by Fronetics | May 15, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Recent research aims to get the bottom of the biology behind social media engagement. There’s now scientific evidence to support the best time to post on social media.
Highlights:
- Researchers from Notre Dame have linked optimal social media post timing with human circadian rhythms.
- Emotional content performs best in the mornings.
- For think-pieces, afternoon is the best time to post.
We frequently remind our clients of a fundamental truth of digital marketing, summed up nicely by BuzzFeed’s Jonathan Perelman: “Content is king, but distribution is queen and she wears the pants.” Essentially, you need content of the highest quality, but that’s not enough. Knowing the best time to post on social media and to distribute content across your other digital channels is crucial to ensuring that your content goes to work for you.
As digital natives increasingly populate decision-making positions within the B2B marketplace, social media is increasingly becoming a space where buyers gain information for use in decision-making. In fact, 54% of all B2B buyers report that they rely heavily on social media to research vendor solutions.
[bctt tweet=”54% of all B2B buyers report that they rely heavily on social media to research vendor solutions.” username=”Fronetics”]
Many marketers remain uncertain about how to time posts optimally for maximum engagement and ROI. For lack of clear information, social media managers often resort to a “spray and pray” strategy, in which they post frequently and spend increasingly on boosting their content.
There are some excellent tools out there, which we recommend, to help you determine the best time to post on social media for your business. Now, thanks to three pioneering researchers, there’s science to back up the logic on post timing.
The research
Three researchers at the University of Notre Dame — Vamsi K. Kanuri, Shrihari Sridhar, and Yixing Chen — investigated the question of the best time to post on social media. Among other findings, their research showed that “digital content platforms can increase traffic to their websites from social media and boost digital ad profits by at least 8%, simply by aligning their posting schedules with target audiences’ sleep-wake cycles, or circadian rhythms.” Their findings, entitled Scheduling Content on Social Media: Theory, Evidence and Application, were published in the Journal of Marketing.
The authors began by interviewing social media managers from major content platforms to understand how they make decisions about what and when to post, as well as investigating a year of Facebook post and boosting data. What they found is that managers have been relying not on science, but on personal experience and “gut feelings.”
“It turns out managers’ intuition on when audiences consume content was generally accurate, but the engagement rates for specific content categories (sports, local) and content types (high-arousal content and content requiring higher cognitive processing) and temporal variation in the effectiveness of boosting came as surprise to managers,” author Kanuri says. “The fact that firms can increase their engagement without spending an additional dime is jaw-dropping for most managers we interviewed.”
Working memory and social media post timing
The team’s findings hinge on the biological idea of human working memory, which “stores and manipulates information used in daily tasks.” Working memory capacity varies throughout the day, in accordance with circadian rhythms. The capacity is at its peak upon waking in the morning, reaches its lowest point mid-afternoon, and is at a moderate level in the evening.
“Higher working memory makes us feel alert and curious, meaning consumers are more likely to devour content in the morning,” says Kanari. “When working memory is resource-deprived, the brain prioritizes information to remain efficient and will better respond to boosted content, which legally must look different to consumers. The different look signals to the brain the information is important, thus, boosted content is most effective in the afternoon as working memory lowers.”
Perhaps most significantly, the research demonstrated that “articles that required deeper engagement with ideas — think op-eds and science-based articles — were more frequently clicked on when working memory was high.”
Using the science to find the best time to post on social media
The authors designed an algorithm that allows firms to automatically make profitable decisions about post timing and boosting spend. But, even without purchasing the algorithm software, the research offers extremely valuable, actionable insights for social media managers. Here are four main takeaways:
- In general, morning posts yield higher engagement.
- Spending money to boost posts is most effective when the target audience is at low working memory (afternoons and evenings).
- Content designed to elicit high-arousal emotions (like anger or worry) performs best in the morning.
- Deep-think content like op-eds and scientific research performs best in the afternoon.
Social media success doesn’t necessarily depend on high-dollar spending to boost posts. Paying attention to the science behind audience engagement is key. Aligning content types and post timing with the biological evidence presented will ensure that content performs optimally.
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by Fronetics | May 13, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Instagram Stories offer an on-trend platform for delivering targeted content to B2B buyers, and we’re joining the fun.
We’ve written extensively about the benefits of using Instagram as a part of your social media strategy. And, though we’ve been active on Instagram for over two years, we’re now taking on Instagram Stories.
Instagram Stories are sequences of content that a user (or business) posts to Instagram over a 24-hour period. Besides photos, Stories can include videos, live and prerecorded. The content plays as a continuous feed, creating a narrative about the user’s day — hence the term “Stories.”
