The Daily Carnage

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When to Post: 2023 Edition

APRIL 4, 2023

Let’s get to it. Here are the best times to post per platform, according to a survey of 1000+ social media marketers:

Instagram

👍 Best Times: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
👎 Worst Times: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
⭐ Best Day: Saturday
🚫 Worst Day: Monday

Facebook

👍 Best Times: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
👎 Worst Times: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
⭐ Best Day: Friday and Saturday
🚫 Worst Day: Sunday

Twitter

👍 Best Times: 9 a.m. to Noon
⭐ Best Day: Monday
🚫 Worst Day: Saturday and Sunday

Pinterest

👍 Best Times: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
👎 Worst Times: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
⭐ Best Day: Friday
🚫 Worst Day: Tuesday

TikTok

👍 Best Times: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
👎 Worst Times: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
⭐ Best Day: Friday
🚫 Worst Day: Monday

Check out HubSpot’s full report for more specific recommendations for B2B vs. B2C.

4 New Rules for PPC Creative

APRIL 4, 2023

We’ve rolled with the punches—banner ads built for desktops (2000s), mobile-friendly ads (2010’s), social media and video formats (now!). But how will the burgeoning age of machine learning change digital campaigns? Here are 4 rules-of-thumb:

One-to-one marketing. We will no longer have to determine where a user is in the purchase journey—the algorithm can do that for us. Provide it with enough assets to reach every step of the purchase journey—from explainer videos to product benefit videos to static ads with offers.
Feed the machine. Machine learning requires a lot of input in terms of creative assets. For maximum portability, provide it with multiple aspect ratios for static and video, and test a variety of ad formats, such as text overlays, UGC, animations, and more.
Account for short attention spans. We’re down to a six-second window, folks. Move your story arc to the front, highlight your logo in first few moments, and get that CTA in quickly.
Actionable tests. Algorithms excel at testing minor differences in creative. But traditional A/B testing will still be useful for measuring statistical significance ahead of major shifts in brand positioning, for example.

4 Key Components to a Winning Audio Ad

APRIL 2, 2023

Boost recall on your radio and podcast ads with these 4 essential components.

Sonic branding. Super sticky auditory stimuli—from short but catchy sound logos to entire brand anthems and iconic taglines—is the most effective way to improve brand recognition.
Music. Ads with on-brand songs, melodies, and jingles are more memorable than those without, driving purchase intent, recall, and enthusiasm.
Voice. Ask not “who?” but “how many?” Interestingly, ads that utilize multiple voices and two-way banter perform better than those with just one voice actor.
Messaging. The key? Get your brand name in the script 4 or more times. Plus, think of this disclaimer boilerplate as an extra creative space. Bonus: aim for :30 in length, unless you’re in the retail industry, which does better at :15.

Check out the full study at Audacity.

What are UTM Codes?

MARCH 29, 2023

If you don’t know, now you know! UTM codes are custom URLs that can marketers use to accurately track the performance of a campaign. UTMs track these 5 parameters:

Source: The website, publication, or advertiser that is sending traffic to your site. For example, you could add a UTM code to your Twitter bio to track the traffic it refers.
Medium: The type of channel driving the traffic, such as PPC, organic search, paid social, organic social, and email.
Campaign: The specific campaign, promotion, or sale that your link represents.
Term: The target keyword driving traffic to your site.
Content: The specific content, such as multiple CTAs, that a user can click on within the same campaign.

These parameters can help you track your referrals, optimize your bidding strategy, and measure the success of your campaigns. Get a closer look at UTM codes over at Semrush.

How to Address Keyword Cannibalization

MARCH 28, 2023

Keyword cannibalization happens when you have multiple pieces of content on your website that rank for the same search query in SERPs. The topics covered are too similar, or the content is optimized for the same keyphrase. Google can’t discern which page should rank higher, resulting in lower rank for your content overall.

