Ever stared at a blank screen, feeling the pressure to write a blog post that actually connects with your readers? You're not alone. Whether you're blogging for business, building your personal brand, or just sharing your passions, writing compelling blog posts is a skill anyone can learn—even if you don't consider yourself a "writer." In this guide, you'll discover a clear, actionable process for how to write a blog post from start to finish, even as a beginner. Within the first few minutes, you'll have a proven framework to organize your thoughts, craft engaging content, and publish posts that are actually read and shared. Let's cut through the overwhelm and start writing your next great blog post, step by step.
What Makes a Blog Post Great?
Before diving into the writing process, it helps to know what separates a strong blog post from an average one. At its core, a great blog post:
Solves a real problem for its audience
Is easy to read and well organized
Provides unique value—insights, stories, examples, or actionable steps
Encourages readers to take the next step (subscribe, comment, share, or learn more)
For example, imagine you own a small shop selling handmade candles. A blog post titled "How to Make Soy Candles at Home in 5 Simple Steps" answers your audience's curiosity and gently positions your brand as a helpful resource. If you're looking to grow your audience and drive engagement, delivering helpful blog content is one of the best ways to do it.
Step 1: Choose a Blog Topic and Understand Your Audience
Every great blog post starts with choosing the right topic. Start with what you know—your expertise, interests, or the questions your customers frequently ask. Use keyword research tools or browse Google to see what others are searching for (try typing ideas into Google and seeing the autosuggest results!). When you find a topic, make sure it aligns with your audience's needs and your business goals. Ask yourself: What problem does my blog post solve? Who will benefit from reading this? For instance, if your focus keyword is "how to write a blog post," your audience might be new bloggers, small business owners, or marketers wanting to improve their content. Knowing this helps you shape your language and advice to fit their level.
Tips to Uncover Blog Post Ideas
Read industry forums, Quora, or Reddit for common questions
Check your email or social media messages for recurring themes
Use answer-the-public or Google Trends for what's trending
You can also get inspiration from recent content ideas AWeber compiled, updated with new prompts regularly.
Step 2: Outline Your Blog Post
Organizing your thoughts before you write saves time and leads to a clearer message. A great blog post outline typically includes:
Introduction: Capture attention, present a relatable problem or surprising stat.
Main sections: Break down the topic into logical chunks. Use H2 and H3 subheadings for skimmability.
Conclusion or takeaway: Sum up the main points and give the reader a next step.
This outline acts as your roadmap. For example, if you’re explaining how to write a blog post, your structure might be:
How to pick a topic
How to write an outline
Tips for drafting
Editing and formatting best practices
SEO and publishing tips
This way, you can focus on one section at a time—and avoid staring at a blinking cursor.
Step 3: Write a Compelling Introduction
Your intro's job is to hook the reader fast. Use a relatable scenario, a pain point, or a data point to show you understand their needs. Move quickly to the value you’ll provide. For example:
“Have you ever spent hours writing a blog post, only to realize no one’s reading it? You’re not alone. In this guide, you’ll learn proven strategies to write a blog post readers can’t ignore.”
Research from Nielsen Norman Group shows online readers scan for value—so get to the point quickly!
Step 4: Write the Body—Make It Easy to Follow
This is where you deliver on the promise made in your introduction. Use short paragraphs, bulleted lists, and clear subheadings. Here’s a simple formula for writing each section:
State your main point or tip
Explain how to do it (step-by-step if possible)
Include real-world examples or case studies
Discuss why this tactic works
Highlight when or where to apply it
Consider the format that fits your audience the best—step-by-step instructions, lists, or how-to guides. For example, if you’re teaching how to create a blog post outline, show a sample outline. If you’re walking through adding headlines and images for readability, provide before-and-after examples.
Formatting for Readability
Break up long text with images, quotes, and whitespace. Use formatting like bold, italics, and lists to highlight key points. According to Harvard Business Review (2023), well-structured blog posts with clear organization are much more likely to be read and shared.
Step 5: Polish, Edit, and Proofread
Writing is rewriting! Even the best bloggers take a break before editing their first draft. Read your post out loud or use text-to-speech tools to catch awkward phrases. Watch for typos, repetition, or jargon that could confuse your readers. Here are a few quick questions to review:
Is every section clear and helpful?
Are there actionable steps or examples?
Does the blog post flow logically from intro to conclusion?
Did you optimize headings and text for relevant keywords like “how to write a blog post”?
Consider asking a trusted friend or team member for feedback before you hit publish.
Step 6: Optimize for SEO and Publishing
To make sure your hard work pays off, optimize your post for search engines and readability:
Include your focus keyword (and variations) in the title, intro, at least one <h2>, and throughout the text
Link to recent, reputable external sources for credibility
Use descriptive image alt text and optimize meta descriptions
Add a call to action: ask readers to comment, share, or join your email list using tools like AWeber
After publishing, promote your blog post on social media, email newsletters, or community sites to increase visibility.
Actionable Checklist: How to Write a Blog Post
Pick a focused, relevant topic
Understand your reader’s needs
Outline the post for clarity
Write an engaging intro
Deliver value in a logical structure
Include actionable tips, examples, or case studies
Edit and proofread for readability
Optimize for SEO and add live, recent links
Starting a blog can seem daunting, but with each post you write, it gets easier. The most important thing is to practice and adapt as you learn what resonates with your readers. Ready to write your next blog post? Start with just one idea from your notes or your audience’s questions. Follow this step-by-step process—from choosing a topic to polishing and publishing—and you’ll see your writing skills grow with each new post you share.
For B2B businesses, now’s the time to iron out your LinkedIn lead generation strategy. While you may already be marketing on LinkedIn to build awareness, leveraging its full marketing capabilities can significantly enhance lead generation efforts
Recent social media statistics note that a quarter of all LinkedIn users interact with brand content daily, if not more. It also generates nearly 300% more B2B leads for marketers versus the likes of Facebook.
LinkedIn lead gen doesn’t happen by chance. Rapid network growth means you need to understand LinkedIn best practices to stand out from competitors. With a combination of paid and organic strategies, you can use LinkedIn to bolster your marketing funnel and build out your leads. We’ll explain each with examples from Sprout’s own LinkedIn strategy
Optimize your LinkedIn profile for engagement
There is no “silver bullet” for attracting LinkedIn leads. It requires a combination of strategies to establish your brand on the network and get in front of your target audience.
The first of these is optimization, which means tweaking your profile for the best chance of success.
LinkedIn company page
Your LinkedIn business page is often the first page a potential lead sees on LinkedIn. It should succinctly explain what your business is and why it’s the better choice.
Optimize your business page by creating an eye-catching banner and including a high resolution image of your logo. Write your “About us” section using industry keywords; it should explain what your company does, and highlight key growth or exposure milestones. For example, a SaaS About page might include how many users a solution has. Or, a global logistics company might list how many countries they’re operating in.
You should also post content on your company page regularly. We’ll share some popular content strategies below.
Depending on your business type, it might be worth building out new pages to further support your main company page, like a LinkedIn product page or a LinkedIn career page. A product page is useful for outlining a specific solution your brand offers. A career page is effective for establishing your employer brand and attracting new hires.
Make sure all of this is tailored towards making a great first impression on your leads. Here’s what Sprout’s company page looks like as an example. Our banner clearly promotes Sprout’s award for being the #1 best software product for nine consecutive years by G2, and our About section explains what Sprout is with relevant keywords.
Professional profiles
Potential leads may find a personal profile before they find a company page, so it’s important to enable employees to build their personal brands on LinkedIn. Especially so for sales, executives and leadership teams, who often serve as the face of a company.
Encourage employees to build out their personal profiles. Think of ways to help them build out their LinkedIn profile, such as organizing LinkedIn profile workshops to improve their About section. Share guidelines on how to create an elevator pitch summary of who they are as a professional, coupled with relevant keywords that make their profiles discoverable via search.
Social media guidelines can be helpful to demonstrate how employees should represent themselves and the company. It also encourages employees to share content that’s on brand and true to them.
But remember not to try and force anyone to change their personal profiles; these pages promote your employees as individuals, and should always be managed by the employees themselves.
