Monday, 31 January 2022

6 keys to onboarding a successful social media team

Whether you’re an intern or the sole team member, it’s rare to come into a social media job completely set up for success. I have been working in the field for 10 years, and have not walked into a single role with everything I needed to be successful.

So, when I joined a company in 2020 and was given the chance to build a social media team, I wanted to do everything in my power to make the onboarding and transition of my team members smooth and strong. In this article, I’m sharing a few key steps I took while building and onboarding my team.

Setting your team up for success

Before your team member’s first day, sit down and map out their onboarding schedule. You don’t want to just think about who they need to meet with, what tours they may need or company information they should have–you also want to be thinking about what onboarding materials and training they will need as it relates to the social side of their job.

Here is what I have ready for my new team members:

Social strategies approved by leadership

As a social media professional, there is truly nothing worse than beginning a new role and walking through the door to find out you must build from scratch and start all over. Or maybe you’ve received a stack of “what the previous person did” and are expected to start steering the ship.

When I start a new role, the most important thing to me is to clearly understand the role of social media in the business. I want to know what the business goals are, what the social media goals are and what we’re working toward.

In my current role, I created social media strategies and presented them to our leadership team for sign-off. This not only provides clear direction, but also gives new team members the confidence to dive in, knowing their work has executive support. I walk them through how our work aligns to the overarching business goals, our future plans for social and where we are today.

Social media “guides”

After working in social media for a while, and monitoring social media feeds and channels closely, it’s easy to tell when an organization brings on a new social media person. It’s great to have a smooth transition when handing off a channel or a brand, but that seamlessness happens with the right training.

Outside of social media strategies, I have also created “social media guides” for new team members. These hold the details that make a social media transition great—the emojis the brand consistently uses, signature tag lines and phrases that the account regularly posts, and brand voice and photography examples to help new team members internalize the brand.

This eliminates the need to guess our brand voice, goals or image sourcing, and gives them clear direction from day one.

Social content libraries

I can’t be the only person who has started a social role and found out “the last person just took photos on their iPhone” and that’s where all of the social content was stored. Something that has not only made me more productive, but also more effective in my role, has been creating social content libraries.

From project folders with briefs and built out social plans to assets and storyboards, everything I use for my brands is stored in a social content library. This helps to preserve the history of what you’ve worked on, but it also ensures a wide range of assets is available at our fingertips—which gives us more time to ideate, be creative and pull from what’s already established rather than reinventing the wheel.

Beyond streamlining content creation, a central library also makes assets more accessible to your whole team.

Training and support

Being a visual person, I always appreciate the ability to walk through something and learn it in real time versus stumbling through vaguely written instructions. While your new team member may be well-versed in social platforms, they may not be familiar with your social management system or another tool that your team relies on. Make sure you don’t just set them up for success when it comes to how your organization approaches social, be ready to help them make the most of the tools you use.

After your initial training, schedule a follow-up session a few days later to answer any outstanding questions. They may not know what questions they have until they’re walking through the program and using it themselves.

Platform and feature updates

I was once a social media specialist reporting to a social media manager who didn’t stay up to date on trends, platform features or what was happening in the social media landscape. I wished so badly that my manager had been more proactive in staying on top of these things so our team could be more effective and better serve our clients.

I make it a point to monitor social media trends (and follow social media experts like Matt Navarra) to stay up to date on what is changing and what is new. I’ll send an update to my team when I see something on my radar, and I’ll share my excitement to try this feature or a way we could use it later. I want my team to get their updates on social media from their social media manager and to recognize that I am in the know, monitoring what is happening and here to lead the charge.

Institutional knowledge

Does your company hold an annual event that’s been happening for years? When you first join a company, there is always a learning curve to get up to speed on “institutional knowledge,” whether that’s previous strategies or events, or anything reoccurring.

I sectioned off part of my social content library specifically for recaps of recurring and past projects that new team members can reference. This helps cut down on guessing what was done before, best practices and past experiments. You’re making your team work a lot harder if you’re not preserving the institutional knowledge of your team or department.

Effective onboarding starts long before day one

Whether you adopt one, or all, of the above when creating your own social media team, your future colleagues will thank you. Adequately preparing and onboarding team members not only sets them (and you) up for success, but it also creates a strong relationship and trust from the get go.

When you equip new folks with all of the tools they will need to be effective, your social media efforts have the room to be consistent, polished and creative. Best of all, none of your followers will even notice the transition…which is one of the most apparent signs of great social media management.

Planning to expand your social team? Check out these eight tips for writing better social media manager job descriptions.

The post 6 keys to onboarding a successful social media team appeared first on Sprout Social.



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Thursday, 27 January 2022

YouTube monetization: Top 10 ways to monetize on YouTube

There’s no denying that video content is more popular than ever. In 2020 alone, people watched more than 12 billion minutes of videos online — and they want more.

