Monday, 16 June 2025

11 UK social media marketing conferences in 2025

Marketing is never a solo effort; one of the best ways to grow in your career is by learning from your peers. Staying up to date on ever-changing social trends and understanding what works for others in your network can provide the insights you need to create even more successful campaigns in the future.

Social media marketing conferences offer the perfect opportunity for marketers seeking to advance their careers. These events let you meet with like-minded professionals, and learn from talented speakers in your field.

The UK hosts some of the biggest social media marketing conferences in the world. We’ve listed 10 events happening this year so you can start filling your business calendar.

Social media conferences in the United Kingdom

Here’s a list of digital marketing and social media conferences happening in 2025. We’ve listed these events in chronological order.

1. SocialDay

This year’s 3-day SocialDay event in London happened in May, but there’s already a waitlist in place for next year’s event in May 2026. SocialDay is designed for social media marketing professionals, and each year some of the biggest brands in the world are involved with talks, lightning sessions, networking chats and more.

Sprout Social is one of SocialDay’s sponsors, and this year Rachael Goulet, Director of Social Media at Sprout, spoke about how social marketers can measure ROI across campaigns, creators and colleagues.

Rachel Goulet spoke at this year's SocialDay event for Sprout

2. SXSW London

The South by Southwest conference, which takes place every March in Austin, Texas, has expanded its annual events plan outside of the US in recent years. This year’s SXSW London happened in 28 venues across the UK’s capital from 2-7 June 2025.

Though this year’s event has just finished, as one of the premier tech and creativity events of the year, SXSW is well worth attending in the future if you work in either industry.

An Instagram post by SXSW promoting it's SXSW London 2025 that started on June 2.

SXSW is also world-renowned for its approach to marketing. Learn how they’ve maximised the conference’s marketing efforts in this episode of Sprout’s Social Creatures podcast.

3. Digital Marketing World Forum (DMWF) Global

For the past 14 years, DMWF Global has hosted annual conferences that unite digital marketing professionals in various locations around the world. This year’s London event takes place on 24–25 June 2025 at the Olympia London exhibition centre.

DMWF’s event puts a particular focus on marketing technology, with this year’s UK event boasting over 150 speakers across two days. Sprout is also a global sponsor of DMWF’s events.

A social post by DMWF that promotes the DMWF London event happening on June 24-25 2025

4. MAD Fest

MAD Fest 2025, which stands for Marketing / Advertising / Disruption, is happening on the 1-3 July at The Truman Brewery space in London. This year’s event is headlined by comedian and novelist Richard Ayoade and also features speakers from Lego, Disney, IKEA and other global brands.

MADFEST London's website promoting 2025's headliner Richard Ayoade

MAD Fest also hosts other marketing events across the country if you’re based outside of the capital. Keep an eye on MAD//Up North, where the event heads further up the country each year.

5. DigiMarCon UK

DigiMarCon is the largest series of digital marketing conferences in the world and hosts multiple events worldwide each year. This year, they’ll be hosting DigiMarCon UK in London from August 28–29.

The event is held in the Sofitel London Heathrow Hotel near Heathrow Airport, which means it’s also easily accessible for anyone based in Europe. At the event, you’ll learn more about UK social media trends, with a particular focus on Internet, Mobile, AdTech, MarTech and SaaS solutions.

The DigiMarCon website promoting this year's London 2025 event

6. Digital Travel Marketing

If you work in the travel industry, the UK’s Digital Travel Marketing conference is a can’t-miss event. This year’s conference is happening on October 1st at the Cavendish Conference Centre in London.

A LinkedIn social post promoting the 2025 Digital Travel Marketing Conference

It’ll host speakers from some of the biggest travel companies in the world, including Skyscanner, Uber, Booking.com and TUI. You’ll get industry-specific insights into how to market travel online through strategies like travel influencers and travel marketing tools.

7. Festival of Marketing

This year’s Festival of Marketing is happening in London on October 2nd, with a focus on the trends and strategies you need to know to stay ahead of the curve.

The Festival of Marketing 2025 website, promoting its London location and the event's date of October 2

The UK’s Festival of Marketing often features celebrity speakers, as well as interactive sessions where you can learn first-hand how to market more effectively. The event also hosts 4 different networking lounges where you can connect with your peers.

8. PI Live

On October 21-22, London hosts PI Live Europe, a marketing conference that focuses on performance marketing strategies. Their speakers and exhibits focus on affiliate marketing, as well as influencer partnerships.

An Instagram social post promoting the sale commencement for PI Live Europe passes

PI Live is a comfortably sized event with around 2,500+ attendees. It’s designed for three different types of professionals; those working with brands, people who work in large agencies or with marketing tech solutions, and creators themselves, which also makes it a good choice if you’re a UK influencer.

9. CreatorFest

Another influencer-focused event, CreatorFest Europe is planned for the 23rd October in London. Their conference aims to connect brands, creators, agencies and tech leaders together from across the continent.

CreatorFest is perfect for influencers looking to build new partnerships. It’s also ideal for talent management agencies, brands that invest heavily in influencer marketing, and influencer marketing tech providers.

A social post on Instagram promoting sale passes for CreatorFest UK which is held on October 23 2025

10. BrightonSEO

As you might’ve noticed, many of the UK’s digital marketing conferences are situated in London. BrightonSEO is a notable exception; it’s the world’s largest conference dedicated to SEO and search marketing professionals, and this year’s event is happening on 23–24 October at The Brighton Centre.

An Instagram post from BrightonSEO promoting the event's partnerships and its upcoming 2025 event

BrightonSEO hosts two UK events each year, and will also be happening on 30 April to 1 May 2026. It’s well worth attending if your work involves using SEO in your social marketing or wider digital strategies.

11. B2B Marketing Live

If you’re a B2B marketer, cross November 19–20 off your calendar as that’s when this year’s B2B Marketing Live event takes place. B2B Marketing Live will be in London this year at the Excel London conference centre.

The B2B Marketing Live website promoting its return to the UK in November 2025

Over 120 speakers tend to present at the event, alongside over 100 exhibitors. It’s designed for marketing executives, creative directors, content marketers and essentially anyone who works on B2B marketing strategies.

Noteworthy global social media conferences

While there’s no need to catch a flight to attend a major social marketing conference, it can be worth thinking about overseas events, particularly if you work for a global brand. These are a handful of important global social media conferences that should also be on your calendar.

If you are planning to attend an international conference, think about how you can market your event attendance on socials. This makes the trip even more worthwhile, as you can further promote your brand alongside learning and networking.

1. CannesLion

Even if you’re a bit late to attend this year’s CannesLion (16–20 June), it happens around this time every year and is well worth remembering if you work within the creative industries. Sprout’s leadership team is attending this year’s event, joining ADWEEK House to share their expertise.

