Sometimes, it feels like Instagram looks different every time I open the app—IGVT is long gone, and Reels and Shopping tools are now front and center.
ادامه خواندن The HubSpot Blog’s 2024 Instagram Marketing Report (Data from 600+ Instagram Marketers)
Is AI taking over jobs in 2024?
ادامه خواندن What Jobs Will AI Replace & Which Are Safe in 2024 (+ Data)
Us marketers know that marketing according to data points alone isn’t enough to get meaningful engagement—that’s the job of a buyer persona.
While demographic survey results are great, many factors of customer behavior are needed to create a well-rounded and detailed buyer persona.
In this piece, I’ll explain what a buyer persona is and show you how to combine different research methods to form and create detailed buyer personas. In just a few thoughtful steps, you’ll walk away with consumer stories and profiles representing your customer base.
A buyer persona is a representation of your ideal customer that you create from audience and market research. Personas include essential information about your target customer (like demographics, behavior, interests, challenges, etc.) and help you better reach them and meet their needs.
The strongest buyer personas are based on market research and insights you gather from your existing and potential customer base (through surveys, interviews, etc.).
Buyer personas are unique to every company, and so is their name for them. You may see buyer personas referred to as “customer personas,” “marketing personas,” “audience personas,” or “target persona.” Each has the same meaning but will look unique to your company.
You might have as few as one or two personas, or even 10+; it all depends on your business.
All types of businesses should create (and will benefit from) buyer personas because every business needs customers or clients to be successful.
While a buyer persona represents your ideal customer, a negative—or exclusionary—persona represents who you don’t want as a customer.
Your negative personas can include:
Whatever the exclusion factor is, the knowledge is valuable because it helps you narrow down your strategic execution so that your inputs directly contribute to your results.
According to our research, most marketers lack crucial information about their audience, so they struggle to make personalized content.
Before diving into the buyer persona creation process, let’s pause to understand the impact of well-developed buyer personas on your business (specifically, your marketing efforts).
Personalization is the main reason your buyer personas are essential, and it’s only possible when you truly understand your audience. Customers appreciate personalization, as 96% of marketers say it increases the likelihood of buyers becoming repeat customers, and 94% say it increases sales.
Those stats represent my experience as a consumer: I’m more likely to be a fan of and give repeat business to brands that know what I like and cater to my interests. For example, a brand email that lets me know a product on my wish list is on sale will, more likely than not, turn me into a loyal and appreciative customer.
Extensive research into your target customer helps you with your product development process. You’ll know what your ideal customer experiences on a day-to-day basis, which can inspire innovative improvements to your product.
So, for example, say I sell kitchen utensils. My buyer persona research tells me my ideal customer lives in the South, where grilling is common. I would likely find success developing and offering grilling utensils or improving my existing offerings to work in indoor and outdoor environments.
Buyer persona research tells you how your ideal customer wants to hear from you, which can influence your demand generation strategies.
For example, if your target audience prefers SMS communication, you might respond by creating SMS lead nurturing campaigns instead of emails.
Completed buyer personas help you tailor your content, messaging, product development, and services to meet your target audience’s specific needs, behaviors, and concerns. This ties back to the personalization I mentioned before: when you speak to your audience with your marketing campaigns, you’re more likely to be effective. In fact, marketers who offer customers a personalized experience are 215% more likely to say their marketing strategies are effective than those who don’t.
Developing personas lets you create content and messaging that appeals to your target audience and personalize your marketing to different audience segments.
For example, instead of sending nurturing emails to your entire database, you can segment by buyer persona and use a tool, like Marketing Hub, to tailor messaging to what you know about each one.
When combined with lifecycle stage, personas let you map out and create highly specific content. (You can learn more about how to do that by downloading our Content Mapping Template.)
Buyer personas are also an excellent tool if you target a niche audience. I run Breaking the Blueprint (BtB), a blog column for minority business owners and entrepreneurs, and the target audience is more specific than the general HubSpot Blog (Black entrepreneurs vs. entrepreneurs as a whole, for example).
Since the target audience is unique, I conducted buyer persona surveys to learn more about their specific interests, needs, and pain points to make sure the content I publish is much more likely to make an impact and be helpful.
And, if you take the time to create negative personals, you’ll have the advantage of segmenting the “bad apples” from the rest of your contacts, saving you money and increasing productivity.
While developing your personas, you may ask yourself, “What are the different types of buyer personas?” From there, it’d be simple to adjust one for your business — right?
That’s not exactly how it works. Since every business (no matter how many competitors they have) is unique, their buyer personas are unique.
Yes, there are standard attributes you can apply to, say, specific age groups, but even those have variation. For example, my mom’s generation overwhelmingly prefers traditional marketing tactics, but she loves Instagram Reels more than anyone I know.
There isn’t a list of universally recognized buyer personas to choose from, nor is there a standard for the number of personas you need. If you’re new to personas, I recommend starting small. You can always develop more as you grow.
In general, companies may have the same or similar categories for their buyer personas (e.g., a marketer, an HR rep, an IT manager, etc.). But your business’s different personas and the number of them it requires depend on your target audience and what you offer your customers.
This explains why buyer personas are so important: they’re uniquely put together to help your specific business achieve its goals.
We’ve discussed the importance of buyer personas and their different types; now, let’s discuss how you can develop your own.
The main component of buyer persona development is research. Once you’ve done your research, you look for patterns and turn those patterns into actionable tips and strategies you include in your buyer persona.
You’ll also form the team that will play a role in your process. A great place to start is choosing a representative or two from relevant customer-facing teams, especially sales and marketing. Salespeople have direct communication with customers and insight into their needs, and marketing teams have data about customer behavior.
Once you’ve identified stakeholders, you’ll start conducting your research and gathering your data. Then, you’ll compile your personas and start using them for your marketing campaigns.
Ready to start creating your buyer personas? Let’s dive in.
High-quality buyer personas are based on concrete facts about your audience’s interests, behavior, and demographics.
So, the best way to create your buyer personas is through research, surveys, and interviews—all with a mix of customers, prospects, and those outside your contacts database who align with your target audience.
When I created personas for Breaking the Blueprint, I discovered helpful and practical methods for gathering the information you need to develop your personas (you can also further your knowledge on this topic through the free HubSpot Academy course). Let’s dive in.
Research is the basis of your buyer persona. Without it, personas are based on assumptions.
The information you want to get from your research includes:
You can separate your research process into two categories: your existing customers and everyone else.
I do want to note that, when collecting demographic information, some people are more comfortable disclosing personal information privately, or some might not want to at all. I recommend making it optional unless it’s a pivotal part of your buyer persona.
If you already have customers, they’re the best place to start. If you’re building your persona for a new business, you can scroll down to Everyone Else.
You can conduct interviews (face-to-face or otherwise) and send out surveys to learn why they’re your customers. Responses will help you create value propositions and selling points for marketing materials that speak directly to your audience’s interests.
Your historical business data and analytics also offer a wealth of information about your current customers’ purchase history, touchpoints and interactions, preferred channels, etc. You can also:
If you’re having direct conversations, I find it helpful to include descriptive buzzwords and mannerisms you pick up on. This can help your team identify certain personas when talking to prospects.