For digital content creators and businesses alike, this is a great time to focus on video content. With YouTube’s monetization features, you’re able to do just that.

In this article, we’ll define YouTube monetization, its rules and requirements, and how to monetize your YouTube videos.

What is YouTube monetization?

In simplest terms: YouTube monetization is the ability to make money from your videos.

To enable monetization on YouTube, you need to meet certain requirements and join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).

Screenshot example of a YouTube Partner Program qualification checklist.

According to YouTube, to qualify for monetization, you must have:

  • 4,000 watch hours over the last 12 months
  • at least 1,000 subscribers on your channel.

You can grow these numbers by creating quality content, as well as by promoting your channel.

Additionally, there are some other requirements to set up and monetize your channel. We’ll discuss those in the next section.

YouTube monetization rules and requirements

Monetizing your YouTube channel is as amazing as it sounds, but it comes with a few strings attached. While the requirements for YouTube monetization aren’t log, the benefits are great.

Simply put, once you’ve joined the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), it all comes down to how well your videos perform. The more views you get on your content, the more money you’ll be able to make.

Let’s look at the different requirements to start monetizing your YouTube videos:

Apply to the YouTube Partner Program

The first step is to apply to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).

It takes at least one month for YouTube to review applications before marking a decision. It may take longer than a month, mostly because YouTube has actual specialists reviewing each application.

The minimum eligibility requirements for joining the YPP are that:

Avoid copyright and monetization mistakes on YouTube

It’s important to adhere to YouTube’s copyright and monetization rules at all times. Meaning, you should only upload videos that you have made or authorized to use. Copyright also extends to music or audio tracks, other copyrighted works, or videos created by others.

If you’re caught violating any of the policies, you may be subject to the following:

  • Removal of ads from your videos
  • Suspension from the YouTube Partner Program
  • Account suspension or termination

YouTube states that they will always inform you via email if you violate any of their policies. They will also let you know about the options available to you, if any.

What to do if you get rejected by the YouTube Partner Program

If your application gets rejected, YouTube outlines which policies your channel failed to follow. If that’s the case, don’t fret. You can always re-apply after 30 days. Use this as an opportunity to improve your channel before you apply a second time.

For example, you may want to revisit any video titles, video descriptions and thumbnails to align with with YouTube’s policies. And if you have specific videos causing issues, you may also want to delete or edit them.

Top 10 ways to monetize on YouTube

We’ve covered the requirements to even begin monetizing on YouTube. Now let’s get to the more exciting part: exploring all the different ways you can earn from your YouTube videos.

You may be wondering how much money YouTubers actually make. While some of the highest paid YouTube creators earn millions of dollars from their videos, not every creator manages to make that much. In fact, the average YouTube channel earns around $18 per 1,000 views.

YouTube has changed the way creators earn money online and on the platform.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 ways to can earn money on YouTube:

1. YouTube Ads

The most “traditional” way you can make money on YouTube is through ads that appear before or during your videos.

If you’ve joined the YPP, you can turn on ad monetization for individual or multiple videos on your channel. Keep in mind that your videos must meet YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines to be able to run ads.

With several YouTube ad formats available, you’re able to control the placement of ads on your videos.

2. Paid Sponsorships

Paid sponsorships are when brands and businesses pay or sponsor a content creator to pay, use or demonstrate their product in a video. While sponsorships are provided by brands to creators, it benefits both parties as well as the viewers.

Sponsorships are hard to obtain, but can be extremely rewarding. If you have an influential channel with a large following, you can pitch to relevant brands in your niche to partner for a video.

To secure a sponsorship, show brands your past work, YouTube analytics and engagement rates. Explain to them how you can bring value to their business with your content.

3. Affiliates

Another way to monetize your YouTube videos is through affiliate programs.

So, how does this work? When you join an affiliate marketing program, you send your audience to a brand’s product or landing page via an affiliate link. If the user successfully makes a purchase, you earn a commission from the sale.

While not as lucrative as paid sponsorships, an affiliate program still generates extra income. You can become an affiliate for products that you already use, and even offer your followers a discount code.

4. Channel Membership

YouTube channel memberships are a monthly subscription in exchange for exclusive perks. Creators can give exclusive offerings to channel members, such as product discounts, 1:1 live chats or exclusive videos.

Screenshot example of a YouTube channel with a membership option. A "join" button appears next to the "Subscribe" button on the main YouTube Channel page.

Membership fees are set by the creator, and channels need at least 1,000 subscribers to enable this feature.

5. Patronage

If you have a loyal fanbase, a third-party platform like Patreon lets digital creators, artists, writers and businesses provide exclusive perks to patrons who support your channel and content.

Screenshot example of a tiered patronage program to be used for YouTube monetization.