A LinkedIn social post from Sprout Social promoting their attendance at ADWEEK House at CannesLion 2025

CannesLion immediately follows the Cannes Film Festival and is renowned for being one of, if not the most prestigious, creative marketing conferences in the world. It always attracts major speakers, with this year’s event featuring talks by Serena Williams, Amelia Dimoldenberg and Apple’s Tor Myhren among many others.

2. Content Entrepreneur Expo

Content marketers should keep an eye on this year’s Content Entrepreneur Expo (CEX) event, which is happening in Cleveland, Ohio, from August 24–26.

A social post from Joe Pulizzi about CEX 2025 and its new convention center location in Cleveland, Ohio

The conference is designed specifically to help content creators and marketers get more from their content output, from building an audience and driving revenue to improving their overall operations.

3. Digital Olympus

The Digital Olympus Conference is scheduled for September 11 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, which is just a 4-hour Eurostar train away from London.

Digital Olympus features talks from some of Europe’s biggest marketers who work for DHL, Microsoft, Decathlon, Reddit and many other global brands. The event also puts a focus on how to break old ways of thinking and come up with more disruptive forms of marketing.

The Digital Olympus website promoting the 2025 event which is being held in Amsterdam on September 11 2025

4. DMEXCO

If you’re looking for a big event, you won’t find many bigger than DMEXCO. DMEXCO is Europe’s largest digital marketing conference, and it’s happening this year in Cologne, Germany, on September 17–18.

A LinkedIn social post showcasing ticket sales for DMEXCO 2025 which is being held in Cologne September 17-18

Due to its scale, DMEXCO tickets can be affordable, particularly if you book early bird options. This year’s exhibitors are still being announced, but include Disney Advertising, CoreMedia, Adform and many others.

Why you should attend social media marketing conferences

Attending social media marketing conferences can boost your personal career development. They’re also a great way for you to network, build your contacts and position your brand as a thought leader. These events also help you get inspired, leading you to think outside of the box and approach your marketing in new ways.

Alongside personal benefits, they offer many benefits for businesses. This includes uncovering potential partnerships, nurturing sales opportunities and furthering the reach of your business in your home country and overseas.

Tips for maximising your conference experience

Making the most of a marketing conference isn’t as simple as buying a ticket. There are several tips you can bear in mind to optimise your attendance.

Find the right event for you

Don’t just consider the biggest, flashiest conference. Sometimes a smaller event can be more beneficial, as they’re less overwhelming and can be easier to navigate when you’re networking. However, if you’re part of a large team and everyone’s attending, it can be much easier to segment yourselves and tackle bigger events.

Figure out which events relate the most to you or your company. Find conferences that match your brand, or that will benefit not just your personal development, but the work you do on a day-to-day basis when you return. Conferences might match based on your industry, the audiences you’re targeting, or the speakers attending. The better the match, the more likely it is that the talks will teach you something relevant.

Outline your goals ahead of time

You can attend conferences for all sorts of reasons. Some people attend conferences simply to learn from thought leaders. Others go in with a sales mindset or to promote awareness of their brand. You might simply want to meet new people and network.

All of these approaches are valid, but make sure to decide on yours ahead of time. If you’re part of a team of attendees, give everyone their own role. This will help you plan your approach, and means you’re more likely to get the most out of the event.

Plan your schedule

Conferences can consist of hundreds of different talks and networking opportunities. Once you know your goal, plan a rough schedule of what you’ll do each day to achieve it.

Note down the locations and times of key speakers so you don’t miss them. If you need to sign up for certain interactive sessions ahead of time, make sure you do. Remember that your schedule doesn’t have to be strict, but it should give you a rough outline of where you should be each day.

Learn how to mingle

Networking is a skill. Practice how you’ll open conversations and your exit strategies. Think about who you most want to talk to, and determine how you can identify them early on during a chat.

Some people are inherently good at mingling, whereas others find it overwhelming. If you’re in the latter category, take things slow and don’t overthink it. Remember you’re all attending the same event for similar reasons.

Strategise your follow-ups

Finally, define a clear follow-up strategy. Always exchange socials or contact details, so you don’t lose track of anyone you’ve spoken to. Creating a spreadsheet of contacts is also a good way to remember who you’ve spoken to during an event.

Tweak your approach for different types of people; people you’re hoping to partner with, sell to or simply learn more about all require different follow-up strategies.

Turn live events into social interactions

Since the majority of these conferences happen annually, if not more regularly, keep an eye on them for the future if your dates don’t quite match up. And as intimidating as conferences can sometimes be, remember to enjoy yourself.

Remember to also turn your attendance into social activations. Make sure you’re taking photos, making notes and collating thoughts that you can turn into future content. These can be posted across your personal accounts and your company’s, and mean you get more value out of your attendance at each event.

If you’re attending a conference soon, read up on some of today’s leading UK social trends so you’re prepared.

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Friday, 13 June 2025

The YouTube algorithm: how it works and tips to optimize in 2025

If you’re serious about YouTube marketing, understanding how the algorithm works is key to getting your content discovered on the platform.

Ever wonder how YouTube knows exactly what you want to watch?

Behind the scenes, one of the world’s most powerful recommendation engines is analyzing thousands of signals about you – and each of it’s 2.53 billion monthly active users.

In this post, we’ll break down how the YouTube algorithm works in 2025 and how you can use it to your advantage.

What is the YouTube algorithm?

YouTube’s algorithm is a system that recommends videos to users based on what they watch, how they interact with content and even when they’re most active.

It looks at thousands of different factors to serve up content each user is most likely to enjoy. The algorithm’s goal is simple: keep viewers glued to the platform and watching more.

YouTube algorithm changes to know about in 2025

YouTube keeps fine-tuning its algorithm to make recommendations smarter, faster and more relevant. Here’s what’s changed and how it could impact your visibility this year.

1. Hyper-personalization with AI

Thanks to AI, YouTube can now recognize patterns and tailor suggestions based on individual user habits. For example, if someone watches short clips on their phone on their lunch break and longer videos on TV before going to bed, their feed adjusts to match that behavior.

“The recommendation system uses time of day and device as some of the signals… we try to identify if you tend to have a preference for watching news in the morning and comedy at night.” Todd Beaupré / Senior Director of Growth & Discovery, YouTube

What this means for marketers:

Visibility now depends on how well your content fits each viewer’s personal patterns, not just how well it ranks. So focus on content that mirrors your audience’s habits.

2. Content quality trumps channel size

In 2025, small channels have a real shot at wide reach. The algorithm cares more about viewer response than subscriber counts or upload history. If a video hooks the right audience, it can get recommended, no matter who made it.

What this means for marketers:

Don’t wait until you have a full content library to get serious. One strong, well-targeted video can put your brand on the radar, even if you’re new to the platform.

3. Your old videos can get new life

YouTube’s algorithm’s gotten better at recognizing when older videos are suddenly relevant. If a topic starts trending, like gift ideas in December or a viral skincare routine, YouTube will surface related content, even if it was uploaded years ago.

What this means for marketers:

Create more evergreen content. Revisit older videos and update thumbnails, tweak titles and optimize descriptions with timely keywords to help them get picked up when interest spikes.