Everyone else includes existing leads, prospects, people who have never heard of you, and even those who are negative buyer personas.
I recommend researching these groups second (unless you’re a new business) because you’ll already have a sense of what your ideal customer looks like from the information you’ve gathered about your existing customers. You’ll be more focused on who you talk to and where you look for people to talk to.
Your research into everyone else can include the same things you employed for current customers, as well as:
Now, how do you use your completed research to create your persona? Analyze the information.
Once you’ve gone through the research process, you’ll have a lot of meaty, raw data about your potential and current customers. But what do you do with it? How do you distill all of it so it’s easy for everyone to understand all the information you’ve gathered?
Identify patterns and commonalities in your research. Answers to your interview questions, information submitted in lead forms, and insight from the sales team will all help you understand how to be the most relevant to your persona so you can draw them in.
Once you’ve gone through your research and found those patterns, it’s time to start building your persona. HubSpot’s free Make My Persona generator, as well as our free downloadable persona templates, can help you organize the information you’ve gathered and share it with relevant stakeholders so everyone can develop an in-depth understanding of the people they’re targeting at work.
You can also use this video as an instructional resource.
With our template, the first step is to fill in your persona’s basic demographic information. I recommend this, regardless of the template you use.
Here’s an example of how you might complete Section 1 in your template for one of your personas: 
Download this Template
The second step is to outline what you’ve learned about your persona’s motivations. This is where you’ll distill the information you learned from digging into the “why” during your research.
What keeps your persona up at night? Who do they want to be? Most importantly, tie that all together by telling people how your company can help them.
Download this Template
The personas you create can be even more impactful when you include real quotes from interviews that exemplify what your audience is concerned about, who they are, and what they want. This is where the buzzwords and mannerisms you might have noted during interviews can come in handy.
You can also create a list of the objections they might raise so your sales team can prepare to address those during conversations with prospects.
Download this Template
Tell people how to talk about your products/services with your persona. This includes the nitty-gritty vocabulary you should use and a more general elevator pitch that positions your solution in a way that resonates with your persona.
This will help you ensure everyone in your company speaks the same language when conversing with leads and customers.
Download this Template
Finally, make sure you give your persona a name (e.g., Finance Manager Margie, IT Ian, or Landscaper Larry), so everyone internally refers to each persona the same way, allowing for cross-team consistency.
And if you’re a HubSpot customer, you can easily add your persona to Marketing Hub by following this step-by-step setup guide.
Your buyer personas are essential, and so is regularly reviewing and updating them if necessary. I’d recommend and annual review to stay on top of your target audience and how their preferences evolve.
One of the most critical steps to establishing your buyer persona(s) is finding people to speak with to understand who your buyer persona is.
But how do you find these interviewees? There are a few sources I recommend tapping into.
Your existing customer base is the perfect place to start your interviews. They’ve already purchased and engaged with your company and exemplify your target persona(s).
Don’t just talk to people who love your product and want to spend an hour gushing about you (as good as that feels). Customers who are unhappy with your product will show other patterns that will help you form a solid understanding of your personas.
For example, you might find that some of your less happy customers have ، teams and need greater collaboration functionality from your product. Or, maybe they find your product too technical and difficult to use. In both cases, you learn something about your product and what your customers’ challenges are.
Another benefit to current customers is that you don’t always need incentives (e.g., gift cards) because they like being heard. Interviewing gives them a chance to tell you about their challenges, what they think of your product and to have an impact on the products they use.
Involving them in interviews can also deepen their loyalty to your company. When you reach out, always be clear that your goal is to get their feedback and that you highly value it.
You can also interview people who have not purchased your product and know little about your brand. Your prospects and leads are great options because you already have their contact information.
I recommend using the information you do have about them (i.e., anything you’ve collected through lead gen forms or website analytics) to figure out who fits your persona. Tools like Enlyft can help you create custom buyer persona profiles and match your prospects to them to make it easier to find the people you need to talk to.
Your existing network (coworkers, existing customers, social media contacts, etc.) is a great resource for finding people you’d like to interview and getting an introduction. You’ll likely get some high-quality interviews with this method, but volume can be lower. Referrals are especially beneficial if you’re heading into new markets or starting fresh without leads or customers.
If you don’t know where to start, I suggest searching on LinkedIn for people who may fit into your target personas and seeing who you share connections with, and reaching out to them for introductions.
Third-party networks can help you recruit interviewees completely removed from your company. For example, UserTesting.com lets you run remote user testing, you just have less control over the sessions you run.
Let’s go over some tips for recruiting interviewees once you find them.
As you reach out to potential buyer persona interviewees, here are my tips for improving response rates and running smooth interviews.
Let’s go over some examples of completed buyer personas to get a better understanding of what they look like.
The image below is a B2B buyer persona for someone who works in HR. The persona paints a clear picture of the target customer’s struggles and how the business can best meet those needs. In this case, HR recruiting tools streamline processes, make recruiting easier, and help HR expertly manage their overall job duties.
The image below is a B2C buyer persona for a music streaming service.
Based on this persona, a streaming service would want to ensure that it has a user-friendly mobile app, sends new music notifications, and makes it easy for users to discover new music related to their interests and share content with friends.
Creating buyer personas helps you understand your target customers on a deeper level and ensures everyone on your team knows how to best target, support, and work with your customers. When you use your personas to guide decisions, I don’t doubt that you’ll see improvement in your reach, boost your conversions, and increase customer loyalty.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in May 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
منبع: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/buyer-persona-research
اگر شما هم مثل من هستید و هدر می دهید دور وقتی زیاد در اینستاگرام هستید، با عبارت “لینک در بیو” به خوبی آشنا هستید. پس چرا به ظاهر همه از URL linktr.ee استفاده می کنند و Linktree دقیقا چیست؟
Am I right in assuming that a major part of your marketing strategy today is digital? Probably.
ادامه خواندن The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Strategies & How to Improve Your Digital Presence
تجارت الکترونیک کسب و کارهایی است که محصولات را به صورت آنلاین می فروشند و افرادی که آن محصولات را به صورت آنلاین خریداری می کنند.
مصرف کنندگان و کسب و کارها به طور یکسان خریدهای آنلاین بیشتری انجام می دهند و انتظار می رود که این میزان افزایش یابد، به خصوص در رسانه های اجتماعی.
در زیر فهرستی از آمارهای تجارت الکترونیک را گردآوری کردهام که به شما کمک میکند تأثیر بالقوه استفاده از این عمل و همچنین پتانسیل رشد آن را در سال 2024 و پس از آن درک کنید.
