Sprout on Sprout: How to communicate social media marketing priorities to outside stakeholders

Social media management isn’t an easy feat. Social media marketers know the work goes beyond simply scheduling a post with funny GIFs or crafting viral-worthy content. Many social teams, including ours, are usually smaller, but their impact on the business is large.

LinkedIn reported that social media managers are the third most in-demand marketing position by job posting volume in 2022, while social media coordinator roles have the third most year-over-year growth of all marketing titles.

Social media teams often interact with multiple stakeholders from all levels and departments across an entire organization. This makes it difficult to manage everyone’s requests or needs, while staying true to your social strategy and marketing priorities.

That’s why it’s imperative to prioritize and communicate what’s on your plate outside of your social team in an effective way. But how can you develop a prioritization strategy that works for you and your team? How do you speak up when a stakeholder’s request doesn’t align with your goals? And how do you explain you’re overwhelmed with your workload because of a surplus of requests?

Here’s a quick look into how Sprout’s social team maneuvers marketing priorities to help inspire your own processes. I’ll also drop gems about which methods and data reports in Sprout Social will equip you to communicate your priorities and stand your ground.

Ownership over individual marketing priorities

Our social media team consists of three people, one senior manager and two strategists. My teammate, Jonathan Zuluaga, and I are both Social Media Strategists. Our team model uses a platform-specific approach: Jonathan handles the engagement networks (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and messaging apps like WhatsApps) while I manage the awareness side of our strategy (YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok). Our manager, Rachael Samuels, oversees the entire social strategy.

This setup allows us to own our workload and methods for handling our marketing priorities. I’ll explain our four methods for executing our marketing goals: dividing responsibilities, using the action priority matrix, time blocking and project planning.

Dividing responsibilities

Dividing responsibilities makes setting priorities easier. For visibility, Jonathan and I will add notes in the Sprout Calendar, saying, “this is an initiative I’m owning and here’s the publish date for it.” This way we can see what we’re each working on.

Having a designated strategist for each set of networks also makes it easier for stakeholders who have questions and requests. They’re able to get their answers faster with the expertise they need to move forward. If someone from an outside team wants to promote a webinar on Twitter, they know who to reach out to and the collaboration process can begin immediately.

Using the action priority matrix

Since each person owns a piece of our strategy, we’re able to create individualized methods for meeting our goals. However, we all use the action priority matrix to help complete tasks and projects. The action priority matrix is a productivity tool that ranks tasks and/or projects by their impact on the business and the amount of time it takes to complete them. First, we focus on high impact, low-effort tasks and go from there.

For us, high impact is any type of project that connects to our overall marketing goals, or anything that will help us reach results on a project that is behind or needs immediate attention. Lower lift projects might only need an hour of our time, but it will have a significant impact. In a nutshell, anything we do is guided by the broader organization.

As a manager, Rachael must balance completing her own work while keeping business needs top of mind.

Rachael says, “I ask myself: what is going to move the needle for the business that day? And what needs steady attention versus what needs a short burst of energy?”

“Whatever is high impact, low effort, I do that first. Then I complete medium impact, low effort tasks. If something is high impact, high effort, I examine and see if I can take that out into chunks and then I prioritize those chunks over a longer period of time,” she adds.

Time blocking and project planning

Time blocking is one of Rachael’s biggest prioritization tips for social media marketers.

“There’s just nothing like it. Just force yourself to shut off and stop multitasking. It’s not helpful for anyone,” she explains.

Along with time blocking, she implements project planning. She sets a plan with action items for each day of the week, no matter how small the task.

“Project planning is so important. If you lay out the dates of every tiny thing you need to do upfront, it actually makes things so much easier,” says Rachael.

Similar to Rachael, I like to use project planning to manage my workload. I use a spreadsheet to lay out all of the things that I want to publish that month and use it to keep track, like a progress report. My “inputs” come from various initiatives and I use them to plan out social content. I’ll include everything I need to publish on social, such as video or creative resources. I’ll tell myself, “Okay, I’ve produced five of our planned TikTok launch videos for the month,” and mark that on the calendar to keep track of each piece of content.

The spreadsheet provides flexibility because I can adjust if a shift arises. Our team keeps adaptability in mind when project planning because social is innately ever-changing. Adaptability in social media is necessary, but Rachael notes this becomes easier when there’s a plan in place.

“Social moves really fast so priorities change really quickly, like daily or even on the minute. Something could go viral and you need to hop on right then. That’s okay. But you have to make a universe where it’s okay. Creating pockets of time for the steady work, knowing that you might have disruptors, and figuring out what that looks like for you is really important,” she explains.

Aligning team marketing priorities

We have team-and department-wide prioritization tactics as well. For example, we meet with teams and leaders at the beginning of the quarter to discuss each team’s priorities. Communicating the importance of our social strategy to stakeholders is essential to collaborating with other teams effectively.