Patreon is popular with YouTube creators and brands, like a YouTube channel membership. But with tiered membership, you can choose different perks to offer patrons regardless of your subscriber count. Provide exclusive content such as behind-the-scenes videos or perks like early access and one-on-one time.

6. Merchandise

YouTube channels with more than 10,000 subscribers can sell merchandise via a merch shelf that appears on each video page. If you’ve built a strong brand community, you can open up another revenue stream by selling branded merchandise to your fans on YouTube.

Example of a YouTube channel Rose Anvil using merchandise as a way to monetize on YouTube.

This is particularly useful for YouTube creators who may not have their own website and want to sell merchandise to their followers. With over 45 supported merch platforms or retailers worldwide, there is an opportunity your grow your brand.

7. Super Features: Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks

If you’ve ever watched a livestream on YouTube, you might have noticed that some chat messages stand out and are highlighted over others.

Example of a YouTube Chat monetization feature in a live chat.

That’s because YouTube lets creators enable Super Chat on their live videos and premieres. This monetization feature allows your audience to pay between $1 to $500 to get their message featured in a livestream chat.

In that same vein, Super Stickers work similarly to Super Chat.

Instead of buying chat messages, users can buy and share fun stickers. These stickers then get pinned to the top of the chat stream to grab their favorite creator’s attention.

And finally, the Super Thanks feature allows users to show appreciation to their favorite creators. By donating a small amount, users receive a featured comment in the livestream chat, as well as an animated GIF.

Example of a YouTube Super Thanks monetization feature in action.

Unlike Super Chats and Super Stickers, users can buy Super Thanks on any uploaded video, not just livestreams and Premieres.

These are great features for digital creators or brands that create helpful and educational videos. Not only do these Super features generate some extra income, but it also allows your top fans to show their support and gratitude for your content.

8. YouTube Shorts Fund

In May 2021, YouTube launched a $100 million fund exclusively for Shorts creators. This money is to be distributed each month to YouTube Shorts creators over 2021-2022.

This means every month, YouTubers can make anywhere from $100 to $10,000 depending on the engagement and views on their Shorts videos. And eligibility refreshes every month, so if you don’t qualify for one month, you may qualify the next, or vice versa.

To receive a YouTube Shorts Fund, you don’t need to be part of the YPP, so for creators don’t meet the requirements of the YPP program, this is a huge benefit. But, creators still need to meet certain eligibility requirements to qualify for a YouTube Shorts Bonus.

9. YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is a subscription service offered by YouTube. Members can watch ad-free content, download videos, enable background playback and more.

So, how does this affect monetization? Will creators monetizing their videos via ads still get paid if YouTube Premium members watch their videos? Fortunately, yes.

According to YouTube, subscription revenue payments are distributed to creators at the beginning of every month just like ad revenue payments. The amount, of course, depends on how much Premium members watch your videos.

10. YouTube BrandConnect

YouTube BrandConnect connects brands with YouTube creators for content campaigns. Audiences trust creators when it comes to product recommendations. And using BrandConnect can — yes — connect YouTube channels with brands for partnership

This service is currently available only in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

Earn revenue from your videos with YouTube monetization

Creating and publishing videos is not just great for brand awareness. It’s also an excellent way to support yourself by monetizing on YouTube.

Are you ready to grow your YouTube channel? If your goal is to start monetizing on YouTube, start by branding your YouTube account. Then promote your channel and get more views on your videos. Remember, the more views and subscribers you have, the more opportunity you have to monetize on the platform. Cha-ching!

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15 Tips for Writing Amazing Email Marketing Content that Increases Clicks

15 Tips for Writing Amazing Email Marketing Content that Increases Clicks

Your audience is probably short on time and skimming through emails. They may get several emails an hour throughout the day. To give yourself a fighting chance in the inbox, you need strong email marketing content.

According to research done on email click rates, the data has shown:

  • 53% of marketers say low click-through rates are their biggest email marketing challenge.
  • 73% of marketers say click-through rates are a key metric for evaluating campaign effectiveness.
  • The average email click-through rate is 7% in the US.a

Getting more clicks should be a central part of your strategy. Here are 15 tips on how to write effective email marketing content to boost click-through rates.

Format for Clarity

When your audience is in a hurry, the right formatting will make the emails easy to digest. Plan for readers to skim big points before coming back to read some sections for details.

Tip 1: Target the audience's needs/pain points

First, your emails should have a singular focus centered around the needs of your audience. Present a problem and clearly answer how you can help within the email.

Your audience doesn't care about your company's interests or needs. So, avoid product-centric messages.

Spur people to act by proving it is in their best interest. You can use emotions and logic to sway your audience, targeting things that affect them. Focus on their pain points, and your audience is far more likely to listen.

Tip 2: Use headers to highlight benefits

Headers grab attention and make your content easier to skim. You might think skimming is bad, but it actually helps draw readers into the fine print of your copy.

