Email Drip Campaign Best Practices: How to Get Results and Build Lasting Relationships

You’ve carefully crafted the perfect lead magnet, and watched as new subscribers roll in… but after that initial welcome email, things get strangely quiet. This is where so many promising leads drop off your radar. The answer? A well-planned email drip campaign — a proven way to build trust, nurture interest, and automate your marketing--without burning yourself out.

If you’ve ever wondered what is a drip campaign, or struggled to decide how many emails in a drip campaign will actually get results (without annoying your subscribers), you’re not alone. In this article, you’ll discover clear, actionable tips to launch or improve your drip series, plus strategies inspired by the latest high-performing campaigns.

What Is a Drip Campaign?

An email drip campaign is a scheduled series of pre-written messages sent automatically to subscribers based on actions or time triggers. Unlike one-off newsletters, drip campaigns guide your audience step-by-step, whether you’re welcoming new leads, educating customers, or reigniting cold contacts.

Think of it as setting up a helpful conversation that runs in the background. For example, after someone downloads your lead magnet, you could set up a welcome drip campaign — Day 1’s email welcomes them, Day 3’s email shares a tip, Day 5 offers a helpful resource, and so on. Each email nurtures engagement without requiring you to hit “send” every time.

With AWeber’s Workflow automations, you can build this entire sequence in one visual workspace. Whether it’s a 3-email welcome flow or a complex campaign with multiple branches, Workflows make it easy to plan, adjust, and personalize every touchpoint—without needing to start from scratch or build separate campaigns.

Why Drip Campaigns Work So Well

Drip campaigns drive results because they’re timely and relevant. Instead of blasting every subscriber with the same message, you deliver the right content just when your reader needs it. According to recent data, automated email workflows have 2-3x higher engagement rates than standard, one-off emails. People are more likely to open, click, and buy when the information feels tailored and spaced appropriately.

On top of saving you time, drip campaigns enable you to:

• Build trust by sharing valuable knowledge over time
• Recover lost leads with strategic follow-ups
• Automate onboarding for new customers
• Increase sales with perfectly-timed offers

How Many Emails in a Drip Campaign Is Best?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but most effective drip campaigns include between 4 and 7 emails spaced out over a week or two. The sweet spot depends on your goal, audience, and the journey you want to take them on:

• Welcome series: 3-5 emails over 7-10 days works well to nurture new subscribers or customers.
• Product education: 4-7 emails spaced 2-3 days apart can introduce features and answer FAQs.
• Re-engagement: 2-4 targeted emails over 1-2 weeks helps revive inactive subscribers.

Here’s how to decide how many emails in a drip campaign is right for you:

1. Map your goal: Do you want a sale, a booking, or simply to build trust?
2. List essential steps: Identify the key actions or mindset shifts needed to reach your goal.
3. Create one email per step: Each email should have a specific focus and call to action.

For instance, an online course creator might use a 5-email drip: Welcome → Share results → Address objections → Share testimonial → Invite to enroll.

Email Drip Campaign Best Practices (How to Get It Right)

Successful email drip campaigns share several crucial elements. Below, we’ll break down what makes them tick:

1. Start with a Focused Goal

Define exactly what you want your drip to achieve. Are you onboarding new customers, nurturing leads toward a sale, or reconnecting with lapsed subscribers? Pinpointing your goal clarifies your message and helps you measure what matters.

2. Map Out Your Entire Sequence Before You Launch

Start by mapping your user journey on paper or a whiteboard. What questions, hurdles, and motivations does your audience have at each stage? Build your email topics and order around this flow. This avoids awkward transitions or missing key info halfway through your campaign.

3. Segment Your Audience for Personalization

The best drip campaigns aren’t one-size-fits-all. Use subscriber data or tagging (e.g., interests, purchase history) to send relevant messages to each segment. For example, if someone signed up for your “Beginner’s Guide,” keep content beginner-friendly. Learn more about segmentation best practices.

4. Craft Compelling, Conversational Copy

Write each email as though you’re speaking directly to one person. Focus every message on a single idea, use straightforward language, and end with a clear next step. For example, instead of “Click here to view resources,” try “Grab your free checklist here.”

5. Space Out Your Sends Strategically

Give subscribers time to digest and act on your content. Most drip campaigns space emails 1-3 days apart. You might send the first two emails more quickly, then slow down. Monitor unsubscribe rates and engagement to adjust timing. Consistency matters more than frequency.

6. Include a Clear, Consistent CTA

Each email in your drip should point toward a single, relevant action. Whether it’s reading a resource, booking a call, or trying a product, make your CTA button stand out and repeat it where it feels natural.

7. Optimize for Mobile and Accessibility

Over 60% of emails are opened on phones. Use short paragraphs, large buttons, and concise subject lines. Always include alt text for images and avoid tiny fonts.

8. Use Automation Triggers Thoughtfully

Don’t rely solely on calendar dates. Use engagement triggers — like clicking a link or reaching a milestone — to move people to the next message. For example, if someone downloads your pricing sheet, automatically send a follow-up with a video explaining your unique value.

AWeber’s Workflow automations let you go beyond basic drip scheduling. You can set up behavior-based triggers—like clicking a link, visiting a page, or completing a purchase—to send the next email at the perfect moment. Want to branch your flow based on subscriber interest or engagement? With if/else path splits, you can personalize each journey without building separate campaigns. It's all code-free and fully visual.

9. Test, Measure, and Refine

No two audiences are identical. A/B test subject lines, timing, and calls to action. Track open rates, click-throughs, and conversions through your email dashboard. If a drop-off occurs at email #3, tweak your approach or CTA. Regular improvements turn a good drip campaign into a great one. Find more about measuring email campaign success.

10. Leverage Social Proof to Build Trust

Incorporate testimonials, user reviews, and success stories within your emails to establish credibility and trust with your audience. Highlighting positive experiences from existing customers can reassure potential clients and encourage them to engage with your offerings. 

11. Implement A/B Testing for Continuous Improvement

Regularly test different elements of your emails—such as subject lines, content, and call-to-action buttons—to determine what resonates best with your audience. A/B testing allows you to make data-driven decisions, optimizing your campaigns for higher engagement and conversion rates.

12. Optimize Email Frequency Based on Engagement

Monitor your subscribers' interactions to adjust the frequency of your emails appropriately. Sending too many emails can lead to unsubscribes, while too few may cause your audience to lose interest. Tailor your sending schedule to maintain optimal engagement levels. 

13. Ensure Mobile-Friendly Email Design

With a significant number of users accessing emails via mobile devices, it's crucial to design emails that are responsive and easy to read on smaller screens. Use concise subject lines, clear layouts, and appropriately sized fonts and buttons to enhance the mobile user experience.

14. Incorporate Behavioral Triggers for Personalization

Set up automated emails that respond to specific user actions, such as browsing behavior or past purchases. This level of personalization can increase relevance and engagement, guiding subscribers more effectively through the customer journey. 

15. Utilize Email Verification to Maintain List Quality

Implement email verification processes to ensure the accuracy of your subscriber list. This practice helps reduce bounce rates, protects your sender reputation, and ensures your messages reach real, engaged recipients.

Best Practice Examples: Real-World Drip Campaigns

Let’s look at two common drip campaign types and what makes them effective:

1 - Onboarding Drip: A SaaS company sends 6 emails:

• getting started guide
• helpful FAQs
• how to contact support
• advanced tips
• invitation to a webinar
• feedback request

Result: New users feel confident, adoption increases, and customer support volume drops.

2 - Lead Nurture Drip: A small retailer creates a 5-part series:

• welcome & story
• top 3 best-sellers
• customer testimonial
• special coupon
• social media invite.