Maintain a consistent presence
To ensure that your profile is seen by as many people as possible, you need to know how the LinkedIn algorithm works.The short of it is this: the best way to rise in the algorithm is to be an active participant on the platform.
That means publishing content, posting comments and reacting to posts on a regular basis.
The upside of LinkedIn is that you don’t have to write walls of text or spend hours on the network to be considered “active.” Even something as simple as saying “congrats” or giving a post a thumbs-up is enough to increase your profile’s visibility to people who aren’t following you.
Posting updates and content during peak times also improves visibility. But make sure to balance quantity and quality. Think about topics that you can add value to, and fresh perspectives you can add to conversations with other thought leaders in your industry.
This recent post by Sprout’s Solutions Engineering Leader, Jackie Baum, promotes one of our new series focused on the healthcare sector.
Share lead magnets in a social-first way
LinkedIn doesn’t restrict the reach of posts that lead people off of the network, making it a prime channel for distributing your latest blog posts, lead magnets and webinars.
Video content is particularly important; video is among the most-shared content on social, and should therefore be part of your LinkedIn lead generation strategy.
Sprout’s recent post is a good example of how to use a lead magnet in LinkedIn content. We shared key stats from our detailed Total Economic Impact study, tagged our partner Forrester and included a link to the full report.
Partner with LinkedIn Influencers
Partnering with LinkedIn influencers on sponsored content can further the reach of your LinkedIn marketing efforts, so you can capture more leads.
You also benefit from the authority and trust each influencer has earned from their followers. When working on sponsored content, make it clear to followers that the content is a paid partnership. Sprout’s social team does this by creating a unique hashtag for sponsored posts.
We recently worked with Corporate Natalie on a video promoting our Social ROI toolkit. Her use of the hashtag #SproutSocial keeps us transparent about our partnership.
Invest in LinkedIn lead gen advertising
Several LinkedIn lead gen ad strategies exist on the network today, the first being dynamic LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn ads are made with lead generation in mind. Marketers can target professionals based on specific parameters such as industry, job title and company size. Note that many LinkedIn lead generation ads center around downloadable reports and other lead magnets.
Sponsored InMail messages are another approach. These direct messages communicate to potential leads directly, and can be used to promote specific products, features or deals.
LinkedIn also offers LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms for InMail ads and sponsored content. These allow you to add targeted CTAs to content, automatically connect messages to potential leads and measure the impact of lead gen campaigns.
Use these paid strategies to support your overall content strategy and maximize your efforts to attract more leads.
Participate in LinkedIn Groups to build relationships
Scoring more connections, either actively or passively, is a way to signal that your brand is an active participant on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Groups are a valuable way for your company to stay active on LinkedIn, and to find other brands working within your industry. By using these groups, you can learn more about how your competition uses LinkedIn, as well as what your audience expects from content on the network.
Encourage your senior executives to join and contribute to relevant groups as well, positioning themselves—and your brand—as thought leaders.
Before sharing content, always review a group’s rules to ensure promotional posts are allowed.
Boost reach with employee advocacy
Another big benefit of LinkedIn is that you can instantly increase the reach of your content with the help of other employees. Through employee advocacy, you can boost the content of your colleagues and company.
Use employee advocacy programs to boost the reach of any company posts and encourage employees to share branded content. Employee Advocacy by Sprout Social helps you empower colleagues to share company updates and wins, and track the performance of their advocacy.
By promoting advocacy among your executives, they’ll be equipped to promote the brand and their thought leadership. This builds their presence and extends the reach of your brand. This support is a win-win for companies and executives attempting to grow on LinkedIn. Because in short, greater reach means more opportunities to gather leads.
Here’s an example from Sprout’s CEO Ryan Barretto, who shared an article written by Sprout’s VP of Social, Content and Brand.
Measure, optimize, repeat
Finally, dig into your data to assess your LinkedIn performance and lead generation efforts. For example, do you know which types of posts gain the most traction? Which pieces of content score the most clicks to your lead magnets and landing pages?
Sprout’s suite of LinkedIn management tools is equipped to break down your company’s performance data. Tracking clicks and engagements, you can make the connection between your organic content, LinkedIn ads and new leads.
By using a dedicated solution, you can visualize data and optimize your strategy in one place. With Sprout, reporting data is available right next to where you plan and schedule content, which can create a more streamlined feedback loop for LinkedIn content. Viewing and adapting based on this information regularly will enable you to generate more leads on the network.
Maximize ROI with LinkedIn lead gen
LinkedIn is an essential network for B2B marketers, but that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed leads by virtue of just managing an account.
Generating leads on LinkedIn requires a strategy. The tips above can better position your brand to maximize awareness and conversion among your target audience.
Use our LinkedIn strategy worksheet to map your strategy to clear business goals, so you can grow your account effectively.
Ever sent off an email campaign and wondered how many people actually engage with it beyond just opening? That moment when someone clicks a link inside your message is crucial—it means they're interested enough to take action. But how do you measure this engagement, and what does a 'click rate' really show? Understanding click rate can transform the way you approach your email marketing, digital ads, and even social media strategy.
What is click rate?
Simply put, a click rate measures the percentage of recipients who click on a link in your message—email, ad, or post—out of the total number delivered. It's a powerful indicator of how compelling and actionable your content is. Knowing your click rate helps you see what's working, what isn't, and how you can boost engagement with your audience. If you've ever asked yourself, "What is a click rate and how is it different from click-through rate?" you're not alone. Let's break it down and explore not just definitions, but real strategies for using this key metric to grow your results.
Click Rate vs Click Through Rate: What’s the Real Difference?
It’s easy to confuse click rate with click-through rate (CTR) since both measure clicks—but there’s a subtle difference, and it matters for optimizing your campaigns. Click rate typically refers to the percentage of delivered emails in which at least one link was clicked. Here’s the basic formula for an email campaign: Click Rate = (Number of Clicks / Number of Delivered Emails) x 100 Example: If you send 2,000 emails and get 80 total clicks, your click rate is 4%. On platforms like AWeber, this is one of the most common KPIs you’ll track in your dashboard. Click-through rate (CTR), however, often measures the percentage of clicks divided by the number of opens—not deliveries. The formula: CTR = (Number of Clicks / Number of Opens) x 100 Example: If 1,000 people open your message and 80 click a link, your CTR is 8%. Knowing the difference between click rate vs click through rate is important. Click rate gives you insight on the impact of your message for everyone who received it, while CTR tells you how compelling your content is for those who actually opened it. Marketers often use both metrics together to track and compare campaign performance. Understanding how these metrics fit into your broader email marketing KPIs can help you make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Why Click Rate Matters for Your Email and Digital Marketing
You might wonder whether it’s worth tracking yet another metric. Here’s why click rate deserves your attention:
Shows engagement: Unlike open rates (which just measure who glanced at your message), click rate proves people are taking action.
Highlights content effectiveness: If your links are getting lots of clicks, your content is resonating. If not, it could be time to switch up your calls to action or design.
Improves deliverability: High engagement signals to email providers that your messages are valuable, which can help your future emails avoid spam folders (Federal Trade Commission).
Helps optimize campaigns: Tracking click rates over time helps you see what works, so you can focus on tactics that truly drive results.
Whether you’re running an email newsletter, a digital advertisement, or a customer nurture series, understanding "what is click rate" will equip you to measure, learn, and improve.
How to Calculate Click Rate: Step-by-Step
If you're using a platform like AWeber, click rates are typically calculated automatically and displayed on your dashboard. Still, it's helpful to know the formula behind the stat so you can interpret your data confidently. Here’s how to calculate it manually:
Count the total number of clicks your link(s) received. Some platforms show total clicks, others show unique clicks (people who clicked at least once).
Divide by the total number of emails delivered. (Don't include emails that bounced.)
Multiply by 100 to get a percentage.
Example: Let’s say you delivered 1,500 emails, and your campaign generated 45 unique clicks. 45 ÷ 1500 x 100 = 3% click rate. On AWeber, this number is automatically tracked under your campaign results page with helpful details and even click maps.