“It’s important for stakeholders across the organization to understand that we have a specific strategy in which we have these multiple networks and those are what are available for distribution. It’s also important to have an understanding of who we’re trying to reach on each network,” Rachael says.

She notes it’s crucial to communicate the pillars of our strategy to stakeholders so they can have an understanding of our goals. If a request doesn’t fall within those pillars, we examine if it fits within our strategy.

We keep ourselves open to collaboration by offering an internal form, which stakeholders use to submit ideas and requests. It’s a framework that helps our team better understand the idea or initiative so we can explore how to connect it to our strategy. The form also shows others how our team approaches projects because we communicate our thought process and how it connects to our strategy and overall goals.

Although we value collaboration, sometimes we have to push back and our team has several methods for those situations.

How to stand behind your social media marketing priorities

Many social media marketers are familiar with the experience of having a flood of requests coming in from various departments. It’s common for a variety of teams to contribute to their organization’s social strategy.

But, let’s be honest, not every request should be added to the top of your to-do list. You might even face some pushback if you decline.

Most likely if you’re pushing back on something, it’s because you know it’s not going to be successful. If someone really wants you to promote a webinar or a certain event, and you don’t think that it aligns with your Instagram or TikTok audience, it’s okay to say no.

As social media marketers, we know best what our audience wants on every network.

Here are some tactics we like to use that may help you stand behind your marketing priorities while not burning bridges:

1) Find a point of compromise

Jonathan says choosing compromise will help you navigate necessary relationships and build rapport. Given the nature of how social works, it’s super important for social media managers to build relationships across various departments to gain visibility and respect. Having those strong relationships and using them to establish expertise will allow you to have an open conversation when pushing back.

“Be able to throw someone a cookie once in a while. I’ll tell them, ‘Okay, I’ll try it this time, but let’s touch base and see if it does work based on the data.’ That might help you prove that you are able to build relationships, but you also have data that maybe it doesn’t work, because social is all testing and learning,” he says.

Use A/B testing as a means of compromise. If someone insists on an initiative, you can propose an A/B test to see which content performs the best. This shows your openness, but also allows an opportunity for the data to show if it’s an effective approach.

If you find something doesn’t resonate with your audience on one network, then maybe it would fit better on another network. You can select which audiences and networks would best suit different initiatives. It lowers the lift on your end because you’re not creating content for every network, while still supporting an important stakeholder.

2) Embrace the opportunity to educate

In some cases, Rachael recommends not viewing it as pushing back on a request but examining the opportunity as a way to educate the stakeholder. Explain why the task isn’t high priority in terms of the team’s workload, or consider providing an alternative that would enhance the opportunity. It’s a proactive measure that will help both parties down the line.

“If someone’s like, ‘I want to post about this webinar,’ but it doesn’t really make sense for us to do…It’s less about pushing back and more about educating on why something would work or something won’t work, ” she says.

If you don’t decline completely and end up compromising, she urges social media marketers to further this education.

“You can say, ‘Here’s what we could have done had we had more time,’ or ‘Here’s what we could have done had we had more information or more context or more images.’ Just be straight up about that so people don’t repeat the behavior in the future.”

She also encourages being honest about your time commitment, adding “You can even say something along the lines of ‘Hey, I know social looks easy, but it can take three hours to pull a story together. And it’s not something I can have up by 11 am.’ This is actually a really good educational way to approach social management and mitigate that type of behavior from other people.”

The more educated stakeholders become in the craft, the more confident you will become in standing your ground.

3) Be a resource of truth for other teams

Since social media marketers have a better understanding of social, use your expertise when managing requests from stakeholders.

“Have strong reasoning why you are pushing back or why you can’t do a certain project. Social ends up being the catch-all place for a lot of organizations. I’ve experienced that in the past in my career, but nowadays, that’s not the case because we are building more sophisticated strategies and have a better understanding of our audience. Making sure that you understand what your strategy is, what your goals are and who your audience is will give you a way better case of why something’s not going to work and why you’re pushing back,” Jonathan says.

Essentially, be open about what you’re prioritizing and what your audience is looking for on social, so it can inform other teams and what they prioritize too.

4) Be honest and connect with your manager

If you’re ever in a situation where you feel overwhelmed, don’t hesitate to advocate for yourself.

You can’t throw everyone a cookie. Some will want a flavor entirely different from what your baking, while others may want to take more than their share from the jar.

“It’s all about just being truthful with yourself. How much is it going to help and does it need to get done right now? Is this only a passion project? Or will it help me reach the results and goals for our business needs?” Jonathan says.