Result: Subscribers become familiar with products, trust increases, and first-time sales rise by 25%.

Take Action: Launch Your Next High-Performing Drip

Remember: the best drip campaigns evolve over time — so keep testing, refining, and listening to your readers. It’s the smart (and scalable) way to build meaningful relationships, one email at a time.

Ready to put your drip campaign into action? Use AWeber’s Workflow automation builder to map out your emails, time your sends, and personalize the experience—all in one place. With tools like visual editing, branching paths, and publish-ready draft mode, Workflows make it easy to launch high-performing campaigns, even if you’re just getting started.

Sign up for AWeber today and create your first Workflow in minutes. Whether you’re onboarding new subscribers, recovering leads, or driving sales, it’s the easiest way to build smart email campaigns that grow your business—without the overwhelm.

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How Sprout’s social team measures Owned Media Value (and other ROI metrics that matter)

You understand the value of social media. You see the engagement, the community building, the real-time conversations. But when it comes to demonstrating its true value beyond your marketing team—especially to senior leaders laser-focused on the bottom line—the story can often feel incomplete.

The good news is, you’re not alone. Even the most seasoned social media marketers grapple with translating the impact of social into an ROI language that resonates across an organization.

At Sprout, we’re making it our mission to help you bridge that gap. Building on the foundational insights shared in our organic social media ROI toolkit, we’re diving into tactical strategies for measuring the value of your social media efforts.

We’re rolling back the curtain on our own reporting strategy, to show you how to use Sprout’s proprietary owned and earned media frameworks to quantify the often under-recognized power of your organic social media strategy—starting with the power of Owned Media Value.

Before we begin

The strategies and frameworks discussed here are expanded upon in Sprout Social’s Social Media ROI Toolkit. Want to start telling your own powerful ROI story? Download the toolkit today and follow along.

Download the ROI toolkit

Types of owned media channels

Owned media encompasses any digital property or channel that your brand has direct control over. These channels serve as platforms to publish content, engage with your audience and build your brand presence.

While this article focuses primarily on the value derived from your social media and influencer content, it’s helpful to understand the broader landscape. Here are some key types of owned media:

Website and blog

Your website is the central hub of your online presence. It’s where customers can learn about your products or services, access resources and potentially make purchases. A blog, often integrated within your website, allows you to publish long-form content, establish thought leadership and attract organic traffic through search engines.

While you can directly measure website traffic and conversions, understanding the value of social media in driving traffic to your website is a component of social Owned Media Value.

Social media and influencer content

Your brand’s profiles on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok and others are crucial owned media channels.

These platforms allow for direct engagement with your audience through shared updates, community building and content distribution. The reach, engagement and traffic generated organically on these channels are what we quantify as social Owned Media Value.

Email marketing

Email lists are valuable owned assets for direct communication with your audience. Newsletters, promotional emails and customer updates can nurture leads, drive conversions and build loyalty.

Despite their distinct nature, email and social media are more powerful when integrated. Timely social trends can inspire more relevant and engaging email content, while strategic social promotions can effectively drive valuable email list growth. This cross-channel approach maximizes the impact of your owned media efforts.

Mobile apps

For some businesses, a mobile app serves as a key owned media channel for direct engagement with their customers, providing exclusive content or services. Social media is often used to drive app downloads and engagement, highlighting the interconnectedness of owned media efforts.

How Sprout’s social team measures and uses Owned Media Value

We know it’s critical for social media teams to demonstrate their impact. That’s why we’ve been working hard to develop a framework that helps social teams tell a stronger ROI story.

Owned media value plays a major role in our approach. Our methodology centers on a metric you’re probably familiar with: paid social Cost Per Mille (CPM), AKA the cost an advertiser pays for one thousand impressions. We work in close collaboration with our paid team, who provides us with up-to-date averages on our paid social CPM. This allows us to calculate Owned Media Value using the following equation:

Owned Media Value = (Organic Impressions within a given period / 1000) * Average Paid Social CPM

Want to understand and quantify your team’s Owned Media Value? Our free ROI calculator will help you instantly see the potential value your organic social efforts are generating. 

Calculate my social ROI

At Sprout, we elevate our Owned Media Value during quarterly business reports using our social media scorecard template. Framing organic performance in media value terms helps us speak the same language as our finance partners, who are already familiar with CPM-based models. By assigning a tangible dollar amount to the impact of organic social, we’re able to reinforce our strategic contribution and make our ROI narrative clearer and more compelling to executive stakeholders.

“[Owned Media Value] helps us tell a larger story about the power of our in house content creation, and the value of the awareness driven by our influencer program. Including OMV in quarterly business reports gives our leadership team a more concrete understanding of how organic social contributes to brand awareness without needing additional budget.”

– Rachael Goulet, Director, Social Media, Sprout Social

Complementary metrics that will strengthen your ROI story

While Owned Media Value provides a solid perspective on the awareness generated by organic social efforts, it’s not the only way to quantify the impact of your social content.

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the value generated by our organic social content, Sprout Social tracks several key metrics. Here are the three we highlight for C-suite leadership on a quarterly basis.

Earned Media Value

Earned Media Value typically describes the value of third-party mentions and shares across social media. However, when we discuss it during quarterly business reports, we’re specifically referring to the impact and reach generated by our employee advocacy program, which we manage using Employee Advocacy by Sprout Social.

The value of employee-generated content is a game changer when it comes to extending our brand reach and driving engagement. With Employee Advocacy by Sprout Social, we can put a dollar amount to that awareness. In fact, our employee advocacy efforts drove $450,000 in earned media for us in 2024—a significant figure that directly strengthens our overall ROI story.

Influencer Cost Per Lead and Influencer Cost Per Action

While both Influencer Cost Per Lead (CPL) and Influencer Cost Per Action (CPA) are crucial for showing the ROI of your influencer collaborations, the core difference boils down to what you’re trying to achieve.

At Sprout Social, our social team leans heavily on Influencer CPL to assign a tangible dollar value to those crucial early-funnel actions driven by our influencer marketing program. By clearly demonstrating the cost to acquire a qualified lead through these partnerships, we can effectively communicate the value they bring to our greater marketing strategy.

Now, while lead generation is our primary focus with influencers, we know that for many of you, Influencer CPA might be an even more compelling metric to highlight.

CPA measures the cost associated with those key actions further down the funnel, like a direct purchase, a free trial sign-up or even a specific product demo request. If your business model allows for robust tracking of these later-stage conversions, elevating CPA can be a powerful way to showcase the ROI of influencer content to your executive team.

Measuring ROI from social media conversion metrics

To tell a complete ROI story, it’s crucial to track both media valuation metrics and key conversion metrics, which vary depending on your business type and goals.

Here’s a breakdown of conversion metrics that typically hold significant weight for B2B and B2C businesses in demonstrating direct impact on business objectives:

Tell a better social media ROI story

Social media ROI isn’t just a number. It’s the language we use to earn trust, influence strategy, and prove our team’s worth across the business. That’s why measurement is a pillar of our approach—and we want to help you make it one of yours, too.

To help you take the first step in telling a compelling ROI story to senior leadership, we’ve created a social media ROI toolkit, complete with a social media scorecard template. This resource gives you a framework for tracking and presenting the key metrics discussed in this article, so you can move beyond surface-level reporting and highlight the real business impact of your social strategy.

