minute purchases and flash sales can all be completed in a matter of seconds.
• Instantly find new brands to buy from.  In short, mobile commerce provides a quick and timely avenue for consumers to research products and mentally bookmark brands to buy from later.

For brands

• Less friction and fewer opportunities for customers to bounce. Mobile commerce both encourages and capitalizes on the consumer desire to buy ASAP. This ultimately results in a more efficient funnel and a speedier purchasing journey.
• Mobile makes it easier for shoppers to share purchases. From social media mentions to customer photo tags via Instagram, smartphones empower customers to shout out their favorite brands with less effort.
• Data! There’s so much to learn about re: customer behavior through mobile commerce. For example, when are your mobile shoppers most active? Which items and pages are they spending the most time on? Are they visiting you on social after they bounce?

For example, brands that have mastered ecommerce social media can use invaluable mobile data to:

• “Follow” their bounced traffic via mobile ads and personalized offers
• Go back-and-forth with customers and reference their past purchasing activity (hint: conversational commerce)
• Use social listening tools to understand customer compliments, complaints and concerns (see below)

What are some examples of mobile commerce in action?

So, how does mobile commerce work?

And what exactly makes it different than, say, desktop shopping?

Fair questions! Below are two mobile commerce examples that highlight what “good” mcommerce looks like in action.

A tap-friendly customer journey from start to finish

For smartphone shopping, the game is “less is more.”

Brands are tasked with driving transactions with limited real estate. Additionally, brands must put as much information and customer actions “above the fold.” The more shoppers have to scramble and scroll, the more likely they are to bounce.

This mcommerce example from Milk Makeup highlights how to win customers’ trust and answer all of their pressing questions by:

• Highlighting best sellers and positive reviews on both category and product pages
• Reminding shoppers multiple times what purchasing threshold they need to reach to receive free shipping
• Clear buttons and calls-to-action, particularly during the order summary and checkout phase

Seamless shopping from social media

Consumers are becoming more comfortable with the concept of making purchases that start from social media.

Below is an example from Soludos’ Instagram Shop that highlights how to do the same. This includes:

• Tagging products in photos without sacrificing style points or being too obtrusive
• A direct link from their Instagram Shop to their ecommerce store
• Consistent branding from their Instagram to their on-site product pages (including imagery)

3 ways brands can optimize their stores for mobile commerce

Despite the popularity of smartphone shopping, keep in mind that mobile purchases don’t happen by accident.

Brands need to take specific steps to ensure they aren’t freezing out shoppers on the go.

To wrap things up, let’s look at some actionable changes and improvements to consider for a better mobile shopping experience.

1. Improve mobile UX and site loading speeds

Slow site speed is a proven conversion killer. Meanwhile, many mobile sites are a total slog to get through.

From disappearing menus to crowded product pages, it’s easy to overlook the fine details of UX if you haven’t put your site under the microscope. Here are some basic UX tips from Google to consider, including:

• Highlighting main product categories on your homepage
• Including a homepage search bar to reduce needless browsing (see below)
• Implement “hamburger-style” dropdown menus to help direct traffic
• Not hiding product descriptions or requiring visitors to tap through to see them

2. Simplify the checkout process

Remember what we said about “less is more?”

The fewer head-scratching moments and bottlenecks during your checkout process, the better. For starters, you should:

• Require fewer form fields to collect customer information
• Reduce the number of confirmation screens between adding a product to a cart and completing a purchase
• Allow users to checkout using a guest account
• Accept as many payment options as reasonably possible
• Make shipping costs crystal clear prior to checkout

For example, having to create a new account is among the most common reasons for cart abandonment (second only to surprise shipping costs).

Check out how brands like ASOS allow shoppers to use a variety of guest logins and payment processors for the sake of convenience. This is the sort of seamless shopping experience mobile stores should strive for.

3. Prioritize selling on social media

Instagram and Facebook Shops. Social ads. Product-centric content.

As noted in our guide to social commerce, businesses of all sizes are committed to selling through social platforms.