The other step is being honest with your manager about what’s on your plate and why you’re pushing back on something. If someone’s trying to push an initiative, and they really want social support, check in with your manager and ask, “Hey, I have all of these other things that are priorities right now. So what can I take off of my plate?”

It’s impossible to juggle everything without getting burnt out. Be honest about what you can take on and what you can’t.

Use data to back up your marketing priorities

Data is your best friend when it comes to communicating your priorities. It’s hard to fight against data because numbers don’t lie. Be confident in your social discernment and then root everything you can in the data to support your decisions and thought process.

“For us, data reporting guides the way we prioritize projects. It helps us understand what is moving the needle and what’s not, so we can gauge where we should be focusing our time or pushing a little bit more,” says Jonathan.

Along with using data, keep in mind that since your social team’s priorities are based on what their audience is craving, this insight can help inform what the rest of your company is focused on as well. The more you can merchandise your work to inform other teams in your organization, the better.

Our social team uses Sprout’s various reports to guide our marketing priorities and illustrate our initiatives. Here are some of the reports we use that can help you anchor your reasoning in data as well:

Custom Reports

Custom Reports are probably the most beneficial for showing leaders what you’re doing, because of their shareability.

If your leader wants a holistic view of what you’re doing on social, Custom Reports can be shared as highlights in an email, exported as interactive PDFs or as a shareable link going directly to Sprout for a full snapshot. Plus, you can annotate and leave notes in different portions of the report to further explain what the data means.

“I’d say the most beneficial report would be the Custom Report because it’s going to have listening data. You can include information around paid, organic and include post performance data. There’s a full story to be told,” Rachael says.

“Listening is really great because your priorities can change based on what we’re hearing from our audience. Listening can be helpful because it challenges assumptions,” she adds.

Profile Reports

We use these reports frequently. The network profile reports help us see how our strategy is performing, because we can look at our KPIs per network to get a gut check on our progress to goals.

“The network profile report answers: Which network is going to pull the most levers? Where should we be investing more specifically? It can also help with planning. What type of video equipment investment are you going to have to make? What type of budget do you need to have for creators or influencers? The network profile reports can be helpful for that type of discussion with leadership,” Rachael says.

Post Performance Reports

We use the Post Performance Report a lot because it’s truly a powerful tracking tool. The report helps us understand what content is resonating with our audience by extracting the “why” and “how.” It lays out how many people are actively engaging via comments, likes and shares.

It’s a great way to help illustrate impact through data. If someone asks, “Is this specific initiative making the most impact for what our goals are?” Your team can pull several posts that illustrate why and how it’s creating impact.

We also like to use it when we’re experimenting, because we can filter by various metrics and use tags to track campaigns.

We use filters to see what posts created the most awareness, garnered the most engagements or had the highest engagement rate. We adjust these filters based on the metrics we’re looking for and use those insights to reflect and brainstorm next steps.

For example, if a video about a particular topic garnered the most views and impressions, our team thinks about how we can recreate the idea in a different way. We try to pinpoint what we think made the video earn so many views.

The Post Performance Report also includes qualitative data. You can see people’s reactions, comments and how they engage with that type of content. Qualitative data is valuable when communicating to stakeholders because they’re able to see success points at a glance. It’s also helpful if a stakeholder isn’t 100% fluent in social media metrics.

Using data to influence future marketing priorities

Along with using data to back up your claims, use data to inform or adjust your future priorities. The numbers constantly inform what type of content we want to create.

We saw that on Twitter and Instagram, video views were blowing the previous six months out of the water. It was clear video was something we needed to heavily invest in and keep testing.

We knew we had to iterate how to create more high impact videos based on that insight. We also had to consider what other video series we were doing to ensure we weren’t stretching ourselves too thin.

The takeaway here is to let the numbers inspire your next steps and use it as an opportunity to experiment and grow your network.

Why you should over communicate marketing priorities

Over communicating is very important when it comes to collaborating with multiple stakeholders, especially leadership. It might feel like you’re sharing too much, or you don’t have enough information, but even just letting someone know the status of a project can go a long way.

If I’m waiting on a piece of creative and I say it’s a blocker before I can move forward, it gives leadership a good idea of what I need to be successful. Defining blockers helps them support you a little bit better because they know if you need more resources or not.

Rachael advises social media marketers to set deadlines for progress updates and to communicate these to avoid confusion down the road. Avoid waiting until people ask questions to communicate about your work because it can create backup.

“From a prioritization standpoint, that’s where people get messed up a lot. They had the time blocks, they had everything all planned out, but then someone had a question. So, then they had to send a report and stop what they were doing. Next thing you know, it took five hours to put a post up that no one knew about. Stuff like that can be super disruptive,” she says.

Giving frequent updates benefits the entire team in the long run because it allows stakeholders more opportunities to reach out and ask questions sooner.