میانگین تعداد محصولات خریداری شده در هر سفارش آنلاین 4.95 است. (Statista، 2023)
نرخ تبدیل جهانی خریداران آنلاین 1.9٪ است. (Statista، 2023)
کسبوکارهای خردهفروشی با عملکرد بالا بیشتر احتمال دارد مقدار مشخصی از فروش خود را در تجارت دیجیتال و تجارت الکترونیک سرمایهگذاری کنند. (گروه مشاور بوستون، 2023)
اکثر بازاریابان رسانه های اجتماعی (68٪) از رسانه های اجتماعی برای هدایت ترافیک به محصولات در وب سایت خود استفاده می کنند. (HubSpot، 2024)
eMarketer پیش بینی می کند که Grocery تا سال 2026 به بزرگترین دسته تجارت الکترونیک در ایالات متحده تبدیل خواهد شد. (eMarketer, 2024)
منبع تصویر
در سال 2020، 20 درصد افزایش در مصرف کنندگانی وجود داشت که به سمت کانال های تجارت الکترونیک رفتند. (مک کینزی، 2023) میانگین نرخ رها ، سبد خرید 70.19 درصد است. (Baymard, 2023)
آمازون بزرگترین شرکت تجارت الکترونیک در سراسر جهان با ارزش بازار 1.34 تریلیون دلار است. (Statista، 2023)
تحویل رایگان دلیل اصلی مراجعه 45 درصد خریداران آنلاین است. (گزارش داده، 2023)
اکثر بازاریابان می گویند که کارمندی دارند که مسئولیت مدیریت تجارت اجتماعی را بر عهده دارد. (HubSpot، 2024)
87 درصد از فروشندگان می گویند فروش اجتماعی در سال جاری برای تجارت آنها موثر بوده است. (HubSpot، 2023)
59 درصد از فروشندگان اجتماعی می گویند که شرکت آنها امسال از طریق رسانه های اجتماعی فروش بیشتری نسبت به سال گذشته داشته است. (HubSpot، 2023)
منبع تصویر
فروشندگان با عملکرد بالا 12 درصد بیشتر از رسانه های اجتماعی هنگام فروش استفاده می کنند. (HubSpot، 2024)
بیش از نیمی از بازاریابان رسانه های اجتماعی از رسانه های اجتماعی برای فروش مستقیم محصولات در برنامه های رسانه های اجتماعی استفاده می کنند. (HubSpot، 2024)
50 درصد از بازاریابان قصد دارند در سال 2024 سرمایه گذاری خود را برای فروش مستقیم محصولات در برنامه های رسانه های اجتماعی افزایش دهند. (HubSpot, 2024)
فیس بوک، اینستاگرام و یوتیوب پلتفرم هایی هستند که بازاریابان رسانه های اجتماعی معمولاً برای فروش اجتماعی از آنها استفاده می کنند. (HubSpot، 2024)
اینستاگرام، تیک تاک و فیس بوک بالاترین بازگشت سرمایه را برای فروش اجتماعی ارائه می دهند. (HubSpot، 2024)
رسانههای اجتماعی از نظر کانالهایی که مشتریان بیشترین استقبال را از تبلیغات دارند، جایگاه سوم را دارند. (Integral Ad Science، 2024)
بازاریابان رسانههای اجتماعی که محصولات را مستقیماً از طریق برنامههای رسانههای اجتماعی میفروشند، میگویند فیسبوک و یوتیوب بالاترین ROI را دارند. (HubSpot، 2024)
19٪ از مصرف کنندگان در 3 ماه گذشته از طریق DM به خدمات مشتری رسیده اند که 45٪ نسبت به سال 2022 افزایش داشته است. (HubSpot، 2023)
منبع تصویر
اکثر مصرف کنندگان (82٪) می گویند که از آخرین تجربه خرید اجتماعی خود راضی هستند. (HubSpot، 2023)
بزرگسالان 18 تا 24 ساله بیشترین سهم خریداران تجارت الکترونیک در ایالات متحده را تشکیل می دهند (Statista، 2023)
چین بیشترین میزان خرید مصرف کنندگان در شبکه های اجتماعی را دارد. (Statista، 2023)
کل درآمد خرده فروشی آنلاین در کشورهای آسیایی در سال 2023 به 1.7 تریلیون دلار رسید. (Statista، 2023)
رایج ترین دلیل رها شدن سبد خرید در بین مصرف کنندگان هزینه های اضافی برای مواردی مانند حمل و نقل و مالیات است. نیاز به ایجاد یک حساب کاربری دوم است. (فوربس، 2023)
Gen Z، Millennials و Gen X یافتن محصولات در رسانه های اجتماعی را به هر کانال دیگری ترجیح می دهند. (HubSpot، 2023)
منبع تصویر
فقط 47 درصد از کاربران شبکه های اجتماعی با خرید از طریق برنامه های رسانه های اجتماعی احساس راحتی می کنند. (HubSpot، 2023)
42 درصد از مصرف کنندگان به پلتفرم های رسانه های اجتماعی با اطلاعات کارت شخصی خود اعتماد دارند. (HubSpot، 2023)
فیس بوک در میان کاربران رسانه های اجتماعی در خرید رسانه های اجتماعی برنده می شود. این محبوب ترین برنامه برای خریدهای درون برنامه ای است، آنها می گویند بهترین تجربه خرید درون برنامه ای را ارائه می دهد و بیشترین اعتماد را دارد. (HubSpot، 2023)
TikTok کم اعتمادترین پلتفرم در بین مصرف کنندگان برای خرید درون برنامه ای است. (HubSpot، 2023)
اکثر مصرف کنندگان فقط تا حدودی موافق هستند که محصولاتی که مستقیماً در رسانه های اجتماعی می خرند، همانطور که توضیح داده شده/تصویر می شوند ارائه می شوند. (HubSpot، 2023)
نگرانی اصلی مصرف کنندگان در مورد خرید مستقیم محصولات در پلتفرم های رسانه های اجتماعی این است که فروشندگان شرکت های قانونی نیستند/ کلاهبردار هستند. (HubSpot، 2023)
منبع: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ecommerce-statistics
What do cross-country road trips, wedding speeches, and social media marketing have in common?Planning. I definitely can’t help you with your road trip or wedding speech (sorry), but I can help you create a social media calendar to organize your next marketing campaign.
As marketers, we recognize that social media is integral to an effective inbound marketing strategy. With so many social networks available to us, staying organized and planning for when and what we share is crucial, which is exactly where a social media calendar enters the picture.
Before we dive into our list of top tools to stay organized, here’s what you need to know about social media calendars and why they’re essential.
A social media calendar is a rundown of your upcoming posts organized by date and time. A social media calendar can be a spreadsheet, digital calendar, or interactive dashboard.
To get the most value out of your social media calendar, it may include the following:
To create an effective social media calendar, you should:
In my experience, an audit is about more than just analyzing your social media performance. It can help you better understand your target audience’s interests, habits, and expectations and give you crucial clues about how they engage with your content, too.
Auditing your social media channels can also make it easier to see how competitors’ social media presence could affect your performance. It’s a great way to understand what social media trends, tools, and features you should be paying attention to.
As you complete your audit, be sure to:
This includes metrics for:
It’s also important to do some post-level analysis. Take a closer look at your top-performing posts and find out what made them successful. Ask yourself — does your audience love educational content or do they want to be inspired or entertained?
Find the KPIs that are important for your business, then, make sure your social strategy supports those KPIs.
Review your competitors’ social media accounts with these competitive analysis templates and check:
Want more details? Click here to learn how to conduct a social media audit step-by-step.
Once you’ve completed your audit, it’s time to use what you learned. Your audit should give you a sense of what you’re doing right, where you should experiment, and which channels are best for your audience.