Again, mobile commerce is all about reaching customers whenever and wherever.

Through social media, you can create a brand new avenue to sell to an audience that’s already engaged and familiar with you. Doing so is a low-hanging opportunity to boost sales and customer satisfaction at the same time.

Are you prepared for the future of mobile commerce?

Listen: mobile shopping is here to stay.

If anything, all indicators from ecommerce research and consumer behavior signal that mobile commerce has nowhere to go but up.

The sooner you get on board and optimize your storefront, the better.

And with the tips above and tools like Sprout Social, you can use your social media data to attract more mobile shoppers and create a top-tier customer experience.

If you haven’t already, check out our guide on how to build a social commerce strategy to understand how you can step up your social selling ASAP.

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How to craft a data-driven social media resume that stands out (template included)

Gone are the days of the Times New Roman, stark resume. Now, in some fields at least, there’s more room for creativity and personality in these one-sheeters—cue a collective sigh of relief for anyone creating a social media resume.

When it comes to the bustling field of social media, it pays to stand out. In the last decade, jobs seeking people to fill this role have increased more than 1,000%. Social media is becoming the proven work of future CMOs—not just additional intern work.

But as the popularity and opportunity for career growth in this field grows, so does the competition. And with recruiters spending just six seconds looking at each resume, you need a resume that stands out clearly and quickly.

Follow this guide to understand the do’s and don’ts of creating a social media marketing resume. Then, download our social media resume template to put these tips into action.

The do’s of a social media resume

Do include data-driven experience

Skills that every social media manager must have, like communication, creativity or organization, won’t make you stand out.

Showing how you’ve used those skills to create impact will.

Using metrics in your resume to quantify the impact you made in past positions differentiates you from other applicants in the stack.

This not only shows what you did—it shows what you accomplished. After all, what sounds more impressive: “Posted engaging content” or “Created content that consistently achieved an average of 100,000 impressions”?

Here are a few KPIs to consider including in a data-driven resume:

• Audience growth: Grew X channels by 10,000 followers in X months, or increased followers by X% in X months
• Ability to build brand awareness: Increased monthly impressions by X% month over month, or grew Facebook post reach from 4,000 to 12,000 people
• Stats around revenue: Contributed to increasing revenue by $X, or contributed to selling out 200-ticket events through audience targeting
• Engagement impact: Maintained a 4% average engagement rate on Instagram posts, or increased average monthly engagements by 10,000 across all channels
• Paid social stats: Decreased ad CPC by $X by adjusting audience targeting
• Successful campaigns you managed and the KPIs around them

Use Sprout Social’s reports to quickly and easily pull these metrics. The Profile Performance Report can highlight your impact and metrics per network, while Cross-Channel Reports give you a big picture look at outcomes across all social profiles.

If you don’t have access to a tool like Sprout or exact data points, try these workarounds:

• Quantify how many influencers you worked with
• Include the budget you managed for paid social
• Mention follower growth: If you don’t remember how many followers your company had when you started, use the Wayback Machine to look at their followers on your start date
• Include posting frequency and the number of channels you managed
• Highlight strategy by numbers—for example, did you streamline the number of times your company posted on social daily?

Highlight hard and soft skills

Hard and soft skills represent two sides of the same creative coin, and you should include both in your resume.

Hard skills are more specific and measurable—think social media tools and software you have experience with, like Sprout, or skills like content creation, being bilingual and photography.

Soft skills are more abstract, but important—think communication, hard-working and detail-oriented.

Experts suggest limiting yourself to six to 10 of your most relevant skills to keep them concise and trustworthy.

Job descriptions for social media professionals will include a mix of hard and soft skills, so look at job postings you’re interested in to identify which are most relevant.

Take a look at a few skills, hard and soft, we identified in a social media manager position at Beyond Meat:

Pro tip: Use your work experience descriptions to prove these skills with accomplishments and metrics. If Sprout is in your hard skills section, prove how you used it in your experience section.