Using Sprout to manage marketing priorities

We’ve broken down our social team’s prioritization strategy and how we use Sprout to back up and inform our strategy. If you want to learn more about our reports, and try out these tips on your own, sign up for a free one-month trial today.

The post Sprout on Sprout: How to communicate social media marketing priorities to outside stakeholders appeared first on Sprout Social.

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How to write confirmation emails your audience will love

Your confirmation email is an important first impression. It sets the tone for your relationship with subscribers and can improve engagement for future emails.

Picture this - you just booked your dream vacation online. But you never received an email confirmation. You may be wondering if your order was processed. Now you have to spend time contacting the travel agency to make sure your vacation was booked. That is not a good experience.

You wouldn’t want to do that to your customers. That’s why you need to set up a good confirmation email.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What is a confirmation email?
• Types of confirmation emails
• Why should you send a confirmation email
• Difference between confirmation and welcome emails
• How to set up a confirmation email
• How to write a confirmation email
• 8 awesome confirmation email examples

What is a confirmation email?

A confirmation email is a transactional email that is set up to automatically go out to someone who just took a specific action, such as placing an order, subscribing to an email list, or registering for an event.

Types of confirmation emails

There are four main types of email confirmation messages: 

• Order confirmation – confirms the transaction of a product or service
• Booking confirmation – informs a customer that hotel, flight, and other travel arrangements have been made
• Registration confirmation – provides confirmation that customer is registered for upcoming event
• Subscription confirmation – also called an opt-in email, requires customers to confirm their email address to complete opt-in process

Why should you send a confirmation email

Sending a confirmation email is an email marketing best practice because it:

• Reassures your customers that you received their information.
• Gives customers peace of mind that their request was processed.
• Establishes confidence and trust with your brand.
• Prevents mistyped and fake email addresses from cluttering up your list.
• Improves deliverability. Typically, when you send a subscription confirmation email, you require the subscriber to click a link to confirm their email address. This is referred to as a double opt-in, and it can often lead to more emails reaching your subscribers’ inboxes.
  

Difference between confirmation and welcome emails

A confirmation email is similar to a welcome email, but it serves a different purpose. The graphic below shows when a confirmation email is sent within a subscriber’s onboarding sequence. Welcome emails, as you can see below, happen after a new subscriber is confirmed (or after an order is confirmed if an order has been placed).

For more information about welcome emails, including how to write one, see our blog post, Welcome Email Campaigns: How to Onboard New Subscribers.

How to set up a confirmation email (in 5 easy steps)

Before you can set up your confirmation email, you’ll need to sign up with an email marketing service provider (ESP), such as AWeber. 

Step 1: Build your confirmation email 

You have two options for building your email - use a drag and drop builder to pull the elements you’d like to include in your emails, or you can begin with a pre-built template. Some email marketing services already have confirmation email templates you can use. 

Here’s what the setup page for AWeber’s confirmation template looks like. 

Step 2: Write your confirmation message

Your confirmation email should be short and direct. The email should also confirm their transaction.

In the next section, we’ll review how to write your email and what elements are needed for each type of confirmation.

Step 3: Create your confirmation landing page, aka your “thank you page”

Setting up a landing page is an important part of the confirmation email setup. Why? Because it lets people know that their information was received. It establishes a good first impression by thanking them for their order or for signing up to your email list. And it directs people to check their inbox for more information.

AWeber’s free and paid plans let you specify a custom confirmation landing page, or you can use AWeber’s default confirmation page. You specify your confirmation landing page within the signup form settings for the signup form that triggers the page.

Here’s what this looks like within an AWeber account.

Here’s the custom thank you page that you saw the link to in the image above. It’s very simple, but it lets new subscribers know their information was received and what they should do next.

Related: How to create a landing page in 8 steps

Step 4: Set up your confirmation success page

This is the page a new subscriber sees after they’ve confirmed their email. The success page is only needed with an email confirmation.

Here’s an example of what a success page looks like:

Your success page can look however you want it to look. It can be hosted on your website, or you can set it up so people go to your Facebook page or your TikTok profile after their email address is confirmed.

AWeber customers can also personalize their “success page” with each new subscriber’s information (like with the subscribers’ first name for example) or with whatever other information that was requested in the sign up form. 

Step 5: Set up your automation

By automating your email, you can connect with your subscribers immediately and automatically. (Plus, save your time!) And with the correct writing strategies, your emails will be compelling and sound human, instead of robotic.

How to write a confirmation email

At its core, a confirmation email is just that what it sounds like. Its purpose is to “confirm” that you received their information or order. But depending on the type of confirmation email, your email will be structured differently. 

A common element each email should have is a “thank you.” It’s important to let your customers know you appreciate them. This could be included as a headline or in the first sentence.