For example, say that Instagram has historically been your top social media channel for engagement, but you’ve seen a drop in the last six months. Your audit should show you what engagement on IG looks like for your competitors, plus what is and isn’t working for your business now.
Target audience demographics are need-to-know information for planning your content because you’re much more likely to achieve your marketing goals if you share content you know your audience enjoys.
So, you’ll want to do some market research.This can help you find the most popular social media platforms for your audience too. For example, say my target audience is Gen Z. I’m sharing Instagram Reels and posting on X, but nothing is taking. I know from our Consumer Trends Report (which is market research) that Gen Z’s favorite social media channel is TikTok, so I would be better off pivoting my marketing strategy to that channel to drive results.
As you go through your own research, don’t forget to assess platform features and strengths.
Next, match your top content types and budget with the platform that’s the best fit for your needs.
For example, local coffee shop Café Grumpy focuses its social media presence on a single platform: Instagram. But cosmetics brand Glossier has a powerful social media presence on many platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn.
Health and beauty brand Golde strikes a balance with a presence on multiple platforms. But it focuses on content publishing and engagement with Instagram Reels.
Image Source
Keep in mind that with each platform you add, you’re multiplying the number of posts you’ll need to create and manage. This makes a social media calendar even more useful.
Once you’ve chosen your platforms, it’s time to plan your social media content. To begin the planning process, review your team and budget. This will give you a realistic sense of how much high-quality content you can produce.
You can often produce more high-quality content for less money if you create in batches. This makes careful content planning essential.
Then, use your brand guide and social audit analysis to create content that resonates with your audience. Continuing with my example from above, my research shows that Gen Z prefers funny content and relatable content, so I’m more likely to see the results I’m looking for if I focus on that.
It’s best to create a variety of content. Videos are popular, but images, text-based posts, infographics, testimonials, and live streams are potent too. Mix it up to keep your feeds fresh and appealing. It’s also a handy way to stay up on trends that make the most of each platform.
For example, Instagram is ideal for visual storytelling. With that in mind, Café Grumpy’s social posts feature drawings and art from customers, employee stories, and vendor highlights.
Image Source
Glossier uses a unique content strategy for each social audience. For example, its YouTube channel features a “Get Ready with Me” playlist of videos of influencers, actresses, and CEOs using its products.
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But over on LinkedIn, Glossier uses its social feed to highlight its take on culture and events. And on Reddit, the content engages the community with prompts for conversation and critique.
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These content creation templates can speed up the process if you create unique content for multiple platforms.
Regardless of how you plan your social content (like by season, strategy, campaign, etc.), I recommend deciding what content you want in your calendar for your desired results to keep things organized.
To start, your calendar should include the following:
It’s also helpful to have platform image sizes, campaign hashtags, and quick tips on hand as you build out your social media calendar.
Color coding is also great for at-a-glance decision-making each month. This is how we color-coded content in our monthly social content planner:
As you become more adept with your calendar, you may want to expand it to include the following:
Once your calendar is complete, share it with your team and stakeholders to get their feedback and make sure it meets everyone’s needs.
Your social media calendar should be an easy-to-understand plan that aligns with your social media strategy. If everything aligns, there shouldn’t be any big surprises or confusion when colleagues review your plan.
The monthly template in our social media calendar is helpful when sharing your plan with stakeholders who want a sense of the big picture but don’t need to get into granular details.
The other sections of this tool are useful for social media managers who are planning, creating, and posting to social media.
As you use the calendar, you may find ways to improve or expand upon it; you’ll need to be open to ongoing feedback.
Before working at HubSpot, I handled social media for a small nonprofit. I built a social media presence from the ground up, which is why planning ahead and creating a calendar for myself (and the nonprofit leaders) was so important. It helped us stay aligned with what I’d post, but, most significantly, it helped me stay on top of when to post.
Truthfully, I was just starting out in social media, so I did a lot of the planning in a Microsoft Word document that would’ve scared any experienced social media manager. Take it from me — using a social media content calendar tool is essential, regardless of your experience level.
There are also various tools to choose from, so understanding what functionality you’re looking for is important. Some are simpler, and you’d use them to plan out your content before posting it yourself.
Others are more advanced automated tools that let you plan your content, schedule it, and it will post the content for you. These tools cost money, so keep your budget in mind if you go this route.
With that in mind, let’s go over some high-quality tools for you to choose from.
Note: I know that some of the screenshots of calendars I’ve included look bleak and plain…yours will undoubtedly look much more full, complete, and useful than mine. I’m just your helpful guinea pig.
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If I were to guess, you probably already use Excel to create reports and data analysis. This multifaceted tool is also perfect for social media content calendar organization. You can customize Excel according to the priorities and metrics your team is focused on, making it a great option for planning.
The good news? My colleagues have already done the heavy lifting by creating a free, downloadable social media content calendar template using Microsoft Excel. Marketers can easily use this template to plan individual social media posts— monthly or annually — while keeping an eye on more significant picture events, holidays, publications, and partnerships.
This intuitive template is great for marketers with small teams and heavy workloads. You can add as many line items of scheduled posts as you like and color code every addition to organize your calendar based on your needs.
You can use the monthly planning calendar tab (pictured above) to get a bird’s-eye view of what’s coming down the pipeline in a given month and easily distinguish between posts by color-coding each platform. Or, you can get more granular with platform-specific calendars. Here’s the one for Facebook:
In the content repository tab, you can add the content you’ll be publishing to keep track of what you’ve already published and recall older content you can re-promote. You can also draft and plan social media posts in the social network update tabs. For more on how to use the templates, check out this in-depth guide from my colleague Basha Coleman, HubSpot Blog Writer and Media Amplification expert.
It’s important to note that this template and its included tabs are for organizational purposes. After you’ve planned out your social media posts, you’ll need to manually upload the content from the posts to a social media publisher. If you’re a HubSpot customer, you can organize your content in the spreadsheet and upload it directly into Social Inbox (check out instructions for this here the template’s cover sheet here).
HubSpot also offers social media software to create a custom publishing schedule to publish directly to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Your social interactions all link back to the HubSpot CRM for easy-to-measure ROI.
Google Drive has several helpful features that make it easy for social media marketers to build an effective content calendar.
If you’re already familiar with Google Drive, I’m a big proponent of using it as your social media calendar tool. There’s no learning curve because you’re already familiar with all the features; you’re just adapting them for different uses.
Here’s a simple example of how I’d use Google Calendar to track my editorial and social media calendars to make sure posts align with new blog content. I can also easily share these calendars to avoid scheduling conflicts and align campaigns.
You can also use Google Sheets to schedule posts on social media, track the status of different pieces of content, and assign tasks to team members without switching platforms.
Google Docs is also great because you can keep comments in one place and collaborate on different projects instead of emailing back and forth or scheduling a meeting. I find this especially useful when editing your social media content, which may need to be drafted and approved quickly.
It’s also convenient because you can use multiple Google products to create quick and seamless workflows. For example, say I’m in charge of scheduling and publishing content, and my coworker is responsible for making creative assets. I can fill out the shared social media calendar with dates, copy, and scheduling status, and my colleague can easily upload the assets they create to Google Drive and add the link to the calendar so I have quick access when it’s time to publish.