What Is a Good Click Rate?
It’s natural to wonder how your campaign compares to others. Industry standards for click rates can vary, but here are a few benchmarks:
Email campaigns: Average click rates often range from 2% to 5%, but this depends on your industry and list quality.
Digital advertising: Banner ad click rates tend to be lower—sometimes below 1%—while search or social ads may see 2-3% or more (Harvard Business School research).
Transactional emails (like receipts): These often score higher click rates because recipients expect and want the content.
Instead of chasing a magic number, focus on improving your own baseline over time. Consistent tracking and testing are more powerful than comparing to broad industry standards. For in-depth industry averages, explore AWeber’s email marketing statistics.
How to Improve Your Click Rate: Actionable Strategies
Ready to level up your click rate? Here are data-backed strategies you can put into practice right away:
1. Write Compelling Calls to Action (CTAs)
Clarity wins every time. Try using action words and be specific: "Download Your Free Guide" is stronger than "Click Here." In your AWeber account, test different CTAs using split tests for subject lines and visual layouts.
2. Optimize Link Placement and Design
People pay more attention to the first few lines and prominent buttons. Place your main CTA above the fold, and use bold styling for links. Adding clickable buttons (rather than just text links) can dramatically increase clickable engagement.
3. Personalize Content
Segment your audience so recipients get content that’s relevant to their needs and interests. For example, if you run a bookshop, subscribers interested in thrillers should receive tailored recommendations and links.
4. Test, Learn, and Iterate
Experiment with subject lines, time of day, copy, and even email design. AWeber’s reports let you compare campaigns over time and single out the highest click drivers. Use this data to refine your approach each month.
When to Apply Click Rate Insights
So, when does click rate matter most? Any time you want to gauge the effectiveness of your call to action and audience engagement, click rate is your friend. Here are a few practical scenarios:
Launching a new product: See which links (e.g., product info, demos) are most engaging.
Segmenting your audience: Email subscribers who click a particular link can be tagged, then sent personalized follow-up emails automatically.
Comparing campaign types: Use click rate vs click through rate to analyze which campaign styles are more effective—promotional vs educational, for example.
Optimizing landing pages: If you notice high email click rates but low conversions on your website, it signals a problem with your landing page rather than your campaign.
Common Misconceptions About Click Rate
As you work with click rate data, keep these points in mind:
Click rate does not equal sales: High click rates mean good engagement, but you should always track sales and other downstream actions to measure ultimate ROI.
One-click per recipient: Some metrics measure total clicks; others measure unique clicks (one per person). Always check which your platform tracks—AWeber surfaces both for clarity.
Click rate isn’t the only metric: Combine with opens, conversions, and unsubscribe rates for a holistic view of campaign performance.
Quick FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About Click Rate
What is click rate? — It's the percentage of recipients who clicked a link out of the total delivered messages.
Is click rate the same as click through rate? — Not always. Click rate measures clicks vs delivered, while click through rate (CTR) is usually clicks vs opens.
How can I improve click rate? — Make your content relevant, use clear CTAs, test placements, and segment your list.
Where do I find my click rate in AWeber? — In the email campaign analytics dashboard. Look for both total and unique click data.
When you understand what is a click rate and how it fits into your overall marketing picture, you gain a powerful tool to sharpen your strategy. By tracking, analyzing, and acting on click rate insights, you can engage your audience more effectively and move closer toward your marketing goals. Want to learn even more? Check out AWeber’s resource center for advanced tips on email marketing and more.
Sharing your performance data without including industry-specific social media benchmarks is like putting on a play without setting the stage. Sure, people will get what you’re saying, but they’ll probably come to their own conclusions about the bigger picture.
Use data from Sprout’s 2025 Content Benchmarks Report to uncover opportunities to fine-tune your strategy in a way that resonates with your target audience. Before diving into the data, keep reading to learn more about the metrics, why they matter and how to use them to make 2025 your best year yet.
What is a social media benchmark?
A social media benchmark is a performance standard that allows social media teams to assess and compare the effectiveness of various strategies and campaigns. Marketers often use benchmark data to create realistic social media goals.
Teams can compare their results against three different types of social media benchmarks: industry benchmarks, competitive benchmarks and personal benchmarks.
What to measure in 2025: Social media benchmarks by industry
The Content Benchmarks Report analyzed more than 3 billion messages from over 1 million public social profiles that were active between February 1, 2024 and January 31, 2025. It also pulled insights from consumer surveys across the US, UK and Australia. The goal? To uncover industry benchmarks on three specific areas: posts published, inbound engagements and outbound engagements.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of each metric, along with benchmark data from the three most active industries for each metric. Download the report for a full look at the data.
Posts published is a straightforward metric that measures the number of posts published across accounts during a specific period. Although it may seem simple, it’s often at the foundation of a successful social media strategy.
Narrowing in on posts published helps you reverse engineer the publishing volume needed to reach certain impressions, engagements and engagement rates. With data informing your social media goals, figuring out how to reach them is just a matter of reviewing your previous performance reports.
Brands published an average of 9.5 social posts per day across networks in 2024—a slight dip from 2023. It’s a sign that brands can pull back on volume and focus more on creating higher-quality content.
That said, not every industry is slowing down. Consumer-facing industries, in particular, continue to post at much higher rates. These include:
Media (64 posts published per day, up from 43)
Leisure, sports and recreation (31 published posts per day, up from 26)
Food and beverage (8 published posts per day, up from 7)
To be fair, these industries have an edge over the rest. It’s much easier for a consumer-facing brand to align its content to trends, events or even cultural moments. Just look at how performance apparel brand Hoka hopped on the Severance-inspired “innie vs. outie” trend on TikTok.
This strategy still works, even if you’re not in the B2C space. Next time your business has something fun on the calendar, look at the event through a social-first lens to get more mileage out of your presence.
Inbound engagements
In this report, you’ll find two different inbound social media engagement benchmarks: average inbound engagements on content per day and average daily inbound engagements per post.
Breaking these numbers down by day and post helps validate the success of your overall strategy and individual posts. This granularity is key to measuring the success of big swings in your social creative and copy.
In 2024, brands saw a 20% jump in average inbound engagements, climbing from 70% in 2023 to 83%. Average daily inbound engagements per post also grew by 17%, rising from 12 to 14.
Of course, the more you post, the more chances your audience gets to engage. For that reason, industries that consistently surpass publishing benchmarks also receive a higher amount of inbound engagements.
Industries that receive a proportionally higher amount of inbound engagements per post compared to their publishing cadence include:
Computer Hardware (34)
Consumer Product Manufacturing (33)
Banks (27)
Outbound engagements
In 2025, outbound engagements will make or break your social strategy.
People are flocking to closed communities for a more tailored online experience. To remain competitive in this new social media landscape, brands will have to double down on proactive marketing. Building 1:1 relationships on social isn’t a trick for overnight growth, but it is a controllable and sustainable path toward long-term rewards.
This marks a sizable shift in traditional brand social strategies. In 2024, the average number of outbound engagements across all industries held steady at just 2 per day. This shows that outbound efforts are still a huge growth opportunity for brands looking to build stronger two-way relationships with their audiences.
Some industries, however, are already leading the way when it comes to proactive engagement:
Telecommunications (21 outbound engagements per day)
Banks (21 outbound engagements per day)
Leisure, sports & recreation and Transportation (14 outbound engagements per day)
Financial services companies like MasterCard use outbound engagements to support their brand awareness efforts. For example, the brand recently collaborated with Web3 brand 9dcc on a golf-themed capsule collection and responded to X users who shared snaps of the gear.
Social media engagement benchmarks across social networks
One-size-fits-all social media strategies are a thing of the past. Between ongoing network fragmentation and the rise of new content formats, teams must create bespoke strategies that account for the nuances of each platform.
Every social media network has its trends and communication norms, which impact how consumers interact with brands in those spaces. Segmenting your social media benchmark data by network is a powerful way to ensure that expectations align with user preferences.
