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Micro-Influencer Tactics for 2024

JANUARY 2, 2024

As it becomes harder to sell through influencers on social, brands are moving away from expensive professional content creators in favor of more cost-effective UGC. Here’s how:

Work with existing customers. Tap your existing network of loyal fans whose honest reviews of free product will resonate more in an oversaturated influencer landscape.
Hone your gifting strategy. Test incentives like affiliate commission, free products and gifts, access to special events and exclusives, and promotional discounts.
Build lasting relationships. Keep fans engaged by sending birthday cards, spotlighting users, co-creating products with them, and inviting early feedback.
Know when to go traditional. Larger influencers can still support bigger brand moments and product launches, in tandem with your micro-influencer strategy.

Dig deeper at Inc.

5 AI in Marketing Certifications for 2024

JANUARY 1, 2024

Happy January! If you have some mandatory professional development to do, or if you’re leveling up for the love of it all, consider an AI-related marketing cert to stay ahead of the curve, like these:

Certifications for Beginners:

Certification in AI for Business by Growth Tribe (Beginner, 21 Hours)
AI in Digital Marketing by Great Learning (Beginner, 1.5 Hours)

Certifications for Advanced Learners:

Futureproof Your Marketing by Pathmonk Academy (Advanced, 5 Hours)
AI for Marketing a Certification by Guy Yalif from CXL (Advanced, 1.5 Hours)

Something for Everyone:

AI for Marketing Mastery Program by MAII (Suitable for All, 8 Hours)

Gartner’s 5 Predictions for The Future of Marketing

DECEMBER 28, 2023

‘Tis the season for a little prognostication. Here’s the future world of marketing, according to Gartner, released annually:

By 2025, a perceived decay in the quality of social media sites will push 50% of consumers to significantly limit their use of major platforms.
By 2026, 80% of creative talent will use GenAI daily, allowing for more strategic work, resulting in increased spending on creative.
By 2027, 20% of brands will lean into positioning and differentiation predicated on the absence of AI in their business and products.
By 2028, brands will see their organic site traffic decrease by 50% or more as consumers embrace GenAI-powered search.
By 2026, 60% of CMOs will adopt measures such as content authenticity technology, enhanced monitoring, and brand-endorsed user-generated content to protect their brands from widespread deception unleashed by GenAI.

So, what do you think? Garner has some tips to prepare on the blog.

8 Helpful AI Features in Google Ads

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Check out Google Ads’ AI features to improve results, strengthen customer connections, and deepen your marketing expertise.

AI-driven search campaigns: AI helps optimize bidding strategies, expand match types, and enhance ad relevance with remarkable precision in real-time.
Performance Max AI features: This goes beyond familiar channels, utilizing AI to uncover untapped audience segments and conversion opportunities.
Automatically created assets: This feature generates context-based headlines and descriptions, enhancing Ad Strength by considering factors such as the landing page and existing ads.
Conversational Experience in Google Ads: This beta feature allows for efficient creation of impactful keywords and assets by entering your website URL.
Google Analytics 4 measurement enhancements: By leveraging AI, GA4 is a robust measurement tool that automatically extracts insights and anticipates future consumer trends.
Optimized targeting: AI builds upon audiences you already know by harnessing signals from Google’s ecosystem to illuminate new, relevant customers.
YouTube AI-powered creative tools: Use these to generate video ads and campaigns or simply enhance existing ones with trimming, flipping, and voiceovers.
App campaigns: Promote apps across Google’s most prominent channels within a single campaign.

Dig in at WordStream.