Download the ROI toolkit

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Email Automation for Coaches: Turn Touchpoints Into Long-Term Trust

Ever wish you could greet every new subscriber, follow up with clients at just the right time, and never miss a chance to share your newest program? As a coach, your schedule is packed—but email automation can give you back precious hours while building deeper client connections. And it's easier (and more powerful) than you might think.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by managing client emails, setting reminders, or consistently delivering value through your newsletter, you're not alone. The good news? Email automation can do the heavy lifting for you—whether you're leading group programs, offering 1:1 coaching, or scaling your online business. In just a few steps, you can automate the important touchpoints that turn subscribers into loyal clients.

Dive in to discover the benefits of email marketing automation for coaches, break down step-by-step strategies, and shares actionable best practices. In just 10 minutes, you'll have the email automation know-how to nurture your audience, save time, and grow your business—stress-free.

What Is Email Automation for Coaches?

Email automation is the process of setting up emails to send automatically based on specific triggers or schedules. For coaches, this might mean welcoming new clients as soon as they sign up, delivering helpful resources right after a webinar or session, or following up after a free discovery call—all without lifting a finger each time.

It works by using an email platform (like AWeber) to create automated workflows—known as "automation sequences" or "autoresponders"—that are send based on your audience’s actions or information you've collect about each subscriber. This lets you personalize the client journey at scale, freeing you up to focus on coaching rather than repetitive admin tasks.

Benefits of Email Marketing Automation for Coaches

1. Saves Time and Reduces Overwhelm: With one setup, you can automate the repetitive tasks—like welcoming new subscribers or reminding clients about their sessions. This means fewer hours spent on admin, and more time coaching (or relaxing).

2. Ensures Consistent Communication: Automation guarantees that every client receives the right message at the right time—whether it's onboarding materials or motivational check-ins. No more "Oops, I forgot to send that email!" moments.

3. Increases Engagement and Retention: Connecting with your clients regularly (without spamming them) keeps them engaged and invested in their progress. Automated value-driven emails—like a weekly tip or a progress prompt—increase client accountability and satisfaction.

4. Personalizes the Client Experience: Segmentation and triggered automations let you tailor emails to different groups—such as new leads or active clients, or even former clients. Personalized journeys make each recipient feel seen and supported, driving higher conversions and referrals.

5. Scales Your Business: Whether you have 50 or 5,000 clients, automation grows with you. It empowers you to run group programs, launches, or evergreen offers without extra work. For example, many top coaches use "evergreen" email funnels that promote their signature course year-round.

Email Marketing Automation Best Practices for Coaches

Email marketing automation can completely transform how you nurture leads and clients, but it's most effective when done thoughtfully. Here’s how to set up winning automations step by step—as well as tips to get more from every email:

1. Map Out Your Client’s Journey

Start by imagining every important touchpoint in your business. Where and how do people find you? When do they sign up, book calls, or buy programs? These are opportunities for automation. For example:

• New Lead: Send a welcome email series that introduces your values and shares free resources.
• Discovery Call: Automatically confirm the appointment and send a pre-call checklist. You can even set up an integration with Calendly to fully automate this process.
• Program Purchase: Deliver onboarding information and weekly content via automated sequences.
• Alumni: Check in post-program with a re-engagement or feedback email.

This approach ensures no one slips through the cracks, and every subscriber receives support tailored to where they are.

2. Write Personalized, Actionable Emails

Automated doesn’t mean impersonal. Use dynamic content to address clients by name and reference their specific goals or interests (collected during sign-up). For example, an initial email might say, “Hi Taylor! I’m excited to help you master public speaking. Here’s a free worksheet to get started.”

Including small touches—like links to a calendar or a follow-up survey—makes each email feel like a natural extension of your coaching style. For more on making your emails engaging, see how to write an automated welcome series.

Not sure what to write? AWeber has a built-in AI Writing Assistant that you can use to craft the perfect email for stage of your email funnel.

3. Use Branching Logic to Send Targeted Messaging

Not every subscriber should get the same email sequence. With branching logic in your workflow automations, you can guide contacts down different paths based on their behavior, interests, or status—automatically.

For example, you can:

• Send bonus tips to contacts who open your welcome email

• Trigger a follow-up discount for anyone who clicked a product link but didn’t purchase

• Celebrate milestones with graduates while continuing to nurture prospects who haven’t enrolled

Branching makes your emails smarter—so each person gets content that matches their journey. That means more engagement, better conversions, and a better experience for every subscriber.

And the best part? It’s incredibly simple to set up in AWeber’s Workflow automation builder. Just click the plus symbol to start you next step, then choose your trigger—based on specific tag or based on opened email or clicked link. No coding, no confusion—just powerful automation made easy.

4. Test and Optimize Your Sequences

Set your automations—but don’t set and forget. Track open rates, clicks, and replies to see what’s resonating. Try simple A/B tests: for instance, test two subject lines for your welcome email, or experiment with a different timetable for your nurture sequence. Use these insights to fine-tune and improve results over time.

With AWeber's Workflow automation, you can quickly scan each email’s performance with thumbnail views. Spot the top performers, identify drop off points, and optimize without digging through reports.

 

Get more actionable benefits from AWeber’s article on email automation best practices.

Real-World Email Automation Examples for Coaches

Let’s see these principles in action:

• A Health & Wellness Coach: Automate your onboarding so every client receives a meal planner and fitness guide right after joining the program. Then use branching logic to send targeted follow-ups for meal tips, mindset motivation, and reminders based on the client’s chosen track.
• A Business Coach: Set up a free 5-day email course to nurture new leads, automatically offering a consultation call at the end. Past clients receive quarterly check-ins and invitations to group masterminds.
• A Life Coach: Send birthday and anniversary automations, making clients feel remembered. Progress prompts are triggered monthly, and lapsed clients get a gentle “we miss you” note.

Getting Started with Email Automation

Ready to try it for yourself? Here’s a simple starter formula:

1. Pick a goal: For example, "engage new subscribers" or "reduce missed appointments."
2. Choose your trigger: Such as sign-up, program purchase, or specific date.
3. Plan your sequence: Draft the messages—welcome, value add, call-to-action.
4. Automate and review: Set it live and check the results weekly. Adjust based on engagement.

If you’re new to email marketing, programs like AWeber offer simple drag-and-drop tools with prebuilt templates, so you can launch quickly.

Your Next Steps Toward Powerful Automation

Email automation is one of the best-kept secrets of thriving coaching businesses. It frees up your time, supports clients at every step of their journey, and turns one-time interactions into long-term relationships.

Now with AWeber’s new Workflow automations, you can do all that—and more—with confidence and clarity.

Workflows give you a clean, visual workspace where you can map out your client journeys step by step. You can:

• Send contacts down personalized paths using powerful if/else branching logic
• Edit without stress—your changes are saved automatically but don’t go live until you hit “Publish”
• Quickly scan your emails with thumbnail views that highlight what’s working and where people drop off
• Keep everything in one place—emails, logic, timing, and performance, all in a single view

Whether you're welcoming new clients, following up after discovery calls, or nurturing long-term relationships, Workflows make it easy to deliver the right message at the right time—without creating complex or duplicate campaigns.

Sign up for AWeber today to create your first Workflow and experience the easiest way to build high-converting email funnels—designed for coaches who want power without the complexity.

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The state of social media in 2025: Data from Sprout’s latest pulse survey

A new Instagram app. So many (too many?) AI-generated action figures. Le Poisson Steve.

Not even halfway through 2025, we’ve endured enough platform news and unexpected content trends to fill at least three full year calendars. Which is why at Sprout we’re constantly checking in with audiences and social marketers to understand what’s landing in today’s social landscape, what’s falling flat and whether brands really need to concern themselves with the latest form of brain rot.