Audiences can view the Stories of the users they follow within the 24-hour window after they are posted. They can find users with active Stories by scrolling the user icons at the top of the app. Or users can tell their followers that they’ve posted a story by tagging them, which notifies them through a direct message.
Fronetics’ Stories will be a fun mix of breaking news, highlights of upcoming events, and live video on the latest industry trends. Ideas for Stories you’d like to see us cover? Email me at [email protected].
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by Fronetics | May 7, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
When it comes to social media, timing is everything. These 5 tools will help you determine the best time to post on social media for your business.
Highlights:
- Social media is playing an increasing role in B2B purchasing decisions.
- Even if you’re posting great content, if you’re doing it at the wrong times, you’re losing out.
- Social media management tools can help you understand your audience and make informed decisions about post timing.
If you’re a B2B marketer, chances are, you’re well aware of the importance of social media. But since, as BuzzFeed’s Jonathan Perelman famously put it, “Content is king, but distribution is queen, and she wears the pants,” simply posting your content is only half the battle. Knowing the best time to post on social media is nearly as important as what you post.
It’s difficult to overstate importance of an effective social media strategy. Not only do 78% of marketers who have used social media for 2 years or more report increased traffic to their websites, but B2B decision-makers increasingly report that they are influenced by social media when purchasing. According to Demand Gen’s 2018 B2B Buyers Survey Report, more than half (54%) of all B2B buyers rely on social media to research vendor solutions.
[bctt tweet=”Not only do 78% of marketers who have used social media for 2 years or more report increased traffic to their websites, but B2B decision-makers increasingly report that they are influenced by social media when purchasing.” username=”Fronetics”]
These are powerful numbers, and all signs point to social media playing an ever-increasing role in the B2B buyer’s journey. For your social media content to pack the biggest punch, you need to be posting at the optimal times. Luckily, there are a plethora of social media management tools that can help you refine your strategy. Here are our 5 favorite tools for determining the best time to post on social media for B2B brands.
5 tools for determining the best time to post on social media
1) Google Analytics
This robust analytical tool is among the most popular all-around web tools for B2B businesses, and for good reason. Google Analytics can help you determine how your audience is interacting with all your digital assets, and it offers some great insights about social media in particular. You can create various types of custom reports based on your business’ goals and results. We recommend three in particular to help you find the best time to post on social media:
- Best Days to Post on Social Media
- Best Time to Post on Social Network by Hour
- Social Media Traffic by Date and Hour
2) Buffer
A company with an impressive record when it comes to social media management, Buffer’s platform lets you easily manage all your social media platforms. Like its biggest rival, Hootsuite (more on that soon), Buffer offers among its features some useful insights for determining ideal post timing and frequency. For example, it analyzes follower activity and suggests the perfect moments to post on each social media platform.
3) Hootsuite
Hootsuite has been one of our favorite tools for a long time, and it truly offers a rich variety of features and insights to maximize the effectiveness of your digital assets. Not only is it effective at scheduling social media posts, it’s an excellent tool for measuring social media ROI — no easy task! Hootsuite’s AutoSchedule feature is one of its best assets. For each piece of content you plan to post on social media, it analyzes when similar content performed best in the past and determines the optimal post time. In addition, it considers the platform and publishes based on audience engagement on each network.
4) Followerwonk
Followerwonk is new to our list, and it’s different from most social media management tools. While it doesn’t offer the kind of scheduling and management features as the other platforms on our list, what it does do extremely well is help you gain valuable insights and understanding of your audience. For example, Followerwonk lets you analyze your current Twitter followers by things like location, post timing, engagement, accounts they follow, and more, as well as contrast those relationships with your competitors. Understanding your followers at this level will not only help you determine when your business should post on social media, but will allow you to analyze and adjust your strategy in all kinds of ways.
5) SproutSocial
Another perennial favorite, SproutSocial offers the whole menu of social media management tools: everything from monitoring to scheduling to analytics. The customized dashboard gives you a bird’s eye overview of how your social media channels are performing. You can find deeper insights, including individual statistics on each post, and customer data like gender, age, and location demographics. The platform’s ViralPost technology boasts impressive results at finding the best time to share your content.
Figuring out the best time to post on social media for your business is no easy task, but it’s key to getting your content to reach your target audience. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and any one, or a combination, of these tools can help you understand your audience better and get your content out to them at the right times.
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by Fronetics | May 1, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
We get many queries from manufacturers about social marketing — mostly, why and how should I use it — so here are our answers to the most-popular questions manufacturers ask about social media.