Use keywords from the job description

Customizing your social media resume and skills for each job you apply to goes a long way, landing you in the top 5% of applicants before a human being even sees your application.

Many larger companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen resumes, scanning them for relevant keywords to find the most qualified candidates. Using keywords can prevent you from falling through the automated cracks and, once at a hiring manager’s desk, can make you stand out.

What does this look like in practice? Let’s use this job posting for Calm as an example:

Here’s how you can translate the keywords identified above into the work experience section of your resume:

• Developed cross-platform brand and content campaigns across our TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter channels
• Led the creation of a video content strategy to grow my company’s TikTok channel by X views and videos in X months
• Created data reports to share with cross-functional collaborative partners from the Marketing, Content and Partnerships teams

Celebrate certifications

If you’ve been in the work world for a while, including certifications in your resume—like Google Analytics or Sprout Certifications—can highlight your commitment to continuing education in an ever-changing field, as well as your proficiencies.

If you’re a recent graduate, adding digital marketing certifications to your resume can emphasize your hard skills—even before you have full-time experience to tout.

Emphasize experience over education

Before this sparks the most heated discussion since whether or not social media managers need masters degrees, hear me out.

Social media professionals can come from a range of diverse backgrounds—some never studied marketing.

Large organizations weigh experience more heavily than education 44% of the time, with some leading companies dropping their four-year degree requirement altogether. And one study found that 45% of hiring managers and recruiters weigh potential as the most important element of an application.

Nope

— Anthony Yepez (@AnthonyYepez) February 14, 2022

Nope, got a language degree 😊

— Shaneen (she/her) (@olmos_shnn) February 15, 2022

Nope! English literature girl over here 🤓

— Dakota Jeane | The Social Media Manager (@dakotajeane) February 14, 2022

The takeaway? De-emphasize your education section and lead with experience.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. Leading with education can help recent graduates alleviate gaps in their early resume. For applicants with five to 10 years of experience, several professionals recommend moving your education further down on your resume. They also suggest removing your graduation date after 10-15 years to limit age bias—with the exception of continuing education, like a Ph.D. or notable certifications.

Pro tip: If you don’t have a degree, you can still apply for a job that requires one if your experience speaks for itself. Flexjobs recommends including a line that says, “in lieu of a bachelor’s degree, I have X years of proven experience” to get through an ATS.

Include an objective statement if it adds value

A career objective consists of a few short sentences at the top of your resume describing you, your accomplishments and what you hope to achieve next.

With already limited real estate in your resume, is this necessary? Not always.

If you’re changing fields, applying for an entry-level position or if you just moved, a career objective can provide background that fills in job gaps and provides more context .

At the end of the day, it’s up to you—just ask yourself the question, “does a career objective add value?” 

The don’ts of a social media resume

Don’t be dishonest

This goes without saying—don’t lie on your resume. Only include skills, experience and stats that are truthful.

If you need to beef up your experience, identify the skills in job postings that you lack and go from there. Can you find lower-level positions or certifications that can help you build these skills? You can even look into freelancing to gain more hands-on experience and refine skills you already have.

Don’t overdo the visuals

When it comes to a social media resume, a splash of color here and a personal logo and icons there add a touch of design flair that proves your keen visual eye.

But don’t go overboard. How do you react when you see a resume with wild fonts, multiple colors and too many visual elements?

Not to mention, that applicant tracking system we mentioned earlier may not register resumes with images or lines in them that can appear as jumbled messes of code.

Pro tip: Skipping photos in your resume is recommended. At best, they don’t add value. At worst, they can influence discrimination.

Don’t forget to spell check

A resume highlighting your copywriting skills and attention to detail can lose all credibility from one typo.

Don’t just rely on spell check in Word or Google Docs—read through your resume carefully a few times, and ask a friend or family member to do the same.

Use this template to write a social media resume that resonates

You know you have what it takes to land that incredible TikTok-centric job you’ve been dreaming of—now prove it. Create a social media marketing resume that is clear, to-the-point and most importantly, makes you shine.