According to the 2025 Content Benchmarks Report, Meta platforms continue to lead the way in terms of activity. Engagements on Facebook and Instagram have grown by 9% and 28%, respectively. Engagements on X have remained steady at 13, and TikTok is emerging as a rising player in the mix.
Regional social media benchmarks
Geography plays a major role in how your social media content performs. What works in one region may fall flat in another. That’s why we’ve broken down social media benchmarks by region this year: North America, EMEA and APAC.
Here are some highlights to keep in mind:
North America
North America has the lowest posting frequency of all three regions, averaging 9.5 posts per day. Instagram leads in daily engagement with 27, while TikTok lags behind at just 4. Government accounts in this region see the highest inbound engagement (3,158), while the automotive sector receives the least (2).
EMEA
EMEA brands post more frequently, averaging 12 posts per day. Instagram and Facebook drive the most engagement, with media brands leading in daily inbound interactions (1,459). On the other end, computer hardware companies see the lowest engagement (3).
APAC
APAC brands post the most—averaging 20 posts daily—and it pays off. Facebook leads in engagement, followed by Instagram. This region also sees the highest overall inbound engagement. Leisure, sports and recreation brands top the list (5,376), while chemical companies sit at the bottom (3).
The benefits of social media data
Benchmarks turn last year’s data into this year’s advantage. Now that you have new insights at your fingertips, here are three ways to level up your strategy with social media engagement benchmarks:
Industry benchmarks serve as inspiration
Every industry has its own unique approach to social media. If you want to revamp your social media marketing strategy, looking beyond your competitors is the first step to your next game-changing campaign.
Use industry benchmarks to identify which brands outperform the others in the listed metrics. As you look through their social presences, try to identify what they’re doing differently and how your brand can emulate them. This is a great way to come up with innovative ideas that bring something new to your target audience.
Competitive benchmarks give your performance context
Understanding how your brand stacks up against competitors will help you tell a richer story with your performance data. Competitive benchmarking helps better translate your efforts to business stakeholders who may not know what social media success looks like.
It’s one thing to say a post got 500 engagements. But if the industry average is 50? That’s a whole different story. Benchmarks give your numbers meaning and context. When you outperform your peer group, it shows your strategy isn’t just working—it’s winning. Proof of social media value can help you secure larger campaign budgets. It can also boost team morale by showing the impact of their hard work.
Use Sprout’s network-specific competitor reports to compare your performance with your top business rivals. These social competitive analysis reports offer insights on publishing behavior, fan growth and engagement, helping you create tailored benchmarks around the metrics that matter.
Personal benchmarks inform your immediate goals
Your personal benchmarks should be your go-to resource for creating actionable goals. While industry social media benchmarks give your performance color, your brand’s own year-over-year benchmarks tell the story of your growth over time.
This is especially meaningful for brands piloting new social strategies or adopting a new network presence.
Establishing personal benchmark data starts with annual reports. Your year-over-year performance data is critical to identifying strengths and weaknesses in your social media strategy. These insights should be the core reasoning behind your goals for the upcoming year.
Month-over-month benchmarks, on the other hand, will help you gauge progress on specific campaigns to identify quick wins or necessary pivots. These benchmarks will also help ensure you’re pacing well on social media KPIs.
How to find social media benchmarks by industry with Sprout
Establishing social media benchmarks without a social media analytics tool is like riding a bike with low tire pressure up a hill. You’ll get there eventually, but it’s going to take a while.
Sprout Social helps marketers speed up the data collection process with cross-network performance reports that allow for smart data segmentation. These tools support on-the-fly benchmark data collection, so you’re always working with the full picture, regardless of when you start tracking your KPIs.
Brands using Sprout’s Premium Analytics can build custom social media reports that present your data in the right context, no matter where it ends up. For example, using My Reports, users can segment data by different metrics and select from a variety of visualization and aggregation options.
Let the benchmarks be your guide
You’re all set to start collecting your personal and competitive benchmarking data. Don’t worry about the industry data—you can leave that to us.
Find out how you stack up against brands operating within the same industry with The 2025 Content Benchmarks Report. Inside, you’ll find up-to-date benchmark data and research on the types of content your audience is craving today.
Imagine scrolling through Instagram, catching up with your favorite brands, micro-influencers, family and friends. Then you see a photo of a friend showing off their latest sneakers. You quickly look the brand up because if they look good on your friend, why not on you?
That’s user-generated content (UGC)—an authentic snapshot of genuine brand love that has become the heartbeat of social media.
UGC isn’t just a nice-to-have for your brand—it’s essential—especially when 66% of consumers talk to friends and family to keep up with trends. Consumers want unfiltered, organic and authentic insights from the people they know—whether that’s a friend or a creator they love. Let’s face it: We all trust a friend’s recommendation over a polished ad, especially in an AI-driven landscape where authenticity is vanishing and consumers crave community.
In this guide, we’ll dive into the fundamentals of UGC—the what, why and how—so you can use all types of social media content, like candid snapshots, rave reviews and spontaneous videos, to boost your brand’s relatability.
What is UGC?
UGC is unpaid or unsponsored content your customers create about your brand—think reviews, photos, videos and social posts. It’s genuine, authentic and priceless for credibility.
Sharing and resharing UGC multiplies a content asset’s reach and attracts more eyes to your brand. For example, Biteable’s Growth Marketing Manager, Haily Moulton (@hailymoulton), created a reel answering people’s burning questions about using AI as a social media manager:
Haily is also a Sprout Ambassador and swears by our all-in-one social media tool. By reposting her Reel, Haily gets new eyes on her video—and we get valuable content.
Your team can identify and measure UGC interactions using social media analytics and reporting features through platforms like Sprout Social. Find out how to use Sprout for social listening so you can capture and share these moments, too.
Users show their love for your brand through posts and stories.
Project management tool Trello, for example, reposted this X (formerly known as Twitter) post from Tony Lango, the world’s first engagement relationship manager:
Posts like Tony’s are personal endorsements on platforms like Instagram and X. Content like this from an expert people trust generates positive buzz and attracts lots of attention to your brand.
Photos
Customers’ photos of your brand or products build credibility and social proof. They also attract potential customers who want to see your product in action.
Gymshark’s Instagram feed, for example, is packed with fitness influencers posting high-quality photos of themselves wearing the brand’s activewear:
A steady stream of UGC showcases the product in use and demonstrates influencers’ loyalty and trust in the brand.
Videos
When your audience posts videos featuring your product, it’s like digital word-of-mouth. Benefit, for example, reposted this TikTok from makeup artist Colleen (@colleen.makeupp):
This timely Halloween makeup post using Benefit’s products is an excellent example of UGC that showcases a brand’s products in action. It also highlights its customers’ creativity and talent, making it relatable and aspirational for potential customers.
Blogs
Sometimes, customers write detailed experiences or stories about your products on their blogs.
Hostinger, for example, featured Grammarly as the best grammar assistant in a roundup article:
Grammarly can reshare this blog, feature a snippet from the review or collaborate with the blogger on future content. Collaboration can build a positive relationship and introduce Grammarly to new audiences.
Comments
Comments are a treasure trove of opinions and insights. Glassdoor created this Facebook post from existing responses in its Interview Tips Bowl, a social media series featuring interview tips from its audience:
Comments offer two key benefits that drive growth: They’re proof that other users actively engage with your brand and provide valuable audience insights.
Why is UGC important for brands?
UGC turns your customers into your biggest fans and your most authentic spokespeople. Here’s how it impacts your brand:
The average brand aims to publish 10 social posts per day, according to the 2024 Content Benchmarks Report. Luckily, UGC is a goldmine for inspiration, packed with customer posts, reviews and stories.
Here’s why a rich content bank is important: The Index™ found that consumers believe the bedrock of standout social media content is the quality of a brand’s product or services.
Repurposing UGC content is a great way to authentically showcase the quality of your products and services without being salesy. Plus, UGC is original. The same research shows that consumers also believe original content—not trending topics—makes brands stand out on social media.
A consistent social presence keeps your brand top-of-mind. Each customer interaction is a potential post that keeps your feed active and your audience engaged.