People only take a few seconds to decide if an email message aligns with their needs. So, use that knowledge to your advantage. Pull out the main benefits of each section with your headers so they will slow down to get the details.

Benefit-driven header example:

See how we grab your attention immediately with a strong, benefit-driven headline. You don’t need to read the content of the email to understand what this newsletter is about.

Benefit driven headline in an AWeber newsletter

Tip 3: Keep paragraphs short and concise

Big blocks of text are out. Short paragraphs and sentences are in.

Keep paragraphs roughly three sentences long at most. People can get overwhelmed with large text blocks and back out without even giving the content a chance. And don't just write for desktop; blocks of text quickly fill mobile screens because of the smaller format.

Short and concise paragraph example

This email from Wistia does a great job breaking out their email content into small paragraphs, making it easy for the reader to digest each section.

An email example from Wistia showing one main concept per paragraph

Tip 4: One main idea per paragraph

Don't present multiple ideas in a paragraph. Typically, you should break the paragraph to start a new idea. That will help keep your paragraphs manageable.

But that doesn't mean that one idea must be contained in a huge paragraph either. Break bigger ideas into smaller bites for easier reader digestion. You are not writing a research paper, so there is a lot of flexibility in email formatting.

Occasionally, try a stand-alone sentence to snag attention and break up the text.

Tip 5: Keep mobile in mind

Mobile accounts for nearly half (43%) of all email opens. However, if you aren't formatting your emails for mobile, readers are not likely to consume your content. Poorly formatted emails will lead to extremely small text, forcing readers to pinch and scroll just to see your content.

email opens by device graph

Mobile formatting means bigger text for easier reading on the small device screen. Naturally, this also means bigger buttons and links for easier clicks as well.

Always use a responsive design email template that is mobile-friendly, or you risk alienating half of your audience.

Tip 6: Use images to help tell your story

Images offer visual intrigue. People process images much faster than they read text. Images help keep eyes on the page and provide a little context for your message.

Always make sure your images are compressed so your email loads quickly. Emails that are slow to open aren't likely to get as much interaction because people will back out.

Image example:

This email from Outer uses the perfect image to help enhance their story that life outside is better.

Email sample from outer using an image to help tell content story

Connect with Your Writing Style

Your writing style should connect to the audience. Hone your writing to be appealing and convincing.

Tip 7: Have a conversation

Write your email like you're talking to a friend. Emails shouldn't be indistinguishable from ads. They should feel comfortable and personal.

Start building a relationship with a voice that shows brand personality and encourages trust. The best way to have a conversation is to write copy that keeps the audience's needs, perspectives and interests in mind.

We already discussed focusing on the audience's needs (Tip #1), and we will look at the importance of list segmentation below.

Tip 8: Show your personality

In order to let your brand personality shine through, you really need to establish your personality. How is your brand different from the competition? What traits do you want to emphasize through your voice?

When you know your brand's personality, you can create a voice that remains consistent with the rest of your customer experience.

For example, if you are a trendy company, your voice may be quippy with plenty of clapback. If you are a lighthearted brand that doesn't take itself too seriously, then your writing may be funny or entertaining. More serious companies might have warm and trustworthy mentor-like voices that stem from years of experience.

Tip 9: Write emails in second person

Writing your email marketing content in second person makes the reader feel like the owner. This is the “you” perspective.

Let’s take a look at the other perspectives:

Talking in first person ("I'm excited to announce…") can come across as too informal. This voice makes the reader wonder who the "I" refers to unless it is sent from a very specific person (like a special message from the CEO). 

Third person ("CompanyXYZ is excited to announce…") tends to be overly formal for email. Third person is typically reserved for press releases, news articles, and research papers.

Second person ("There's something new for you…") is best for connecting with your audience in email. The second person voice uses the pronouns “you” and  “your”. When you use second person pronouns "you" are speaking directly to “your” customers.

Second person email content example:

This Raymour & Flanigan email does a fantastic job of putting the reader into the “story” with “bedroom of your dreams” and “your best rest”. They could have talked about “our mattresses” but instead made their readers visualize themselves getting the best nights sleep.

Raymour & Flanigan email example with copy in second person

Tip 10: Benefits over features

Don't just list what your products or services can do; list why your audience should care.

What benefits will your audience experience by following your advice? Keep your message centered around what they will ultimately gain.

Features, like what your products do, are not as important as the advantages gained by using your products. If you are promoting an event, focus on the professional or entertainment value they will experience. If you offer a service, talk about how it alleviates stress or saves them time.

Benefits over features example:

The Momentist email talks about the end result of their content which is getting better at Instagram Stories. 

The Momentist email talks about the end result of their content which is getting better at Instagram Stories

Tip 11: Use actionable language

When people are pressed for time, they want quick answers. What can your audience do right now to improve their lives or workflow in some way?

Actionable language gives them a specific path to follow to achieve a promised benefit (Tip #10).