How the YouTube algorithm works

The YouTube algorithm is a group of systems working together to figure out what each person is most likely to watch and enjoy.

Instead of pushing your content out, it pulls in the right videos for each individual viewer, based on what it thinks they want at that moment.

Complex? Yes. But the algorithm’s complexity is intentional. It’s designed to match the complexity of human viewing preferences and behaviors.

Here’s what marketers need to know about how it works.

Where your videos get recommended

Home

This is the personalized feed viewers see when they open YouTube.

YouTube's home feed example

It’s shaped by their watch history, what similar users engage with, and when and how they’re browsing, like time of day or device.

Search

Two users can type the same query and see different videos based on their viewing habits.

YouTube search results for "best books for toddlers"That means showing up in search also depends on how well your content aligns with a person’s interests, not just keywords.

Suggested videos

This is the sidebar content YouTube recommends while someone is watching.

YouTube's suggested videos

The algorithm tries to keep the session going by surfacing what it thinks that specific viewer wants to see next.

Factors that influence the algorithm

YouTube’s algorithm is more context-aware and viewer-first than ever before. Here’s what actually shapes your rankings:

Engagement and watch behavior

Watch time still matters. So do likes, clicks and comments. But their importance depends on the format and viewing context.

For example, long-form videos watched on a smart TV are often measured by how long someone sticks around. But for a short unboxing clip on mobile, YouTube might prioritize how many people click, share or rewatch.

Individual context

YouTube dives deep to personalize recommendations for each individual user. It looks at what you watch, but also when, how and on which device you’re watching.

This means your content is more likely to surface if it fits naturally into someone’s daily viewing patterns, not just if it ranks well overall.

Viewer satisfaction

YouTube doesn’t just care if someone watches your video. It wants to know if they liked the experience. The platform collects feedback through millions of user surveys, asking questions like “Was this video helpful?” or “Did you enjoy watching this?”

That data goes straight into the algorithm. If your video leaves people feeling satisfied, it’s more likely to rank. If not, it might quietly get deprioritized, even if they watched till the end.

Content relevance and nuance

YouTube’s AI has gotten much better at understanding what a video actually is. It can now pick up on tone, format, structure and even the creator’s delivery style.

A “how-to” video might be recognized as expert-led or beginner-friendly. That level of nuance means you should think beyond basic keywords and focus on the details.

Moreover, if your content is evergreen, it can resurface months or even years later when that topic becomes relevant again. For example, an older holiday gift guide might suddenly trend again in December if people start searching for that kind of content.

Multi-language signals

If you’re publishing videos with multiple audio tracks or dubbing for different regions, YouTube treats each language version as its own performance track.

That means your Spanish dub might take off in Latin America, even if the original English version doesn’t. This opens up global growth opportunities for international brands.

How the YouTube Shorts algorithm works

The algorithm for YouTube Shorts works differently from long-form.

It all comes down to intent. With long-form videos, viewers choose what to watch. With Shorts, they’re swiping through a feed and discovering new content.

The Shorts algorithm may also test your content with a small audience first, then either expand reach based on performance or taper it off.

What matters to the YouTube Shorts algorithm

  • The viewed-vs-swiped-away ratio
  • A strong opening few seconds
  • Story completion within the time limit
  • Seed audience engagement

What doesn’t matter as much

  • Thumbnails (most aren’t seen)
  • Posting time or day
  • Upload frequency
  • Minor changes or reposts

Bottom line: Shorts live or die by how well they hold attention in the first 1–3 seconds. Focus on delivering quick, engaging content that stops the scroll.

15 YouTube algorithm strategies and tips for brand growth

Knowing the ins and outs of the algorithm is great, but how do you put it to practice? Perfect your execution by keeping the following best practices in mind. We’ll cover both strategic and technical tips to get your brand to the top as efficiently as possible.

1. Focus on viewer satisfaction

YouTube cares about how your audience feels after watching. If they’re happy with the content, they’re more likely to stick around and return to your channel.

Here are some tips to increase satisfaction:

  • Deliver what the title and thumbnail promise
  • Get to the point quickly and keep the pacing tight
  • Make sure the content actually solves a problem or tells a story

When viewers feel like your video was worth their time, the algorithm notices.

This Betty Crocker video is a prime example of how to frame a simple recipe around a specific problem and then present the solution as quickly, clearly and naturally as possible.

Betty Crocker framing a recipe video as problem-solving content and offer a solution somewhere in the middle

2. Stick to schedule that works

You don’t have to upload daily to grow on YouTube. What matters more is showing up consistently and publishing when your audience is actually around to watch.

Check your Analytics to find out the best times to post for you, and share your content right before those peak hours. A weekly or biweekly cadence is plenty, as long as you stick to it.

That reliability builds trust with your viewers and gives the algorithm stronger signals to work with.

3. Use Shorts for discovery

YouTube Shorts are a great way to reach people who’ve never heard of your brand. They show up in a separate feed and the swipeable format is perfect for quick discovery.

Here are some YouTube Shorts ideas to try:

  • Share quick tutorials
  • Post customer reactions
  • Tease full-length videos

Visme, for example, uses Shorts for quick how-tos and turns to long-form for more detailed explainers.

Visme's YouTube Shorts are quick how-tos

Keep the energy high and make your point early. If people watch until the end or rewatch it, YouTube is more likely to show your Short to others with similar interests.

4. Write clear, searchable titles and descriptions

Your title is one of the first things YouTube uses to understand your content. It also helps viewers decide whether to click.

Here’s what helps:

  • Use keywords your audience is already searching for
  • Make the title specific and easy to understand
  • Avoid vague phrases or overused hooks

In your YouTube description, add extra context, link to related videos and include natural keyword variations. This helps your video get discovered across both YouTube and Google. Here’s how we do it at Sprout:

Sprout Social's YouTube video title and description optimized with keywords

Source

5. Create eye-catching thumbnails

A thumbnail can influence whether someone clicks, even more than the title. That’s why it’s worth investing time into the visual.

Here’s what to aim for:

  • High contrast and strong visuals
  • A clear focal point, like a face or product
  • Text that’s large enough to read on mobile
  • A design style that matches your brand

Here are a couple of thumbnails from WHOOP’s video library:

WHOOP's YouTube video thumbnails

Your thumbnail should pique curiosity, while still being clear about the content inside. Avoid misleading or clickbait thumbnails as they can negatively impact viewer satisfaction (and your performance).

6. Reply to comments and use community posts

Engaging with viewers is a strong signal of activity. When people comment and you respond, it encourages more interaction. And that extra engagement tells YouTube your video is creating interest and conversation.

  • Reply to the first few comments within 24 hours
  • Pin a viewer comment or add a follow-up question
  • Use the Posts tab to share polls, updates or behind-the-scenes posts

Here’s an example from Canva:

Canva responding to audience comments on YouTube

This helps your channel stay alive between uploads and keeps people coming back.