Highlights:
- Facilitate networking opportunities, thought leadership, and prospect/client relationships.
- Consider using popular platforms like YouTube and Instagram to engage users and drive website traffic.
- Don’t use social media to push your products.
(Made with Canva)
B2B operations have increasingly embraced social media as a strategic marketing tool. In fact, 9 out of 10 companies are active on at least one platform. But manufacturers, in particular, have been reticent to jump on the social media bandwagon.
If your manufacturing operation isn’t making use of social media as a tool to engage with your audience, you’re missing out on big lead generation potential. Manufacturers like the Dow Chemical Company, ArcelorMittal, and CAT Products are among those that have figured out how to harness the power of social media.
To help you launch or refine your efforts, we’ve put together the following answers to the most-popular questions manufacturers ask about social media.
Why should manufacturing companies be on social media?
There are three major reasons that manufacturing brands should be all over social media:
- Establish thought leadership
- Network within the industry
- Develop and sustain client relationships
Notice that none of these involve selling products. As with content marketing in general, good social media marketing isn’t about pushing your products.
[bctt tweet=”The value of social media for manufacturers is in its potential to establish and expand thought leadership and to cultivate meaningful and fruitful relationships within your industry and among prospects and clients.” username=”Fronetics”]
To make the most of social media as a marketing tool, abandon the idea that it’s about blatant sales pitches. Instead, approach it from the perspective that it’s an inherently social tool – that is, its value for manufacturers is in its potential to establish and expand thought leadership and to cultivate meaningful and fruitful relationships within your industry and among prospects and clients.
Which social media platforms should manufacturers be using?
Not all social media platforms are created equal. Each requires its own strategy, content format, and media. We recommend that manufacturers consider these five platforms:
1) Facebook
Facebook is an excellent place to share content with a wide segment of your audience, to promote engagement (through likes, comments, and shares), and to engage with peers and prospects. Not only that, the savviest marketers are using Facebook to understand their industry better – everything from strategies of peer brands to a fuller picture of your target buyer persona to the informational or product needs of your prospects.
2) Twitter
Twitter’s format is about brief, pithy content, used to engage with and inform your audience. This is an ideal place to let customers know what you’re planning next, to establish your corporate personality, and to let your audience in on a slice of your day-to-day operations and values.
3) YouTube
Video marketing for manufacturers is skyrocketing. With video being the most popular form of content online today, YouTube is an obvious choice for marketers. Whether it’s “how to” videos, footage of your operations, or interviews with subject-matter experts, your brand should be using YouTube to drive search traffic and educate prospects.
4) LinkedIn
B2B marketers unequivocally rank LinkedIn as the most effective network for lead generation, follower engagement, and traffic to their websites. An ideal place to engage with industry leaders, LinkedIn is also great for distributing content to a focused audience.
5) Instagram
The popularity of this highly visual platform has continued to skyrocket – it’s currently the second-most-used social media platform (up from fourth just two years ago). And believe it or not, this picture-based network is a powerhouse for B2B brands. We’ve written extensively about how brands can leverage Instagram and Instagram Stories. Suffice it to say, this is a perfect place to post your most engaging visual content and actively engage with followers.
How can manufacturers be effective on social media?
As with any content marketing effort, a well-thought-out social media strategy is a big part of success. As you create and begin to implement your strategy, start with these five tips.
1) Listen.
Before you post even a single piece of content, start by listening to your audience. In the days before social media, marketers had it much harder when it came to determining audience needs and preferences. Use these platforms to research your target prospects, as well as how competitors are engaging followers. Make note of the questions your target audience has, frustrations or challenges they express, and what types of content they engage with.
2) Focus on offering value.
You’d be surprised how many manufacturers neglect to place a premium on simply being useful with their social media content. It’s not complicated: If you post relevant, valuable content for your target audience, you’ll boost engagement, grow brand awareness, and generate and convert more leads.
3) You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you post.
One of the great things about social media is that it rewards not only content creation, but content curation. While you do want to be posting original content most of the time (experts recommend about 60%), a good chunk of your posting activity should include curating relevant content from third parties to share with your followers.
4) Be creative.
Separating yourself from your competitors can be a challenge, but it’s one worth striving toward. Start by asking yourself what makes your operation unique, what’s special about your process, what industry-leading expertise does your executive team have, what unusual perspective can you offer? Next, start breaking these four rules.
5) Learn from your successes and setbacks.
There are many tools out there to help you track the results of your social media efforts. Determine the right KPIs for your business and keep track of your results relentlessly. These metrics will allow you to study your impact and frequently tailor your strategy accordingly.