Always include a main CTA (call to action) that specifically drives them to take a specific action. The CTA could be something like reading more on a related blog post, checking out a specific product page, reviewing products/services, returning to an abandoned cart or sharing your content on social media.

Actionable language example:

This email from Headspace is a great example of an email using an action-oriented CTA.

Actionable email example from Headspace

Tip 12: Personalize your message

In order to personalize the message and make it meaningful, you have to know your audience.

Take time to segment your email list so you can send emails to the people who will find them relevant. Your list can be segmented by anything, including:

  • Point in the buyer's journey
  • Professional title
  • Industry
  • Personal interests
  • Dislikes
  • Pain points
  • Site activity
  • Email open rate
  • Demographic
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Location

Create variations of your message to specifically appeal to different segments so your contacts aren't getting a one-size-fits-all message.

Email personalization example:

This is what a personalized email should look like. Airbnb is using data they have to send their customers a targeted, personalized email right before their scheduled trip to San Francisco. 

Personalized email example from airbnb

Tip 13: Align your subject line and email copy

You want an interesting subject line that grabs attention, but it has to be followed with matching copy.

Don't bait-and-switch your audience.

Always match the benefits you are highlighting with your headers to claim made with your intriguing subject line. Then, back up those headers with copy that provides valuable substance.

Subject line and email copy that align example:

This Canva email subject line talks about 75+ million images and content, the email then does a great job aligning the headline and copy.

Email example from Canva showing how the subject line and email copy align

Understand What Works and Do More of It

Ultimately, the goal is to find a strategy and stick with it. You don't want to guess on every email. You want to know the trends for success and follow a planned strategy.

Tip 14: Test, test, and test again

You should never assume you know what email marketing content your audience wants or why something isn't working. Make an educated guess and then test to see if your beliefs prove true!

A/B testing is one way you can see how a small change impacts your audience. This requires a very small change, like trying a different button placement or style. You can test your CTAs and header styles to see what provokes the most action from your audience.

AB Split Test Example - Long email marketing content vs Short Content

Tip 15: Measure results and adjust

You should never allow your strategy to become stagnant. The audience will continue to change, and your competition will grow. So, you will need to remain agile.

Measure your results to see what's working and what can be improved. Some of the top metrics include:

  • Open rates tell you how interesting your subject line was.
  • Click-through rates show whether or not your message is appealing.
  • Successfully delivered email rates help you know if your email list is healthy or needs to be thinned.
  • Unsubscribe rates tell you if people aren't finding your content valuable.
  • Social share rates measure how many find your information valuable (include a share button to track).

Without measuring your results, you won't know if you are failing or succeeding in your email marketing strategies. When you know your current status, you will have a benchmark to measure against as you work to improve your email marketing engagement rates.

Start Your Powerful Email Marketing Content Strategy

Marketing is crucial for brand outreach. Email marketing provides an intimate opportunity to connect with your audience and spur them to action.

Measure your results and set attainable goals to improve your numbers with a defined email marketing content planning strategy.

Keep adjusting your email marketing approach to improve retention rates and click-throughs. Every email list will experience some natural decay, so put a strategy in place for list growth. Hone your voice and formatting to be as appealing to your audience as possible.

The work you put into researching your audience and testing your marketing theories will pay off. Over time, you will get to know your audience and teach them to expect value from your brand.

The post 15 Tips for Writing Amazing Email Marketing Content that Increases Clicks appeared first on AWeber.



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Wednesday, 26 January 2022

Email Marketing Gamification: Making Your Emails More Fun

Email Marketing Gamification: Making Your Emails More Fun

Everyone loves a discount, but the generic “here’s 10 percent off your next purchase” email has become pretty overused.

A customer’s email inbox is a sea of marketing messages, and small businesses are finding it harder than ever to create emails that stand out. 

65 percent of companies achieve average open rates of between 11 percent and 50 percent. Click-through rates are even lower - 77 percent of small businesses have an average click-through of just zero to 10 percent. 

Average email click-through rate statistics

So, how can you improve your email engagement rate? If your other email marketing strategies aren’t producing the results you desire, email gamification might be the answer.

What is email marketing gamification?

Gamification is the technique of adding game design elements into non-game applications. This can be used in anything from websites and learning management systems to - of course - emails.

Email marketing gamification refers to embedding a game into your emails. It’s a simple but powerful marketing strategy that can yield significant results, with the ultimate goal being to boost user engagement. 

Email marketing gamification example from Email on Acid
Example from Email on Acid

There are three core principles of email gamification:

  • Engagement
  • Award
  • Competition

The perfect gamified email should

  • Encourage engagement
  • Offer a reward for participation
  • Evoke a sense of competition. 

Popular examples of email games that embody these principles are spin the wheel and quest games.

What are the benefits of email marketing gamification?

