The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Campaign Management
Campaign management requires diligent planning, timely execution, and a ton of knowledge and insight into the audience you're reaching out to. Let's dive into the world of campaign management and learn what it takes to bring your marketing campaigns to the next level.
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Marketing to Millennials: 8 Strategy Tips for Success
The “baby boom” famously gave rise to the biggest population expansion in world history. Now, we’re living through the generational echo of that boom. In 2020, millennials, the generation raised by the baby boomers, took over as the largest generation in America. And as they grow in age, income, influence, and means, one thing is clear: Millennials have money to spend. But competition for that money is fierce. Advertising to millennials isn’t the same as advertising to Generation X or Generation Z — the two generations on either end. Knowing how to target millennials means learning their values, their priorities, and constructing messaging that won’t rub them the wrong way. In short, it requires that you learn how to “speak millennial.” Fortunately, we’re here to help you do just that. Who are millennials? The famous “baby boom” took place from 1946 to 1964 and Millennials are the large generation descended from the baby boom about one generation later, born between 1981 and 1996. As of 2023, millennials are people aged 27 to 42. They earned their name because people early in their generation were first becoming adults at the turn of the millennium. Millennial marketing 101: top tips 1. Prioritize mobile-first marketing In addition to coming of age around the time of the millennium, the youngest millennials were still pre-teens when the first smartphones came out in the late 2000s. As such, they’re the first generation of adults who are used to today’s mobile-first method of navigating the world. Although many millennials own a desktop, the average millennial spends about 211 minutes on a smartphone per day, compared to only 31 minutes of desktop use. That’s why a millennials’ marketing initiative has to start there: on millennial turf. But the term “smartphone” is vague. What are the apps and sites mobile millennials are using? We’ll dive into the numbers later, but for now, you can find them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, and Snapchat. In short, millennials are willing to listen to ads, but only if you find them in the right spots. Millennials are twice as likely to listen to video content on their smartphone than on television. Even better, people watching these videos are 1.8 times as likely to take action on the ad. Why? Because people watching on their smartphones tend to be more active — researching a product while they shop, for example. 2. Remember that brand values matter When you learn how to market to millennials, remember this: Millennials are a principled bunch. One study found that 83% of millennials care about whether a brand aligns with their personal values. To millennials — perhaps shocked and startled by the 2008 financial crisis — it’s not enough to simply spend indiscriminately. They have to feel that what they’re spending their hard-earned money on is going toward a worthwhile brand. That may be why millennials consider themselves more brand-conscious than Generation Z, the generation coming up after millennials. About seven in 10 millennials consider the brand when they make a purchase, which is higher than the five out of 10 that is average for all U.S. adults. This means today’s brands have to not only be conscious of their image, but of creating messaging that resonates with these millennials. While baby boomers watching your YouTube ad might not resonate as much with brand messaging that touches on core values like sustainability and environmental impact, you can expect that millennials are indeed listening. Of course, not all brands naturally lend themselves to sustainability and environmental impact messaging. You may want to consider the other brand values that resonate with millennials, including: Health and wellness Transparency Authenticity Customer support The unboxing experience 3. Prioritize experiences over entertainment “Pics or it didn’t happen!” Ever hear this familiar millennial refrain online? It’s not a coincidence. Millennials make their experiences a point of emphasis, perhaps more than any other generation. If the 2008 financial crisis affected millennials’ attitude toward money, it also reflects another one of their defining traits: They tend to prefer experiences over things. For many millennials, that preference shows up most notably in the need to travel, with about 65% of millennials currently saving up for a trip. You can’t understand how to market to millennials without getting hold of this basic principle. But it’s not just frugality and temperance that are driving these trends. Some believe that millennials are the first generation of consumers for whom shareable content is a priority. “Modern consumers care more about creating an Instagram-able memory than purchasing the hottest new product,” writes customer experience futurist Blake Morgan in an article for Forbes. 4. Be authentic You might remember “authenticity” as one of the key brand traits towards which millennials tend to gravitate. What is it about authenticity that makes millennials more likely to purchase from you? And why do they bother with it in the first place? For starters, authenticity works with every age group. It just so happens that millennials in surveys rate it even higher a priority than Boomers and Gen X. Like anyone else, millennials like to make their own decisions. They’ll even happily tap on a Facebook ad if they feel its values align with their own. But when brands blatantly attempt to dip their toes in the water in a way that feels inauthentic to their core values, ad-savvy millennials have a way of seeing through it. What does authenticity look like in practice? To start with, authenticity is rare. According to the same source, most consumers believe less than half of brands actually practice authenticity. But there are a few other keys to driving authenticity in the minds of millennials. User-generated content: 60% of consumers rated user-generated content as the most authentic. Today’s mobile-friendly audience constantly seeks out word of mouth and online reviews to conduct product research. It follows that any brand willing to put user-generated content like reviews out front is the brand striving to be authentic. Social media: Millennials like to share their triumphs and their frustrations with the public. That’s why it’s sketchy to them when a brand doesn’t maintain a social media presence or actively respond to customer complaints online. To millennials, this means the brand must be hiding something. Also, consider looking into influencer marketing, which helps brands reach out to trusted social media celebrities. Customer segmentation: To help avoid the clash between messaging and the target market, brands should conduct customer segmentation and handle their advertisements appropriately. Avoid blanketing an audience with vague messaging and focus on speaking directly to smaller groups of potential customers, one segment at a time. 5. Use visuals In the same millennials marketing survey quoted above, millennials pointed out how easy it is to see through old tricks like stock video and photography. Brands that put out authentic content will also put out original content, including behind-the-scenes videos or original photographs. The old saying that a picture says a thousand words still has meaning here. But your brand’s messaging shouldn’t be limited to a two-dimensional medium. Consider a website like sketch London, which users can actually interact with. Millennials offer plenty of loyalty to brands — but only to brands that have earned that loyalty through two-way messaging. Visuals like an interactive website can help reinforce the “conversational” approach of your brand. But you can also turn to social media for more visual interaction. Caption contests, customer highlights (such as featuring a specific customer in a post or having them “take over” your social media accounts for a day), and other visual displays of fan interaction show that you’re committed to a two-way conversation. 