It’s time for manufacturers to fully embrace the marketing potential of social media. Whether you create and implement your own strategy, or decide to outsource your social media efforts, social media is a powerful set of tools that manufacturers should be harnessing.
Are there other questions manufactures ask about social media that we missed? Let me know in the comments.
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by Fronetics | Apr 30, 2019 | Blog, Current Events, Marketing, Social Media, Video Marketing
Also, this month in social media news: LinkedIn adds a “Teammates” option to facilitate connections among colleagues, and Facebook is testing a Stories-like newsfeed.
Highlights:
- Facebook is giving users increased access to what information advertisers have on them.
- Instagram is considering joining Facebook in promoting communal video experiences.
- LinkedIn’s “Teammates” feature helps users prioritize content from close connections.
This month in social media news, Facebook is continuing to combat user privacy concerns by introducing a tool to provide greater transparency about the content they see on their Newsfeeds, both from connections and from advertisers. The platform is also continuing to explore the Stories trend, as it conducts early-stage testing of a layout that resembles the Stories feature more than it does the existing Newsfeed.
Both Instagram and LinkedIn are promoting greater community among users. Instagram is testing a group video viewing option, joining Facebook’s Watch Party, introduced last year. LinkedIn is rolling out a feature which allows users to prioritize content from their closest connections. Read on for a round-up of social media news.
Facebook Introduces a Feature to Assist Users in Understanding the Context of Content Appearing on the Newsfeed
Having been embroiled in ongoing privacy-related scandals, Facebookis making users’ safety and comfort using the platform a priority. To that end, the company has announced that it will be giving users greater control over the content that appears on their Newsfeeds, through the “Why am I seeing this post?” feature.
[bctt tweet=”Facebook has announced that it will be giving users greater control over the content that appears on their Newsfeeds, through the “Why am I seeing this post?” feature.” username=”Fronetics”]
In 2014, the social media giant launched its similar feature, “Why am I seeing this ad?” which was geared toward projecting transparency in the company’s embattled relationship with users and their advertising content. Facebook announced simultaneously that it will be “making improvements” to the older feature. The new “Why am I seeing this post?” feature aims to help users understand the context for what shows up in their Newsfeeds, and it also allows them to control and manage content.
Marketers should be aware that users will now be able to find out when their profile information matches with the information on an advertiser’s list, as well as when an advertiser “saves their personal information in their database and other details such as if they (the users) were targeted by the advertiser through another marketing partner of theirs (advertisers).”
Instagram Tests a Communal Video Viewing Option
Social media platforms are continuing to push the boundaries of social experiences that are possible for users not in physical proximity. Back in 2018, Facebook rolled out its “Watch Party” option, and now Instagram is exploring jumping on the bandwagon, testing a similar function in its app.
The feature would allow users to view video content on Instagram with a friend, while simultaneously seeing their reactions on screen, using the phone’s camera, in a split-screen view. Users can also apply face filters and other visual tools to the personal feed. Instagram and Facebook’s features are part of a larger trend toward “multi-participatory consumption.”
LinkedIn Adds a New “Teammates” Option to Maintain Connections Among Colleagues
In an ongoing attempt to boost on-platform engagement, LinkedIn has introduced a new feature called “Teammates.” It enables users to put a priority on updates from immediate connections, content with which LinkedIn has found that its users are 60% more likely to engage than more distant connections. As users place a priority on updates from teammates, it will appear higher in their feeds.
The network is pushing the feature as promoting community within the workplace: “95% of working professionals think it’s a good idea to have friends at work, and 63% say they have relationships with their co-workers outside the office. Based on a recent study we shared last month, having friends at work can also help you advance your career.”
Marketers should take note, since it’s not immediately clear what the impact of this feature will be on branded content. Nonetheless, it emphasizes the value of cultivating meaningful connections on the platform, as potential clients will be more likely to mark these types of connections as “teammates,” placing a higher priority on their content.
Facebook is Testing a Stories-Like Swipeable Newsfeed
Stories features across the social media landscape continue to grow in popularity. In keeping with the trend, Facebook is experimenting with a Newsfeed layout which allows users to side-scroll or swipe between posts in their feed, rather than scrolling down. This is a potential significant re-design for the platform, and points to the fact that the Stories trend is here to stay.
If Facebook adopts the design, it would merge Stories and Newsfeed content into a single stream. The network emphasized to TechCrunchthat it is “in the very early stages of development,” and “still needs to conduct a lot more user research before any public experimentation can take place.”