Are you wondering whether designing a gamified email is worth the hassle? Here are some benefits it can bring to your brand.  

It improves customer retention and brand loyalty

If customers know you as the brand that rolls out fun and reward-filled email games on special occasions, they’re more likely to open and click your emails. If you’re lucky, they might even tell their friends about you.

This is because no matter how big or small, customers like rewards. They especially like rewards that have the ‘exclusivity’ of having to work or compete for them. 

You could go a step further and combine your email marketing gamification with a customer loyalty program. This is a sound strategy for increasing long-term customer engagement. 

For example, your spin-the-wheel game could reward your customers with extra loyalty points or your quiz might earn them a digital badge.

Examples of badges a customer can earn after playing a game in an email
Source: Client Engagement Academy

It boosts email open rates

As we mentioned above, 65 percent of businesses achieve an average email open rate of 11 to 50 percent. Unfortunately, the majority of businesses fall at the lower end of this spectrum. 

An email marketing gamification campaign might be just what you need to boost open rates. Announcing your game in your email’s subject line helps it stand out from all the other discounts and deals. Not only that, but your loyal subscribers are more likely to habitually click on your emails if there’s a chance of a game inside.

There are a bunch of other things you can do to skyrocket your email open rates too. Personalization, optimizing subject lines, and leveraging FOMO are all tactics that work well alongside an email marketing gamification strategy. 

It increases engagement

Getting customers to open your emails is one thing, encouraging them to engage with them is something else entirely.

This is why gamification is so powerful - because games are engaging by nature. Customers have to click to spin the wheel, find the item, or uncover their prize. Naturally, this generates more clicks and higher levels of engagement. 

Even if a customer isn’t initially interested in your offer, games incite curiosity. Your customers might be tempted to ‘just have a go’, especially if they’re trying to kill some time.

Playing a game is a much more satisfying boredom-killer than reading a block of text, right? 

It demonstrates customer-centricity

Customers appreciate it when you show them you care. It’s why using services that allow companies to interact with customers across all channels and direct inward dialing have become so popular. 

What is direct inward dialing?”, you ask. This is a business phone feature that allows customers to bypass automated receptionists and go straight to a specific desk.

In the same way, creating something fun for your customers to enjoy shows subscribers you value them. 

Your game doesn’t need to have any other agenda than to entertain - you’ll naturally reap the benefits of retaining customer interest and building loyalty regardless. 

Email game ideas

Before we get into some tips and tricks for email marketing gamification, let’s take a quick look at the most successful types of games to include.

Wheel of fortune

This is a timeless classic that anyone can play. Pack your roulette wheel full of goodies and let your customers try their luck.

GIF showing spinning wheel email marketing gamification example from DXL
Source: Milled

Quizzes 

Quizzes are easy to set up, supported by most email clients, and generate a bunch of clicks. They’re fun for your subscribers too!

Options for the type of quiz you might design are endless, but whether it’s a trivia quiz or a personality one, be sure to keep it simple. 

Quiz in email example from Harry's
Source: ReallyGoodEmails

Scratch cards/lottery tickets

While some businesses may think scratch cards are an outdated approach, others still can’t get enough of them. Either way, instant-win games are incredibly popular among customers. They’re a little more adventurous than plain-text discount emails and are a reliable customer re-engagement tool. 

Email from Forever 21 using scratch off gamification
Source: Forever 21

Hunts and quests

Instead of one standalone game, why not create a series? This involves sending out games as part of an automated email marketing campaign so your subscribers have multiple chances to win. 

For example, subscribers could battle it out to solve different riddles each week or hunt to find the hidden text or image. 

Email from Penguin Random House - with an Emoji game in email
Source: ReallyGoodEmails

Quest games are particularly powerful because they have lots of benefits. They’re capable of boosting email open rates, click-through rates, and sales. 

Beyond that, they encourage cross-channel engagement and increase brand awareness. 

Email gamification best practices

Gamification embraces creativity and innovation, but there are still some rules you should follow to maximize the success of your campaign. 

Keep it simple

Don’t make your game too confusing for subscribers. Ideally, the concept should be self-explanatory or easy to describe in a couple of short sentences.

Know your target audience

Don’t assume everyone on your email list is an appropriate target for your campaign. Using email segmentation, create a profile of the customers you want to target with your game concept. 

For example, you might take into account your subscriber’s gender, age, skill level, or buying habits to determine whether they’d be interested in it. 

You could even switch it up and create a game for an outbound lead generation campaign. This is an interesting way to target potential leads and lure them away from competitors. Just make sure you have a comprehensive customer profile before you start.

Pay attention to your design

It doesn’t matter how awesome your gamified email concept is; if it’s poorly designed, subscribers might not give it a second glance. Take time to make your gamified email appealing, with complementary colors, optimized images, and a professional finish. 