A bonus is that HubSpot customers can easily link their Google Drive accounts to the HubSpot portal to upload files from Drive into the HubSpot software.
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As I mentioned, some social media content calendars are all-in-one tools offering content planning and publishing. Loomly is one of those tools with content creation, management, and scheduling features.
I signed up for Loomly’s free trial quickly because I didn’t have to add credit card info, which I know can be a deterrent if you’re just looking to test a tool. It was extremely easy for me to get started, and the step-by-step walkthrough led me through linking my social accounts and drafting my first post.
I really appreciated that I could preview how posts look on each platform as I created them. This makes for easy editing and updates instead of deleting a post to make edits after it’s live.
I scheduled a few test posts in less than five minutes to get a view of the calendar, and it’s a simple, no-frills look. Each post you schedule uses the platform icon so you can easily tell what’s going where. The image below is an example calendar:
And, since it’s an all-in-one tool, linking your accounts means it will also schedule your posts for you.
Overall, Loomly is a high-quality tool for anyone looking to plan their social media content at a fair price point.
Later is a user-friendly social media calendar and publishing tool that simplifies the process of scheduling and automating posts across various platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
It’s meant for organic social media content, so you’ll need to use a different tool for your paid campaigns.
I tested the tool for free, but the more feature-rich 14-day trial requires a credit card.
I’m impressed by Later’s social media calendar. It took me less than two minutes to link my Instagram account to the calendar, and having it linked means I easily scheduled hypothetical posts for publishing on the exact day and time I designated.
It’s also an extremely interactive tool, as you can upload your multimedia assets and drag and drop them onto your calendar, which really makes it feel like you’re “building” a calendar…fun, right?
The post builder includes all of the elements you’d need to include in your post based on the specific platform you’re scheduling for.
Your calendar will undoubtedly look better and fuller than mine, but here’s the monthly calendar view with two sample Instagram posts I created:
You can also view your scheduled posts in list view to get a detailed breakdown of each upcoming week.
What sets Later apart is its specialized visual planning for Instagram. It offers powerful Instagram scheduling features, including the ability to plan and preview your Instagram grid, schedule carousel posts, and even automatically publish Instagram Stories. I find the focus on the unique visual aesthetic requirements that Instagram demands to be a stand-out feature, making it a go-to tool for businesses or creators heavily invested in the platform.
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Sprout Social’s social media calendar and publishing tool make it easy for teams or individuals to plan and schedule their social posts. You can schedule content to automatically post to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and more.
I tested SproutSocial with its free trial. I found the publishing tool extremely easy to use with little learning curve, making it a great tool if you’re under a time crunch to choose a tool and get started.
I quickly linked my X (formerly Twitter) profile, and creating a post took me about five minutes. I especially liked that there’s a live preview option to view your creations come to life in real time.
When your content is scheduled, you can toggle monthly, weekly, or list view for a deeper look or filter the calendar by platform. Here’s what the monthly calendar view looks like with three scheduled X posts:
A bonus feature worth calling out: Sprout Social’s social listening tool lets you uncover niche conversations your audience is interested in so you can join in on the conversation.
I did find that this tool isn’t ideal if you focus on Instagram and TikTok because posting content requires an extra step. You have to download the Sprout Mobile App and designate a mobile publisher who manually publishes the posts at the right time within the app. The publisher will get notified when it’s time to post, but this can take away from the draw of an automatic schedule-and-go tool.
Sprout Social is also the most expensive tool, making it better for teams or individuals with a larger budget.
Hootsuite’s social media calendar and planner make it easy to create, schedule, and publish content so you can execute your social media marketing goals.
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Hootsuite is a robust and high-powered publishing tool to consider. Its primary features for social publishing are exactly what you look for in a publisher: easy content scheduling in advance to share posts with your networks. It also has rich features for collaboration and post approvals.
To create your calendar, you can drag and drop the content to the exact date and time you want content to go live to ensure everything aligns with your marketing goals. Hootsuite stands out on this list because you can see paid and organic social content calendars side-by-side (other tools only allow for organic content).
Since it’s also a publisher, you can relax after you’ve scheduled your content because it will push it live for you.
You also get access to helpful features like uploading Canva templates for your posts and recommended times to post to get the most engagement.
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Agorapulse offers social publishing tools and a content calendar to easily manage your social media account queuing, scheduling, and bulk uploading posts (incredibly helpful for teams who use quarterly or monthly content plans).
I really like how straightforward Agorapulse’s interface is and how the welcome post immediately got me started with linking my social profiles.
The drag-and-drop builder made it easy for me to add posts to my calendar, and you get a preview of what your posts will look like on each platform with the live editor.
You can view your calendar in list, week, or month view, making it easy to get an overview or go more in-depth. As expected, your complete calendar will look nicer than mine, but here’s a basic one I created:
What makes Agorapulse different is its social inbox, which allows you to manage all the interactions from various platforms in a single place. After all, content isn’t just a one-and-done activity; it’s about building awareness and engagement with your readers.
With StoryChief’s smart calendar, you can better strategize and plan your content strategy across channels. StoryChief is described as a “content distribution platform” that unifies analytics and publishing across multiple channels for a more simplified approach to content creation. Best of all, it syncs with HubSpot and your favorite calendar apps.
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After signing up for the free trial, I was immediately brought to an extremely interactive and helpful walkthrough of the basics of the tool.
I felt confident enough after the walkthrough to jump right into the tool, and I easily linked my X account and scheduled a few sample posts with the easy post builder.
I forgot to cancel the posts I scheduled and they were posted to my account so, rest assured, the tool works as advertised and your posts will go live as scheduled. Here’s what the monthly calendar view looks like with my scheduled posts:
You can customize how you see your calendar and filter views by channel, campaign level, or content type.
If you’re new to setting up social media calendars, HubSpot offers a free, pre-made downloadable template that you can use to schedule out full weeks of posts.
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This template is very similar to the one I mentioned above, but it includes tabs that work as a repository for content ideas. The template also includes helpful tips for posting on specific social media networks.
If you aiming to get all your ideas down to develop a big-picture plan for your social assets, I recommend starting with this template.
We’re all busy, and inevitably, tasks can slip through the cracks. Social media content is no exception.
A successful social media strategy requires regular publishing and engaging with followers to see positive results — whether you’re looking for sales, brand recognition, lead generation, or all three.
So, if you’re not already using a social media content planner, here are a few advantages to pique your interest:
With a social media content calendar, you can plan out posts for entire weeks or months in advance. This frees up working hours to strategize for the future.
The best part is that you can always leave space for breaking news or current events in your industry. Otherwise, you’ll spend valuable time searching the internet daily for content to share, a known productivity killer.
I recommend that all social media marketers take time to craft custom messages for each network because each audience expects to see something different on each one.
For example, your Instagram followers want to see Reels and Videos, while your Twitter followers like quick sound bites and shareable quotes. Planning this content using a social media content planner will save you time throughout the week. It will also make drafting thoughtful and intentional content for each site easier.
A social media content planner can help you post consistently on each social channel. This consistency creates a routine for your followers and helps you build trust.
A shared calendar can improve collaboration with internal teams and external stakeholders. It gives everyone access to what’s on the calendar and gives you a reason to reconnect.
