Social platforms have gained immense popularity among B2C marketers as well as B2B brands. There are many simple explanations as to why. They provide you with a stage to reach out to your audience and showcase all your achievements and services. Additionally, social platforms bring you closer to your customers as you can also check their interests in their profiles. Unlike B2C, effective B2B marketing requires a different approach. B2B marketers have to develop a unique game plan to reach business owners and decision-makers. However, step on these stones carefully because social media can quickly build you or break you.

Here is a helpful guide for you to create your own social media strategy for B2B business-

1. Recognize Your Focal Points (Goals)

Every successful campaign needs to be thoughtfully planned, and the first step begins with understanding why you want to be present on social media.

Recognize your goals and focus on achieving them.

The following are the main focus of every B2B social media strategy-

A. Brand Awareness

People need to know who you are and what you can provide them. Social media platforms offer you an excellent space where you can comfortably showcase to your prospects why your brand is better than your competitors. Through separate posts, your viewers can see your products and services. Moreover, the comments on your posts act as reviews for other customers and an analysis of your brand's performance.

How to Measure Brand Awareness on Social Media?

Method #1- Direct Traffic: If your prospects visit your website by directly searching your website or brand name in the search engines, they become your direct traffic. Direct searches indicate that your viewer is interested enough in your brand that they remembered you.

Method #2- Tags and Mentions: When someone tags you in their post, it means they are involved in some way with your brand. Tags, mentions, and hashtags are efficient and simple ways to know how many people you are reaching out to and how many like your services.

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Method #3- Searches: When someone searches for your business as a keyword over search engines and social platforms, it increases your search volume. The clicks and searches can be analyzed using the Google Search Console. It will also show you the best-performing ad campaigns.

Method #4- Your Reach: The number of people exposed to your brand through social media campaigns counts as your reach. Every platform offers multiple ways to track your reach, including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You can also check impressions on Twitter, which is another way to track your reach.

B. Brand Introduction

Letting your consumers learn about your brand is beneficial to building trust. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest introduce your brand through posts with photos and short videos about you. Other platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn educate your viewers more through textual involvement.

Tips for Introducing Your Brand -

Tip #1: Many businesses use content and SEO to educate their prospects about their brand. The content should solve an issue that the customers are probably facing and searching an answer for.

Tip #2: You can also opt for publishing e-books that are about your business. It can let other prospective companies explore your journey.

Tip #3: Researches and reports are also a great medium to let people know about your involvement using case studies. People like to buy products from companies that are enthusiastic about their performances.

Tip #4: Every product has a specific method of being used. And in most cases, customers fail to understand how something should be used. Make how-to videos for the ease of your customers. The views will also translate to how much visibility your brand has.

C. User Engagement

It is a crucial part of social media strategy for B2B business, even if it does not exactly show your growth. Content that gets your viewers actively involved in your brand reflects how you influence people. Users will only engage in your products if they like them. High user engagement also proves the social platforms' credibility and better content of your brand. In turn, social media showcases your business to a much larger audience, boosting your visibility.

Every platform gives the option to check your user engagement rates with filters like a particular post, week, month, and more.

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Measuring User Engagement -

Method #1- Comments: When viewers comment on your posts, it means they are intrigued by your brand. Comments also suggest that people want to get involved in a discussion related to your products. Higher conversation rates can signify greater interest of customers.

Method #2- Reactions and Polls: Since netizens have a very microscopic attention span and do not want to waste their valuable time on boring content, reactions are a good way to know if the viewers are interested in what you offer. Reactions, polls, and likes options are available on every platform today to assess your performance.

Method #3- Shares: Sharing content over a social platform directly translates to relating your content to the viewer. People only share relatable and valuable posts. Every social media platform has shared posts data you can check to get your assessment.

Method #4- Views and Time: Getting views on your videos suggests that the viewer got attracted to your content and wants to know more about you. Although, if no one is spending time watching your complete video, it means you did grab their attention but could not keep it. For best practice, make interesting videos with short content.

Method #5- Clicks: If you attach a link to your posts, the click-through rate helps determine if the users enjoyed your ad and want to check out more services that you provide.

D. Trust Building

As a consumer of your products, your customers will want to see how much they can rely on you. Social platforms are a fantastic way to show your work is better than your competitors through comments on your posts and other social proofs.