Here’s how to write the rest of your confirmation emails:

Order confirmation

Your order confirmation email should contain one or two sentences to include a thank you and information about when their order will ship. This could be as simple as “We will send you another email as soon as your order ships.”

See how Cometeer starts off their confirmation emails.

People who place an order online will often save their confirmation email so they can reference it later. So make it easy for them to find the information they may be looking for, which should include:

1. an order number that can be referenced
2. a list of what they ordered
3. a summary of their contact details including the shipping address. 
4. a link to track their order status 

See the full Cometeer email. This very simple approach is all you need for an order confirmation email.

Booking confirmation

Provide the details of what was booked including:

1. the name of the person
2. confirmation number
3. the date(s) and time if relevant of the reservation
4. location
5. any other relevant information

You may also want to consider a message regarding changing their reservation or adding contact information.

Tock at Elske, a restaurant in Chicago, adds a section for their cancellation policy and questions at the bottom of their confirmation emails. 

Registration confirmation

Start your registration confirmation email off with the event name and date. You can also add a convenient “add to calendar” button. This makes it easy for people to add the event to their calendar, increasing the chances they attend the event.

See how VentureBeat structures their webinar confirmation email:

Subscription confirmation

It’s important to have customers verify their email address. It’s essentially having the customer say “yes, I want to receive an email from you,” twice. This helps you improve your delivery rate and get higher email engagement.

Your copy can be as simple as “Please confirm your email address”. And have a call to action with “Confirm your email”. That’s it, no need to overthink this email. More details about you can be provided in your welcome email.

This email from Zencastr leaves no doubt what action they want subscribers to take.

8 awesome confirmation email examples

1 - Chipotle

Why it’s awesome:

Chipotle’s subscription confirmation email, also known as a confirmed opt-in, explains why subscribers are receiving this message and exactly what they should do. 

2 - AWeber

Why it’s awesome:

In the confirmed opt-in email for our AWeber Blog Newsletter below, we tell subscribers about the benefits of being on our list (free blog posts, courses, and ebooks!). This helps to improve the conversion rate of our confirmed opt-in email.

Once subscribers confirmed their email, it’s time to officially welcome them to your email list.

3 - American Airlines

Why it’s awesome:

American Airlines doesn’t overdo the email with text. They keep it simple by just providing the essential information.

4 - Allbirds

Why it’s awesome:

Feel free to keep your confirmation emails on brand, like Allbird with their unique way to thank “ewe” (clever).

5 - Codeverse

Why it’s awesome:

Your confirmation emails may be saved and referenced at a later time, so include any and all relevant information. Codeverse does this well by including the date, day, time, participant, and location.

6 - BEE

Why it’s awesome:

BEE is clear and upfront - your subscription will not be activated until you confirm your email. This will help make sure a high delivery rate and a more engaged audience.

7 - DoorDash

Why it’s awesome:

DoorDash sets the expectation up front with a countdown timer on when you can expect your order to arrive. They also provide a link to track your order along with a confirmation of what was ordered.

8 - Hipmunk

Why it’s awesome:

If you need more incentive to confirm your email address, Hipmunk includes a list of cool things you can do in your account.

Help writing confirmation emails

Need a little help or inspiration figuring out how to write your emails. We’ve got you covered with our Free What to Write Guide. 

Get started with your confirmation emails! Create your FREE account with AWeber today, and change the way you send emails forever.

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How to Analyze Competitors on Instagram to Reach Your Goals

Circa 2010, Instagram was a casual photo-sharing app for silly selfies and over-saturated food pics. In just over a decade, the app has evolved into one of social media’s most prominent platforms with over 1 billion users. Some 90% of users follow a brand on Instagram and there are over 200 million business accounts on the app as well. According to the 2022 Sprout Social Index™, 49% of consumers and 59% of marketers anticipate using IG in the next 12 months.

It’s imperative for brands to craft a game plan to stand out against their competitors. An Instagram competitor analysis can help brands compete with rivals in the marketplace by highlighting pieces of their strategy from content gaps to publishing behavior.

You can seek opportunities in the data to outperform your competitors and think about what is most valuable for your followers. This will save you time because you aren’t reinventing the wheel, but rather using what you know will work.

Let’s break down how an Instagram competitor analysis can help level the playing field so you can reach your goals.

What is an Instagram competitor analysis report?

Competitive analysis refers to the process of strategically researching, evaluating and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of rival companies. It involves taking a deeper look into every aspect of your competitors’ businesses from pricing to marketing strategy. A competitor analysis can also help you establish what makes a product or service unique, including the attributes that attract your target audience(s).

To enable brands to understand their competitors’ Instagram strategy at the profile level, Sprout Social created the Instagram Competitors Report—available in Professional plans and above. Similar to the Facebook Competitors Report, you can use this report to track fundamental metrics, such as audience growth and engagement, for any public Instagram profile.