7. Group videos into playlists

Playlists make it easier for viewers to watch more than one video at a time. This increases total watch time, which the algorithm pays close attention to.

Use playlists to:

  • Organize videos by theme, topic or audience level
  • Create natural next steps, like a tutorial series
  • Keep viewers on your channel longer

International brand Ben & Jerry’s, for example, nicely organizes their videos by country:

Ben & Jerry's YouTube playlists organized by country

8. Collaborate with others in your industry

Partnerships and collabs put your channel in front of new viewers who already trust the person you’re working with. This helps you grow your audience faster than relying on search or algorithmic recommendations alone.

Look for:

  • Brands or YouTube influencers with overlapping audiences
  • Industry experts willing to share their insights
  • Cross-promotion opportunities on each other’s channels or social platforms

Insta360 often features top influencers in their cinematic videos promoting their products.

Insta360's YouTube collaboration with influencer Bram Hansel

9. Use analytics to shape your strategy

YouTube Analytics gives you data-driven feedback on what’s working.

YouTube Studio channel analytics dashboard view

For example, reviewing your top-performing videos can help you understand what topics, formats or lengths your audience prefers.

You might also want to keep an eye on:

  • Average view duration (how long people watch)
  • Audience retention graphs (where they drop off)
  • Traffic sources (how they found your video)

Use these insights to improve future content, double down on what works and adjust anything that’s consistently underperforming.

You can also use a third-party tool like Sprout Social to dig deeper into premium metrics you might not be able to uncover with YouTube’s built-in analytics. Sprout also makes it easier to compare performance across videos and even different social platforms.

Sprout Social's YouTube Analytics dashboard

10. Add captions and alt text for accessibility

Adding closed captions is extremely helpful, even for discoverability and retention. Viewers watching without sound (which happens often on mobile) can still follow your message.

Here’s what to do:

  • Use YouTube’s captioning tools or upload your own .srt files for accuracy
  • Add alt text in your video metadata and thumbnail image filenames
  • Translate captions into multiple languages to expand your global reach

Captions can also feed into YouTube’s indexing, which helps your videos show up in more searches.

Shopify captions some of its videos in multiple languages to reach a wider audience, like when they’re promoting a new product or feature (below).

Closed captions in different languages on Shopify's YouTube video

11. Add chapters and timestamps to improve navigation

People don’t always want to watch a full video from start to finish. Chapters and timestamps let them skip straight to what they need, like a specific tip, step or section.

Sprout Social's YouTube video with chapters and timestamps

This kind of control keeps viewers happy and more likely to keep watching. It also helps with SEO: chapters can show up in Google search results as clickable snippets.

12. Use a mix of content formats

Viewers have different preferences. Some want a quick tip, others want a full walkthrough or case study. Giving your audience variety helps you reach more people. And it helps YouTube understand the different ways your content can be used.

Try mixing:

  • Educational tutorials
  • Product explainers
  • Customer stories
  • Shorts for quick engagement
  • Live streams or Q&As for deeper connection

This variety gives you more data to work with and keeps your channel from feeling repetitive.

13. Make your videos easy to watch on mobile

The majority of YouTube views come from mobile. If your video is hard to follow on a small screen, it’s more likely to lose viewers early.

Make sure:

  • On-screen text is large and readable
  • Visuals are clear, even on smaller displays
  • Pacing is fast enough to hold attention without overwhelming

It’s a good idea to preview your videos on your own phone before publishing. Fixing small mobile issues can have a big impact on retention.

14. Use end screens and cards to keep people watching

End screens and cards help you suggest more of your content at specific timestamps, like at the end of a video or during a key moment.

Link to something related so it feels like a natural next step. Use the last 5–20 seconds for your end screen. The goal is to guide people deeper into your content, not just end the video.

Here’s an example of an end screen from a Sprout video:

End screen from a Sprout video

15. Cross-promote your videos on other platforms

Don’t rely on YouTube alone to surface your videos. Promote them across your other channels, like social media, email newsletters, blogs or even within your product.

For instance, you could:

  • Share direct links on Instagram Stories or LinkedIn posts
  • Include video previews in your emails
  • Embed YouTube content in your blog posts or landing pages (like Ahrefs does below)
Ahrefs' embedding a YouTube video in one of their blog posts

This gives your content an initial push, which helps the algorithm detect early engagement. Sometimes, that’s just what it needs to show your video to more people.

Win over the YouTube algorithm with Sprout Social

Understanding the algorithm is only part of the job. The rest comes down to execution: publishing on time, tracking performance and creating content your audience cares about.

Sprout Social was built to support that kind of strategy. Start your free 30-day trial and grow your channel faster with our YouTube management tools.

The post The YouTube algorithm: how it works and tips to optimize in 2025 appeared first on Sprout Social.



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Thursday, 12 June 2025

20 Sprout Social features you might not know about

Sprout Social features are designed to help you move at the speed of social. We release over a hundred updates per year that span across publishing, engagement, analytics, social listening and customer care. That’s a lot of social media tools at our customers’ disposal.

Of course, there are a few fan favorites. The Smart Inbox, Approval Workflows, Tagging and more all get a lot of love on social and on review sites like G2, but there are some lesser known Sprout features that deserve some hype as well.

A testimonial from a Sprout Social customer praising Sprout's all-in-one social media management tool. The review specific celebrates the approval workflow feature.

In this article, we’re highlighting Sprout Social features you might not know about. These tools simplify workflows, empowering teams to do more on social, with ease.

What does Sprout Social do?

Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media management platform that unlocks the full potential of social for every area of your organization, developed over a 15-year journey of innovation alongside the social media landscape. Our features span the full spectrum of social media management, including publishing, engagement, customer care, reporting, analytics, social listening and employee advocacy.

On top of that, Sprout integrates with the tools you love, including (but not limited to) Salesforce Service CloudGoogle Analytics and Tableau. These social media management integrations break down internal silos, delivering critical insights that unite teams around one core audience.

Try Sprout for free

Sprout Social publishing features

You can find everything you need to develop and manage a consistent posting cadence across all major platforms in the Publishing Section of Sprout Social. If you want to level up your publishing workflow, try these must-know Sprout Social features.

1. Share critical context with Calendar Notes

Picture this: You know a major promotion or event is coming, but you haven’t received the details needed to craft the perfect post. Now, your publishing calendar has several blank spots you know you’re holding for the promotion—but no one else does.

Calendar Notes democratize that information by acting as a placeholder in your Publishing Calendar. This prevents your colleagues from scheduling additional content because they see a gap in your publishing queue. It also gives business leaders a more accurate view of your publishing cadence.

You can use Calendar Notes to share ideas with your team, or to share reminders to amplify content from influencers and business partners.

2. Schedule directly from your browser with the Sprout browser extension

If you rely on curating industry-specific news to boost thought leadership on your brand’s social accounts, you need to use the Sprout Social browser extension.