Skip waiting or sending last-minute emails for links, project status, or partnerships. Your social content planner gives you a simple way to let everyone know what you’ll need well before you need it.
Without a calendar, we’re all publishing content into the void, and we cannot track big-picture and past performance.
With a calendar, you can look back and analyze which content performed best to adjust your strategy accordingly. If a particular type of post received significant views, you can recreate it for a different topic and potentially see the same success.
Content planning with a calendar can also help you track impact and ROI for social media efforts.
With the help of a content planner, you can plan for holidays, events, and observance days, such as National Cat Day or Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day. This makes it easy for you to tailor your content and engage with a broader audience.
Jotform’s social media calendar isn’t just visually appealing and functional. The tabs at the top reveal your social plan for every channel you execute your strategy on, including in-person or virtual events.
If you’re modeling your social calendar after this one, remember to include a tab for content details and who on your team will be responsible for creating the content. You might also have a separate tab for each month to keep things organized.
Going a more traditional route with your social media calendar? Try a Google Sheets template like the one created by Firefly Marketing. Each tab is dedicated to a different month, while the worksheet includes every channel you might need across the top.
The rows are separated by a week, so you can quickly identify the date and time a post is scheduled for publishing. Our favorite part of this template is the pre-populated social media holiday column with fun dates that your audience will love.
Scheduling your business’s social posts can keep you organized and help you consistently deliver content to your followers without worrying about looming deadlines. Content posting strategies can differ depending on the social media platform, and you should consider not only what you’re posting but also when and how often.
By creating a social posting schedule and adjusting the schedule to fit each platform, you can increase the chances that your posts will reach your audience.
Facebook’s Meta Business Suite makes scheduling posts and stories for your business easy.
Step 1: To schedule a post using the Meta Business Suite on your desktop, start by selecting your business’s Facebook Page from the dropdown menu in the top left of your sidebar.
Step 2: Next, click Posts & Stories or Calendar, then click Create Post.
Step 3: Click Facebook News Feed to schedule the post to your news feed.
Step 4: Enter the details of your post, including text, media, and a link or location. If you add a photo to your post, you won’t be able to add a link preview. Click Call to Action or Feeling/Activity to add an optional call to action or feeling/activity to your post. You can’t add both a call to action and a feeling/activity.
Step 5: A preview will appear on the right as you build your post. You can change the preview to see how your post will look on both desktop and mobile by using the dropdown menu at the top of the window.
Step 6: After building your post, click the arrow next to Publish and click Schedule Post. Select the date and time you want your post to be published, and click Schedule to schedule your post.
Step 1: You can also schedule Facebook posts on mobile with the Meta Business Suite mobile app. Start by tapping Post to create a new post.
Step 2: Enter the details of your post, including text, media, links, a background color, and a feeling/activity. Then choose your business’s Facebook page to publish to Facebook.
Step 3: Tap Schedule for later and select the date and time you want your post to be published. Then tap Schedule to schedule your post.
Like Facebook, Instagram also uses the Meta Business Suite to schedule posts.
Step 1: To schedule a post to Instagram using the Meta Business Suite on your desktop, start by connecting your Instagram account to the Meta Business Suite.
Step 2: Once your Instagram account is connected, click the dropdown menu in the top left of your sidebar and select your Instagram account.
Step 3: Click Posts & Stories or Calendar, then click Create Post. Click Instagram Feed to schedule the post to your Instagram feed.
Step 4: Enter the details of your post, including text, media, and an optional link or location. If you choose to add a link to your Instagram post, it will not show a photo preview.
Step 5: A preview will appear on the right as you build your post. You can change the preview to see how your post will look on both desktop and mobile by using the dropdown menu at the top of the window.
Step 6: After building your post, click the arrow next to Publish and click Schedule Post. Select the date and time you want your post to be published, and click Schedule to schedule your post.
Step 1: Like Facebook, you can schedule Instagram posts on mobile using the Meta Business Suite mobile app. Start by tapping Post to create a new post.
Step 2: Enter the details of your post, including text, media, and links. Then choose your business’s Instagram page to publish to Instagram.
Step 3: Tap Schedule for later and select the date and time you want your post to be published. Then tap Schedule to schedule your post.
Only a super or content admin can schedule posts on LinkedIn. Still, by using third-party software such as Hubspot’s social media management tools that are included with HubSpot’s Marketing Hub Professional accounts, you can easily create and schedule LinkedIn posts.
Step 1: To schedule LinkedIn posts using HubSpot’s social media management tools, start by logging into your Marketing Hub Professional account.
Step 2: Next, navigate to Marketing > Social and click Create Social Post.
Step 3: In the right panel, click LinkedIn. Create your post in the text box, including emojis, hashtags, mentions, tags, and a content link. When using HubSpot’s social media management tools, you can only mention or tag LinkedIn company pages, not LinkedIn users.
A post preview will appear if you add a content link to your post. You can add up to four images to your post by clicking the image icon or add a video to your post by clicking the video icon.
Step 4: Click Review, then Preview to see how your post will appear on LinkedIn.
Step 5: Then click Schedule post to schedule or publish your post.
Step 1: You can schedule Tweets for your business by logging into your Twitter Ads account and navigating to the Creatives > Tweets tab. To access the Creatives tab in your Twitter Ads account, your account must have a credit card on file.
Step 2: Click on New Tweet in the top right corner and create your Tweet. If you would like your Tweet to only be seen by users you have targeted in a Promoted Ads campaign, click the Promoted Only checkbox. Leave this unchecked if you would like the tweet to be seen organically by your followers.
Step 3: Once you’ve written your tweet, click the down arrow next to Tweet, click Schedule, and select the date and time you would like the tweet to be posted.
Pinterest allows you to schedule up to 100 Pins. You can schedule one Pin at a time, up to two weeks in advance on desktop.
Step 1: To schedule Pins for your business, log into your Pinterest Business account. Next, click Create at the left corner of your screen, then click Create Pin.
Step 2: Choose an image or video, and add a title, description, and link.
Step 3: Click Publish later and choose the day and time you’d like to publish your Pin.
Step 4: Choose a board from the drop-down menu, or create a new board by clicking Create board.
Step 5: Click Publish.
You can also schedule Pins using the Pinterest app on iOS.
Step 1: To start, log in to your Pinterest Business account.
Step 2: Tap the plus icon, then tap Pin.
Step 3: Take a photo for your Pin, select an image or video from your device, and tap Next.
Step 4: Add a title, description, and the destination website to your Pin.
Step 5: Below Schedule Date, tap the edit icon and select the date and time you would like to publish your Pin.
Step 6: Tap Done.
Step 7: Tap Next.
Step 8: Choose an existing board to save your Pin to or tap Create board to create a new board.
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Consistently posting content is key to making the most of your business’s social media accounts. HubSpot’s content calendar template makes setting up a monthly posting schedule for your business’s social media accounts easy. The template can be opened in Excel or uploaded to Google Sheets, so you can easily plan content with your team from anywhere.
HubSpot’s content calendar template includes a monthly planning calendar, a content repository, and posting schedules for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. With HubSpot’s content calendar template, your team can view and manage your business’s social media posting schedules and deadlines at a glance.