Download the template

The post How to craft a data-driven social media resume that stands out (template included) appeared first on Sprout Social.

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How This Work-From-Home Mom Balances Career & Family (with Help from AWeber)

Entrepreneurial mom wanted to spend more time with her family

As a result of the pandemic, Tiffany Jackson realized the most important thing to her — spending time with her family. But this multiple-time business owner wasn’t going to give up working altogether.

She needed a job that allowed her time with her husband and kids — a work from home job. Plus, she wanted to make plenty of money and see long-term career success.

Idea! An at-home affiliate marketing and coaching business fed by social media

What was the easiest way for Tiffany to use her experience as a business owner and skincare enthusiast to make money? By starting an affiliate marketing business. 

Tiffany created an Instagram account to start her affiliate marketing, but things really took off when she started using TikTok. A relatively new social media platform, TikTok can enable you to reach hundreds, thousands, or even millions of new people who you never would have gotten in front of with platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

Uh oh! Where’s the fast, centralized, mobile-friendly place to link recommendations?

TikTok and Instagram have at least 1 thing in common: You can only share one link (in your bio). But Tiffany had at least a handful of things to sell, and needed everyone to be able to see what they, personally, were interested in.

Since both Instagram and TikTok are almost exclusively used with mobile devices, the page she links to should:

• Be mobile friendly
• Include everything mentioned on social media posts
• Be simple, without complicated navigation or menus
• Look beautiful (be memorable in a good way)

AWeber’s LinkTree alternative to the rescue

Tiffany tried LinkTree at first. But she's trying to reduce the number of tools she uses.

She realized that AWeber, a tool she already uses, has a similar LinkTree option. It’s actually a free landing page template that’s easy-to-personalize and looks great on mobile or desktop.

Check out the AWeber “link list” template, shown on a smartphone:

And check it out, there’s a newsletter sign up form at the bottom of the page.

This is what Tiffany’s page looks like:

Now — more time with family; soon — more followers, email subscribers, and revenue

Because using AWeber’s landing page builder and email campaigns was so easy, Tiffany has already been able to balance work and her family. 

She can focus her work time on growing her social media followers and directing them to sign up for her email list. See how she does that using a free e-book she wrote:

Tiffany now spends time with her family while also promoting products to her social network. She will eventually continue to grow her email list with leads who she can resell to. 

As a result of Tiffany’s hard work, along with the link page she created using AWeber, this work-from-home mom projects to make $96k of passive revenue in 2022.

Make sales and get email signups from social for YOUR business

No matter what your business does, you can also benefit from an attractive link list page in your social channels. Here’s how to set one up in minutes — for free!

1. Click to copy the AWeber Link List landing page (and create a free account if you need to)

Here’s what the Link List landing page looks like (or you can preview it in your browser):

Click here to copy it into your AWeber account.

2. Personalize the page with your photo, links, and background (if you want)

Make this page yours. You can add links to the specific pages and products you talk about on social media. Add a photo, social handle, and short description. You can even update the background color or add an image!

Here’s how Tiffany’s looks:

Plus, she has a built-in signup form for her email list (with an e-book lead magnet):

3. Publish and add to your social media bios!

At this point you can simply publish your page, copy the link, and add it into your social media bios. That means you can make sales from this page in just a few clicks! No expensive website setup, no waiting. 

This is particularly useful for Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms where you only get one link. See how Tiffany added her link to her Instagram bio?

Bonus: Buy or connect a custom domain

Do you want a more personalized domain for your link? Something like “mybusiness.com/links”? You can easily connect a domain that you own through GoDaddy, IONOS, Google Domains, or any other platform. 

Don’t have a domain yet? You can actually buy one directly from your AWeber account. Learn how to purchase a domain in AWeber.

Get started for free

The landing page builder, link list template, sign up form, and custom domain connection is all available with AWeber’s free plan. Start your account now and you can have your landing page up and running later today!