This tool brings the Compose Window with you as you browse the web for relevant articles to share. When you find something that would appeal to or intrigue your audience, simply click on the extension to add it to your Sprout Queue.

3. Drive Instagram traffic with SproutLink

Link in bio tools empower marketers to promote as many links as their strategy demands on Instagram, but there are trade-offs. For example, jumping between a social media management tool, a link in bio tool and Instagram to make sure everything is consistent can quickly become a tedious task.

An Instagram post with a custom link displayed in a SproutLink site.

That’s why we created SproutLink. SproutLink consolidates your Instagram publishing workflow by creating posts, managing and reporting on associated links all within Sprout Social. SproutLink creates a clickable version of your Instagram grid that gives your audience more content choices and ways to explore your brand.

4. Keep content production on track with External Approvals

Sprout’s Message Approval workflow is a game-changer for social media teams navigating multi-step content review processes. But did you know it’s not limited to individuals with seats in Sprout?

Social media posts in Sprout Social that need approval. Internal reviewer and external reviewer comments have been added to the posts.

Brands using the Sprout Social Advanced Plan can add external approvers simply by adding the individual’s email address to their Message Approval workflow. Once the user verifies their email address, they can review assigned posts, provide feedback and give their stamp of approval.

Plus, Sprout will send external approvers automated reminder emails leading up to their deadline if an approval hasn’t come through yet. This not only saves time and effort, but it alleviates the common pain point of remembering to follow up.

Sprout Social engagement features

On social media, engagement is everything. We’re not talking about your engagement KPIs—although those are important, too. We’re talking about the ways you connect and build relationships with your target audience.

These Sprout Social features will help you wow them every time.

5. Use search operators to optimize Brand Keywords

Some people will talk about your brand on social without ever tagging your accounts directly. The Brand Keywords tool helps ensure you don’t miss these engagement opportunities by pulling specific keyword mentions from X (formerly known as Twitter) directly into your Smart Inbox.

The Add Keyword dialogue box from Sprout Social. This allows users to add new Brand Keywords to their Smart Inbox.

You can even use search operators to further refine these keywords. Here’s how they work:

Say you manage social media strategy for Sprout Coffee Co. Online, customers frequently refer to your brand as “Sprout Coffee Inc.” instead of “Sprout Coffee Co.”, resulting in some missed opportunities to engage your fans. To catch these messages going forward, you can use the “OR” search operator while setting up a new Brand Keyword.

Once you add the search operator, X posts including either keyword will show up in your Smart Inbox in real time.

6. Automatically complete @mentions only comments

While followers tagging their friends in a comment boost your brand’s visibility, these comments can crowd your Inbox. To save time, you can enable Complete @mention Comments in Sprout’s Inbox Settings.

The Inbox Settings page in Sprout Social. The 'Complete @mention comments' option is activated.

Little tools like these make a big difference when it comes to reducing the amount of noise going on in your social media inbox. Less noise means social customer care agents can stay focused on the messages that matter most.

7. Create custom inbox views based on message sentiment

Sprout’s AI-powered sentiment analysis tools help marketers and customer service agents monitor brand health in both messages and reviews, which improves efficiency and mitigates risk.

The Sprout Social Smart Inbox, filtered to only show messages with negative sentiment. The option to save this Inbox View is highlighted.

Creating a custom inbox view based on negative sentiment will give you a birds-eye view of the less-than-glowing feedback your business has received within a given time period. It’s not always fun to look at, but it’s a crucial way to keep an eye on potential social media crises. If several complaints share similar themes, you can also use this intel to pitch necessary customer experience improvements to the rest of your team.

Sprout Social reporting & analytics features

Reporting is often the most important—and most time-consuming—aspect of a social media manager’s job. Consolidating several network-specific metrics into one comprehensive report without a sophisticated reporting tool can take hours, if not days.

Sprout’s reporting and analytics tools are designed to help users tell compelling stories with data. The following Sprout Social features make quantifying the impact of your social media performance easy:

10. Keep stakeholders informed with scheduled PDF reports

Automating report delivery is an easy way to take a recurring task off your to-do list. With Sprout, you can schedule reports to send to up to 25 people weekly or monthly.

The Schedule Email for Task Performance dialogue box in Sprout Social, which allows users to automate report distribution to up to 25 email addresses.

Customers with our Premium Analytics add-on can easily share reports with anyone using direct links, even if they don’t have a Sprout account. These links update automatically, strengthening alignment between teams and internal stakeholders.

11. Get granular insights with Tagging

Tags are a game-changing Sprout feature that helps marketers group and categorize posts for flexible reporting on content by theme, type, campaign—the opportunities really are endless.

The Sprout Tag dialogue box, which allows users to apply Labels and Campaign Tags to specific posts and messages for easier reporting.

For more detailed reporting options, we recommend setting up Tag Collections. These let you organize Tags with similar themes. For example, a retail brand might set up a customer support Tag Collection that groups all of their issue-specific Tags, like “Shipping Delay”, “Damaged Product” and “Negative In-Store Experience”.

You can analyze Collections and drill down into specific Tags within Collections using the Tag Performance Report. This report offers easy-to-follow data visualizations and post-level insights that demystify the performance of tagged posts and messages.

12. Expand your reporting capabilities with My Reports

If you want to truly maximize your social media reporting options, then you need My Reports, available in Sprout’s Premium Analytics tool.

With My Reports, you can build customizable reports complete with multiple tables and dynamic visualizations—like bar and line charts—to compare performance across a number of networks. Filtering options allow teams to go broad to granular in just a few clicks, sorting data by metric, Tag, content type and more.

An area chart visualization, available in My Reports. The configuration menu allows users to tailor visualizations, summary tables and percent change information.

Once you’ve organized the data to your liking, you can add critical context using annotation widgets that are perfect for executive summaries and miscellaneous notes. All these tools work together to help teams understand social’s impact at a glance, in a format that resonates.

Sprout Social Listening features

Social Listening is a Sprout Social premium solution that allows brands to uncover trends and actionable insights from social. This AI-powered tool scales the process of premium data ingestion, delivering actionable insights needed to guide your future strategy.

Because Listening is a premium add-on, trial accounts don’t have access to the tool. However, you can still see it in action by scheduling a demo. If you do, here are two features to ask about:

13. Reduce unnecessary noise with spam filtration

Spam posts on social media are like taxes or traffic jams—they’re annoying, but inevitable. That’s why it’s important to invest in tools that tune them out.

Sprout Social’s Listening tool has built in filtering technology that excludes common noise categories like sweepstakes, sales listings, coupons and adult content. If your Listening Topic is pulling spam messages that don’t fall into those categories, you can set up custom filtration options using the spam publisher’s location or website information.

These tools increase the accuracy of your listening data, so you’re left with insights driven by real people—not bots.

14. Get real-time alerts when conversation volume spikes

Stay ahead of unexpected conversation surges with Listening Spike Alerts. These real-time notifications automatically flag significant increases in message volume within your Listening topics, so you can respond quickly to emerging trends, viral moments or potential issues.