Adds social proof and drives purchase intent
User-generated content turns customers into your most credible salespeople—every photo, review or testimonial is an authentic endorsement. Why does that matter? People trust people.
When they see others—real users, not actors—enjoying your product, it’s as good as a recommendation from someone they know. Social proof taps into the “follow the herd” instinct people have. If everyone’s buying this, it must be good, right? This validation makes potential customers feel more comfortable and confident in choosing you. They need reassurance to make the leap from interested to invested.
Now, consider this: The Content Benchmarks Report also shows that more than one-third (37%) of consumers think the most memorable brands prioritize direct audience engagement over publishing. That means customers want to engage and become part of your story. By commenting on and reposting UGC, you build personal connections and a community with your audience, making your brand more believable.
Generates brand awareness
UGC puts your brand on the radars of new audiences. Every share, tag and mention extends your reach and spreads your brand’s message.
Brand awareness is the first step in the marketing funnel. Familiarity breeds trust—when people recognize your brand, they’re more likely to consider you when they’re ready to buy.
Each user’s content is a personal shout-out to your brand, and their followers are all ears. It’s a network effect—every post introduces your brand to a new audience. And because it’s coming from someone they trust, it makes a lasting impression.
Creates authenticity
UGC puts your brand on the map in a way that feels organic, not intrusive. Tapping into real-time content from real people provides the authenticity consumers desire. And as long as you get a user’s permission, brands can deepen their genuine connection with audiences by thoughtfully integrating UGC into paid social media ads.
According to the Index, consumers rank authenticity and relatability as the top two traits in brand content.
Brands have an opportunity to bridge this gap and curate content that resonates on a personal level and builds trust by focusing on these key traits.
When you showcase UGC, you’re doing more than adding content to your feed. You’re building a community around your brand. You’re telling your customers, “We see you, we hear you and we value what you have to say.” This recognition motivates them to engage more and contribute content.
Builds brand loyalty
In our Index, we found that 73% of social users will buy from a competitor if a brand doesn’t respond to them on social media.
When you actively showcase user content, you acknowledge and celebrate your customers. This validation makes people feel connected to your brand, like they’re a part of something.
Every piece of UGC is a chance to boost trust and build brand loyalty. Your most loyal customers are your biggest cheerleaders. Building a relationship with them and acknowledging their efforts encourages them to invest more in your brand—with money and UGC.
Contributes to your bottom line
UGC is another form of word-of-mouth marketing, and it’s one of the most potent ways to connect with your target audience and lead them to a purchase. According to the Index, 81% of customers will make several purchases a year because of social media. When you can measure and grow your UGC strategy, you’re more likely to grow your bottom line.
With Sprout, you can measure post impressions, engagements and even message click links. These insights help you track the performance of UGC reposts to understand what’s resonating with your audience and getting them to engage directly with you.
5 real UGC creation examples
These UGC examples show how brands can use customer content to drive engagement and authenticity to build brand loyalty:
1. Nutrisense sparks glucose experiments
Health and technology company Nutrisense provides personalized nutrition advice based on continuous glucose monitoring data. Users wear a device that tracks their blood glucose levels in real time, providing insights into how their body responds to different foods.
Nutrisense’s platform analyzes this data and pairs users with registered dietitians to optimize metabolic health, improve diet and support weight loss.
In July 2021, Nutrisense had about 25,000 followers across its social media profiles. The brand wanted to amplify its presence, so it started posting UGC and pairing it with Sprout’s insights.
Sprout’s reports highlighted the content that resonated with Nutrisense’s target audience. By the end of 2022, Nutrisense’s social media engagement had grown by 45%, and its community had grown to more than 130,000—a 496% increase.
2. Taylor Swift fans share tour outfits
Taylor Swift isn’t just a music superstar—she’s a master at making fans the heart of her brand. Her Instagram account, Taylor Nation, is part of her PR and marketing muscle and acts as her official fan club. It also pumps life into UGC campaigns that fans adore.
For the Eras Tour, Taylor Nation asked fans to post their tour outfits using #TSTheErasTour. Fans went all out, showcasing their Swift-inspired looks with glitter and friendship bracelets.
But Taylor Nation didn’t stop there—the account also reposted its favorite pictures. Fans got to be the stars in every city on the tour.
UGC is one tactic in a detailed customer marketing strategy, and it shows how Taylor and her team create a tight-knit community. Fans don’t just buy a ticket—they buy into a shared story and an immersive experience.
3. Starbucks Red Cup Day
Customers already post pictures of their trendy coffees, but what happens when a brand organizes a yearly event? The Starbucks Red Cup contest encourages users to post images of their holiday-themed cups after they purchase coffee.
The contest encourages customers to try new holiday drinks and is a great way to spark viral moments across different platforms.
The contest’s launch on an advertised day, like November 14, 2024, amplifies its impact. Users generate content through multiple platforms to spread the word and share their experiences as excitement builds up to this day. The image below shows how the “red cup” buzz spiked to the top of searches that day:
4. Wahl Professional taps into existing communities
Wahl Professional produces and sells professional grooming equipment, including hair clippers and trimmers. Professional barbers and stylists trust Wahl for its durable, reliable and precise tools.
Wahl has been around for nearly 100 years, so it needed a fresh strategy to target and appeal to new customers. Since June 2015, Wahl has pivoted its approach to active engagement, using Sprout to manage and monitor conversations across multiple Instagram accounts, particularly @wahlpro. This shift led to a curated strategy of sharing UGC content.
Wahl’s target audience—a vibrant community of stylists and barbers—was already sharing their work with the hashtags #Wahl and #WahlPro. Wahl monitored these brand keywords with Sprout and transformed its social feed into a showcase of professional talent and authentic user experiences.
In only a short time, @wahlpro boosted its Instagram engagement by 4,307%. The account’s followers increased by 84,788 with Sprout.
5. Papa Johns leverages user-generated content with social listening
What happens when a celebrity sparks user-generated content? Magic.
A spontaneous moment of NFL center Jason Kelce enjoying Papa Johns pizza during an Amazon documentary sparked organic social media buzz. The brand caught on to the emerging trend using Sprout for social listening.
Kelce’s mention sparked UGC—fan comments and posts—about the pizza, allowing Papa Johns to leverage the organic connection and collaborate with Kelce. Josh Martin, Director of Social Media and Brand Engagement at Papa Johns, said, “The insights gained through Sprout Social have empowered us to innovate our brand engagement approaches.”
UGC moments like these—combined with Papa Johns using Sprout to improve its response rate on social media channels—have increased customer satisfaction, loyalty and brand awareness across social networks.
How to find and curate UGC
Spotting the right content is an essential part of your UGC strategy, and finding the right content to invest in requires social listening. Below, we’ll explore how to identify promising UGC through social listening and the different methods to find content on each platform.
What makes good UGC?
Effective UGC should start with authentic, organic interactions. For example, when users share something unique about your product or service, you can dig deeper to determine whether there’s a connection within your brand’s community.
If the content you’ve found provides the authentic user reaction you need and your target audience connects with it, you can promote more of this kind of UGC through sharing, campaigns or partnerships.
The following characteristics sum up valuable UGC:
Users naturally post about the topic.
There’s traction within your community.
Your brand can share the post or add value to the conversation.
Social listening helps you find, investigate and strategize based on these characteristics.
Learn how to apply social listening, as shown with these examples:
Find new content opportunities and UGC campaign ideas: Discover what users and brands discuss within your industry.
Identify trends in the industry: Figure out what’s buzzing in your market so you can replicate it for your customers and become a relevant brand on socials. For example, Common Grounds Brew & Roastery posted a picture featuring purple milk without explicitly mentioning it. A user quickly asks about it and learns that it’s cherry-infused milk.
Promote products in relevant ways: Hop into your community’s conversations to find ways to add relevancy to your brand. A great example is when a TikTok user went viral vibing to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” while chugging cranberry juice and skateboarding. Tons of users and brands engaged with the content—even Mick Fleetwood jumped in and earned 2.7 million likes.
You can automate the social listening process so you don’t miss a beat. With Sprout’s listening capabilities, you can access audience insights, trendspot and gauge sentiment to find out what your target audience is talking about.