6. Maintain your blog Believe it or not, there are few things as unsettling to a millennial as visiting a company website and finding out their last blog post was from 2019. It’s the digital marketing equivalent of pulling up to a store and finding the interior offices completely abandoned. But you shouldn’t maintain a blog just to avoid this conundrum. You should make your blog a reason to visit your website. Statistics suggest that well-written blogs can create a 55% increase in website visitors. So, you aren’t only doing it as a strategy for marketing to millennials. You’re also doing it for the search engine algorithms that are looking for recent, fresh, updated content. And given that 55% of millennials ignore brands that don’t show up well in search results, you can consider a clean, fresh, frequently-updated blog a good way to reach out. It’s true that many millennial shoppers may only glance at your blog before purchasing. But that glance can be well worth the time and effort it took to create that post. Not only do enhanced search results help you attract more customers, but millennials performing online research want to tick off the “active blog” box before they decide to buy from you. After all, in their minds, if you can’t manage a blog, what does that say about your ability to cater to modern shipping standards? Refund policies? Or even the quality of your product? 7. Offer incentives In one respect, millennials are much like any other generation: they can’t pass up a good incentive. But you should pay attention to the quirks of millennial advertising preferences if you’re going to create a compelling incentive. While a simple coupon will entice just about anyone, keep in mind that millennials value more than money. As Forbes notes, millennial employee incentives often focus on providing millennial employees with more options at work. It might be simpler to cut them a check, but in practice, millennials value time and experience just as often as financial incentives. Your digital marketing approach should reflect that. Millennial buying preferences are shaping the world in unexpected ways, as well. For example, many millennials — by now well-versed in shopping online — bring their B2B preferences to their functions in B2C roles. When millennials are shopping with a company’s budget, they may look for the same differentiators they look for when shopping for themselves, including: Incentives for customer loyalty: This is just as true in B2B as it is in direct-to-consumer brands. Millennials understand the value of consistent business and are willing to shop around until they find a brand that’s willing to invest in a long-term partnership. Choose-your-own-incentive plans: Some millennial customers may choose a price discount if they can. But the back-and-forth between the buyer and the brand is just as important for millennials. Offering multiple options for incentives and allowing the customer to choose which they receive gives them a sense of investment — they’re creating a bargain of their own making. Experiences over things: Receiving a gift card from a company is hardly an Instagram-able perk. But gift packs with unboxing experiences speak the language of the modern digital buyer — as do other experiences that reflect the products and services your company provides. Don’t be afraid to get creative in finding ways to turn your offerings or professional services into a one-of-a-kind experience. 8. Make inbound marketing informative There is no single master key to unlocking all millennials’ hearts. But if you track your inbound marketing data with precision and consistency, you may find a few patterns for marketing to millennials that pop up over time. Information from your inbound marketing is only going to get more important. Millennials, after all, care more about privacy than previous generations. And in the coming years, as regulations crack down on sharing customer data with third parties, advertisers will need first-party data to glean information about their customers’ preferences. First-party data is the knowledge you get directly from your audience. When they fill in their address, for example, you’ve gained some demographic information about your market. But not everyone is going to fill out a shipping form right away. You need other ways of getting information from inbound customers, such as: Surveys Email addresses Customer service interactions and feedback Social media polls and feedback In the future, leads aren’t only going to be valuable because they represent a potential purchase. They’re going to be valuable because warm leads also come packed with information you can use to tighten your messaging and make more sales. How to target millennials through paid ads Millennials are just as open to paid ads as any other generation. But it may not seem that way if you can’t quite figure out what they’re searching for online. To write paid ads that resonate with millennials, try to keep the following in mind: Millennials often search as part of product research: Try to remember the intent behind every keyword. For example, someone typing “best DSLR camera reviews” is likely in the market for a DSLR camera. Someone searching for “best stock photography” might be in the same overall photography segment, but it sounds like they’re not looking for a camera. Make sure your message meets search intent before you give up on a campaign. Use advertising to gather information: Yes, the primary goal of advertising is to drive sales. But as first-party information becomes more valuable, you should also use ad campaigns to test your marketing hypotheses. According to Adweek, 65% of millennials are more than happy to trade information for incentives, like discounts. Keep mobile in mind: Your paid ads should appear far more on mobile than desktop. Considering the aforementioned 7:1 ratio at which millennials use phones as opposed to home computers, you’ll be more likely to find your audience with a focus on mobile advertising. How to advertise to millennials on social media Approach your millennial advertising campaign as you would any new agency project, as many of the same principles hold up when you’re marketing to millennials on social media. Social media platforms like Twitter say when they’re displaying a sponsored ad, true. But millennials aren’t going to completely avoid ads that speak to their needs directly. To better learn how to advertise to them on social media, make sure the message matches the platform. What social platforms do millennials use? Facebook Despite Facebook’s reputation as being for everyone — including older audiences and baby boomers — today’s millennials still use it at astonishing rates. For example, 87% of millennials in the U.S. use Facebook at least once per week. And that’s good news: Facebook is one of the most sophisticated online platforms for advertising, especially when nailing down a specific target demographic. Twitter Marketing to millennials on Twitter is to find them in their element. Sponsored tweets with videos are especially powerful for connecting your brand to a Twitter user’s specific need. It’s worth noting that millennials on Twitter tend to be the affluent millennials, according to Twitter’s own data. This makes the platform a surprisingly appropriate place to advertise big-ticket items. Pinterest The median age on Pinterest is about 40, or the age of the older millennials. This makes the platform another great outlet for marketing to millennials who have had some time to form a career, generate disposable income, and grow in affluence and spending power. YouTube Your YouTube marketing strategy should highlight the importance of visuals that resonate with millennials. With over two billion worldwide users, t’s not just millennials on the platform. But YouTube will give you a “101” course in advertising to millennials. You’ll have to hook them in the first few seconds of every video, supply worthwhile content that entices them to learn more, and build a strategy that represents your brand as transparent, authentic, and willing to engage with your audience. How to plan a millennial marketing campaign with Wrike Ready to turn your knowledge of how to advertise to millennials into practice? Our professional services management software can help you organize these insights, plan your campaign, and align your team for precise marketing execution. A millennial-targeted advertising campaign won’t happen by accident, but Wrike’s marketing campaign templates will help you get your bearings as you whittle down your target audience to one of the most important demographic segments in the world. Use Wrike’s project management workflow templates to break up the production into smaller steps, ensuring you don’t bite off more than you can chew at any particular milestone. You can also integrate members of your team into Wrike so that everyone is on the same page when it comes to brand messaging and authenticity. After all, if you’re going to speak to today’s millennial, it helps to speak with one voice. Get started with Wrike today.