Americans spend an average of 151 minutes (over two hours) on social media every day, making it a great way to connect with your business’s current and potential customers. It’s not enough to know what you want to post; you must also understand why your business posts content.
Posting content to social media can help your business achieve many goals, including raising brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, introducing new products and services to your customers, and even launching rebranding campaigns, to name a few.
When choosing your business’s content goals, consider what your brand most needs to accomplish. Are you looking to connect with a new demographic and generate leads? Do you want to increase your customers’ engagement with your business? Knowing your content goals can help to confirm that your business’s content reaches the right audience with the right message.
Once you know your business’s goals, decide what types of content your business will post. Each type of social media content has advantages and disadvantages. For example, blog posts and articles can help your business build credibility, but they can be time-consuming to create.
Meanwhile, X posts can help your business gain consumer insight and hone its brand voice, but the 280 character limit for standard X users (premium subscribers get 25K+ characters) means your business may have to use long threads of multiple posts to get your message across. Carefully choosing the types of content your business will post can help ensure that your content offers value to your audience.
Once you know your business’s content goals and the types of content you will publish, it’s time to choose where your business will post.
Your business’s social media presence should be informed by its content, goals, and target audience demographics. For example, while posting on Instagram may help your business reach a young audience and market goods, the photo and video sharing platform may be a poor choice if you want to increase blog traffic among professionals in your industry. Likewise, a LinkedIn post may help drive traffic to your business’s blog but may not help you drive traffic to your online store.
Considering each social media platform’s strengths and weaknesses can help you accomplish your business’s content goals without wasting time and money marketing to users who outside of your target audience.
After deciding on your business’s goals, the types of content you will publish, and where you will post the content, you need to create the posting schedule that your business will use. Each social media platform has peak engagement times — certain days and times of day when users are most likely to view and engage with posts.
So, knowing the best times to post on each social media platform will help you maximize the reach of your business’s posts. For instance, user engagement on Facebook peaks between 6 and 9 PM and 12 – 3 PM on Fridays. Engagement is lowest on Sundays and between 6 and 9 AM each day.
When creating your business’s content calendar, account for the engagement patterns for each of your accounts to demystify the scheduling process, save time, and get your posts in front of your audience when they are most likely to see them.
Now that I’ve reviewed a few helpful tools to kick your social media strategy into high gear, it’s time for you to experiment with them. The best social media calendar saves you time, streamlines processes, and helps you work smarter, not harder.
Several of the platforms I’ve suggested are free to use or offer a free trial. Have one person on your team test one out and report their findings. You might find the tool that helps you reach your next social media KPI. Remember, every social media team is different. Combining these tools could help you execute your strategy efficiently to drive ROI.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
منبع: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-calendar-tools
When you think about search engine optimization (SEO), one major search engine probably comes to mind: Google. But what about Bing SEO?
ادامه خواندن Should Marketers Optimize for Bing? (Data + Expert Tips)
In July 2023, Mark Zuckerberg launched Meta’s much-anticipated X competitor: Threads. Meta’s vision for this new social platform was to offer “a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations” that was built on the foundation of Instagram’s existing community, content, and infrastructure.
As explained in Meta’s official announcement, “Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas.” Like Instagram, you can follow friends and creators who share your interests.
Of course, Threads has received its fair share of criticism, from accessibility concerns to accusations of using “dark design” tactics. Nevertheless, Threads hit more than 30 million sign-ups in its first 16 hours alone. It’s continued to gain traction since then, demonstrating the strength of the app’s design.
In this article, we’ll cover the design choices that have helped Threads go (and stay) viral, the areas in which it has fallen short, and what it might take to address these shortcomings.
Table of Contents
To understand the design choices that underpin Threads, it’s important first to clarify what Threads is — and what it isn’t.
At its core, Threads is a standalone app that lets users share short, text-based content of up to 500 characters per post. It also offers many features with which Twitter (now known as “X”) users will likely be familiar, such as liking, quoting, or sharing posts.
Threads is also closely tied to Instagram. While there are options to create custom profiles, by default, Threads simply ports over data from users’ existing Instagram accounts. It also offers seamless integration with Instagram, with capabilities such as sharing Threads posts to your Instagram story or in an Instagram DM.
You can also automatically follow the same accounts on Threads as you already do on Instagram.
However, integration with other platforms remains limited: While Zuckerberg has promised compatibility with an open social networking protocol, it’s not currently possible to engage fully with Threads content without first creating an account.
In addition, Threads is not yet available in the European Union due to “regulatory uncertainty” regarding Meta’s adherence to the EU’s strict privacy and security regulations.
But in spite of these shortcomings, Threads has truly taken the world by storm.
According to Meta, the platform reached more than 100 million sign-ups in its first week, and it has remained consistently popular since then. As such, marketing leaders looking to stay up-to-date on the latest social media trends would be wise to pay attention to this important new platform.
The timing of Threads’ launch was likely quite intentional: Zuckerberg’s announcement regarding this new app came on the heels of mounting dissatisfaction with Elon Musk’s leadership of Twitter.
Observers have suggested that this competitive landscape was likely a significant factor that drove the early success of Threads.
That said, Threads is more than simply a Twitter copycat. While many of the core features of Threads clearly draw inspiration from Twitter (the scrolling user interface, the content feeds, etc.), Zuckerberg’s vision for this new platform is also uniquely integrated with the larger Meta ecosystem.
In addition, Meta has released substantial improvements and additions in the months since Threads’ initial launch. The company promises to continue rolling out new features and capabilities in response to user feedback.
At a high level, Zuckerberg has described his vision for Threads as “an open and friendly public space for conversation.”
The extent to which he is able to realize this vision long-term remains to be seen — but there’s no doubt that the Meta team has already built a successful platform that leverages great design principles to create a strong, engaging user experience.
There are several elements of the Threads user experience that showcase great design. Below, we explore several of our favorite components of this new platform:
First, Meta developed an onboarding process that makes joining the Threads platform smooth and easy. Instead of having to make and verify a brand new account, you can simply log in with your existing Instagram credentials.
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Then, once you log in, your account is already populated with data from your Instagram profile. From your profile picture to your bio to your existing network, you don’t have to start from scratch. With just a few clicks, your Threads profile is fully set up, and you can get started posting and sharing right away.
What we love: Threads offers a smooth, easy onboarding experience, with key information automatically ported over from your Instagram account.
Threads’ integration with Instagram doesn’t stop with the onboarding process. Design best practices tell us that a smooth, well-integrated user experience is critical to ensure people stay engaged throughout their time on the platform.
That may be why Meta has prioritized offering integrations with key Instagram functionalities such as DMs, followers, and posts.
When Threads was first launched, reviewers criticized its lack of direct messaging support — but just a few months later, Meta released an update that enabled Threads users to share posts directly with their friends using Instagram’s existing DM platform.
With this new integration, you can easily share a thread with a single contact or a group of friends in your Instagram DMs.
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In addition to this DM integration, Threads also enables you to share Threads in an Instagram post or story, offering users even more functionality while driving awareness of the new Threads platform across Instagram.
What we love: Integration with existing Instagram features makes Threads that much more accessible and easy to use.
Finally, the integration of accounts across Threads and Instagram makes it possible to easily port over followers from one platform to the other.