If designing isn’t your strong suit, AWeber’s Smart Designer can help you build branded email templates in seconds. Alternatively, you can find a bunch of ready-made templates online.

Optimize for mobile

According to Litmus’ most recent email client study, mobile devices account for the majority of email opens (at 43.5 percent)

email opens by device graph

Always ensure your email loads perfectly on mobile. If it’s poorly optimized, subscribers will swiftly delete it.

Repeated offenses can result in customers unsubscribing and increase the likelihood of future emails being marked as spam.  

Track how customers engage with your brand beyond your game

Gamified emails are good at generating clicks, driving traffic, and moving customers along the sales funnel. 

Tracking specific metrics can help you gauge exactly how users interact with your brand after playing your game. This helps you determine whether user behavior aligns with your overall goals. 

Other than conversion rate, there are two main metrics to keep an eye on:

  1. Bounce/exit rates. Do customers play your game, receive their reward, and then immediately bounce, or are they inclined to explore other pages? Is there a specific path you’d like them to take? Keep track of your bounce rate vs exit rate and use the results to create a more intuitive experience.
  1. Forwarding rate/email sharing. How many people are forwarding your email to their friends? Are subscribers sharing your email on social media? If your game is competitive, users are likely to want to share it, or you could incentivize social sharing by offering subscribers a sweet reward for doing so. 

Final thoughts

Combined with your other email marketing strategies, email marketing gamification is bursting with potential. 

Alongside personalization, automation, segmentation, and creating awesome customer-centric content, you can leverage gamified emails to improve user engagement, build brand loyalty, and drive sales. 

However, keep in mind that boosted sales are only a bonus. The ultimate end goal of your gamification campaign should be to make sure your customers are simply having fun.

Author Bio: Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted unified communications system that provides valuable call details and useful features such as free video chat for business owners and sales representatives. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. She has written for domains like CrocoBlock and Tapfiliate. Here is her LinkedIn.

The post Email Marketing Gamification: Making Your Emails More Fun appeared first on AWeber.



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What is a customer journey map and how to make your own [examples included]

Do you know what your customers see and do before they purchase from you?

Today’s customers see your brand’s ads, interact with you on social media and explore your website before they buy from you. All these interactions – from the first ad impression to every “Please help” Tweet customers send – define your customer journey. To keep up with it all and better inform your social media marketing strategy, create a customer journey map.

Let’s explore what a customer journey map is and how it can help your brand:

What is customer journey mapping?

Example of a customer journey map by Starbucks

A customer journey map is a visual representation of each point of interaction one of your customers has with your company. You can style the map like a flowchart, timeline, table or even on sticky notes.

Going through the process of making the map is a beneficial internal exercise. Along the way, you might find pain points or touchpoints you didn’t know existed. A basic customer journey map will include the buying stages (and support touchpoints) a customer goes through.

More detailed maps include:

  • actions your customers take
  • good and bad emotions your customers experienced
  • departments involved in customer touchpoints
  • content types you serve your customers
  • solutions to pain points

What is a customer touchpoint?

A touchpoint on the customer journey map is the point of interaction a customer has with your brand. It doesn’t need to be a two-way interaction. Seeing a social media ad, getting a branded newsletter and asking a friend for a product recommendation are all touchpoints.

Touchpoints are often accompanied by emotions and actions the customer might experience. When someone asks for product recommendations, your brand might be mentioned. You might not serve that recommendation to them directly but the customer still gets introduced to you.

Why should brands use customer journey maps?

Creating a customer journey map helps brands in many ways. The exercise places importance on both the creation process and the final result. Once you’re done, multiple departments can use the map as a guide for future content creation, to inform your social customer care strategy and improve messaging across every touchpoint.

Graph showing actions brands can take to get consumers to buy from them over a competitor and stats by age group.

According to the Sprout Social Index, Edition XVII: Accelerate, 47% of surveyed customers believe that offering strong customer service on social media makes a brand stand out. The same percentage agrees that responding to customers in a timely manner will get them to purchase from the brand over a competitor. The customer experience is more important than ever.

These maps put the customer first. And with the support of social media market research, they also help brands in other ways. More benefits of the customer journey map include:

  • Provides an overview of the resources your customers use. This helps determine the ROI of customer-centric engagement and service.
  • Identifies content gaps. Pain points without solutions are an excellent source for content ideation and development.
  • Identified inefficiencies. Maybe some processes are repetitive or some solutions cause more friction. You won’t know what’s not working until you map it all out.
  • Generates marketing campaign ideas. With your personas and journey map in hand, creating a marketing campaign is so much easier. You’ll have mapped out motivations and stages to align campaign ideas to.

How to create a customer journey map

Now that you understand the benefits  of creating a customer journey map, it’s time to get started on your own. Here are six steps to help you build a journey map unique to your customers and your business needs. Plus, keep reading for examples and templates to get started.