Finding UGC content with Sprout
Using Instagram as an example, here are strategies for discovering relevant content from users:
1. Create a Topic to inform your query
Start building out your Listening query by choosing a topic title, description and the type of query you need.
Topics are driven by queries you set up to listen to conversations on social media that are relevant to the subject of your Topic.
For example, let’s imagine we want to set up social listening for Sprout Coffee Co. to find out what people are saying about holiday drinks.
2. Choose the platform you want for UGC
Pick the platforms and sources most relevant to the UGC interactions and digital marketing campaigns you want to create. In this example, we’ll pick Instagram.
With Sprout’s Query Builder, you can enter a hashtag your target audience is talking about, based on current trends and needs—no boolean required.
3. Search key phrases for UGC
Next, you can add a proximity match, a hashtag and other inputs to hone in on your needs. You can spot relevant user-generated content by using keywords and grouping.
You can add multiple words and variations to refine your search on different pieces of content and trends. You can organize results and categories through groupings as you work on these queries.
Since every platform is different, users may experience different parameters for Listening. For example, you need to use hashtags for your queries on Instagram.
4. Listen to your people
Once you search for topics, the Conversation section of your Topic Insights reveals details about your keywords and hashtags.
Sprout uses published messages from your audience to create a Word Cloud that gives you more insight into what your audience cares about. You’ll learn all about the people, places and things discussed within your chosen Topic.
Use this information to update and refine your queries. Then, you can use Smart Categories, a natural language processing (NLP) model, to identify top people, places and things with a topic.
You can find specific messages to see what your audience is saying by clicking on a keyword within the Smart Category.
For our coffee shop example, we would collect and analyze relevant keywords and audience messages to discover their interests in or adjacent to coffee or locations.
5. Engage with your audience
Now that you have a pulse on what your audience is talking about, use your search results to find relevant customers or target audience members.
You can engage with their posts, share content and inspire similar posts. Pairing your Listening insights with Sprout’s Smart Inbox to track mentions and tags makes it easy to proactively interact with your customers.
On Instagram, for example, you can leverage insights like:
Recognize tagged photos: See who’s tagging your brand with the Smart Inbox. It’s a great way to find pictures of customers interacting with your product or experiencing your service. When users tag you, you can easily find and repost the story through Smart Inbox, sharing UGC instantly and encouraging others to post.
Track contests: With Listening, track relevant hashtags associated with a contest to gauge the reach and engagement of their campaigns and identify user-generated content. This also enables brands to measure campaign success by analyzing the volume of mentions and the sentiment of the conversations around the contest hashtag.
Learn about your audience: With Listening, you can discover trends within your target audience’s interests and jump in by interacting with their Stories.
In the example below, 100 Montaditos, a restaurant based in Spain, discovered and reposted a user’s picture of her afternoon tapas:
6. Build a community
Your Instagram UGC strategy shouldn’t stop after you uncover the content. Develop a process to build relationships, recruit brand ambassadors and foster a community.
The conversations can start in the comments and DMs, but the next critical step is to create a community that unites the fan base that loves to post about your brand.
Best practices for sharing UGC
Adding UGC is about more than hitting the reshare button every now and then. It’s about listening to what your customers are sharing and seamlessly weaving it into your brand’s narrative.
Here are some tips to help you make UGC a cornerstone of your content strategy:
1. Encourage your audience to share UGC
Inspiring users to post content about your brand, product or service starts with encouragement and community building. Consider different strategies to drive user-generated content, including:
Launch contests and challenges: Host a contest asking users to post photos, experiences and other types of content to win prizes. Then, share the content with your audience to prompt more posts.
Start a conversation: Publish a post that asks for user input, whether it’s a post on X or an ask-me-anything (AMA) on Reddit. You can share these ideas and comments as reposts, screenshots or other compelling content formats.
Establish a UGC hashtag: Create and promote a branded hashtag that users add to their posts, encouraging others to do the same. Hashtags also make it easy to find brand-specific UGC. One example is Apple’s 2015 #ShotOniPhone campaign, which users continue to use on Instagram and other networks today.
Create an experience worth sharing: Add a fun sign at your brick-and-mortar location or create a funny email response when users buy your product to create shareable experiences. Add a unique touch that encourages users to post.
When you use Sprout, you can easily track your campaign performance and social media marketing. With Sprout’s Smart Inbox, you can track UGC hashtags and replies to key conversations. It helps you unify all your social channels to monitor and respond to your messages in one place.
Campaign monitoring also enables you to track key performance indicators, and understand which types of UGC content your audience resonates with.
2. Find and repost UGC on relevant social networks
You need to know where your audience lives on social media and where potential influencers have the most influence. For example, Instagram is a natural fit for sharing visuals, but double-check that’s where your target audience wants to see those visuals.
To start, consider your audience and goals when choosing a social network. Strategically choose the right network and create an engaging social environment to deliver content and nurture long-term relationships.
Identify the top-performing UGC formats on each network and adapt their presentation based on each app’s culture. Use the following list to help guide you:
Facebook: Use Facebook to share full video content and stories that boost engagement, especially within specific communities or locations.
X: If you host events, consider creating a live X feed to capture and quickly reshare UGC in real time. This tactic is also an excellent opportunity to capitalize on hashtags.
Instagram: Instagram is a favorite for showcasing products. Brands are free to get creative and connect with those who support their business. You can also easily repost on Instagram to show off customer UGC and use hashtags to build a community around your brand.
TikTok: TikTok’s culture thrives on authentic, scrappy videos, not refined reviews or curated stories. You can engage with a customer in their comments and ask permission to share their content on your page.
LinkedIn: Use LinkedIn to share UGC that aligns with your employer brand or, if you’re B2B, how your audience uses your product at work.
3. Always ask permission and credit content creators
You discover a user post that just nails it. But before you hit the share button, ask for permission. Before reposting, review the network’s content policy and any relevant local laws. This practice will ensure you stay compliant and signal your audience that you respect them.
Send a quick message—it can be as simple as, “Hey, we love your post! Can we feature it on our page? We’ll make sure to credit you!” Adding a simple “Photo by @username” or a tag in the caption (like skincare brand La Roche-Posay) is sometimes enough. Giving credit shows respect and keeps things transparent—plus, it helps build a sense of community.
When creators see you treating others well, that will nudge them to participate. Tagging the creator also introduces your brand to their audience, increasing awareness.
You can take the gratitude a step further, too. Relationship-building makes UGC a permanent part of your content strategy. A quick DM saying “Thanks!” can turn a one-time poster into a long-time brand ambassador.
4. Use employee advocacy to amplify UGC
Turn your team into brand ambassadors with employee advocacy. Encourage them to share UGC on their channels. When employees share UGC, it amplifies your reach and gives your brand a human face. A post from a person rather than a brand often gets more traction, feels more genuine and can spread like wildfire.
Start by creating a culture that shares celebrations. Offer guidelines to strike the balance of authenticity while staying aligned to the brand voice, create templates to give employees a head start and motivate them to post.
Pro tip: Make posting fun. Hold a monthly contest or highlight the top employee-shared UGC to make your team feel connected to the brand’s story.
Lastly, track your progress. Using employee advocacy tools, like Sprout’s, helps you recognize and distribute the content that resonates most, increase employee participation with curated content and increase social ROI.
An employee advocacy strategy that covers all the bases turns your team into a driver of authentic brand promotion.
5. Monitor UGC’s impact with a dedicated tool
If you want your UGC strategy to work, you have to measure. No matter what your goals are, benchmarking is a must.
Our latest Index points out that 81% of consumers attribute social media to the real-time purchases they make several times a year. This finding highlights the critical role of measuring, reporting and optimizing your UGC strategy for ongoing awareness and conversion.
Whether you’re posting to Facebook, X, LinkedIn or Instagram, you can access detailed audience reports that reveal which content is driving the most engagement and growth on your profiles. You can also use our social listening tools to analyze your social data on the content and conversations happening around your brand.
Knowing what your brand is tagged in provides helpful insight into your brand’s UGC strategy. Sprout’s Tag Report pinpoints how well your UGC is doing compared to your other content. Use this data to optimize your overall social strategy so all your content resonates.