Our recent Q2 2025 Pulse Survey of over 2,000 social media users across the US, UK and Australia dug into an array of issues—from which emerging platforms are piquing audiences attention (and why) to what people really think it means for brands to be bold on social. Here is what we found.

The emerging platforms consumers turn to and why

Between boycotts, bans and new entrants, the last couple years have created unprecedented levels of network fragmentation. More than ever, social teams (and their leaders) are asking questions about which emerging platforms they need to prioritize and how to allocate already limited internal resources.

Sprout’s latest data shows that social users are most eager to increase their time on community-based platforms like Reddit in the near term, more so than nascent spaces like Bluesky or Mastodon. Regardless of platform type, Gen Z and Millennials are most likely to drive adoption. Male users are also more likely than female users to want to test these platforms.

But what’s pushing people into new territory? Across demographics, consumers’ primary motivation for trying new platforms is when they already know people using them—signaling a potential desire to get away from sponsored content and back to the essence of OG, human-to-human social. Gen Z is slightly more likely to be swayed if influencers they like already have a presence on those platforms.

A surprising twist on the personal impacts of social media

Debates about social media’s impact on our wellbeing go back as far as the original networks themselves. More recently, they’ve served as the basis for proposed social media age limits in certain regions. But across the board, our Pulse Survey respondents feel the pros of social far outweigh the cons.

Most consumers (60%) say social has had a positive effect on their mental health over the last six months, compared to only 18% who report a negative effect. More than half (53%) say it’s positively impacted their social lives, and 47% feel it’s improved their financial decisions. There’s a reason “edutainment” continues to top the list of content types audiences seek out on social. People want to learn something new, and they want it delivered in a compelling way.

Across each of these areas, younger generations are the most optimistic. Rather than perceive social as a time suck, a magnet for impulse purchases or a solo activity, Gen Z and Millennials are curating their feeds to become a welcome reprieve from troubling current events and mining platforms for much needed financial education (e.g., FinTok) and community bonding that is additive to their in-person social circles.

How consumers want brands to show up right now

No day passes in the world of social without a new example of brands striving to be unhinged, or a marketer waxing poetic about the importance of authenticity. But how does this line up with audience expectations?

Our research shows that consumers perceive “bold” brands to be honest and inspirational—more so than trendy, funny or unfiltered.

Reinforcing our findings from The 2025 Sprout Social Index™, the companies that stand out on social are those that are upfront about their products, services and what they stand for. So it’s unsurprising that the #1 thing audiences would call out brands for is being unethical—more so than their pricing, or the stances they take on public issues.

Growing demand for serialized content

In this context, it’s clear people aren’t opening up their social apps just to see a stream of brands jumping on the latest AI-generated content trend. When asked what brands should prioritize most on social right now, consumers put equal weight on audience interactions and publishing original, recurring content series.

 

Like The 2025 Content Benchmarks Report highlights, making an impact on social isn’t necessarily about posting more—it’s about creating valuable content and connections. Serialized content gives brands the room to tell richer stories and make their customers feel seen.

Respondents told us that they’re most compelled to engage with brand series when they tell complete stories within each post or episode, and when they feature a cast of characters they get to know over time. The best part? These constraints are network and format agnostic.

eBay Motors’ recently went all-in on an Instagram series where they sent two auto influencers to the 2025 Miami Grand Prix (the first two episodes alone earned nearly 5 million views). Taking video completely out of the equation, dating app Hinge announced the second “season” of its No Ordinary Love Substack series, where writers tell the real love stories of couples who met through the platform.

Social media and the customer journey

We’ve said it before but it bears repeating: All business is social. Our latest data confirms that brands need to be investing in social as a full-funnel channel (not just a peripheral tactic)—or risk losing market share to competitors that do.

Exhibit A: the rise of social search. While most people’s primary instinct when looking for information is still to turn to traditional search engines—Gen Z ranks social as the #1 place they turn to. Whether they’re looking for product reviews, restaurant recommendations or how-to tutorials, audiences increasingly want answers from real people (and often, in video form). Social networks deliver on both.

As consumers devote more attention to their feeds, the potential for social to drive real-world financial implications grows. No matter how you look at it, the actions brands take—or fail to—on social impact audiences’ decision to buy or defect.

More than three-quarters (76%) of Pulse Survey respondents say social (be it ads, influencer or brand content) has impacted their purchases over the last six months. And almost as many (64%) say when a brand partners with one of their favorite influencers, they’re more willing to buy.

 

Even in a difficult economic climate, younger generations are more likely to buy things they discover on social. Between the downstream impacts of tariffs and continued corporate layoffs, only 28% of all consumers say they’re more likely to buy something they found through social in the coming months. This rises to 43% for Gen Z and 36% for Millennials—proving that audiences are still willing to pay for the right product or service.

Center your strategy around the (current) state of social media

The smartest changes to any social strategy are driven by real audience insights, not random stakeholder requests. Whether you’re debating a shift to a new platform or building out your content plans for the months ahead, let these Pulse Survey findings serve as a valuable gut check.

In some ways, the state of social media right now is more complicated than ever. But our data hints at a few ways brands can start to simplify: Find opportunities to restore the 1:1 nature that so many users miss about the early days of social. Free your team from chasing questionable trends and instead focus on original content series only your brand can own. Most importantly, don’t underestimate the business results social can drive—when you invest wisely.

For more insights around how marketers can adapt to the current state of social media, download The 2025 Sprout Social Index™.

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How to find your brand’s niche on social media

If you download the Calm app, you’re greeted with an immediately soothing vibe when you open it. Quiet nature sounds play, the interface is designed in soft colors and you can select a variety of meditations, sounds, ASMR or even “Sleep Stories” to help your mind slow down and relax. Yet, if you head over to Calm’s TikTok account, you’ll find something a bit different: chaotic memes, low brow humor and a dash of education around mindfulness and mental health.

It’s part of Calm’s approach to niche marketing. Nearly anyone could use more mindfulness in their life, but Calm knows not every piece of content will resonate with everyone who comes across their account. And that’s the point. The company connects with various niche groups, acknowledging the parts of their lives that are decidedly not calm. They’ve featured videos of moms at a rage room for Mothers’ Day, memes for Gen Z employees who’ve recently entered the corporate workforce and meditation for outdoor enthusiasts.

Niche communities are powerful because of their more exclusive nature. When brands understand the niche interests of their target audience, social media marketing becomes more authentic and impactful. According to the Sprout Social Index™, consumers rank authenticity and relatability as two of the most important characteristics for brand content, and defining your niche as a brand is a way to embody both.

What is a niche on social media?

In the context of social media, a niche refers to a community built around a specific expertise, interest, demographic or other shared characteristics. Niches involve a select subset of a broader audience. For example, instead of targeting women ages 25-40, your fitness brand might be looking for women in this age group who engage in CrossFit communities like #crossfit or #crossfitathome.

Finding your niche as a brand helps you stand out among competitors and the general marketplace. Knowing your niche helps define who you are and what differentiates you. Niches also help build more authentic consumer connections that go beyond a single sale; they tie your brand more deeply to consumers’ everyday lives and interests.

To build those connections authentically, your niche/s should align with your brand’s values and goals as well as those of your audience. Hopping into a niche community that doesn’t resonate with your values will be frustrating at best and reputation damaging at worst. For example, an environmentally-forward brand looking to connect with an audience about clothing trends would probably not be a fit for communities around fast fashion. Lean into what’s most important to your brand to start identifying your niche.

Identify your brand’s strengths to define your niche

To start, revisit core brand tenants like your mission statement and values. What are your non-negotiables, and what impact do you hope to have as an organization?