1. Set your goals

What do you want to get out of this process? And why does it matter to your business? Knowing your goals sets the stage for how you go about assembling your map.

Some examples of goals include:

  • Identify the top three customer pain points. Use these pain points to create content.
  • Understand customer interests and motivations so you can develop better products and services.
  • Total up the cost of customer interactions so you can set a better social media budget.

2. Decide on a customer journey map type

There are several different customer journey maps and each one has its own advantages. When you decide which map to work with, you know which details to focus on.

These are four of the most common types of customer journey maps: current state, future state, day in the life and service blueprint. We’ll go further into detail on each one later on.

3. Create and define your customer personas

Which customers will you focus on? It’s difficult to map a customer journey if you don’t have a customer in mind. Customer personas are fictional characters that represent each of your target customer groups. They’re detailed with everything from demographics to interests to buying behavior.

Example of a blank user persona type template by Xtension

If you’ve already created social media personas to understand your audience, then you’re more than halfway there. But if you haven’t, then Xtensio’s template or HubSpot’s persona tool will be useful for you. To really get to know someone’s purchase decisions and shopping processes, interview existing customers.

Pro tip: if you have distinctively different personas – such as, if you serve both a B2C and B2B market – then you might want to set up different customer journey maps.

4. Break it down: touchpoints and stages

A social media funnel maps the customer journey from awareness at the top of funnel down to advocacy at the bottom of the funnel.

The customer journey map is divided into stages that usually fit within the funnel illustrated above. To begin with, list out the stages. Next, list out the main customer touchpoints that exist for your company. When you’re done with both lists, place the touchpoints into the different stages.

To get even more detailed, assign department owners to each touchpoint. You can identify where certain social media channels fit into the mix. And, you can assign predicted emotions or sentiments to different stages of the journey. It’s up to you how detailed you want the map to be.

5. Test and identify pain points

To confirm your customer touchpoints, you probably checked in on various departments and spoke to customers. This is great work but you need to take another step further: test it out yourself. Go through the customer journey from the viewpoint of the customer. Ensure that the map you made is accurate and take note of where the pain points exist.

6. Make changes and find solutions

So your map is complete. What’s next? You need to find or create solutions to the pain points you identified in the previous step. Now’s the time to check in on the goals you established in step one and make the moves to smooth out the journey. Give yourself time and space to implement some of the solutions, whether a quarter or six months, and check back in on the map to update it.

4 Types of customer journey maps and examples

Let’s take a look at the four most common customer journey maps and examples of each.

1. Current state

Example of a customer journey layer map from Bright Vessel.

Current state customer journey maps are like an audit. You document how your customers experience their buying and service paths in your company’s current state. These are especially helpful to establish a baseline for your customer service experience.

In the example above, every stage, step and touchpoint are color-coded to visually represent the correlation. To take it one step further, each touchpoint is identified to a department. This is a great example to see just how collaborative a customer journey is in an organization.

2. Future state

Example of a future state customer journey map from wcig.

Future state customer journey maps follow the same format as current state maps except they represent the ideal journey. You can use them alongside your current state maps to identify painpoints and areas to improve. The WCIG map above is a great example of how a map could look in illustrative and educational form.

3. Day-in-the-life

Example of a day-in-the-life customer journey map by UX360

Day-in-the-life customer journey maps outline one of your persona’s schedules as they go about their day. The interactions may or may not involve your company. Creating one of these maps helps you identify the best times and areas to interact with your customer.

4. Service blueprint

Example of a service blueprint customer journey map created in Miro that a bank might use.

A service blueprint customer journey map focuses solely on when you provide customer service. It ignores components like ads that might exist in other maps. The above map from Miro was created with a bank in mind. You’ll notice how this map is only about a customer’s visit to the bank. This type of map helps brands look at individual service areas and interactions. It’s a macro version of the current and future state maps.

Get started with customer journey map templates

Creating a customer journey map doesn’t have to be overwhelming. There are plenty of free and paid templates out there to help you create one of your own. If you think you’ll need more guidance or many maps, there are companies that offer special software to design your own map. Here are a few options to help you build your first journey map or improve your existing maps.

A blank template of a current state template, provided by Bright Vessel.

Current state template, provided by Bright Vessel.

Example of a customer journey map and persona template by Moqups.

Customer journey map template by Moqups.

Another example of a cervice blueprint template by Miro.

Service blueprint template by Miro, a software program that you can use to create all sorts of customer journey maps.

Screenshot example of a customer journey mural map template by Mural, a planning tool.

Customer journey map template by Mural, a planning tool.

Screenshot example of UXPressia's customer journey map online tool.

The above example is created by UXPressia. The company’s customer journey map online tool is made specifically to create presentation-ready customer journey maps.

Now that you know all about customer journey maps, it’s time to set off and make your own. Are you starting your customer research from scratch? Check out these research methods to understand your customers.

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