Customize alert thresholds based on your brand’s baseline activity to ensure you’re only notified when it matters most. Whether it’s a sudden influx of customer feedback, a PR moment gaining traction or a competitor making headlines, Spike Alerts help you act fast and stay informed—without having to constantly monitor dashboards.

Spike Alerts are delivered via email and integrated into your Smart Inbox, keeping your team connected to the moments that matter most.

Sprout Social AI features

AI and automation is embedded across Sprout’s entire platform, enabling your team to unlock creativity while increasing social media’s business impact. From surfacing trends in social conversations to optimizing publishing and customer care, these tools help you do more with less effort.

15. Draft engaging post copy in seconds with AI Assist

According to the 2025 Content Benchmarks Report, brands published an average of 10 social posts per day across all networks. Industries like retail, media and sports frequently surpass this number, reaching up to 43 posts per day.

That’s thousands of posts brands need to publish each year—way too much work for social media managers juggling strategy, reporting, influencer marketing and more. That’s where AI Assist comes in.

AI Assist offers generative AI-powered copywriting support directly within the Compose Window—Sprout’s tool for creating and scheduling new social posts.

Even if you don’t use the suggested post copy word-for-word, it can still provide much-needed inspiration that will help you break through writer’s block. You can also use it to adjust the tone of your original copy to be more friendly, confident or professional.

16. Elevate customer care experiences with AI Assist

Our team often gets asked about how to train customer service agents for social customer care. We have quite a few resources on the topic (including this social media customer service training deck), but if you want to make friendly, on-brand customer service your brand’s standard, you need to try Enhance by AI Assist.

Enhance by AI Assist eliminates guesswork for your agents. It recommends alternative replies that enhance tone of voice and elaborate on responses. This reduces agents’ overall social media response time, resulting in better, faster customer care experiences that still feel personalized.

17. Enhance social listening queries with help from AI

Sprout’s Social Listening tool uses artificial intelligence to sift through billions of data points to spotlight trends, insights and key learnings essential to your strategy, but that technology isn’t limited to the back end of our system.

Use smart AI technology to maximize the tool’s potential through the following features:

  • Analyze by AI Assist: Spot significant phrases, hashtags and keywords easily from directly within the Conversation tab of your Listening Topics. This tool elevates key insights and displays them in clear sentences so you can start making data-driven decisions faster.
  • Queries by AI Assist: Generate keyword suggestions for Listening queries to make your search more precise and comprehensive. You can also use this tool to generate Theme suggestions, which are additional groupings you can apply to your messages within your Listening Topic for deeper insights.
  • Summaries by AI Assist: Get the TL;DR on Listening messages with more than 800 characters. The generated summaries will pull the most important information and themes from the post, so you don’t have to leave things up to chance by skimming.

Sprout Social Influencer Marketing features

Sprout Social Influencer Marketing platform gives you the tools to find the right creators, manage partnerships with ease and measure the impact of your campaigns—all in one place. From discovery to reporting, these features help you scale your program and drive meaningful results.

18. Evaluate creators with confidence using Brand Safety

Protect your brand reputation before partnerships begin with Brand Safety, a feature that scans public posts from the past year and assigns a risk level based on customizable criteria.

The Brand Safety report available in Sprout Social Influencer Marketing.

Sprout Social Influencer Marketing includes a set of default safety categories, which includes alcohol, adult content, gambling and more. Admins have the power to customize these rules or add new ones to reflect brand specific sensitivities.

Whether you’re working with creators at scale or navigating high-stakes campaigns, Brand Safety helps you partner with peace of mind.

19. Streamline influencer approvals with Review tools

Take the guesswork out of creator collaboration with internal and collaborator reviews, which can be completed within the creator view.

This feature makes it easy for brands to approve content before it goes live—ensuring every post aligns with campaign goals and brand guidelines. Creators can upload drafts directly in-platform, where teams can review, leave comments and request edits, all in one centralized space. With Review, you’ll eliminate scattered feedback loops and build stronger partnerships through clearer communication and smoother workflows.

20. Build polished campaign summaries in minutes

Influencer Marketing’s One-Sheet Builder automatically generates a polished, shareable snapshot of key campaign details, highlighting creators, deliverables, performance metrics and more. With just a few clicks, you can customize your one-sheet and export it as a polished PDF to share with stakeholders or clients.

Users can choose from one of five default templates or create a new One-Sheet from scratch. It’s a fast, effective way to communicate results, reinforce the value of your influencer strategy and keep teams aligned on what success looks like.

Experience these Sprout Social features firsthand

You can test drive many of these features for yourself, even if you’re not already a Sprout customer.

Sign up for your free 30-day trial of Sprout Social today. Sprout begins gathering data from your social media accounts as soon as you connect them, so you’ll be able to try all these features (and more!) in less time than it takes to schedule a post.

Start Your 30-day Trial

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Event-Based Email Automation: How to Engage Your Audience at Exactly the Right Moment

event-based email automations

Every time someone clicks away from your store, chances are high you’ll never see them again—unless you act in seconds. Event-based email automation flips the script, sending tailored messages the instant a subscriber takes action (or inaction), so you recover lost sales and keep engagement soaring.

In today’s inbox-crowded world, timing isn’t just everything—it’s the only thing. By aligning your campaigns with real user behaviors—like browsing products, downloading resources, or leaving items in a cart—you’ll deliver the right message to the right person at precisely the moment they’re most receptive. No more generic blasts. No more missed opportunities.

In this guide, you’ll discover exactly how event-based email automation works, why it outperforms traditional campaigns, and how to set up your first high-impact trigger—so your emails practically sell themselves.

What Is Event-Based Email Automation?

Event-based email automation is a marketing technique where emails are sent based on specific actions (or events) your subscribers take. Instead of broadcasting the same message to everyone at a set time, you create automated emails that respond to individual behavior. For example:

  • Welcoming new subscribers the moment they join your list
  • Sending a special discount when someone abandons their shopping cart
  • Following up after a customer makes a purchase
  • Reminding users about an upcoming event or webinar they registered for

By utilizing AWeber’s Workflow automations with conditional branching, you can further personalize these responses, creating unique subscriber journeys based on their interactions, demographics, or previous engagement.

Image of IF/ELSE branching logic in AWeber's Workflows

How Does Event-Based Email Automation Work?

Successful event-based email automation requires three essential components:

  • An event trigger: The specific subscriber action you want to respond to (like signing up, purchasing, or clicking a link).
  • A segmented list: Groups in your email list that help your automation tool identify who qualifies for each event.
  • Automated workflow: The sequence of emails and rules you set up to deliver the right message after a trigger.

AWeber’s Workflow automations provide an intuitive visual builder layout, making the process straightforward. With auto-save functionality, you can safely tweak workflows anytime, ensuring your updates won’t go live until you're ready.