Why should you do an Instagram competitive analysis?

Whether you’re a seasoned pro or starting a new account, an Instagram competitor analysis report provides insights that inform and improve your social strategy, so you can maintain an edge on the network. Here’s several reasons why you need to conduct an Instagram competitive analysis:

Establish your own KPIs through competitive benchmarking

Benchmarking your brand against competitors and related businesses will help you see how your business stacks up against others in the industry. Comparing your brand to a business of comparable size and resources can assist with setting goals on Instagram.

By analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs), your brand will be able to determine what type of content performed best, how often to post and more. Tracking your Instagram competitors’ KPIs will also help you keep a pulse on industry and social trends. Even better, you’ll be able to spot what doesn’t work for your peers and identify ways to stay ahead of the competition.

Which Instagram competitive metrics are important?

Sprout’s Instagram Competitors Report includes average metrics for followers, engagement, audience growth, publishing behavior (the different types of content posted) and top posts. Interactive graphs and accompanying data charts showcase trends over time, making it easy for you to visualize growth patterns. You can also use Sprout’s Advanced Listening tools to learn about industry trending topics and hashtags.

We have plenty of metrics for your brand to learn from. Here’s a quick overview of what they mean and why they’re important:

1. Followers

A company’s number of followers represents social proof and brand affinity. Although follower count is a good indicator of audience size and brand loyalty, think of it as a complementary metric for engagement. In the early days of social, follower count was the main goal, but things are more complex now.

If an account has thousands of followers, but consistently low engagement, chances are they aren’t truly connecting with their audience. Conversely, a brand could have fewer followers, but consistent engagement, which could indicate they are tuned in with their audience and produce quality content.

2. Engagement

Sprout offers several different metrics for measuring engagement, including competitor averages. Engagement is one of the top metrics because it reflects how well your brand’s content resonates with your target audience. Engagement includes likes and comments, and each plays a different role in your analysis.

A post with a lot of likes and comments validates its quality. Likes show if users enjoy the post, while comments are more open ended . Instagrammers flock to the comments to share reactions and feedback, indicating common sentiment—both positive and negative.

3. Audience growth

Remember that follower count is a form of social proof and brand affinity. More followers mean more eyes on your products and services, along with increased reach and engagement.

Use the Audience Growth section to pinpoint peaks in new followers, and pair with the Sent Messages Report to understand what posts drove that growth. You can use this data to help inspire your upcoming content.

4. Publishing behavior

Publishing behavior refers to the different types of Instagram posts published during a selected time period. These include photos, carousels and video posts. Sprout Social offers an Optimal Send Time feature, but viewing the frequency of your competitors’ posts can help you determine if you’re publishing enough content.

5. Top posts

Like engagement, analyzing top posts is an important metric because it highlights your competitors’ best content. Along with seeing high-performing posts, you can view how many engagements the post received. Use the Competitor Posts Report to dive deep and draw conclusions about why a post was so successful.

Did the post perform because it’s a valuable product tutorial? Was it part of a campaign? Find out what these posts accomplish that your content doesn’t and get back to the drawing board to improve your strategy.

6. Hashtags

Many brands use hashtags to boost their organic reach, so knowing which tags are the most relevant is key. Hashtags can drive growth to your page over time and capture brand sentiment.

Avoid copying competitor hashtags verbatim. Aim for a mix instead and try generating new ones, such as branded hashtags. Along with the most popular hashtags, pay attention to the number of hashtags per post.

You can view your competitors’ top three hashtags underneath the Profiles tab of the Instagram Competitors Report. Hashtags are ranked by the total number of public engagements the competitor received on all posts that use the hashtag. You can conduct further hashtag analysis with Sprout’s Advanced Listening tool. With Advanced Listening, you can learn more about relevant hashtags by using the Competitive Analysis Topic Template. This is a great tool for finding trending hashtags and conversations you might be missing out on.

Identify content gaps by analyzing competitors on Instagram

Analyzing your Instagram competitors will help you identify content gaps in your strategy. For example, if you notice your competitors’ top posts include videos with high engagement, then you should consider investing more in video.

On the other hand, you can use an Instagram competitor analysis to identify where your competitors are falling flat. If you notice your rivals aren’t posting frequently or never respond to comments, take it as a sign to fill a gap for your audience.

Even the biggest brands have room for improvement, which leads us to our next point about crafting better content for your audience.

Create better content for your followers

Although they are your rivals, your Instagram competitors can help you craft better content for your followers. Look to your competitors for inspiration and add your own spin to it. If you notice a brand telling a story well, brainstorm a different angle.