10 Examples of Highly Effective Niche Marketing Strategies
How can a business successfully market a niche product with a specific target audience? Implement niche marketing strategies, including word-of-mouth, direct mail, and personalized social messaging. You don’t want or need to reach the whole world — just your “just right” audience.
7 Series A Companies That Used Direct Marketing to Grow Their Customer Base by More Than 10x
Direct marketing has proven to be the most effective method for founders and marketers to build their customer bases. But what is direct marketing? In this article, we cover direct marketing examples and strategies that can be used to multiply your customer base.
15 Suggestions to Improve Your Marketing Operations from Leaders
Learning about, and focusing on, improving marketing operations is becoming more critical for digital marketing teams trying to get ahead. Understanding your customers, implementing customer data properly, and measuring campaign performance are all key steps in building out your marketing ops. .In addition, marketing ops focuses on (1) managing the technologies that the marketing team purchases, and (2) measuring marketing effectiveness across the board. It’s not just your marketing techniques, but rather, it’s what goes on behind the scenes to make sure your campaigns reach their goals. . No one knows successful marketing operations better than the experienced marketers and business owners of today. Here are their secrets for improving your marketing ops: 1. Establish a cross-department workflow “The most important piece of improving your marketing operations is establishing a project workflow between marketing and the rest of the organization. The internal workings of individual teams can be heavily influenced by how other departments request projects and/or expect projects to be done. Once your workflow is established, using a tool to help task assignments, set deadlines, and follow up is critical.” —Daniel Bliley, Marketing Director, Passport 2. Work with your audience in mind “One issue with marketing, especially in digital, is the noise. There are so many companies saying the exact same thing, and companies don’t really do the proper research to figure out who they are, what their message is, who needs to hear that message, and how to get that message out. Start from the top down. Take the time to explore your analytics and the data, interview your customers, pay attention to social media conversations & get involved, then create content that aligns your goals with your audience’s goals, speak to your audience in a unique way, and constantly review & tweak.” —Patrick Delehanty, Digital Marketing Strategist, Marcel Digital 3. Know your customers “The vast majority of the time, people make bad marketing decisions because they don’t have the right information about their target audience. To remedy that, I’ve worked hard to tie our CRM to our email marketing to our signups to our web traffic, so when we’re reaching out to someone, we have a complete understanding of them.” —D. Keith Casey, Jr., Director of Product, Clarify.io 4. Align all consumer insights "I think in an ideal state there is a dedicated consumer insights team, but a team that doesn’t work in its own little silo. A team that is interactive not only with the marketing team but also the product team, as well as with others who touch the customer technology. They have to understand the full circle of customers’ curiosities so they can put together a real, robust view for those who need it." — Patrick Adams, CMO, PayPal 5. Establish your key marketing metrics “Establish 2 to 4 key metrics that will guide all your marketing efforts. Without establishing these benchmarks, your marketing team won’t have anything to shoot for individually or collectively. Unfortunately, many marketing departments don’t get creative with the metrics that serve as benchmarks for performance; their main metrics usually revolve around leads generated, sales, etc. However, there are usually more telling metrics for measuring your marketing effectiveness. For example, percentage of leads (free trials) vs. unique Website visitors; percentage of leads vs. conversions (paid customers); monthly recurring revenue.” —Jeff Kear, Owner, Planning Pod 6. Prioritize content development "We have a dedicated team that’s focused on content strategy and on creating what I call the content supply chain, mapping out where all the sources of content come from. Do we have the content already? How do we create new content? Who creates the content? It may be internal, it may be external. What format does that content take? Then, how do we work with the appropriate teams to get that content in the market? — Rishi Dave, CMO, Dun & Bradstreet 7. Stay on brand "Ultimately [integrated planning] is a function that’s run through the marketing team. We establish the brand voice and try to create and implement consistency across all of our efforts, all of our communications channels, and all of our internal divisions/business units." — Evan Greene, CMO, The Recording Academy (The GRAMMYs) 8. Focus on the ROI of your campaigns “Focus on ROI and user retention. By measuring the return of each campaign, we’re able to identify which ones are actually working and prioritize those. Our ROI has grown from 35% to 200%. Now, we have more money to invest in other projects to continue growing.” —Gabriel Stürmer, Chief Marketing Officer, Cupcake Sweet Entertainment 9. Implement Lean methodology to discover which campaigns work “Implement the Lean methodology (build, measure, learn). In essence, during planning sessions, we develop a list of hypotheses & prioritize based on expected impact. We then devise bare-bones methods to test these hypotheses. In this way, we get data-driven feedback quickly, allowing us to invest more heavily in winners and cut losers.” —Ryan O’Donnell, Director of Marketing, Avalara TrustFile 10. Use a Scrum board to focus weekly priorities “Enhance your weekly task delegation through the implementation of a Scrum board. Scrum is an Agile framework for handling tasks, originally developed for software development teams to easily delegate tasks. There is nothing worse than being inefficient when it comes to marketing, so a Scrum board helps us develop a weekly plan of attack, and lets everyone know what they should be working on.” —Jake Lane, Growth Analyst, LawnStarter, Inc. 11. Keep experimenting with new marketing techniques “Great marketing is about experimentation, testing, and measuring different approaches to find what works best. An issue many marketing departments face is that everyone has their discrete responsibilities, so it’s left to the marketing director or VP to initiate new programs. However, this should be everyone’s responsibility. Your team should meet regularly to brainstorm and come up with one new idea to apply and measure. It can be big or small, as long as you try something new — otherwise, you may never find that one golden opportunity that makes your revenue curve bend upward.” —Jeff Kear, Owner, Planning Pod 12. Build a long-term marketing plan “Set in stone a comprehensive 12-month marketing strategy and goals for the next five years. Developing a strategy with clear action items and setting both short-term and long-term goals pushes you to assign team members and actually implement the tasks.” —Beth Gard, lotus823 13. Hire a strategic analyst “The first hire in the marketing operations role should be a strategic analyst. This role is focused on developing ROI measurements for marketing. Once the tracking is in place, then everything else within marketing should be aligned.” —David T. Scott, CMO, Scott on Marketing 14. Continue to manage customer data "We’re