AWeber Workflow builder canvas view

Example Automation: Welcome Email Series

How to set it up: Create an automation that triggers when someone subscribes to your list. Your workflow might include:

  • Immediate: Send a personalized welcome message.
  • +2 days: Offer helpful resources or your most-read blog post.
  • +5 days: Invite them to connect on social or reply to the email with a question.

Why it works: New subscribers receive timely, relevant info while your brand is still fresh in their mind. This builds trust and keeps them engaged from day one.

When to apply: Any time you gain subscribers—whether from a website signup, lead magnet, or promo event.

Key Benefits of Event-Based Email Automation

Event-based email automation isn’t just convenient; it’s essential for building long-term relationships with your audience and maximizing marketing results. Here’s why:

  • Personalization at scale: Tailored emails respond to user actions, making each message relevant to the recipient.
  • Timely engagement: Automations deliver messages precisely when your subscriber is most interested or ready to act.
  • Increased conversion rates: Well-timed emails often outperform generic campaigns in terms of opens, clicks, and sales.
  • Saves time and resources: Once set up, your automation continues working 24/7, nurturing leads and customers without manual effort.
  • Improved customer experience: Subscribers get helpful, non-intrusive emails that solve their problems or offer value at just the right moment.

For example, if you're an online retailer you can use an event-based workflow to send a gentle reminder to shoppers who left items in their cart. Studies have show, that an abandoned cart reminder can increase completed purchases by 20%. This type of automated campaign has also been shown to yield 6x higher transaction rates than traditional emails.

To maximize your results, start by identifying which events matter most in your subscriber journey. Here are some high-impact triggers for event-based email automation:

  • New subscriber sign-up: Send a warm welcome and provide helpful next steps.
  • Abandoned cart: Remind shoppers of left-behind items (and possibly offer a small incentive).
  • Product purchase: Deliver order confirmation, onboarding tips, or upsell offers.
  • Birthday or anniversary: Reward subscribers with a special treat or exclusive content.
  • Download completed: Follow up with additional resources or invitations to engage further.
  • Event registration: Send reminders and share important event details before and after the event.

Conditional branching using AWeber's Workflow automations ensures your emails match subscriber interactions, significantly enhancing engagement.

How to Set Up Event-Based Email Automation in Practice

Ready to implement event-based email automation? Here’s a step-by-step process to get you started:

  1. Identify key subscriber events: Look for actions that represent a meaningful step in your customer journey. Use analytics to determine which behaviors align with engagement or purchase.
  2. Map your automation workflow: Outline the sequence, timing, and content of each message. Think about what the subscriber needs at each moment.
  3. Create your content: Write concise, value-driven emails for each step. Personalize as much as possible using the subscriber’s name or past actions.
  4. Build and test your automation: Use your email tool’s automation builder to set up triggers and emails. Test each workflow thoroughly to ensure timing, content, and links all function as expected.
  5. Monitor and optimize: Regularly review your analytics. Adjust timing, messaging, or incentives based on open rates, click rates, and conversions.

Here's a step-by-step process for setting up a reengagement automation in AWeber.

Best Practices for Effective Event-Based Automations

  • Keep messages focused and relevant: Each email should match the subscriber’s action and provide clear value or next steps.
  • Don’t overload your audience: Use thoughtful timing and avoid sending too many emails in quick succession.
  • Provide clear calls-to-action (CTAs): Tell your reader exactly what to do next, whether it’s redeem an offer, read a resource, or reply with a question.
  • Personalize whenever possible: Even simple details—like using a first name or referencing a specific product—can increase engagement.
  • Test and iterate: A/B test your messages, subject lines, timing, and automation paths to see what works best for your audience.

See how these principles played out for an independent course creator: By automating onboarding emails after every sign-up, she reduced unsubscribes by 35% and saw greater participation in her online programs. Her secret was fine-tuning each automation to match subscriber interests, not just basic demographics.

Take the Next Step: Make Your Emails Work Smarter

Event-based email automation using AWeber’s Workflow automation transforms your marketing from manual to personalized, dynamic journeys. Meet subscribers exactly when they’re ready to engage—automatically enhancing relationships and boosting your bottom line.

Boost engagement and conversions effortlessly with automated, personalized emails. Sign up for AWeber and create your first Workflow today.

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Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Post Performance Report: Bold brands delivering social ROI

We’re back with another installment of the Post Performance Report (PPR)—a series where we compile and analyze social media posts and campaigns inspiring us, and break down what makes them so genius. We don’t just examine the flawless creative execution of every post or campaign, but the business impact, too.

This time, we’re rounding up some of the boldest brands on social. These posts and campaigns are generating so much more than awareness, with a clear influence on the bottom line and tangible ROI.

But what does it mean to be bold? According to the Q2 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey, consumers are most likely to define bold brands as honest about their products, services and what they stand for. The same report found consumers want brands to prioritize audience interaction and original content.

Here’s our lineup of brands delivering on boldness and strategic objectives. Use their playbooks to inspire your own.

Chili’s triple dips into user-generated content

Bloomberg found that 2024 had the highest number of restaurant bankruptcies since the pandemic. Meanwhile, casual dining restaurant chain Chili’s is growing—expanding their sales and customer base via social media buzz.

While the quick service brand’s double-down on quality and menu slashing certainly helped drive more foot traffic, the company used social media as both the source of consumer insights and a critical brand amplification lever.

Kevin Hoffman, Chili’s CEO, told the Wall Street Journal: “We saw that people on social media were posting their fast food receipts and complaining about how expensive their meals were. So, we came up with an idea: What if we came up with a burger that had a familiar taste profile of a famous fast food restaurant, but done in the format of Chili’s?”

The value deal skyrocketed Chili’s performance. They’ve since applied that same formula to marketing their Chicken Crispers against competitors on social.

A TikTok from Chili's comparing their Chicken Crispers to "MidCrispy" chicken from a competitor

Not only were their social efforts important for getting people in the door, they also played a significant role in customer advocacy.

On speaking about the success of the viral Triple-Dipper platter, Hoffman said, “Our marketing team was focused on bringing this to social media…When we started marketing this product on social, it [introduced the item] to a younger generation. Then, they’d come into the restaurant to try it, and start posting about it. That’s when it caught fire.” The company reported that Triple Dipper sales grew 70% from 2023 to 2024, and made up 14% of all sales in Q4 2024. Overall, company sales are up 50% from three years ago.

A TikTok from media personality and creator Hannah Godwin trying a triple dipper platter

Hoffman went on: “When you see the cheese from the Triple Dipper mozzarella sticks on social, that’s what it’s really like in the restaurant. We created a quality experience and product.”

So far, the restaurant chain has received 5 million likes on TikTok alone. The seemingly limitless number of videos about the Triple Dipper alone have garnered millions more views.

The play: When you position social at the center of your go-to-market plan, you set your brand up for publicity you can’t find on other channels. As Chili’s demonstrates, the key is integrating social across every stage of development—from information gathering to creative execution. Learn what your customers really want before building your content.