Also consider your unique selling proposition (USP) for each of your products and services. Note what aspects of your USPs differ from competitors.

Lastly, review your brand guidelines and personality. Are you more upbeat and friendly, or polished with an air of authority? These items together will help create a picture of where you can provide the most value as a brand and what separates you from others in the space.

With this information in hand, conduct a SWOT analysis to identify your brand’s strengths. You may have done one previously as part of your social media audit, but it’s helpful to refresh and see how things have changed. Keep in mind that the Strengths and Weakness portion of the analysis speak to internal factors, and Opportunities and Threats focus on external forces. Use the information you gathered to map out each area. Once you have a good picture, turn your attention to your audience.

Understand your audience’s passions

Take your ideal customer profile (ICP) and identify their demographics and psychographics. With this initial idea, consider questions like:

• Where are they most active on social media? Are they TikTok shoppers or Facebook scrollers?
• How often are they online? And what times of day are they most active?
• How are they using social media? Is it to connect with family and friends, follow influencers, search for answers or ideas, or are they shopping and making purchases?
• Are they using social media for community? If so, is it connected to an IRL community too?
• What type of content resonates with them? What are they looking for from brand social content?

Once you’ve explored these questions, use the answers to draw out your audience’s values, interests and passions. Even their preferred network can speak to certain value systems or beliefs about social media. Based on this, visualize what pain points this audience might have that your brand can solve. What do you offer that can improve their lives based on the values you’ve uncovered?

Find overlapping interests

Next, place your brand identity side by side with that of your audience. There will likely be points of overlap where your brand’s expertise and offerings intersect with the niche interests of your audience.

If you’re a sustainable fashion brand and you discover your ICP contains minimal living enthusiasts, you both likely value the environment and reducing waste. Similarly, a company offering toxin-free cleaning products may resonate with parents focused on holistic care for their growing family. Draw connections between your brand’s values and your audience’s passions to find the relevant niche.

Look from a few different angles to highlight different niches. There are niches communities within:

• Industry-specific topics
• Internet-based communities
• Demographic and geographic segments
• Problem-solution angles (an issue your audience has that your brand can solve)

Sprout’s social team uses social listening alongside what they hear in the Sprout community, The Arboretum, to understand how different industries and roles engage with key topics. Greg Rokisky, Senior Social Media Strategist, says, “Whether we’re looking at our healthcare or financial hubs or comparing what matters to practitioners versus executives, we’re mapping those insights to show up in ways that feel relevant, not one-size-fits-all.”

If it exists, there is likely a niche for it. A social listening tool like Sprout Social can help you validate the niches and overlaps you uncover within your audience by searching conversations related to your brand and industry.

Conduct a competitive analysis

Now that you’ve identified some possible niches your brand fits into, it’s time to get a feel for how similar brands are connecting (or not) with these communities and topics.

Make a list of your brand’s top competitors and start by analyzing if they’re appearing in content posted in the niches you want to target. For example, if you’re looking to tap the FinTok (financial TikTok) community, conduct some influencer research and dig into related hashtags like #PersonalFinance and #DebtFreeLiving. These will help you locate top influencers and content to see if your competitors are participating in conversations there.

If you do find relevant content, review it to see if you can reverse engineer their approach. What type of content is it, and does it have good engagement? Can you discern their goals for the content? If the content doesn’t seem to have high engagement (or if there is no competitor content at all), this could be a gap your brand could fill. Use your research here to inform a thoughtful strategy for your brand in this niche. Sprout’s social media competitive analysis tools, including social listening, can automate parts of the process for you by looking across your key competitors’ social presence and their audience sentiment.

Research relevant keywords

As you research how competitors are showing up in the niche, you can pick out relevant keywords and hashtags your audience is using. Influencer content is a great resource for this as well, as they’ll often use trending hashtags in their posts. Make note of niche hashtags used in conjunction with popular ones, and explore the type of content different hashtags take you to. A bonus: You may discover new SEO keywords to pursue in your broader marketing efforts.

Click through hashtags to discover where conversations are happening. There may be actual groups, like on Facebook, where niche communities are meeting or discussion may be happening in the comments for influencer videos. Wherever they are, these conversations will help spotlight current trends in the niche, give you a feel for how popular it currently is and point to the right social networks.

Select the right social media networks

All of the research you conduct across your audience’s interests, competitor content and relevant keywords will guide you to the best social media networks for your niche. Where your audience is spending the most time engaging with their niche will be the number one driver in selecting which social channels to pursue.

Meeting your audience where they’re is a foundational part of niche marketing. Other networks may also be a good choice if relevant influencers, creators and audiences are building a presence there. For example, some TikTok influencers in niche spaces began building their community on Instagram as well due to uncertainty about access to TikTok in the US.

Choosing the best social media networks for your niche is also based on what types of content perform best with your audience. If they gravitate to videos, TikTok and Instagram are solid choices. If they’re looking for a managed group to participate in, Facebook might be the right choice. Depending on your brand’s strategy for content and what your audience wants to see, you might target a mix of channels or focus heavily on one.

Develop your niche content strategy

Once you have your niche/s nailed down, it’s time to integrate it with your social media content strategy.

Experiment with different types of content tailored to your niche audience. Incorporate testing to validate the interest overlaps you discovered during your brand and audience research. Social media is an excellent platform for A/B testing to see what resonates most. For example, Instagram offers some accounts trial reels, which enable you to test content with non-followers before sharing it with your fans.

Edutainment is a potent form of social content for niche marketing as it adds value while keeping attention. It’s also popular: 66% of social users find edutainment engaging.

Also consider partnering with influencers and creators to build credibility and awareness for your brand. One of the ways Sprout thinks about niche is by matching creators not just to their audience, but to the full context of the activation. Sprout’s Vantage roadshow—an in-person event series—is a great example of this philosophy in action.

“We partnered with two Orlando food creators, since every stop includes a food activation, and brought in a dog influencer for a pet-friendly experience in Chicago. Each creator was sourced using Sprout Social Influencer Marketing to ensure a strong fit. When the environment, audience and creator align, the content doesn’t feel forced—and that’s when it performs best,” Rokisky shares.

Sprout Social Influencer Marketing streamlines influencer sourcing to help you find the creators that best align with your brand. The AI-powered search to help you find the right influencers who are safe for your brand and contextually relevant.

Regardless of the type of content your brand chooses to craft, keep your audience at the forefront. Serving their needs and specific interests is the most important factor.

Build and engage the community

As a brand participating in a niche space, it’s important to remember that you’re a guest unless you have a brand community you oversee. Actively join in relevant conversations in ways that are authentic, transparent and respectful regardless of network or conversation type. You can communicate through comments, direct messages and community posts depending on the network.

One important part of social media community management is to ask questions. These can be simple conversation starters or targeted questions that open the door for candid insight on your brand, thought leadership, products and services that you might not have received otherwise.

Engaging directly with the community through questions and discussion participation is important in building a following over time. Consumers appreciate having access to you, especially when your brand can add value in a particular niche.

Stay relevant with social media listening

As with everything on social, niche communities will evolve over time. Make sure you are informed about the evolving trends in the space. Your audience wants you to be informed: 93% of consumers say it’s important for brands to stay on top of online culture.

Social listening tools will help you stay ahead of conversations and understand audience sentiment. Tracking niche activity with social listening can highlight nuances you may have missed, and help you avoid a brand flub.

Social listening is also valuable for identifying emerging trends. Sprout Social Listening sifts through millions of conversations for you, so you can get to the heart of conversations relevant to your brand and keep up with what’s happening in your niche.