building a centralized marketing profile that is at the customer level and becomes the common definition used by marketing teams across the organization to drive their campaigns. Getting the data house in order, making it real-time, and managing it at the attribute level is what’s important. As is making sure that the experts who are really close to the products have the ability to control what’s most important to them in that profile. This allows us to federate it out and take a much more efficient view across the organization, rather than be a big centralized behemoth that is too slow and ultimately doesn’t work." — Steve Ireland, SVP/MD, JPMorgan Chase 15. Remain accountable "In order to be effective, marketers need to have credibility. Because they have to do a lot of leading by influence, they have to do a lot of aligning and engaging and evangelizing, and that only works when people trust you. They only trust you if you deliver the goods and are accountable; you do what you say and you say what you mean. — Peter Horst, CMO, The Hershey Company More marketing resources Marketing operations is a relatively new field, and there’s always more to learn. Here's a list of some of our resources for marketing leaders and teams (including our eBook, The Digital Marketer’s Guide: How To Drive Success at the Tactical Level) to help bring your next campaign to success. eBook: 7 Habits of High-Performance Marketing Teams Infographic: How to Choose Marketing Software eBook: The CMO’s Formula To 3x Your Digital Marketing Campaign Results Blog: The “We” in “Teamwork": How Marketers Can Drive Cross-Team Collaboration eBook: How to Avoid the Eight Pitfalls of Marketing Campaign Planning eBook: 5 Steps to Transforming Marketing Operations for Maximum Growth
How to Create an Omnichannel Marketing Strategy (Infographic)
Think about how many devices and platforms you use a day. Smartphones, laptops, tablets, social media apps, emails — the list goes on. And on each and every one of these platforms lies an opportunity for a marketing campaign to reach you — to speak to you in your language and find out what makes you tick. An omnichannel marketing strategy is an integrated approach to digital marketing, where customers are served at every stage of their buyer journey, no matter where they spend their time. Chances are, you’ve experienced omnichannel marketing many times when searching for something to buy. If you’ve ever entered a store and gotten a notification from that store’s app while browsing or seen an ad for a product just after visiting its brand website, you’ve caught a glimpse of omnichannel marketing in action. The benefits of a great omnichannel marketing strategy are vast, including: Increased brand retention and loyalty Improved brand recall Increased revenue Better customer targeting While creating an omnichannel marketing strategy that works for your brand may sound complex, these five steps make the entire process easier. Use technology to your advantage and get to know your customers with our step-by-step guide.
How to Create the Perfect Content Brief
One of the most effective ways to attract new leads and build brand awareness is through content marketing. Developing and publishing content on a regular basis is very important to ensure that you get the most out of your efforts. Depending on the size and nature of your team, the best way to manage your content creation process is through a consistent and organized calendar. In this article, we’ll discuss how a content brief can help reduce the amount of time spent on various tasks and projects, as well as what else you can do to scale your team. Keep reading to discover what a content brief is, why it’s important, and how to write one. Then, explore a real content brief example, along with tips on how Wrike can help. What is a content brief? A content brief is an important document that marketing departments and agencies use to tell writers and collaborators what they should do when creating a specific piece of content. It can be used to communicate the direction a piece of content should take, as well as optimize website messaging, pinpoint sales funnel targets, and support keyword strategies. What is an SEO content brief? A good SEO brief is a document that helps writers understand the purpose of their content and what should be included in it in order to rank higher in search results. These details should include primary keywords, secondary keywords, internal links, headers, alt tags, metadata, and anything else writers and editors should know when creating the final piece. Why are content briefs important? A content brief is a must-have for writers before they start working on their first draft. It helps them identify what they should focus on and what they should avoid in order to create better content. Here are some of the key benefits of using a content brief: They solidify your strategy Content briefs outline what you’re writing, but, more importantly, they also explain why you’re writing it in the first place. This affects the tone, intended audience, call to action, and many other important aspects of the piece. They save time and money Detailed content briefs make it easier for teams to assign and track requests, as it eliminates the need for back-and-forth emails. It also allows them to stay in sync with their projects and work seamlessly across different time zones. They keep allocations organized Including details such as project scope within the brief for each new piece keeps freelancers on track time- and budget-wise without going overboard and charging extra down the line. They help writers be creative A great content brief will give the writer both direction and inspiration. Examples are helpful in sparking creativity. They ensure deliveries and deadlines are met Content briefs clearly outline when first drafts, notes, edits, approvals, and publications are all due. This keeps the entire team on the same page. How to write a content brief: What to include No matter what type of content you’re creating or what strategy you’re going for, you’ll want to include each of the following: Article title: This is the name of the blog post or other piece of content. It should include your primary keyword. Subtitles or headers: This will point the writer in the correct direction and incorporate some more keywords. Target audience: Who will read this piece of content? Add their job title and what they are likely most interested in learning about within this topic. Article funnel stage: This refers to the top, middle, and bottom of the sales funnel, aka, the buyer’s journey. The funnel stage should directly impact the perspective of the piece. Synopsis: A two- to three-sentence description or summary of the piece will go a long way towards making sure your writers understand what you need. CTA guidance: If you have specific links or ideas for what you’d like readers to do after they finish the article, that information goes here. Even a general idea will help your writers. For example, even if you don’t have a specific case study in mind, you can ask your writers to find a relevant one to include. Word count: This is the range or total number of words the writer should hit within the piece. Blog strategy experts recommend a minimum of but longer-form posts in the 1,000-2,500+ word range perform best. Helpful research links: Articles you want the piece to be modeled after or ones the piece is competing with should go here. Website or client guidelines: There may be specific requests or requirements depending on where the piece will be published, so make sure to include those too. Deadlines: Make a note of each of the following due dates: Keyword research Outline First draft Notes (if any) Revisions