Florida Lottery races toward revenue

The Florida Lottery knows scratching a lottery ticket doesn’t look as thrilling as it is. So they crafted a campaign for their newest X THE CASH Scratch-Offs where players were placed in extreme, adrenaline-pumping situations to mirror the thrill of the game.

Instead of following the category’s norm of polished, traditional ads resized for social media, the lottery focused on capturing real emotions. They embraced a gritty, unscripted aesthetic native to Instagram and leveraged it in bespoke social-first assets.

An Instagram Reel from the Florida Lottery of a customer scratching a scratch off while riding in a race car

As a result of the campaign, the scratch-offs became the top-selling games in every price point within a week of launch, generating $527,906,715 in sales. This success helped the Florida Lottery maintain its position as the top lottery in the nation. Most importantly, those sales fueled one of the largest contributions ever to Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship Program, providing $91.43 million to students across the state.

Meta recognized the campaign’s success in a recent case study, highlighting its 16% lower cost per result and 6.8-point higher brand lift due to creative efficiency and native execution.

The play: Simply resizing assets meant for other channels isn’t enough to grab attention on social. As the Florida Lottery proved, investing in original, social-first content pays off. Even if you have limited bandwidth for production, it’s better to focus on fewer, lo-fi assets than treat social as a broadcast channel for made-for-TV ads.

Bath & Body Works enlivens our senses

There’s just something about a Bath & Body Works store that brings us back to the nostalgic heyday of shopping malls. I can still imagine the smells of Sweet Pea and Cherry Blossom pulling me into my local store. How can a brand like B&BW recreate that same experience in the social era? Enter TikTok LIVE Shopping.

The brand tapped influencer Peyton Black to host the LIVE Shopping event with their education lead, Alex Mahorn. Together, this duo successfully promoted the brand’s holiday campaign, while also showcasing the $4.95 Annual Body Care Day Sale—a hugely anticipated event among B&BW fans.

A TikTok Live from Bath & Bath Body Works featuring their seasonal sale and offerings

The pair emphasized B&BW’s commitment to creating “magical” moments with their iconic, seasonal scents, and told the story of how each one is crafted to evoke cherished memories and inspire new traditions. Additionally, they shared tips on scent layering—a concept highly popular on social—and educated fans on “personalizing” their fragrances through different product combinations. This helped to drive sales by encouraging multi-product purchases, which was further incentivized with an exclusive discount code for viewers.

By blending education and entertainment, B&BW exceeded its objectives. The event engaged new customers, spotlighted the brand’s iconic products and built hype only TikTok can deliver. The results speak volumes:

  • 2M impressions: Expanding the brand’s reach far beyond their forecasted expectations.
  • 110K views: An engaged audience tuned in to experience the excitement.
  • $9.4K in sales: Smashing the $2K benchmark for a first TikTok LIVE.
  • 216K product impressions: Highlighting an impressive interaction with their product lineup.

The play: How can you transform a signature element of your IRL brand experience into a digital one? Whether you recreate the in-store experience through a live event or partner with influencers to showcase your products in a new light, what’s most important is that the activation feels true to your brand.

Pernod Ricard toasts to ROI

Different occasions call for different drinks: easy-to-drink cocktails for the big game, refreshing, crowd-pleasing mixes for summer parties and warming cocktails for the holidays. Pernod Ricard, the world’s second largest wine and spirits merchant, found an ideal place to promote their diverse portfolio year round—Pinterest.

Pernod Ricard partnered with Pinterest to ensure campaigns followed best practices. They developed creative specifically for the platform, with assets targeted to every phase of the purchase journey. They applied insights from previous campaigns to optimize their format mix too, blending options like image, video and carousels.

A Pinterest Pin featuring the brand Kahlua and a link to making festive cocktails

It can be tougher for CPG advertisers to measure lower funnel metrics if they’re selling through third parties versus their own site. The team made sure to build a robust measurement strategy with deep insights into impact. A combo of in-house Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) and sales lift studies helped them gauge performance and see which tactics performed best. Then, they used those insights to refine, iterate and continuously improve performance over time.

Their approach to creative, targeting and campaign timing contributed to substantial performance improvements, including a 21% YoY increase in campaign effectiveness at the portfolio level. They also saw a 35% increase in ROI across campaigns for their portfolio.

The play: The boldest brands go into spaces no competitor has gone before. Making moves on unexpected networks leads to greater share of voice and impact. If you’re wondering which platforms make the most sense for your brand to experiment on, dig into where niche communities related to your sector are popping up.

Influencer spotlight: Kevin Parry

Influencer and stop-motion animator Kevin Parry has amassed over 5 million followers with his delightful, creative videos. Parry is celebrated for his seamless transitions, bringing inanimate objects to life and seemingly performing magic before our eyes.

A YouTube video from creator Kevin Parry explaining his monetization strategy

While his videos are pure fun, they’ve also helped him earn serious income—both from brand partnerships and network ad revenue. His evergreen YouTube videos alone drove $37,000 last year, though he explains this is the smallest portion of his social media earnings.

Parry credits his monetization success on not just reaching people, but reaching the right people who are genuinely interested in the brands he works with and his creative process. He does this by providing education and value to specific subsets of people. For example, by linking to his articles about how to pitch to brands.

The play: While it may seem like generating ROI means going viral or getting massive viewership, the truth is that it’s far more important to reach people who genuinely want to interact with your content. At Sprout, we’ve adjusted our own content strategy to better reflect the needs of our audience and our business goals.

Bold brands who deliver ROI put social at the center of their strategy

That wraps up this month’s installment of PPR. Stay tuned for next month, where we’ll be highlighting some of our favorite hospitality brands on social—just in time for summer in the northern hemisphere. In the meantime, remember these key takeaways:

Post Performance Report Takeaways:

  • Make social media the starting point—not the afterthought—of your go-to-market strategy. Use social as a source of real-time consumer insights before launching a product or campaign. When social content is informed by what your audience actually wants, it becomes a powerful tool for both awareness and conversion.
  • Prioritize content made for social, not resized to social. Native creative consistently outperforms repurposed assets. Lean into platform-specific formats, aesthetics and tones—even if it means producing fewer assets overall. Authenticity and relevance beat polish every time.
  • Recreate your brand’s most iconic experiences in a digital-first way. Bring physical or nostalgic elements of your brand to life online through interactive experiences, live events or immersive storytelling. The goal isn’t to copy the in-store experience—it’s to translate its emotional value to digital audiences.
  • Don’t chase mass reach—focus on resonance. ROI isn’t just about going viral. High-value, niche communities offer stronger engagement and conversion opportunities. Tailor content and targeting to the people most likely to care about—and act on—your message.

Looking for more on why social is the most effective way to drive connection, sales and loyalty? Read more about how bold social is changing business as we know it.

And if you see a social post or campaign that deserves to be highlighted, tag us @sproutsocial and use #PostPerformanceReport to have your idea included in a future article.

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