Analyze audience feedback and engagement

Leverage your social listening and engagement data to analyze feedback about your brand. Pay attention to comments, messages and mentions to understand audience preferences and pain points. Whether they’re bringing it to you directly or chatting about it with others in the space, you’ll find valuable insights to help improve your social content and strategy, refine your product or service, and strengthen your brand’s overall marketing approach.

Also track your content’s performance based on KPIs tied to your goals and strategy. You can categorize your niche posts with Sprout’s Tagging to create reports and comparisons with your other campaigns. Knowing what’s resonating (and what’s not) will help you adapt your strategy so you’re staying relevant rather than being a nuisance.

Carve out your social media niche

Your brand brings a unique value to your audience—embrace it! Establishing your niche on social media will connect you to highly engaged audiences who can turn into loyal customers. Be a good community member, and you’ll cut through the noise to stand out as trustworthy and knowledgeable. Start discovering your niche with our market research worksheet to uncover where you and your audience meet.

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Opt-In Email List: What It Is, Why You Need One, and How to Build It

You've worked hard to create a product or service people love. But how do you make sure your audience actually hears from you—without ending up in the spam folder or annoying potential customers? The answer lies in building a strong opt-in email list.

If you're wondering what an opt-in email list is, how it benefits your business, or how to create one that's both effective and permission-based, you're in the right place. Let's clear up the confusion and map out practical steps to grow your engaged audience the right way.

What Is an Opt-In Email List?

An opt-in email list is a collection of email addresses gathered with explicit permission from individuals who want to receive emails from you. In other words, people sign up or "opt in" to hear from you—no surprises or unwanted messages. This practice is essential for both legal compliance (like GDPR and CAN-SPAM) and creating engaged, loyal followers.

Your email list opt in can take many forms, from a simple checkbox on your website to a dedicated signup landing page. The key is that every person on your list gave you clear consent to email them. This not only protects your sender reputation but boosts open rates and conversion, too. 

Why Is an Opt-In Email List So Important?

Imagine sending an important update to 1,000 people, but only 50 care enough to open it. That’s what happens when you don’t use an opt-in list—the rest mark your message as spam or unsubscribe. On the other hand, with an opt-in email list, you know every recipient wanted your email, making them more likely to engage.

Here’s why an opt-in list is a game changer for your business:

• Higher engagement: Subscribers who opt in are interested from the start. You see better open and click rates.
• Compliance: Avoid hefty fines or legal headaches by following email marketing regulations.
• Brand trust: Respecting privacy builds long-term credibility with your audience.
• Easier segmentation: Understanding how people enter your list helps you send targeted, relevant content.

It’s quality—not quantity—that counts.

Types of Opt-In Methods (and Which Is Right for You)

There’s more than one way to invite people onto your email list. Here are the most popular opt-in methods:

• Single Opt-In: A user submits their email, and they’re instantly added to your list. It’s simple, but can occasionally lead to typos or accidental signups.
• Double Opt-In: After subscribing, the user receives a confirmation email. They must click a link to verify their intent. This approach is more secure and usually results in the most engaged lists. Learn more about double opt-in best practices.
• Implied Opt-In (Not Recommended): People are added because of a separate interaction (like checking out), but this is risky, less effective, and can cross legal boundaries. Always aim for clear, explicit consent.

For most businesses, double opt-in offers the best balance: clean lists, strong engagement, and clear proof of permission. Platforms like AWeber make double opt-in easy to implement.

How to Build an Opt-In Email List From Scratch

Ready to grow your own email list opt in? Here’s a step-by-step guide you can follow, no matter your business size or niche.

Step 1: Create a Compelling Offer

People share their emails in exchange for value. Your offer might be a free guide, a discount, access to exclusive content, or a helpful checklist. For example, an online yoga instructor could offer a free video class in exchange for a sign-up.

Step 2: Build an Eye-Catching Signup Form

Your signup form should be simple—just ask for essential info (usually only an email address and maybe a first name). Place it prominently on your homepage, blog, and at the end of articles. Landing pages dedicated solely to signups work especially well for targeted campaigns.

Step 3: Be Crystal Clear About What Subscribers Get

Transparency is vital. Let people know what, how often, and why they’ll hear from you. Example: “Sign up and get our weekly email tips plus priority access to product launches. No spam, ever.”

Step 4: Set Up Double Opt-In

This extra confirmation builds trust and ensures you’re emailing people who truly want to hear from you. Most email marketing tools allow you to enable double opt-in with a simple toggle as you create your list.

Step 5: Start Sending (and Keep Delivering Value)

Once someone joins your list, send a welcome email that delivers the promised value right away. Continue with insightful, useful emails that solve your subscribers’ problems or inspire them to take action.

Strategies to Grow and Maintain Your Email List Opt In

Now that your foundation is set, let’s talk about boosting your numbers with smart, ethical tactics.

• Use Lead Magnets: Offer something tangible for signing up. Examples include free templates, helpful ebooks, or webinar recordings tailored to your audience’s needs.
• Add Signup Forms Everywhere: Beyond your homepage, embed forms in blog posts, sidebars, and even your website footer. Each location can catch a different segment of your audience. Discover surprising places to put your signup forms.
• Host Online Events: Webinars, Q&A sessions, or live tutorials can be great opportunities to collect email addresses as part of the event registration.
• Leverage Social Proof: Share testimonials from happy subscribers next to your forms—like “Join 2,000 other readers who get our tips each week!”
• Segment and Personalize: Use tags or form options to learn more about your subscribers so you can send them the content they care about most. This not only increases open rates, but also reduces unsubscribes.

Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to make mistakes. Here’s what to watch for:

• Adding without permission: Never upload lists of contacts who haven’t explicitly opted in, even if you know them personally.
• Complicated signup process: Don’t overwhelm visitors with too many fields or steps. Keep it short and sweet.
• Neglecting privacy: Clearly state how you’ll use subscriber information, and stick to it. Link to a current privacy policy.
• Sending too often (or too little): Set expectations for frequency, follow through, and monitor engagement to strike the right balance.

Real-World Example: Turning Interest into Engagement

Picture this: An independent online clothing brand realized sales from social ads were plateauing. They offered a 10% discount for new email signups on their homepage and promoted it on their Instagram. Within a month, their opt-in email list grew by 450 emails. The welcome series they sent drove 22% of those new subscribers to make a purchase within the first week. The key was permission—subscribers wanted to hear from the brand, so they were eager to open those emails!

How to Keep Your Opt-In Email List Healthy

Your work doesn’t end when people sign up. Here’s how to ensure your opt-in list stays active and valuable:

• Regularly clean your list: Remove inactive addresses and those who haven’t engaged in 6-12 months.
• Ask for feedback: Occasionally invite subscribers to share their preferences or reply to your emails—engagement is a great deliverability signal.
• Make unsubscribing easy: Paradoxical as it sounds, letting people leave quickly keeps your list focused and your reputation strong.

Following these tips, you’ll build not just an opt-in email list, but a powerful community genuinely interested in what you have to say. Ready to start? Begin by mapping out your first value-packed offer, add a signup form, and make every email count.

FAQs About Opt-In Email Lists

• What is an opt-in email list?
  It’s a list of contacts who gave you explicit permission to email them—often by filling out a signup form on your website or landing page.
• What’s the difference between single and double opt-in?
  Single opt-in adds subscribers immediately; double opt-in asks them to confirm by clicking a link in a follow-up email.
• How can I get more people to opt-in?
  Offer real value in exchange for their email, make the process simple, and be clear about what they’ll get.
• Are there any rules I need to follow?
  Yes. Laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM regulate how you obtain and use email addresses. Always get clear, explicit consent and provide a way to unsubscribe.