Approval Publication SEO content brief template: extras to include If you want to win Google’s featured snippet placement or simply rank higher than your competitors, you’ll need to include each of these: Meta title and description Meta descriptions and title tags are parts of HTML code that help search engines understand a web page's content. These are usually shown whenever a page appears in search results. Link suggestions (internal and commercial) Linking to pages on your own company’s website as well as third parties strengthens SEO by building further connections to other relevant articles and pages. This is very helpful for search engine algorithms that will want to better understand how to place your article when ranking for certain phrases. Relevant keywords and volumes Keywords also help build out the full picture of what your article is about. Their volumes represent the number of times a specific keyword has been searched for within a given timeframe and may indicate its value to your audience. Competitor research What are competitors saying about this topic? How does your brand agree or disagree? And, most importantly, how can your article be better than theirs? Redirect information (if relevant) A web page can be made available under multiple addresses by using a technique known as URL forwarding. When a browser tries to open a page that has been redirected, it displays a different page with a different address. Content brief example This content brief example is what we’ve used to create the post you’re reading now. Here is an outline along with an explanation of each item: Article title How to Create The Perfect Content Brief Article URL This is the web address the post will go to when live. Title tag This tag will appear at the top of our webpage. Meta description When searching for our chosen keywords, this information will pop up underneath the title in search engines. Article synopsis/purpose Here, we discuss which keywords we’re supporting, what we’re trying to do with the article, and what readers should gain from it. We also discuss which products or services to highlight, if any. Article goal This clear and measurable goal gives the piece more direction. Audience Here we use a bulleted list to outline the job titles of our intended readers Funnel Stage This is where we pinpoint which stage of the funnel we’re targeting Useful research links These links make it easier to quickly find relevant information on the topic(s) Prospective word count We use a single number or range. Draft date due Add your date here. Publication date Add your date here. Primary keyword This is where we put the word or phrase along with its volume. Primary keyword current ranking If our brand is already ranking for this keyword we’ll put that number here. Ranking URL If we already have a post ranking highly for this target keyword we’ll note the URL. Secondary keywords This list includes supplementary keywords and their matching volumes Inflexible H2s & H3s Here we organize our chosen headers in list form. H2s go in the first bullet point. H3s, if any, go in the indented bullet point. Internal link options to commercial pages List any relevant landing pages for the article. Internal link options to supporting pages These links are relevant to the topic and may provide additional information readers would like to know. How to create your own content brief template Step 1: Create a document draft Start by creating a document your writers and editors will have access to. Copy and paste a content brief example like the one above or create your own. Your marketing project management solution may also offer in-platform templates for content briefs. Step 2: List requirements Next, double-check all included content. Is there anything else the writer may need to know before they begin? Are there any additional sections you need to add so that the brief aligns with your greater content strategy? Step 3: Add in strategy components Then, begin to fill in the gaps. Collaborate with your SEO and editorial teams to get it done by the assigned deadline. Make sure they have completed their work before you get started with the brief, that way, it’s good to go soon after creating it. Get sign-off before handing it over to the writer. Step 4: Get notes and revise Finally, be sure to test out your template and make a point to review its performance over time. Ask all collaborators for their feedback, then apply their notes to the next version of the content brief template. You may find that there are sections you can trim, saving time in the process, or, you may discover more information is needed. Adding these sections to your content brief template now will save time on back and forth questions, additional revisions, and missed deadlines in the future. Why use Wrike for content strategy and content brief creation? Wrike is a project management tool that makes it easy for marketers to plan and execute their content strategies as well as create winning content briefs. Besides offering a holistic planning tool, Wrike has many highly effective templates, including the editorial calendar template. If you're a content agency or writer interested in project management, this template can help. The goal of this template is to create a pipeline that will allow you to regularly produce and publish new content. It will also help you create a consistent and comprehensive content plan. Not only does this aid in managing all of your requests, but it also keeps track of your schedule. It can even help you accelerate approvals and manage capacity. For example, if you’ve got incoming requests from internal stakeholders, you can capture and manage them all in one place. You can invite feedback from external collaborators right within the platform itself, making this solution fully scalable — an important quality for the high demands of content marketing management! And because there is no “one size fits all” solution to content marketing, Wrike has made its editorial calendar template completely customizable. With the help of custom workflows, you can easily create and manage a variety of tasks and projects. A custom workflow will also help you organize all of the different stages of your content. This allows teams to track all of the important details of each content asset, distribution platform, and intended sales pipeline. You can add various fields to any content brief or request form, such as the client’s name, the budget, and the due date right in the template itself. After a request is submitted, your team members can click "Add Assignment." You can then choose an appropriate team member to manage the task. Adding a new task to this template is as simple as clicking the + button and making sure that it's placed in the appropriate folder. The Wrike content plan template also comes with pre-built dashboards that will allow you to monitor the progress of your content. These can be used to choose which posts to promote where. The template can also be used to determine which content you want to make more or less of in the future. We recommend using our tool to plan and get approval on your next marketing budget with figures based on real data from your past projects obtained through Wrike. Aside from the publishing calendar, Wrike also comes with a variety of project management tools that will allow you to manage all of your content. Wrike offers a content management platform that simplifies content strategy and content brief creation. This includes everything from writing copy to storing visual assets to running reports to see which content is most effective. In addition to developing effective content strategies, Wrike’s digital marketing tools can improve a brand’s marketing as a