20 Types of Backlinks

DECEMBER 26, 2023

Editorial: Organic links acquired when other websites find your content valuable and link to it.
Guest post: A backlink you acquire by writing and publishing content on other websites, typically within your niche or industry.
Mend broken backlinks: The strategy involves identifying broken links on relevant websites and suggesting your content as a replacement.
Dofollow: These allow search engines to follow them, passing on link equity to the linked page.
Nofollow: These contain the nofollow (rel=“nofollow”) attribute and instruct search engines not to follow them.
Comment and forum: Links that you acquire by leaving comments under blog posts. Likewise, forum backlinks come from forum threads or your signature.
Niche edits: Also known as curated links or link insertion, these are backlinks inserted into existing articles, listicles, or pages on a website.
Press release: Links you obtain by distributing press releases about your business updates or events.
Social media: These refer to any link from a social media website or page to your site.
Directory: These come from submitting your website to online directories or business listings
Image: An image that is linked (attributed) to a site/page.
Video: These come from video descriptions, comments, or video credits when your videos are uploaded on platforms like YouTube
Paid: When a website pays a third-party domain for a dofollow backlink that points back to its domain.
Edu and gov: Domains with the EDU and GOV suffix are the most trusted extensions for Google.
Unlinked brand mentions: When a website talks about your brand, a case study, or research but does not link to you.
Podcast: Obtained by being a guest on a podcast or when your website is mentioned in podcast show notes.
Testimonial: Earn links by providing testimonials or reviews for products, services, or businesses.
Footer: Sitewide links placed at the bottom of your website in the footer section.
Badge: These can be earned when other websites or organizations award you with a digital badge or emblem.
Influencer-generated: When they mention or link to your website in their content.

Drill down more at HubSpot.

7 Winning SEO Tests

DECEMBER 21, 2023

SearchPilot has shared 7 case studies from their customers that demonstrate the success of various SEO tests.

In a customer case study…

Increasing the number of linked-to article pages on each content hub page resulted in an 11% increase in organic traffic.
Adding internal category links to the home page footer resulted in a 5% increase in organic traffic.
Localizing ecommerce product content from the UK market for the US market resulted in a 24% increase in organic traffic.
Adding “[Month] [Year]” to title tags resulted in a 5% increase in organic traffic.
Adding content optimized for featured snippets resulted in a 25% increase in organic traffic.
Putting the brand at the front of title tags resulted in a 15% increase in organic traffic.
Removing the tabs and accordions that conceal product info on initial page load resulted in a 12% increase in organic traffic.

Check out the full post at SearchPilot.

5 Tips for TikTok Creator Ads

DECEMBER 19, 2023

People trust TikTok creators, making them a great investment for brands looking to advertise on the platform. Keep these data-based tips in mind:

Grab attention fast. 90% of ad recall impact and 80% of awareness impact is captured within the first 6 seconds. Best bet? Show a real person, first thing.
Make a personal connection. TikTok users respond to approachable creators. Ads in which a creator greets the audience have a 112% uplift in brand recall. Say “you.”
Show your product in use. Ads in which creators unbox, demo, or show off products throughout the video get a major boost.
Use high-impact elements. Feature original or trending music, text overlay, and upbeat pacing to stay platform-appropriate.
Don’t skip the CTA. On-screen, written CTAs saw a 205% boost in purchase intent.

Read the full report at CreatorIQ.

How to Comment on LinkedIn Posts

DECEMBER 19, 2023

We know you know how. But LinkedIn has a few tips for how not to.

Don’t share links without context under posts. Instead of dropping your blog and leaving, make an effort to connect what you’re sharing with the original post.

Don’t respond to posts with just a few words. “Nice work!” isn’t going to do much for your visibility. Be explicit about what you liked and why.

Don’t simply ask yes or no questions. You’ll get yes or no answers, or none at all. Prompt people with specific, open-ended discussion starters.

Find even more tips from the platform on LinkedIn’s Guide to Creating.

Pinterest’s 2024 Trend Predictions

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Marketers ought to put a pin in Pinterest’s forecasted trends for 2024, backed by platform data:

Beauty

Blue makeup and nails are making a dazzling comeback.
Lotions and bodycare products are headed for primetime as people seek more at-home spa experiences.
Big looks will be in, from chunky hoops to fluffy hair.

Celebrations