Therefore, while it’s unlikely that a new Newsfeed is coming soon, what is clear is that social media platforms are experimenting with increasingly integrating Stories-style content into every aspect of the user experience.
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by Fronetics | Apr 11, 2019 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Content marketing is no longer optional. It’s essential in creating brand awareness, educating audiences, and building credibility. Here’s a look at the biggest digital marketing trends for 2019.
Highlights:
- The content marketing industry is expected to be worth more than $400 billion by 2021.
- Video is currently the most popular form of content being consumed online today.
- Peers and colleagues are the third most influential source of information for B2B purchasing, right behind online searches and your website.
A recent article by Forbes on content marketing notes: “As recently as a few years ago, marketers handled content mostly as a side project. It was more of a bonus than an essential role — something you did when you had time because it took a backseat to more traditional marketing projects and responsibilities. That’s changed.”
Boy, has that changed. The content marketing industry is expected to be worth more than $400 billion by 2021.
[bctt tweet=”The content marketing industry is expected to be worth more than $400 billion by 2021.” username=”Fronetics”]
The 2018 report from the Content Marketing Institute shows just how prevalent digital and content marketing is, and how essential it has become to creating brand awareness, educating your audience, and building credibility and trust with your customers.
Supply chain & logistics marketers: Trends to watch
So, where is content marketing headed in 2019? Marketing budgets are still on the rise, and supply chain and logistics companies are increasingly seeing the value in moving to an inbound marketing strategy driven by original content.
These are the six notable trends to consider when planning your 2019 content marketing strategy.
1. Video
Video is currently the most popular form of content being consumed online today, and video marketing will continue to have substantial value in 2019.
Smart supply chain marketers should start the new year by developing a visual storytelling strategy that offers consistent delivery of valuable content.
What’s your best bet? Be helpful and teach your audience something worthwhile to them.
2. Chatbots
The rise of chatbots – automated computer programs that simulate human conversation in messaging apps – is expected to continue in 2019. Business Insider recently reported that the number of people on messaging apps surpassed the number of users on social networks!
Chatbots are just one of the ways artificial intelligence will shape the content marketing landscape in 2019, but their ability to drastically increase customer engagement puts them on the short list for a major trend to watch in the coming year.
3. Voice search
Voice search is becoming an increasingly prevalent means of attaining information. Statistics vary, but it’s expected that anywhere between 30-50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020. A recent report by NPR and Edison Research found that the rise of smart speakers is substantially changing consumer routines and purchasing behavior.
A good content marketing strategy for 2019 should consider how your customers might use voice search in your industry, and what you can do to maximize your content’s ability to respond.
4. Long-form content
I love this one, because it harkens back to humble beginnings of content marketing and the desire to put informative, quality content in front of a targeted interested audience.
Long form content – white papers, case studies, and lengthier blog posts e.g. – will have a resurgence of renewed appreciation in 2019. Why? Because many industries, including supply chain and logistics industries, are saturated with tons of mediocre short form content. People are increasingly looking to weed through it all for substantial quality posts from trusted sources. In addition, search engines will favor longer posts in results rankings.
Cheers to 2019 being the year of quality over quantity!
5. Brand ambassadors
We wrote about brand ambassadors as we headed into 2018, but they are worth mentioning again as we look forward to 2019. Brand ambassadors are employees that influence the B2B buying decisions of others, and they are an often-overlooked resource with more traditional marketing tactics.
Peers and colleagues are the third most influential source of information for business to business (B2B) purchasing, right behind online searches and your website! And there’s nothing more credible than a friend who speaks highly of their company’s product or service.
Definitely consider how you can help make brand ambassadors out of your employees in 2019.
6. Market Influencers
The final trend to watch in 2019 is influencer marketing, a form of marketing which focuses on influential people rather than the market as a whole.
Basically, marketers identify individuals who might have influence over potential buyers and create marketing campaigns and activities around these influencers. In many ways, this works similarly to a brand ambassador, where a single person influences their network of friends; in this case, however, the market influencer has a large network and a lot of “friends” who listen.
Influencer marketing will be a huge trend in marketing for 2019, and it would be worth considering who might be an influencer in your industry in the coming year and what your company might do reach them.
So, there you have it. As we head into 2019, these are the trends to watch and plan for in content marketing space.
The B2B buying climate is growing longer and more complex, and content marketing is so effective throughout the entire sales cycle if it’s done well. The end of the year is a great time to revisit your marketing strategy and make any necessary changes for the coming year.
This post originally appeared on EBN Online.
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