whole. Consistent, high-quality content can help boost brand messaging and improve customer experience. And having a platform to manage it all can help resolve the many requests that come from various parts of the business. Having a consistent way to capture and manage all of your requests can help keep your other content plans running smoothly. Here is how Wrike’s team uses our platform for content strategy and content brief creation: Organize initiatives through individual calendars. With the ability to create individual calendars for different content types, Wrike allows our teams to manage their schedules more effectively. It can also help them identify potential conflicts between projects and tasks. Keep everyone on the same page. The ability to share Wrike's calendar with other departments makes it easier for teams to work together on projects. For instance, if a blog is scheduled to launch before a new product is released, the team can easily see the status of the blog. View accurate project updates. One of the most challenging tasks for teams is keeping track of the status of their tasks and projects. With Wrike's custom workflows, they can easily see the status of their tasks and projects at a glance. Break incoming requests down into actionable steps. Project steps are outlined during the content request phase. In order to create a submission, an employee must first decide if the content will need to be written, edited, and/or proofread. After gathering all the necessary information, the requester is then directed to a page that provides a variety of questions that will help them choose the type of content they need. Save time updating calendars. Wrike teams also use automation features within the platform. The first step in creating content is to create a Wrike task. This allows our teams to keep track of all the details related to their projects and tasks. As a result, Wrike Calendars automatically update with the latest plans and schedules. Track project details you care about most. With the ability to create custom workflows, Wrike's content operations process can help teams keep track of all their tasks and projects. These features can help keep the details of the projects and tasks in order. Get a bird’s eye view of all active projects. The team can also use a dashboard to keep track of all the progress of the tasks. This feature can help keep the team members focused on the tasks that are most important. Next steps: Put your content strategy to work with Wrike Now that you know how to write a content brief, it’s time to decide how you’ll organize your strategy with the entire team. Use Wrike’s two-week free trial and input all of your briefs and related tasks into one clearly organized and easy-to-reference calendar the entire team can use to visualize your content strategy.
Ultimate Tips for Social Media Management in 2022
Social media management is the process of planning, creating, publishing, and monitoring content on one or more social media platforms. Social media management is quite complex, often involving multiple strategies and channels. In addition to learning the basic best practices, social media managers must also stay up to date with trends, continuously monitor reports for improvement, and organize their project plans in a way that makes it easy for their team to follow every day. In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn more about social media management and the tools you need to succeed. Keep reading to discover everything the modern marketer needs to know about winning the game of social media. Social media management explained Social media management strategy is a process that involves analyzing and developing a strategy tailored to the business goals of each individual client or brand. It involves monitoring social media conversations, creating and distributing content, and measuring and reporting on the effectiveness of the strategy. If you’re interested in becoming a social media manager or strengthening your skillset, this guide is for you. Why is social media management important in 2022? In 2022, social media will continue to be an integral part of any company's strategy. It can help them reach their goals and connect with their customers. Social media marketing management allows you to build and manage all of your brand's components through engaging content that connects with audiences. It also produces higher ROI for paid and organic advertising online. With the seemingly never-ending rise of social media, businesses can now reach out to their potential customers wherever they are, as long as they understand how to do it. What is a social media manager? Social media managers are responsible for developing an overall strategy and managing a variety of online activities. Their primary goals include driving sales, helping customers, and developing effective campaigns. What does a social media manager do? A social media manager is in charge of representing a company's brand across multiple channels. They can respond to comments and create content. A social media manager may help organizations improve their online presence or even build their following from the ground up. What skills do you need to become a social media manager? Social media managers need to be skilled at creating engaging content, backend platform analytics tools, and keeping up with the latest social media trends. While there are countless other skills, these are the main ones you need to succeed. How can you become a social media manager? There are opportunities for social media managers in companies, although many choose to freelance and start their own agencies. What are the most prominent social media platforms for businesses? At any given time, there are usually one or two social media platforms that people generally consider to be the most popular. But no matter what’s trending, businesses in 2022 can count on using each of the following tools as part of their strategy: Facebook Facebook allows you to post text and photos, as well as videos and pictures from your business. This can be very powerful for communicating with your customers and potential customers. Facebook demographics In January 2022, it was revealed that almost 10 percent of Facebook's audience was made up of women between the ages of 18 and 24. The platform's biggest demographic group was men between the ages of 25 and 34. Perks of marketing on Facebook Facebook is a massive social network that has more than 3 billion active users. It can be incredibly effective if you use it the right way. Take advantage of its reach, the wide variety of features you can use to interact with users (think groups, pages, etc.), and paid advertising options. Challenges of marketing on Facebook Getting a Facebook page up and running requires a lot of time and effort. Like any social media account, you may also need a dedicated staff member to manage the page and create engaging content. But Facebook specifically has more complex and in-depth uses which require someone who is knowledgeable and willing to keep up with their ever-changing rules. For example, even if your business page has been up for more than five years, you may still run the risk of losing it because of new violation terms, and there is little to no recourse when this happens. LinkedIn LinkedIn is a great way to connect with like-minded industry experts and symbiotic brands that fuel your brand’s network. It's also a great way to market your company and attract new talent. LinkedIn demographics Almost 40% of LinkedIn's global users are between 25 and 34 years old. The platform's 35- to 54-year-old age group is responsible for 30% of its total user base, while the 18- to 24-year-old group accounts for 24%. Perks of marketing on