6. Check music copyright
When adding UGC to your content mix, you must account for copyright. It’s easy to get caught up in the visuals and forget that music needs clearance, too. If there’s any music in user-submitted videos, you must verify that it’s all above board and check that it’s licensed for commercial use.
Sometimes, it’s as straightforward as reaching out to the artist. Other times, you’ll have to swap the track with a royalty-free option. Bottom line: Compliance will keep your brand on the right side of copyright law.
How to measure your UGC strategy’s success
As you build your UGC strategy, you must measure your progress and results. Use Sprout’s Post Performance Report to track the following social media KPIs:
Impression: Impressions tell you how many people see your post or profile.
Post reach: Reach shows how many unique accounts saw your post, measuring the overall exposure of your UGC shares earned.
Share of voice: Measure your online visibility compared to your competitors. With it, you can measure the long-term impact of your social strategy.
Likes, shares and comments: These metrics help you calculate how well your UGC shares resonate with your audience. The more interactions you see, the stronger the signal that you hit a relevant topic for potential campaigns.
Mentions: This metric sits at the heart of UGC. When users mention you in a post or comment, you get an authentic piece of ready-to-post content for your audience. Monitor your brand mentions for critical insights into the organic growth generated by your community-building and engagement strategies.
Add the power of UGC to your workflow with Sprout
UGC is the secret sauce that adds an authentic flavor to your brand’s social presence. But it isn’t just a one-off strategy—it’s a steady conversation. Keep asking for that content and keep crediting those creators to keep building and engaging your community.
Sprout helps you streamline monitoring the UGC that resonates with your audience, helping you track, curate and showcase the content that tells your brand’s story through your customers’ experiences.
Want to see how it fits into your workflow? Try a free trial of Sprout today to see how it can streamline and optimize your UGC strategy.
According to The 2025 Sprout Social Index™, 43% of consumers have a LinkedIn profile. Benefiting both B2C and B2B brands, LinkedIn empowers brands to build relationships, generate leads and boost sales. But to reap those rewards, companies need to master using and managing LinkedIn direct messages (DMs).
In this guide, we break down the benefits of LinkedIn DMs for brands, along with the dos and don’ts of managing them. We also explain Sprout’s role as a LinkedIn marketing tool and how to use it to the fullest.
How LinkedIn DMs can help your brand
Whether you’re looking to form new relationships, drive leads or better connect with your existing customers, LinkedIn messages can help you do it. Let’s take a closer look at the key benefits LinkedIn DMs can offer your business:
LinkedIn is ideal for brands looking to expand their influencer networks because he platform enables you to follow, connect and engage with influencers via LinkedIn DMs. This is a great way to build relationships with influencers that can lead to collaborations, such as sponsored posts or brand ambassadorships. It also opens up access to new markets, boosts brand awareness and generates more leads.
LinkedIn is also an excellent place to network with other brands. Say a company attended your brand’s recent event and posted about it, you could then follow the business’ page and send a DM thanking them for being there. A small bit of recognition can foster strong relationships and encourage future participation.
If you’re a Premium user, you’ve got even more networking power. Premium members have access to InMail, which enables you to message users you’re not connected to. Because it provides you with access to people outside your network, InMail is ideal for expanding your professional circle.
Lead generation and sales
Whether your business is B2C or B2B, LinkedIn is a powerful lead generation tool.
LinkedIn DMs help you access these leads. LinkedIn Message Ads enable you to deliver targeted messages to prospects with customized calls to action (CTAs). You can set your campaign objective, track its performance and adjust accordingly. For instance, if your goal is to increase sales, use LinkedIn’s conversion tracking to see how your message ads are driving purchases.
Customer engagement and support
Through LinkedIn DMs, you can engage directly with customers and provide support—the latter of which is a top priority for users, according to The 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report.
Let’s say a customer sent you a LinkedIn DM about a product or service issue. You could use LinkedIn messaging to understand the issue better, apologize for the inconvenience and provide solutions. You could also answer any additional questions they may have. This level of personalization by using LinkedIn DMs will help you improve customer experience, which could increase retention rates.
Measure impact
LinkedIn DMs can also help you measure your business’ impact in various areas. To see them, you need to analyze the relevant metrics.
For instance, message volume offers ample insights. It helps you understand how many users are sending you DMs, identify engagement trends and optimize these insights for future strategies to engage with customers or prospects accordingly.
Similarly, looking at your team’s reply rate can tell you how fast your team is responding to customers’ messages. You could prepare answers to expected FAQs, have support staff on standby or automate replies to handle the influx better.
7 Best practices for effective LinkedIn DM communication
Eager to embrace the power of LinkedIn DMs? Here are some best practices for you to pique people’s interest and spike your response rates:
1. Personalize your messages
Personalizing your LinkedIn messages can increase your acceptance rates by 40%.
When reaching out to other brands, tailor your message to each business based on your goals. Mention recent company updates, shared industry challenges or mutual goals. Including these specific points shows that you’ve done your research and have a clear understanding of the recipient’s business priorities.
You should also personalize replies to customer LinkedIn DMs. Per a 2021 McKinsey study, 71% of consumers expect businesses to deliver personalized experiences. To meet this expectation via LinkedIn DMs, use the customer’s name, include their order number (if applicable) and offer customized solutions to their problems.
2. Keep the messages engaging
Brands are busy; they don’t have time to read lengthy messages or sift through irrelevant details. In your LinkedIn DMs, be succinct and include only pertinent information. If appropriate, ask questions about their pain points, operational strategies or business development goals.
While your messages should be compelling, they should also reflect your brand voice. AI tools can significantly optimize tone alignment. For example, Sprout’s Enhance by AI Assist feature enables you to adjust the tone and length of your messages within your Smart Inbox. With tools like these, you can inject all your LinkedIn DMs with your brand voice in just a few clicks.
3. Mirror the recipient’s communication style
Staying true to your brand voice is key; however, you can (and should) be adaptable. Communicate slightly differently with different brands based on their preferences. Some have more sophisticated identities, making formal LinkedIn messages appropriate. Other companies are more relaxed and casual. Adapting to each brand’s preferred communication style can foster stronger connections.
To gauge a brand’s ideal communication style, look at its LinkedIn profile. Read past posts, noting tone and word choices. Do they use sophisticated language and technical jargon? Or do they use humor and colloquialisms? Follow these cues when writing your LinkedIn DMs, blending their communication style with yours.
4. Provide value first
When sending LinkedIn messages to fellow brands, lead with value. For instance, say you recently conducted a survey that shed new light on a shared problem within your sector. Or you’re hosting a webinar for industry leaders to share expertise.
Offering valuable data, insights or invitations shows you understand the needs and objectives of the business. It also shows that you’re willing to help meet them with nothing promised in return. Such sincerity can help you stand out and gain their trust faster.
5. Time your messages right
Strategically timing your LinkedIn messages is just as important as timing your LinkedIn posts. Choosing the right day and time can improve both response and engagement rates.
Per LinkedIn data, Monday is the best day to send LinkedIn messages. However, LinkedIn DMs sent from Sunday to Thursday all hover within 1% of the global average response rate. But on Fridays and Saturdays, response rates dive by 4% and 8%, respectively.
If you haven’t received a response, consider sending a follow-up message. Don’t rush this; wait at least two or three days so the recipient doesn’t feel overwhelmed.
Be friendly, professional and concise. Briefly recap your previous message and reiterate why you’d like to connect. If possible, include a clear CTA. Whether it’s booking a meeting or registering for your upcoming event, communicate the next step you’d like them to take.
7. Be ethical
When sending LinkedIn messages, transparency is key. Be upfront about your intent, whether it’s to network or learn about the company. Include a clear, accurate subject line so the recipient knows where you stand.
You also need to be mindful of privacy and confidentiality. Never ask for sensitive business information, such as customer names, supplier details or revenue. Doing so is inappropriate and ineffectual, as it’s unlikely you’ll get a reply.