 

The post Opt-In Email List: What It Is, Why You Need One, and How to Build It appeared first on AWeber.

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Lead Capture Pages: Secrets Behind Boasting Signups

Imagine spending hours crafting the perfect marketing message—only to have most of your website visitors leave without joining your list or taking the next step. It’s frustrating, but here’s the truth: even the best content and products fall flat if you don’t actively collect leads. That’s where lead capture pages come in. They help turn a casual browser into an engaged subscriber, and your next paying customer. If you’ve ever wondered what is a lead capture page, why they work, and how to create one that converts, you’re in the right place. This guide demystifies the process with proven tips, actionable advice, and real-world lead capture page examples—so you can create the best lead capture pages for your business, start to finish.

What is a Lead Capture Page?

A lead capture page (sometimes called an opt-in page or capture page) is a dedicated webpage designed to collect contact information from visitors—usually in exchange for something valuable, like a downloadable guide, a newsletter, or a special offer. Think of it as a digital handshake: you give value up front, and your audience shares their email or other details in return. Unlike general landing pages, lead capture pages are laser-focused on getting visitors to fill out a simple form—no distractions, no extra navigation. The goal is clear: capture as many qualified leads as possible for future follow-up via email or other channels.

Why Lead Capture Pages Are Essential for Growth

Lead capture pages are the engine behind almost every successful email marketing strategy. Here’s why:

• They give you permission to connect with people who are already interested in your offer.
• You own your audience—unlike with social media, where platforms control access.
• They help segment and qualify leads by allowing you to ask specific questions (like job role or interests) on the form.

With the right approach, even a free lead capture page can turn an anonymous visitor into someone who’s eager to hear from you. That’s the foundation for reliable, long-term business growth.

The Anatomy of the Best Lead Capture Pages

High-converting lead capture pages all share a few core elements. Let’s break down what makes the best lead capture pages work—and how you can model your own for success:

• A compelling headline: Clearly state your value proposition (“Get the Complete 2024 Marketing Toolkit Free!”)
• Persuasive copy: Briefly explain the benefit, keep it conversational, and address the visitor’s needs.
• A short, simple form: Only ask for the information you really need—usually just a name and email.
• Visual cues: Images, arrows, or icons can help direct visitors’ attention to your form.
• Clear call-to-action (CTA): Make your button irresistible (“Download Now” performs better than “Submit”).

Consider using lead capture page templates as a shortcut. Templates provide a proven structure so you can launch quickly, test different offers, and optimize for conversions over time. Many platforms offer free lead capture page templates to help you get started.

How to Create a High-Converting Lead Capture Page

Ready to build your first (or next) capture page? Here’s a step-by-step approach that works for any business or industry:

1. Define Your Offer

Choose something that solves a specific problem for your audience—like an ebook, checklist, webinar, or discount. The value should be obvious at a glance.

2. Write Your Messaging

Focus on your prospect’s pain points and the result they want. Highlight the benefit above the form, and make your CTA button action-oriented (e.g., “Get My Free Guide”).

3. Use a Lead Capture Page Creator or Template

Building from scratch? Look for a lead capture page creator that offers an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, A/B testing, and integrations with your favorite tools. Platforms like AWeber’s lead capture pages let you launch and optimize pages without coding. Choose a design that fits your brand.

4. Minimize Distractions

A true lead capture page removes navigation, footers, or multiple links. Every element should funnel attention to the form.

5. Test, Measure, and Refine

Monitor your page’s conversion rate (the percentage of visitors who submit the form) and try tweaks to your headline, CTA, or imagery. Even small adjustments can mean big improvements in results. For more guidance, see creative lead magnet ideas that work perfectly with your capture page.

Lead Capture Page Examples You Can Learn From

Let’s look at a few real-world lead capture page examples that illustrate what’s possible:

• Blogger giving away a checklist: A simple page with a compelling headline (“The 10-Minute New Blogger SEO Checklist”), one benefit-focused sentence, and a form for first name and email.
• Online coach offering a webinar: Short overview of the webinar’s promise, image of the coach, countdown timer for urgency, and signup form.
• Ecommerce store sharing an exclusive discount: Attention-grabbing image, benefit statement (“Unlock 15% Off Your First Order”), and a single-field email form.

Free Lead Capture Page Tools and Resources

You don’t need a big budget or technical expertise to try out your first capture page. There are several options for launching free lead capture pages quickly:

• Pre-built templates: Use free lead capture page templates to skip the design headache. Swap in your copy and images to make it yours.
• Drag-and-drop editors: Many tools let you customize your page with no coding required. Pick a template, change colors and fonts, and publish in minutes.
• Integration with email marketing: Choose a capture page creator that sends new leads directly to your email list and automates a welcome sequence. This keeps your process smooth and scalable from the start.

For those just starting out, this approach lets you validate your offer and collect leads efficiently—before investing in advanced tools or design.

Best Practices for Lead Capture Success

To get the highest return on your time and effort, follow these proven strategies:

• Keep it focused: Limit each capture page to a single offer. Avoid clutter or extra details that could distract visitors.
• Be transparent: Clearly explain what subscribers will receive and how often you’ll contact them.
• Add trust signals: Consider testimonials, privacy messages, or security badges—especially if you ask for more than an email.
• Mobile-first design: Over half of page visits come from smartphones according to Statista. Test on all devices for smooth user experience.
• Test and iterate: A/B test headlines, images, and form fields to find what resonates best with your unique audience.

When to Use a Lead Capture Page (And When Not To)

Lead capture pages are most effective:

• For gated content: Ebooks, guides, templates, or courses that offer value in exchange for contact info.
• As the destination for ads: When running PPC, social, or affiliate campaigns, direct traffic to a focused capture page.
• Building your core audience: Use a free lead capture page to grow your newsletter from scratch.

However, they’re less effective when visitors need more information before making a decision, or when your goal is a purchase (rather than a sign-up). For those cases, consider a traditional sales or landing page instead.

Your Next Lead Capture Page—Ready to Go

Lead capture pages take the guesswork out of building your audience. By focusing each page on a single offer, using proven layouts, and tailoring your message to real needs, you’ll gather more qualified leads and start better conversations with future customers. Whether you choose a ready-made template or a custom design, small tweaks and consistent testing will help you improve your results over time. If you’re ready to take the next step, try creating a free lead capture page using pre-built templates or a user-friendly capture page creator. For more ideas, explore these lead generation tactics or experiment with different lead capture page templates until you find your top performer.

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TikTok Promotion: Boost your visibility in 2025

Are you consistently creating on TikTok without getting the views or engagement you’d like? Wish there was a shortcut to reaching your TikTok goals? TikTok Promote may be the answer.

Like Instagram’s boosts and X’s (formerly Twitter) promoted post feature, TikTok created a tool that allows users to turn their organic content into a paid promotion quickly and simply.

In this article, we’ll provide an overview of the TikTok promotion advertising tool, review the pros and cons and guide you on leveraging it in your TikTok marketing strategy.

What is TikTok promotion?

First launched in 2021, TikTok Promote is an in-app advertising feature that allows users to quickly boost their content and turn their organic videos into ads. Users can leverage the feature to get more views on TikTok, website visits, followers, messages or profile views.

With Promote, getting an ad up and running takes a few clicks. All you need to do is choose a promotion goal, define your audience and set your ad duration and budget. Then hit ‘pay.’

Once your campaign is live, Promote has basic analytics to track your ad’s performance. These include the number of video views, likes, comments and shares on your video. You can also see how many people visited your website link, and the age and gender of people interacting with your video.