If you notice an industry trend on Instagram, how can you use that to promote your products or services while showcasing your brand’s personality and value? What brands aced the trend and why did their content gain so much attention?

Consider the always-popular Instagram giveaway. They typically encourage followers to enter by completing several tasks such as following the brand and tagging a friend in the comments. In this situation, you would look at brands within your niche and take note of the type of prize, the call to action, and which companies received the highest engagement and largest audience growth. After determining the top brand giveaways trending in your market, ideate how to stand out based on your analysis.

How to analyze competitors on Instagram with Sprout

Sprout’s Instagram Competitors Report is intuitive and simple, yet extensive enough to provide the insights you need to build your brand and engage with your audience. If you need a metric defined, simply hover over the word and a definition will appear.

To view the report, click on the Reports icon on the left hand side of the screen. Click on Competitors by Network and select “Instagram Competitors.”

Select the timeframe you would like to analyze by clicking on the calendar icon in the top right corner.

Click on Your Profiles and Competitor Profile to select the Instagram accounts you would like to compare.

 

From here, you can simply scroll down to view various metrics.

If you would like to see more Top Posts, click View Competitor Posts Report. To view an exact post on Instagram, click on the timestamp at the top of the post.

Understanding your Instagram competitor analysis

Now that you have an Instagram Competitor Report, you can begin your analysis. Take the time to soak in the details and reflect on your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Pay attention to high engagement rates and top posts to pinpoint potential tactics in your strategy.

If you notice any major spikes or dips, see if the brand has been doing anything differently. For example, if you notice increased followership, look at their profile to see if they have partnered with any influencers or completed giveaways.

Sweep the competition with analysis reporting

The Instagram Competitor Report is part of Sprout’s analytics suite. Share competitive insights—as well as your brand’s Instagram Profiles Report—with stakeholders by emailing PDF reports from Sprout. By doing so, you can demonstrate your brand’s success or secure buy-in for future campaigns.

To learn more about our Instagram Competitor Report, get hands-on and sign up for a free 30-day trial.

The post How to Analyze Competitors on Instagram to Reach Your Goals appeared first on Sprout Social.

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How to go live on TikTok and engage your followers

There’s something about livestreaming that feels so authentic and unfiltered. This makes it great for engaging your followers. TikTok’s LIVE feature is perfect for connecting with your audience and reaching new people on the app. In this in-depth guide, we show you how to go live on TikTok and use the feature to boost your brand’s TikTok engagement.

What is TikTok LIVE?

TikTok LIVE is a feature that lets you stream live broadcasts on the app. This creates an opportunity to interact with your audience in real-time. Like your regular TikTok videos, you can add filters and effects using LIVE.

The biggest difference with LIVE is that the video streams in real-time and can be any length. Meanwhile, regular TikTok videos can only be up to 10 minutes long and are pre-recorded before uploading to the platform. Additionally, there are certain restrictions on who can use LIVE, while every user can upload a regular video.

How to go live on TikTok step by step

Now it’s time to take TikTok LIVE for a spin. If you’re familiar with how to make a TikTok and you’ve gone live on other social networks, you should have no trouble learning how to livestream on TikTok. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to go live on TikTok.

Step 1: Tap on the “+” button to open the camera. This is the same button that’ll let you record or upload your regular TikTok videos.

Step 2: From the navigation bar at the bottom, swipe and then select the option to go “LIVE.” If you don’t see this option, you may not be eligible to access the feature yet.

Step 3: Next, add details about your LIVE such as the title, topic and thumbnail. This step is super important as those details will give people an idea of what your stream is about. The right thumbnail and title could convince people to watch your TikTok LIVE even if they’ve never heard of you before.

As you can see below, the thumbnail is the first thing that will catch the eye. The title of the LIVE video tells people what the stream is all about and further entices them to tune in.

Step 4: Once you’re ready to start your TikTok LIVE stream, tap on the red “Go Live” button at the bottom of your screen. That’s it. You’re finally going live on TikTok. During your broadcast, you’ll have the option to add effects and filters or flip your camera. TikTok even lets you add moderators or turn commenting on or off.

The benefits of TikTok LIVE

If you’re already getting significant engagement on TikTok, you may be wondering if going live is really all that necessary. Here’s a look at why you should consider adding TikTok LIVE to your social media video marketing strategy:

Authentic, real-time engagement

With TikTok LIVE, interactions are happening in real-time. You can truly be your authentic self and relate to your audience. This allows for a genuine connection between you and your viewers, resulting in trust and loyalty. Your viewers can see you more as a friend they’re interacting with in real-time rather than a creator or a business account.

Free to use

The TikTok LIVE feature is free to use. That means any user can go live on the platform as long as they meet the requirements. In other words, you have a free tool to connect with your audience and boost your engagement.