Here’s how to resolve keyword cannibalization:

First, audit and analyze the performance of your content. Google: site:domain.com “keyword” to determine if several pieces of similar content are ranking lower than you’d like.
If two blog posts cover virtually the same content, for example, merge them into one long-form piece to improve ranking.
Remember to redirect removed content to the new link.
Improve your internal linking structure to help Google understand which piece of content should be ranked highest. Achieve this by linking to more important articles from less important articles.

Learn more about keyword cannibalization from Yoast SEO.

4 New LinkedIn Features for Business Pages

MARCH 26, 2023

Level up your B2B marketing efforts by utilizing these 4 new LinkedIn features for business pages.

Native post scheduling. Plan posts for your business page up to 3 months in advance directly from the platform. This feature is currently only available on desktop.
Audio events. Participate in audio-only discussions live instead of relying on external broadcasting applications.
Automatic job posting. Businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees can now automatically share one open position each day as a pre-scheduled post.
Follow as your page. LinkedIn Pages can now follow other Pages to help you build more community in your industry.

Check out the full post at Search Engine Journal.

3 Ways to Improve Your Content Writing Skills

MARCH 22, 2023

It can be hard to avoid writer’s block and content fatigue as a modern marketer. Here’s 3 healthy habits of successful writers:

Upgrade your information diet by curating media streams for yourself—including social media, magazines, videos, books, and other formats. Set up “read-it-later” apps to stay organized and consider keeping a “commonplace book,” or a collection of content that inspires you.
Maybe you’re not a pen-and-paper person, and that’s fine. Capture your ideas wherever they happen—collect them from your Notes app, Twitter, the group chat, a never-ending Google doc… the idea is to build a searchable note-taking system that works and can be referenced later.
The writing process doesn’t have to be so lonesome. Generate and develop ideas by engaging in conversations with friends, readers, and editors. These opportunities help you hone concepts, get helpful feedback, and test ideas at-scale.

Spend some time with David Perell’s Ultimate Guide to Writing Online to take a deeper dive.

9 Reddit Ads to Try

MARCH 20, 2023

Reddit’s 57 million users represent highly engaged, niche online communities—and a huge opportunity for brands that know their target audience. Here are 9 Reddit ads to consider:

Promoted Post

Image Ads: Test a scroll-stopping image ad that appears in the Reddit feed.
Carousel Ads: Similar to other platforms; maximize your ad space with multiple images.
Video Ads: Engage your audience with an in-feed video.
Conversation Placements: Drive incremental reach with ads that appear within conversation threads.
Text Ads: Quickly promote your message with simple in-feed text ads.

High Impact

Reddit Takeover: Get your content trending in the Popular feed with Reddit’s widest-reaching package.
Front Page Takeover: Own the homepage with a 24-hour ad.
First View: Own the first unique ad impression on the Home and Popular page.
Category Takeover: Own top communities in your category for 24 hours or more.

Checkout Reddit for Business to get started.

5 PPC Keyword Challenges

MARCH 15, 2023

Optimizing keywords for paid search campaigns can be difficult to get right. Here’s how to approach 5 common challenges.

Challenge #1: How many keywords should you have in your account?

The answer is simple: as many as necessary. By using keyword planning and competitor keyword tools, you can build a large list of potential keywords to narrow down and ultimately integrate into your account structure.

Challenge #2: Variants, variability & redundant keywords

Keyword phrases can be quite similar, with only slight variance in the order of words. Google has recently moved to flagging keywords for redundancy, but the fact is that even similar keywords can perform very differently. Consider testing both, so long as they have estimated search volume.

Challenge #3: Head terms vs long tail variants

Start by adding long tail keywords (4+ words), which are more specific and less costly than broader head terms (3 words or fewer).

Challenge #4: Match type myopia

These days, broad match can be too broad, targeting search terms that are not relevant to your business. Instead, try phrase and exact match terms first. After sustained success over time, you can expand into broad match.

Challenge #5: Keyword list maintenance

It’s not a crockpot—you can’t set up your account and forget it. Your keyword list needs regular maintenance to optimize performance. Make sure your keywords are still relevant, identify new versions to test, and analyze your best and worst performers to improve.

Check out WordStream’s guide for a deep dive into PPC.