LinkedIn LinkedIn is a powerful marketing tool that enables you to connect with a community of professionals and drive actions that are important to your business. Use it to promote your brand and attract followers. Challenges of marketing on LinkedIn LinkedIn rewards longtime users, so it may be hard to get traction at first. You may even find that a competitor is already dominating the space, which means you’ll have to alter your approach in a way you wouldn’t on other platforms. Instagram Instagram is a great tool for businesses to boost their brand awareness and build and track their audience engagement. It can also help them find new customers and develop effective marketing strategies. Instagram demographics According to a report released by Instagram in January 2022, over 17% of the platform's users are men. More than half of the global population is aged 34 years or younger. Perks of marketing on Instagram Having an Instagram business profile gives you the tools and functionality you need to run your business efficiently. It includes features such as analytics, call-to-action buttons, and third-party integrations. Challenges of marketing on Instagram Bots, growth, and finding the best posting schedules are the main challenges of marketing on Instagram. They all require time and effort to master since there is no one size fits most strategy. Twitter With Twitter, you can stay up-to-date with the latest news and events happening in the world. It's also a great way to build brand awareness and improve your public reputation. Twitter demographics In 2021, the global audience of Twitter was composed of over 35 million users aged 25 to 34 years old. The second-largest demographic on the platform was users aged 35 to 49 years old. Perks of marketing on Twitter Twitter is useful for customer service and community building. You can also use it to grow your brand voice. Challenges of marketing on Twitter It's hard for new users to figure out all of Twitter's tricks and nuances, especially since it has so many little-known details. In addition, the platform is based on a 280-character limit which makes it incredibly short-form. TikTok TikTok helps businesses of all sizes create and manage their ads, promote their brand, and increase their follower count. TikTok demographics In the US, 25% of TikTok's active users are aged 10-19. There are also 22.4% of the company's active users in the U.S. who are aged 20-29. Perks of marketing on TikTok TikTok is a great tool for businesses to create effective and engaging advertisements that will make their brand popular with the masses. With this app, you can design and create branded challenges that will allow users to participate, among many other opportunities for engagement. There are also great TikTok ad opportunities. Challenges of marketing on TikTok Getting noticed on TikTok can be hard, especially if you're not experienced in video editing. You’ll have to get used to shooting hours of content only to edit it down into a logical story using the tiny in-app editing features available through your phone. Your videos may also be seen by the “wrong side” of TikTok and receive more hate than love, depending on your brand or product’s political affiliations. YouTube If you're looking to improve the effectiveness of your video marketing, then planning a YouTube marketing strategy is a great place to start. It can help you reach a wider audience and increase your traffic. YouTube demographics According to data sourced from Statista, the total number of YouTube users is 53.9% male, while 46.1% are female. This data is based on the company's reporting structure, which supports both male and female users between 16 and 64 years old. Perks of marketing on YouTube YouTube is a vital part of any company's marketing strategy. It's easy to upload and import video content, which makes it an ideal tool for any business. Online video marketing is also a unique opportunity for small and medium-sized businesses. Challenges of marketing on YouTube Getting into the YouTube space is a long and hard journey. There are many steps that you need to take to create and publish a video, let alone make sure it is seen by your target audience. Creating a successful YouTube channel requires a lot of hard work and consistent dedication long term. Snapchat With Snapchat, marketers can reach out to their audience in real-time. It's a great tool for storytelling and local campaigns. Snapchat demographics As of January 2021, Snapchat’s female users make up more of its population than male users, with women aged 13 to 17 accounting for 11.8% of the platform's total audience globally. Perks of marketing on Snapchat According to a study conducted by Snapchat, adding commercial content to your campaign can help boost promotional results. It found that the addition of these ads doubled the lift across the funnel and increased awareness of the Discover brand’s content. Challenges of marketing on Snapchat The platform skews toward younger audiences and is based on the concept that the content disappears shortly after being shared, which means marketers have to tailor their marketing plans to these two factors. Social media management tips to live by No matter which platforms you use, there are several tried and true best practices you can follow that will optimize your campaigns. Conduct competitor research Before you start working on your online presence, it's important that you identify and organize all of your competitors. This will allow you to evaluate their current state and how they're doing in terms of their online presence. You'll want to look for both direct and indirect competitors. A direct competitor is a business that offers the same product or service to the same customer base as yours. An indirect competitor is a business that sells products and services to a different customer sector. Having a good understanding of your indirect competition helps you identify areas of potential growth. Audit your current social media performance Start by reading each profile with fresh eyes. Open your backend analytics and data tools. What goals did you originally set for this platform? Assess whether or not those have been reached and why. Keep in mind that as you continue to manage your brand’s social media, you will learn a lot along the way, meaning your old goals may become irrelevant as you better understand the platform and your audience as a whole. You can also compare your profiles to your competitors’. What do they have in common? What are they doing that you aren’t? How do their statistics align with yours? Make a note of all of this. Also, be sure to see whether or not they are engaging in influencer marketing and if it makes sense for your brand to do so as well. If your audit reveals some weaknesses or poor performance, that’s okay — simply conducting the audit in the first place puts you ahead of the game! Set realistic SMART goals One of the most effective ways to make goals more powerful is by using the SMART mnemonic. There are many variants, but the main one is usually: S - Specific It’s clear and detailed. For example, setting a goal to get 100 more Twitter followers is more specific than “getting more followers on social media”. M - Measurable It usually has a quantity attached to it. Followers, comments, and likes are all easy to measure and track on social media. A - Attainable Is it actually possible to get 1 million views on your very first-ever YouTube video? Probably not. Instead, conduct research on what is realistic and what isn’t before getting started so you aren’t unnecessarily disappointed later on. R - Relevant Does this goal align with your greater marketing objectives? What about the company’s goals for the quarter or year? For