The post How This Work-From-Home Mom Balances Career & Family (with Help from AWeber) appeared first on AWeber.

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Instagram shopping: how to set up a store that attracts more customers

How does Instagram shopping fit into your social media strategy?

It’s no secret that consumers rely on Instagram to browse new brands and hunt for products.

Recent data shows that shoppers on Instagram have gone from “browsing” to “buying” in a huge way.

According to Instagram, a staggering 44% of users shop on the platform weekly. The same data shows that 28% percent of those sessions are planned.

And with the platform’s ongoing roll-out of fresh ecommerce features, it’s easier than ever for followers to buy from you directly.

In this guide, we’ll break down how to set up Instagram shopping and best practices for promoting your products.

Why Instagram shopping should be a top priority for ecommerce brands

We’ll bite: at a glance, going all-in on Instagram shopping may not seem like a big priority.

But times have changed. The setup of the Shops platform is straightforward for both business owners and customers alike.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s highlight the advantages of setting up Instagram shopping for your business.

Turn your followers into customers faster

Sure, Instagram has the potential to be its own channel for sales.

But if you’re like most brands, the platform serves you best as an extension of your existing storefront.

Instagram shopping represents a seamless way to funnel followers to your product pages if you already have an audience. With Shops, new fans can start browsing your products as soon as they land on your profile. This empowers you to take your followers from brand-aware to product-aware in a matter of seconds.

Coupled with the ability to win email opt-ins and redeem Instagram-only coupons, the platform encourages social shoppers to take action rather than just browse.

See how social commerce platform Spring does this on their product detail page:

Create more compelling shopping experiences

When done right, social shopping represents a totally different experience than traditional ecommerce.

Consider the types of personalized shopping experiences given to consumers that would be impossible without social media:

• Showing off your products: Through user-generated content and influencers, you can give your products a human touch and a serious sense of social proof
• Tapping into your followers’ sense of FOMO: You can do this with time-sensitive live stream sales and exclusive Instagram drops
• Customizing interactions: Interact with consumers and personalize the shopping experience for them with DMs, tags, and comments

Squeeze more out of your existing ecommerce marketing efforts

Food for thought: social media for retail is all about having an omnichannel presence.

If you’ve already done the legwork of putting your product catalog online, double-dipping your promotions and sales on Instagram shopping is a no-brainer. With minor tweaks, your Shop and website product pages are one-in-the-same.

Source: Soludos

Want to import your products from Shopify? Looking to upload just a segment of your store manually? Go for it. The app has streamlined the process of getting your products on the platform which is great news for up-and-coming merchants.

What are the key features of Instagram shopping?

Whether you need a quick refresher or you’re totally new to IG shopping, here’s a quick rundown of the platform’s key pieces.

Shop

Simply put, this is your storefront. It’s where someone lands if they tap “View Shop” on your account or product pages. Here you’re able to highlight products, sale items and current promotions.

Source: Instagram

Tags

Tagging allows you to showcase your products directly with Instagram photos, videos, Stories or Reels. This allows customers to go directly to product pages for items they’re interested in.

Fashion brand Vera’s Eyecandy makes use of tagged products on their clothing items through user-generated content.

Collections

Collections allow you to organize your products into groups. Rather than having shoppers endlessly browse and risk losing their interest, you can highlight similar types of products for specific types of customers. This is also a prime place to highlight your best-selling items.

Maternity fashion brand Monica and Andy have product collections for new mothers, expectant mothers, baby clothes and developmental toys.

Product detailed pages (PDPs)

Think of these as your individual product pages on Instagram. Here you can write unique descriptions, breakdowns of specific product specs, and shipping policies. This is brought in from your product catalog.

Source: Casetify

Checkout

This is where the magic happens.

Instagram shoppers can be funneled into your website’s product pages once they click on the “View on website” button.