This means that instead of having to reconnect with everyone you know from scratch, you can easily replicate your existing social media network when you get started on Threads.
Another important design element is Threads’ options to customize your feed. Specifically, Threads enables you to tab between a “For You” feed that includes a mix of recommended content and posts from people you follow.
There’s also a “Following” feed, which only includes posts from profiles you follow.
What we love: Threads is designed to let you toggle between a “For You” feed and a “Following” feed, enabling you to customize the content you see.
This kind of customization is important. As with any platform, different users on Threads will have different preferences.
Some may be looking for content that is relevant to their interests but is from creators outside their immediate network, whereas others may only be interested in viewing posts from accounts that they have actively chosen to follow.
With this tab-based user experience, it’s easy to alternate between these two modes and experience the platform in the way that works best for you.
In addition to fairly standard accessibility features such as screen reader support and AI-generated image descriptions, Threads also offers translation support to enable users to engage with content in multiple languages.
Importantly, this feature has been designed to be functional while remaining as unobtrusive as possible. Threads posts can be automatically translated from the language in which they’re written into the language that the viewer has set their account to.
In addition, if you see a thread in a different language (and your language is available to be translated into), you can just click the translation icon at the bottom right of the post to quickly and easily view the content in your selected language.
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What We Love: This translation feature helps overcome language barriers and makes Threads posts accessible to users around the world — which is particularly important given that the Threads app is now accessible in more than 100 global markets.
Finally, one of the most critical features to keep any social media platform safe and useful is the ability to block content that you don’t want to see.
On Threads, there are a few key ways that you can filter out irrelevant or undesired content from your feeds.
First, you can specify words and phrases that you want to keep hidden. This means that any replies to your threads that contain these specific worlds will be filtered out.
What We Love: While automated or rules-based content guidelines are a vital baseline for safety and useability, empowering users to make their own decisions about the kinds of posts they do and don’t want to see is a hallmark of great design.
In addition, you can unfollow, block, restrict, or even report a profile.
For content that you’re just not interested in seeing, unfollowing or blocking may make the most sense, whereas for content that might be in violation of Meta’s Community Guidelines, reporting the offending profile can help ensure that other users are also kept safe.
Moreover, any accounts that you’ve blocked on Instagram will automatically be blocked on Threads, too. You don’t have to worry about seeing content from accounts that you’ve already decided you’re not interested in.
Despite these substantial strengths, Threads also falls short in several key ways.
Below, we explore several of these flawed design choices, as well as strategies that could help address these shortcomings and improve going forward.
First and foremost, while Meta has touted its commitment to ensuring accessibility across its social media platforms, critics have commented that several of Threads’ design choices leave something to be desired from an accessibility standpoint.
In fact, accessibility expert Paul Speller conducted an audit of Threads shortly after its launch, and he identified multiple shortcomings related to nearly half of the accessibility criteria he considered in his review.
For example, Speller’s analysis found that Meta’s automated image description generator struggled to accurately capture the intention behind many images, meaning that image content remained inaccessible to users who depend on a screen reader.
The blue tick marks that indicate verified accounts are also not represented with any kind of alt-text, further limiting accessibility for visually impaired users.
Beyond issues related to ensuring compatibility with screen readers, the Threads design has also been criticized for failing to adhere to other best practices, such as the use of high-contrast colors and the availability of transcriptions for audio content.
In light of these challenges, Threads may benefit from conducting a comprehensive audit and ensuring that their user experience takes factors such as screen reader compatibility, audio descriptions and transcriptions, and other accessibility best practices into account.
When designing any sort of digital platform, it’s always tricky to strike the right balance between providing useful, engaging notifications and avoiding annoying the user with endless, unhelpful pings.
Unfortunately, some commenters have argued that Threads has fallen prey to this common challenge, with too many unnecessary notifications enabled by default.
In particular, while other profile settings are copied over from Instagram automatically, Threads has been criticized for forcing users to manually reset notification settings from scratch. That means you may find yourself getting a lot of alerts that you’ve already told Instagram you’re not interested in seeing.
Moreover, by default, Threads sends you a notification every time someone in your network joins Threads.
While this may be useful in some cases, it’s a design choice that at least one observer dubbed a “classic dark pattern,” as it interrupts users and intentionally pushes them to check the app more often than they otherwise would.
To be sure, notifications are an important feature of most social media platforms. But when it comes to optimizing an app design for useability and a positive user experience, it’s vital to avoid overdoing it and drowning the user in excessive, unhelpful alerts.
According to Calli Schroeder, senior counsel and global privacy counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Threads gathers “a good amount (of data that) is not necessary for the app to function.”
What exactly is Schroeder referring to? Threads can collect user data such as ، orientation, race and ethnicity, biometrics, union membership, pregnancy status, employment, religious beliefs, and more. It can also collect data related to users’ health and fitness, location, and web activity.
And, as Schroeder explains, “Health and financial data, precise location, search history, browsing history, and more are not needed for a user to be on the app and are instead used to create a more hyper-personalized and targeted experience on the app or shared with and sold to advertisers.”
These data security concerns are a major part of why Threads isn’t available in the European Union, where regulations bar the collection of this sort of data for advertising purposes.
But beyond limitations in specific markets, the collection of so much personal data is a real cause for concern for users from anywhere around the world.
To ensure a user experience that’s not just legal but also truly safe and secure, it’s important for tech companies like Meta to make conscious design choices that limit unnecessary or unsafe data collection practices.
One of the most well-known features of Threads competitor X is the hashtag: a clickable keyword that enables users to see similar content.
To date, Threads has yet to replicate this key functionality. While you can include a hashtag in the text of a post on Threads, there’s no way to create a functional, clickable hashtag, and there’s also no way to view currently trending hashtags.
This shortcoming has been widely criticized, and yet there’s still no word that Meta intends to add any sort of hashtag functionality to Threads. As a result, there’s no clear way to view Threads posts by topic or gain insight into the topics or keywords that are most popular in real time.
Finally, one of the most concerning design flaws in Threads is the lack of ability to delete your account without also deleting your Instagram account.
While Meta appears to be aware of the issue, there’s no indication of any forthcoming solution anytime soon.
As a Meta spokesperson recently explained, “To clarify, you can deactivate your Threads account, which hides your Threads profile and content, you can set your profile to private, and you can delete individual Threads posts — all without deleting your Instagram account.”
According to Meta, Threads is powered by Instagram, so right now, it‘s just one account. “We’re looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately,” the spokesperson said.
This means that once you create a Threads account, there’s no way to fully delete the account (and all the data Threads has collected from you) unless you’re also willing to delete your linked Instagram account.
The impressive early success of Meta’s Threads speaks to the strong design choices made by the Twitter competitor. From its easy onboarding experience to extensive integrations, customization, and other important features, Threads illustrates the importance of great design to ensure users stay engaged.
That said, Threads isn’t without its fair share of flaws and shortcomings. Critics have pointed to accessibility issues, data security concerns, and other critical limitations, all of which hamper the user experience and may reduce the app’s long-term success.
Ultimately, only time will tell whether Threads becomes yet another flash-in-the-pan social media experiment or manages to truly stay viral.
منبع: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/threads-trends