example, you may feel like everyone is on TikTok, so your brand should be too. But take a beat to decide if it’s truly relevant to your needs before you begin allocating valuable time and resources towards it. T - Timebound Make sure you add a due date or time range in which the goal needs to happen; otherwise, you may find yourself and your marketing agency deprioritizing it when other projects come in. Work out a realistic budget The general rule of thumb is to spend about 5% of your revenue on your marketing budget. It may be more for B2B or less for B2C. Make sure your budget includes tools to make the content, a marketing project management tool, and any additional help from third-party collaborators. Know your audience and their platforms Before you start looking for potential customers, it's important to get a general idea of who they are. Your ideal customer is someone who is interested in what you're selling and how it fits into their lifestyle. Gather as many details as possible about them to create a personalized marketing strategy. There are a variety of social media tools that can help you find out more about these people, such as Facebook's Audience Insights tool. You can also plug in all of the information from your personas into your social media platform of choice to create new audience demographics. Also, check the information you already have access to, such as customer service and sales department analyses. Ensure to provide customer support Get to know your audience and build authentic relationships with them over time. Respond quickly and generously to complaints made online. And always take constructive feedback to heart. What is a social media posting tool? A social media scheduling tool is a tool that helps you manage the various posts that you'll make on your social media accounts. It can be used to ensure that you're always up to date with the latest trends and information. Using one in combination with a digital marketing project management platform can greatly improve the efficiency of your campaigns. Top social media posting scheduling tools for business There are many effective tools for planning, scheduling, posting, and analyzing social media content out on the market; however the following brands we highlight here are leaders in the space. Hootsuite Ryan Holmes created Hootsuite in 2008 to manage various social media platforms. Its user interface features a dashboard, which allows users to manage their accounts and connect with other social networks. Buffer Buffer’s goal is to help users manage their social media accounts. This app allows them to schedule posts to various platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as analyze their results. Sendible Sendible helps agencies and businesses plan and manage their social media strategies. It’s especially adept at managing multiple accounts on the same platform. SocialPilot With SocialPilot, digital marketing professionals can easily manage their social media activities. It allows them to schedule and publish posts from their editorial calendar, analyze their performance, and monitor their followers' activity. Sprout Social With Sprout Social, brands and agencies can manage their social media conversations and get the most out of them. What is social media management software? The point of social media management software is to enable organizations to effectively manage and engage with various social media platforms all at once. This means having a space to plan out campaigns, implement strategies, and receive real-time feedback. Working off of spreadsheets alone may work in the short term, but in order to scale faster and more effectively, you’ll need to adopt social media management software. Features to look for in the best social media management tools The following features are ones you’ll use to save time, streamline your social media workflows, and get the most out of your strategy on a daily basis. Scheduling Scheduling refers to content posting. These types of features will automate the posting process so that your content is reaching the right platforms at the right time without having to manually log in and prep pieces. Automation Automating can mean everything from triggering an automatic response to @mentions on Twitter to reposting the same piece of content across all channels at once. Free templates There are free templates for every aspect of social media management including ones for implementing and monitoring strategy. For example, Wrike offers a social media planning template. App integrations Third-party tools can work in sync with your project management solution to eliminate repetitive administrative work, allowing teams to focus more on content quality than data entry. Reporting and analytics These tools allow users to get better insight into what’s working well on their social media profiles and what isn’t. This insight can be used to determine future goals, budgets, and more. Why use Wrike as your social media management tool? Wrike's marketing project management software helps you get the most out of your marketing campaigns. With Wrike, you and your team can manage all of your marketing projects in one place. It allows you to monitor and track your social media campaigns. Here’s how: Centralize communication Break down silos and make collaboration easier. Centralizing communication is a crucial step in making social media management easier for everyone. It also makes it easier to react to developments in real-time. Visualize everything With Wrike, you can get a 360° view of your marketing project. Take a deep dive into individual post-performance or zoom out to see macro views of all your campaigns and omnichannel marketing. Monitor progress Results are the most important thing when it comes to social media management. With Wrike, you can track and communicate with your followers in real-time within one single platform. Align workflows With marketing project management tools such as Wrike, you can improve the efficiency of your marketing efforts and increase the effectiveness of your workflows by viewing where all of your social media projects overlap. This can help your team uncover roadblocks before they happen or reallocate resources on the fly without missing a beat. Customize your dashboard There are many factors that go into making a successful social media strategy for marketing. From the type of team that you hire to the goals that you set, the types of project management tasks you’ll need to do can vary. With Wrike, you can easily create and manage customized workflows that make sense for your team and will help you get more done in less time. Access reports With Wrike's marketing project management features, you can visualize and gather valuable business intelligence quickly. See how your campaigns are performing, which channels are or are not sparking, and whether or not your audience is engaging with your output. Respond in real time Social media moves quickly. With Wrike, your team can automate notifications and see comments made directly on the marketing assets so they can act immediately. This can help cut down on review cycles so you can shorten the time between conception and publication while also improving the quality of your content. It’s also necessary to respond to followers quickly, especially if something has gone wrong. Next steps The best, most successful social media management practices use the right tools and techniques to pull it all off. A project management software can help you organize your goals, teams, and content all in one place. It can also help you analyze and finetune your approach as you go. Discover how Wrike can help you improve your social media planning and execution with our free trial.