Instagram also gives you the option to provide easy checkout to customers so they don’t bounce off the platform by clicking the “Buy Now” button. See how skincare brand Murad does it here:

Discovery

The “Discovery” tab on your homepage search bar allows you to browse products from Instagram Shops based on your recent activity. You can also look at subcategories such as “Offers and sales” for social-only deals or “Buy on Instagram” for brands selling through Instagram directly.

How to set up Instagram shopping for the first time (step-by-step)

Let’s say you’re ready to get your shop off the ground.

Nice! The process is easy enough and Instagram does a decent job of walking merchants through the process. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Step #1. Make sure you meet Instagram’s eligibility requirements

Eligibility for Instagram shopping doesn’t require a minimum follower count. If you have a relatively active and established presence, chances are you’re good to go. The basic eligibility requirements include:

• Having a business located in one of Instagram’s supported markets (throughout NA, LATAM, EMEA and APAC)
• Accepting the platform’s merchant agreement and commerce policies
• You have an active domain to sell products from

Step #2. Convert your Instagram profile to a professional account

You’ve probably already done this, right?

If not, you can:

1. Go to Settings
2. Select Account
3. Switch to Professional Account and follow the remaining steps

You can learn more about the process here, it only takes a minute or two.

Step #3. Connect your account to an appropriate Facebook Page

Even if you’re not actively promoting your business on Facebook, your Instagram Shopping must be linked to a Facebook Page.

If you’ve set up a Facebook Shop, this is a similar process. From your Instagram profile:

1. Go to Edit Profile
2. Select Public Business Information
3. Click on Page. From here, select the page you want your Instagram Shop connected to (or create one).

Step #4. Upload your product catalog

Instagram Shopping gives you two options for uploading your products to the platform: Facebook Business Manager or through their integration with an ecommerce platform partner (think: Shopify).

The former option is ideal for uploading a limited catalog or products one-by-one manually. Through integrations with Shopify or BigCommerce, you can essentially import your existing catalog into Instagram.

Step #5. Submit your Instagram shopping account for review

Once your catalog is established, you have to submit your Shop to Instagram for review. According to Instagram themselves, this process takes a few days. You may be required to verify ownership of your storefront domain.

Step #6. Active Instagram shopping and start selling!

After you’re approved, the final step is to simply turn your shop on. This can be done by:

1. Going to Settings
2. Click on Business
3. Select Shopping
4. Select Product Catalog
5. Tap Done and you’re good to go

“Which types of content can I post to Instagram Shopping?”

Good question!

The good news is that Instagram gives you a ton of freedom in terms of how you sell and present your products. Check out the options below:

Tagged product posts and Stories

These are the most straightforward types of promotional posts for Instagram shopping.

Whether through a product photo or a snapshot of your products in action, you can transform any traditional post into an invitation to check out your store. Similar to tagged photos, shopping tags via Stories allow followers to “tap a link” and visit your storefront as well. Boot brand Danner Boots uses tagged products below, you can also see their “View Shop” call to action.

Shopping ads

There’s no shortage of Instagram ad success stories out there. Perfect for retargeting visitors that bounced from your store or serial scrollers on Instagram, shopping ads can present themselves in users’ homepage feeds and Stories alike. Many shopping ads put products front-and-center to entice buyers.

Live shopping streams

Keeping up with the trend of livestream shopping, you can now sell products directly via tagging in Instagram Live. Streams are ideal for launches, drops and introducing brand new products to your followers.

Source: Instagram

Shopping guides

Guides serve as an opportunity to educate customers with valuable tips while also showcasing your products. For example, this breakdown from skincare brand Versed highlights common beauty product ingredients, including skin-nourishing ingredients found in their products and irritants to avoid.

7 Instagram shopping strategies to promote your store

Scenario: you’ve set up Instagram shopping but your storefront isn’t getting much action.

Hey, don’t panic! Shoppers on Instagram don’t flock to your product pages by accident. To wrap things up, let’s look at some ways to promote your Instagram, get more eyes on your store, and score more sales.

1. Experiment with Instagram-specific promotions

Pop quiz: why should someone buy from you on Instagram versus your site?