Takes less time to produce

Let’s face it–TikTok videos aren’t easy to produce. There’s a lot of time, effort and brainstorming that goes into creating the perfect TikTok video. LIVE videos are more unplanned and spontaneous. They happen in real-time, which means they take much less time to produce than regular TikTok videos. So if you’re running out of video ideas or need an easy way to instantly engage your audience, going live on TikTok could be the answer.

Opportunity to earn money

If you’re a part of the TikTok Creator Next program, you’re also eligible to activate the LIVE Gifts feature and earn money from livestreaming. This feature allows your fans to send virtual Gifts such as a hand wave or a doughnut.

The Gifts will help you collect Diamonds, which you can then redeem with real money. So the more engagement and Gifts you receive on your livestreams, the more money you can earn.

Restrictions on TikTok LIVE

You don’t need to have a creator or business account to go live on TikTok. However, there are some age and follower count restrictions to access the TikTok LIVE feature. That means most users should be able to use the feature if they meet the minimum age requirement and have the minimum follower limit.

Who is eligible to go live on TikTok?

Users who are at least 16 years of age can launch a TikTok LIVE. While 13-year-olds can have an account, they’re limited to the TikTok for Younger Users ecosystem and can’t go live. This is one of the many measures that TikTok has in place to keep the platform safe for users of all ages.

Keep in mind that having the LIVE feature doesn’t automatically make you eligible to receive Gifts. To receive Gifts from fans during your livestream, you must be at least 18 years of age.

How many followers do you need on TikTok to go live?

In addition to meeting the minimum age requirement, you should also have at least 1000 followers on TikTok to go live. So if you plan on using this feature, you need to start by growing your following.

That said, the process of building a following takes time, which most people don’t have. If you want to use TikTok LIVE but you don’t have 1000 followers, one alternative is to join someone else’s livestream.

TikTok LIVE tips and ideas for better engagement

Since the ultimate goal of going live is to engage your audience, here are a few TikTok LIVE tips and ideas to help you drive better engagement:

1. Interact with your audience

The whole point of using TikTok LIVE is to engage with your audience. And more often than not, the live chat box is often bursting with questions from viewers. For example, the following TikTok LIVE about snakes is getting a lot of questions from curious viewers.

So take the opportunity to actively interact with them. Respond to their comments or answer their questions to let them know that you’re engaged, which could get them to reciprocate. You could even have entire livestreams dedicated to Q&A sessions.

Answering your audience’s questions is especially important during livestream shopping sessions. Viewers might have questions about the features and other product details before deciding to buy the item. So make sure to proactively respond and interact with relevant questions and comments.

2. Hold a discussion around a specific topic

One effective way to keep your audience engaged is by holding a discussion around their topic of interest. Choose a topic that’s relevant to your audience and use it as a subject of discussion for your LIVE session. You could then add your commentary or ask viewers to pitch in their thoughts, experiences or viewpoints. This is a great way to spark engagement among your viewers and get them to tune into the whole livestream.

3. Give shoutouts to your top fans/viewers

When you publicly acknowledge your biggest fans, it makes them feel valued. This gives them more reason to continue engaging with your TikTok LIVE. Give your top fans or viewers a shoutout during your livestream and let them know you appreciate them. This is especially important if a viewer sends you a Gift. Make sure you publicly thank them, which might even inspire others to also send you Gifts.

4. Provide a look into your creative process

The spontaneous and real-time nature of LIVE offers a great way to take your viewers behind the scenes into your creative process. Use your livestream to show them what you’re working on or how you typically create your content.

For example, an artist could launch a livestream as they make a new art piece. A food content creator could live-stream their trip to the grocery store as they pick up items for a new video. If you’re running a TikTok account for your business, you could also give viewers a tour of your store or your factory.

5. Start out strong

The first few seconds of your LIVE session give people an idea of what to expect. So avoid starting out with uncertainties such as, “Can you hear me?” or similar phrases. Instead, start out strong with a cheerful and structured greeting to welcome your viewers and make them want to keep watching.

6. Make the most of a moderator

While responding to your audience is important, that doesn’t mean every comment deserves an answer. Paying attention to rude or harassing comments can ruin the whole vibe of your livestream. Instead, have a moderator remove inappropriate comments and maintain a safe and fun environment.

7: Choose your timing wisely

It’s not too likely that you’ll attract tons of viewers if you go live while everyone is sleeping or at work. Make sure you go live at a time when your audience is most likely to tune in. Use the Sprout Social TikTok analytics report to find out which post timings work best on the platform. This will give you a better sense of the right time to launch a TikTok LIVE.

Ready to go live on TikTok?

Now you know exactly how to go live on TikTok and how to use the feature to boost engagement. You can further improve your TikTok strategy by closely monitoring your TikTok analytics to see what works with your audience.

 

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