Common mistakes to avoid in LinkedIn DMs (beyond basic best practices)
Now that you know what to do when crafting LinkedIn DMs, let’s explore what not to do:
Not aligning brand and tone in messages
Your brand identity and tone must be consistent across all platforms, including LinkedIn. Staying loyal to your brand voice conveys authenticity, which improves brand recognition and fosters trust.
In your LinkedIn messages, choose your words, sentence structure and punctuation marks strategically. For example, if your brand is known for its quirky and enthusiastic personality, it may be appropriate to use humor and exclamation marks. In contrast, a formal message could confuse or unsettle your recipient.
If in doubt, cross-reference your message with your company’s style guide and past communications to ensure alignment.
Ignoring follow-ups or being overly persistent
If you haven’t gotten a response, message the recipient again within a few days. In both B2B and B2C interactions, a simple follow-up can go a long way.
Brands have many messages to sift through across platforms, meaning LinkedIn DMs can fall through the cracks. By offering a friendly reminder of your message, you’ll ease their organizational burden. Following up also shows you’re genuinely interested in forming a connection, which can improve response rates.
Follow-ups can also improve B2C interactions on LinkedIn. Say a customer sent you a DM complaining about a defective product. You replied, assuring them that a replacement would be sent. Your follow-up could be as simple as asking if they received the replacement or need further assistance. That extra message can help improve customer satisfaction rates and inform how to handle future complaints.
Regardless of the recipient, stick with one friendly follow-up message. If they don’t reply after a few days, move on.
Immediate hard-selling
Your LinkedIn DMs should feel like a conversation, not a cold call. While a conversion or business opportunity may be your ultimate goal, avoid launching straight into a pitch. This approach can feel off-putting because it shows you’re more interested in selling than connecting.
Instead, focus on developing meaningful relationships with fellow brands. Start with something valuable or relevant like an insight about your industry or target demographic. As your relationship progresses, you can discuss more strategic business matters, such as content collaborations, sponsorships or referrals.
Grammatical errors and typos
Whether you’re engaging with other brands or customers, accurate spelling and grammar are crucial. They ensure clear communication and display professionalism and credibility..
You can’t edit LinkedIn messages once you’ve sent them, so it’s vital to proofread. Review the text to ensure all the spelling, grammar and details (such as the recipient’s name) are correct. For added peace of mind, run your message through a grammar-checking software like Grammarly before sending it.
Forgetting mobile optimization
Approximately 70% of LinkedIn users access the platform (including their DMs) on their mobile devices. So, if yours aren’t optimized for mobile, there’s a good chance the recipient won’t be able to read them.
Write a short, eye-catching subject line. Keep the message itself concise; no more than a few sentences. Include the most important information at the beginning of the message in case the recipient doesn’t read the full message.
To test your DM’s mobile optimization, send the message to yourself first. Open it on the LinkedIn mobile app to see its formatting and refine it as needed.
How to manage LinkedIn DMs with Sprout Social
You can improve your LinkedIn inbox management by centralizing all your conversations in Sprout’s Smart Inbox. Because it houses all your social media conversations in one place, the Smart Inbox enables you to view, organize and respond to messages with ease. By streamlining your workflows, this integrated approach helps to ensure you never miss an engagement opportunity.
Here are four simple steps to set up and manage your LinkedIn inbox within Sprout.
Step 1: Access LinkedIn Page DMs in your Smart Inbox
To receive Page DMs in your Smart Inbox, make sure that your LinkedIn Page has Direct Messages enabled. LinkedIn’s privacy settings must also be configured correctly.
Reauthorizing profiles
If you manage multiple LinkedIn profiles, you can set up your Smart Inbox so that the DMs for all these accounts show up in the same place. To do this:
Click to expand the notifications drawer.
Visit the Profile Issues
Click on the notification for your LinkedIn account.
Click Reauthorize. A pop-up will then appear; this will send you to LinkedIn so you can confirm the reauthorization.
Click Ok.
After you’ve been redirected, complete the authorization process. Once it’s complete, you’ll be able to access your LinkedIn Page DMs in your Smart Inbox.
Step 2: Reply to a LinkedIn Page DM
To respond to LinkedIn DMs:
Go to your Smart Inbox.
(Optional) In the Filter Menu, select the LinkedIn profile(s) you’d like to view.
Click
to reply to a LinkedIn message. The reply screen will then appear.
Type your response into the field.
After reviewing your message, click Send or Submit for Approval. The option(s) available to you will depend on your team’s workflow and your access level.
Step 3: Apply filters to the Smart Inbox
Applying filters to your Smart Inbox eliminates clutter and streamlines your messaging activities. You can use these filters to prioritize and assign conversations or to only show certain types of messages.
For instance, if you want to focus only on organizing and responding to your LinkedIn DMs, use the Message Type filter and select Direct Messages.
You can also create a custom Inbox View that only features DMs.
Step 4: See expired content
LinkedIn messaging data can only be stored in the Smart Inbox for six weeks. After that, the content will no longer be visible. Instead, you’ll receive a message flagging that the DM can’t be loaded, as seen below.
However, if you need to reply to a DM that’s older than six weeks, you can. Clicking the timestamp will open the message on LinkedIn; you can then respond to it there.
Benefits of LinkedIn inbox management in Sprout
Sprout’s LinkedIn integration offers several functions, including publishing, response management, productivity tools and analytics. With this comprehensive social management tool, you can seamlessly share posts, engage with your audience and measure brand performance.
Streamlined inbox
Because Sprout’s Smart Inbox is centralized, you’ll have all your social messages in one place. That means no more switching between social networks and no more messages getting lost in the shuffle.
But the Smart Inbox doesn’t just consolidate your messages—it helps you cut through the social noise. With the help of advanced filters, tags and notes, you can organize your inbox in a way that works for your team.
Team collaboration and workflow
The Smart Inbox also helps to streamline collaboration in several ways. One is conversation assignment, where you can allocate certain LinkedIn DMs to specific team members. Another is Collision Detection, which displays real-time notifications to avoid duplication of work. For example, if you try to reply to a message at the same time as a colleague, the Collision Detection notification will appear in the reply modal.
Reporting and analytics
Get a high-level overview of valuable LinkedIn analytics with the Inbox Activity Report. From message volume trends to average response times, these details will help you assess how well your team manages your messages.
You can also configure the report according to criteria like message sentiment, thanks to Sprout’s sentiment analysis. With this tool, you can easily track the emotions behind messages and identify trends to inform future strategies.
Optimized LinkedIn strategy
Having all your LinkedIn message data in one place empowers you to make smarter strategic decisions. For example, you might notice that your team responds promptly to product inquiries but slower to service complaints. By spotting these patterns, you can fine-tune your approach, reallocate resources and make sure every DM gets the attention it deserves.
How to measure the success of your LinkedIn DMs
Ditch the guesswork and get to the bottom of your LinkedIn DM performance in three steps:
Measure key metrics
By monitoring relevant metrics, you’ll be able to see if and how LinkedIn messages are affecting your page’s success.
Pay close attention to engagement metrics, such as response volume, average response time and response sentiment. Doing so will give you insight into key trends; maybe certain messages are getting more or quicker replies.
If you run LinkedIn Message Ads, you should also track metrics like clicks and conversions to learn which ads are most effective.
Use analytics tools
Both LinkedIn’s native analytics and third-party tools like Sprout provide valuable data on your LinkedIn DMs and overall profile. Some key metrics include follower growth rate, engagement rate and conversion rate.
With this data, you’ll see whether you’re on track to meet your LinkedIn key performance indicators (KPIs).
Conduct A/B Testing
To figure out which LinkedIn Message Ads perform best, experiment with different subject lines, CTAs and times. Once you’ve run the test, you can compare the results and draw insights to inform future messages.
Build meaningful relationships with LinkedIn DMs
When used correctly, LinkedIn DMs have the power to create meaningful connections, nurture leads and improve customer experiences.
Luckily, with the help of these tips and Sprout’s Smart Inbox, managing your LinkedIn messages doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By streamlining your LinkedIn inbox management, you can focus on what matters most: forging relationships that drive results.
to expand the notifications drawer.