This is arguably the biggest challenge that merchants are facing when it comes to Instagram shopping. Perhaps the most basic solution is to run promotions exclusive to Instagram, such as:

Discounts

Don’t underestimate the power of a deal. Brands like Monica and Andy promote a 20% off sale to serve as an incentive. Given how many first-time buyers seek out discounts prior to engaging with a new brand, this is a smart move.

Drops

A new feature exclusive to Instagram shopping called Drops allows you to create a sense of hype around your next product launch.

You can browse the “Drops” tab within the Instagram Shop tab to see which brands are about to release something fresh. Shoppers can set reminders before your sale goes live.

…and likewise, see your Drops beforehand through tagging. Athletic brand Uninterrupted utilizes this on their seasonal sweater release.

2. Promote satisfied customers through user-generated content

The power of user-generated content for ecommerce is well-documented.

Social proof. Discoverability. More opportunities to see your products in action.

This is why encouraging product tags is such a big deal when it comes to social media ecommerce. The same rules should apply to merchants on the rise that want more buzz and more eyes on their storefronts organically.

Another added bonus of curating user-generated content is that you can feature your Instagram shopping items on your page.

See how BH Cosmetics encourages the use of branded hashtags among their followers. Given that UGC can boost product page conversion rates by up to 64%, this is all the more reason to earn more customer shout-outs.

Source: BH Cosmetics

3. Pay attention to your product visuals

Anything you can do to make your product photos “pop” is a plus.

Not every brand has the luxury of promoting a stylish, aesthetically pleasing product. That said, some simple ideas to draw more attention to your photos include:

• Vibrant and bright colors (including backgrounds)
• Featuring people (think: influencers and UGC) whenever possible
• Experimenting with multiple angles via carousels

4. Entice shoppers with captions and product descriptions

Instagram captions and product descriptions are valuable real estate for captivating skeptical shoppers’ attention.

As a rule of thumb, try to:

• Showcase your personality and brand voice (hint: don’t be a robot)
• Focus on key benefits and features (hint: bold them, use lists)
• Remember not to get too wordy

Hair dye brand Arctic Fox Hair Color breaks up their product descriptions by bolding and highlighting the details most important to their target audience.

5. Integrate shopping shout-outs into your Stories and Reels

The more opportunities you have to integrate your Instagram Shop into your content strategy, the better.

So don’t ignore your Stories and Reels. Both are booming right now in terms of popularity. There’s a reason why so many brands have weekly Stories dedicated to their satisfied customers.

6. Work with influencers or run ad campaigns

Although growing your store organically is ideal, more competitive industries (think: fashion, beauty or fitness) may require you to pay-to-play to get the ball rolling. Whether through Instagram advertising or influencer marketing, shopping-focused campaigns can build awareness and earn you more sales at the same time.

7. Make tagged products part of your content calendar

As you build out your content calendar and schedule post on Instagram, ask yourself: where does Instagram shopping fit in?

Including tagged product photos as part of your content strategy is a must-do. Some industries and brands can get away with being more aggressive about product promotion than others, though.

When in doubt, double-check your content calendar to make sure you don’t post too much “salesy” content. Find a balance between promotional posts, engagement, motivation, humor and what speaks directly to your target audience.

Here you can see the variety of posts in Sprout’s content calendar includes a mix of open-ended questions and promotional content.

Is your Instagram shopping presence where it needs to be?

Listen: Instagram shopping shouldn’t be a “secondary” channel for brands serious about social selling.

From gaining brand awareness to growing traffic to your storefront and winning sales, the benefits of having an Instagram Shop presence are crystal clear.

Whether you want to build your store from scratch or optimize the presence you already have, the tips discussed in this article will help you do the trick.

And if you aren’t already, make sure you’re up to speed on the latest Instagram best practices to ensure your brand gets the attention it deserves on the ‘gram.

The post Instagram shopping: how to set up a store that attracts more customers appeared first on Sprout Social.

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