How to use TikTok promotion

Whether you want to get more followers on TikTok or convert more followers into paying customers, TikTok promotions can help you reach your marketing goals faster and tap into new audiences.

But before we get into the step-by-step guide, here are some things to note.

To be eligible for TikTok Promote, you must:

• Be over 18.
• Agree to the Promote Terms of Service and acknowledge the TikTok Privacy Policy.
• Have a creator or business account (Government, Politician and Political Party Accounts (GPPPAs) are not eligible to use Promote.)

You should also keep in mind that:

• Promote is only available for public videos with original sound or sounds.
• TikTok’s Commercial Musical Library is a resource for adding music to your video.
• Promote is just a tool to get your content to a wider audience. To make your videos more engaging, check out these TikTok video ideas.

Now, on to the fun part—using TikTok Promote.

1. Open the Promote tool

In the TikTok app, access the Promote tool from a TikTok video, Creator Tools or the Business Suite.

To access it from a TikTok video you want to promote:

1. From the video, tap the More options button.
2. Tap Promote.

From your Creator tools:

1. Tap Profile at the bottom.
2. Tap the Menu button at the top.
3. Tap Creator tools.
4. Tap Promote.

From within the Business Suite for a business account:

1. From your profile, tap the Menu button at the top.
2. Tap Business Suite.
3. Tap Promote.

2. Choose a goal

The app will then ask you to choose a goal for your TikTok promotion. You have five options:

• More video views: Get more people to watch your video.
• More website visits: Guide more people to your website.
• More followers: Improve your chances of gaining followers.
• More messages: Add a “send message” button to your video and extend your reach to new customers.
• More profile views: Get more people to view your TikTok profile.

3. Define your audience

After you choose a goal, you will need to define your audience (i.e., the people you will promote your video to). There are two options: Let TikTok determine your audience; or you can create your own.

When you select the ‘create your own’ option, you will see more screens to choose the gender, age, location and interests of the people you want to target.

4. Set your budget and duration

How long do you want your ad to run, and how much do you want to spend? Using two sliders, adjust the budget and duration for your ad to get an estimated total cost and reach, depending on the parameters you choose.

5. Pay and start your TikTok promotion

For the last step, you’ll see an overview screen with a summary of your campaign details: the goal, audience, budget and duration and estimated views. If everything looks good, click the ‘pay and start promotion’ button to pay for your ad campaign and push it live.

How much does TikTok Promote cost?

A TikTok promotion campaign can range from $3 to $1000 per day, lasting one to seven days. Therefore, TikTok Promote could cost between $3 for a one-day campaign and up to $7,000 for a seven-day campaign.

Compared to regular TikTok Ads, which have a minimum budget of $50 at the campaign level and $20 at the ad group level, TikTok Promote has a much cheaper entry point.

If you’re a creator trying to grow on TikTok (and make it into the exclusive Creativity Program), boosting your content with TikTok Promote is an affordable way to get the followers and views you need to qualify. It’s also a helpful tool for brands who want to amplify a successful organic post with minimal time or financial investment.

Is TikTok Promote worth it?

Should you throw some coins into TikTok Promote to boost your content? Like many marketing tactics, the short answer is, “It depends.” Here are a few of the benefits and drawbacks to help you decide.

Pros

• Get your content in front of more people. TikTok SEO is beneficial, but social media algorithms are inconsistent, so paying to play could be worth it.
• Maximize your organic content. TikTok’s traditional ad campaigns can be a bit tricky to set up. With TikTok Promote, your social team can turn any organic TikTok video into an ad in just a few clicks directly within the app.
• Learn more about your audience. You’ll get insights to understand your audience better and learn how your video performed in reaching your goals.
• Cost-effective. With a minimum spend of $3/day, it’s affordable to experiment with TikTok promotions without breaking the bank.
• Expanded features. TikTok Promote allows small businesses that work with influencers to boost the creator’s content or LIVE videos to help increase their views. They also recently launched ‘Promotional Pack,’ a new buying type that allows users to purchase a guaranteed minimum amount of views, ensuring visibility.

Cons

• Promoted videos have a “sponsored” tag. Since many social users have learned to spot and scroll past ads quickly, your target audience may not engage with a Promoted video as eagerly as organic content.
• Spreading misinformation. TikTok Promote is so simple and inexpensive to use that some people can use it to amplify fake news. However, TikTok is cracking down on this issue by removing sponsored content from sensitive or divisive topic searches.

Why TikTok may not approve a promotion

If your video doesn’t meet TikTok’s standards, there’s a chance they may not approve it for promotion.

Here are some reasons why TikTok could reject your ad:

• Intellectual property infringement. Avoid using copyrighted or trademarked elements in your ad and landing page without permission. These elements include brands, hashtags, copyrighted media, imitations and replicas.
• Ad creative inconsistency. Your caption, text, images, videos and call-to-actions must be consistent with the product/service you are promoting. The prices quoted in the ad should also match what is on the website.
• Misleading and inconsistent information. Your ads can’t contain exaggerated performances, promises or images.

How to track and analyze your TikTok Promotion performance

To understand the true impact of your TikTok promotions and continuously improve your strategy, robust analytics are essential. You need to track key metrics, understand what’s resonating and make data-driven decisions.

How to measure and analyze your TikTok performance with Sprout Social

Sprout Social offers comprehensive analytics and reporting tools that provide deep insights into your TikTok performance, helping you demonstrate ROI and refine your approach.

• Access unified TikTok Reporting: Sprout’s TikTok Reports offer a clear, consolidated view of your overall profile and individual post performance. Easily review data for each of your connected TikTok profiles, tracking key metrics like video views, likes, comments, shares, reach, engagement rates and follower growth across specific date ranges. This allows you to export detailed reports and truly understand how your content is contributing to your promotional goals.
• Identify top-performing content: Quickly see which of your TikToks are driving the most engagement and views. This is critical for understanding what content to promote further or what types of content to create more of. Strategically, these insights are gold for informing your paid promotion strategy – why waste money boosting content that doesn’t resonate organically?
• Understand your audience demographics (if available via API): Sprout can help you gain insights into your follower demographics and when they are most active on TikTok, enabling you to tailor your content and posting schedule more effectively.
• Tag and categorize content: Use Sprout’s tagging features to categorize your TikTok posts by campaign, content theme or any other relevant metric. This allows for granular analysis of what specific types of promotional content are performing best, directly informing future budget allocation and creative direction.

By leveraging Sprout Social’s analytics, you move beyond vanity metrics to truly understand the business impact of your TikTok promotions. These insights are crucial for justifying spend, optimizing future campaigns and proving the value of your social media efforts to leadership.

Ready to make data-driven decisions for your TikTok strategy? Explore Sprout Social’s analytics and reporting features with a free trial.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

How to cancel a promotion on TikTok

Canceling a promotion on TikTok is easy. Go to your promoted video, tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner and select ‘Close Promotion.’ Any unused promotional funds will be automatically refunded to your Promote balance for future promotions or withdrawn from your account.

Accelerate your growth with TikTok Promote

TikTok Promote is a simple tool that gives creators and marketers the power to add a little fuel to their creative fire in TikTok promotions, getting their content working harder for them. Plus, its low minimum spend means it’s easy to test out on multiple videos and see which one performs best. However, while the feature may be affordable and easy to use, ad budget is often precious, and promoting posts should just be one piece of your larger strategy.

To maximize your investment and get expert guidance, check out our webinar to learn more about how to unlock the power of TikTok for your business.

The post TikTok Promotion: Boost your visibility in 2025 appeared first on Sprout Social.

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