Tips for Building Trust-

Tip #1: Reshare the posts that your customers tag you in. These posts are testimonials of your products and services from your clients.

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Tip #2: Positive reviews on your products are also social proof of your quality and reliability.

Tip #3: Acknowledgements like trophies, awards, and milestones are an excellent way to show your trustworthiness to your prospects.

E. Conversions

Lead generations are an essential aspect of any B2B social media strategy. Your social presence aims to add value through promotion and convert the viewers into your regular customers.

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Methods to Measure Lead Generation and Conversion Rates -

Method #1- Calculate your Cost per Lead (CPL): The campaigns should bring you leads. But if the cost of those methods is more than the clicks they are getting, then the campaigns are not benefiting you. Calculate your CPL, brainstorm what will better match your requirements without wasting money, and focus on that strategy.

Method #2- Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL): The leads you generate should convert into your customers. The primary reason for not getting conversions would be that the leads are not your prospective customers.

Method #3- Estimating Return on Investments (ROI): A great way to get the approximate value of your ROIs is by calculating the profits that one lead gets you and multiplying it by the expected lifetime of that lead with you. You can then assign the obtained value to new customers to get your total ROI estimate.

Method #4- Closing Rate per Channel: The closing rates are critical for determining which platform brings you more leads and hence profit. You should then focus your investment on those channels with higher closing rates.

2. Choose Platforms for Your B2B Social Media Strategy

When used appropriately, social media platforms provide an ocean of benefits to B2B marketers. According to Statista, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are the top marketing platforms for B2B businesses, with Facebook at first place with 89% usage and LinkedIn at second place with 81% usage.

However, before investing big, it is advised to experiment with every platform because every social media has its own pros and cons for supporting brands. If you are wondering how to use social media for B2B business, here are the most effective platforms to achieve your defined goals-

A. LinkedIn

With almost 850 million members, out of which over 58 million are registered companies, LinkedIn is a brilliant professional networking platform and has gained immense popularity among B2B marketers. In 2021, 81% of B2B businesses used LinkedIn to grow by providing job opportunities, posting on trending topics, and collaborating with profitable networks.

B. Twitter

Twitter is popular for trends. It has over 396.5 million users actively tweeting their thoughts on the latest news. A great platform to introduce and promote your brand, Twitter has 82% active B2B business accounts.

C. Facebook

Most famous and the king of social platforms, Facebook reaches 59% of social media users, more than any other platform. Although, with the transformations in the overall view of Facebook through the years, it has become more ad-forward. But with well-planned strategies, it is also an excellent way to communicate and reach out to other prospective B2B businesses.

D. YouTube

Launched in 2005, YouTube supports 80 different languages and has more than 2.5 billion active users worldwide, coming second to Facebook. Moreover, some people watch videos without using Google accounts as well. YouTube provides different methods for reaching out to your audiences, like videos, commercials, and stories. Through its stage, you can make how-to tutorial videos, review videos, and much more.

E. Instagram

Instagram is the new social media craze having more than 1.4 billion monthly active accounts as of January 2022. It ranks third in the social media race with its ease of use for both consumers as well as companies with photo filters, stories, and reels for short videos. It is an incredible place for B2B businesses to thrive in a friendly manner.

3. Build a B2B Social Media Strategy

Once you have chosen the social platforms that suit your brand and are focused on your target goals, you can create a robust social media strategy for your B2B business. Here are some points you should practice and include in your plans for a successful social presence-

A. Tell Your Story

Consumers love to know what goes behind the building of a brand. Social platforms provide the right stage to show your prospects your evolution, the reason behind it all, and the vision you have for the future. Stories also play a critical role in building trust and influencing customers to know you and use your brand instead of others. An inspiring story can include-

• The inception idea behind your brand
• Struggles faced
• Growth and experiences
• Products and services
• Plans and vision for the future

Work Around Your Target Customers: As a company that sells services to other B2C businesses, your customers are the managers, entrepreneurs, and executives of those places. Social platforms work as efficient channels for B2B businesses because the consumers can go back in timelines and see the progress you have made. It is also reliable as the comments, likes, and followings act as social proof. Moreover, make sure to include feedback and reviews from your customers in your social media strategy for earned testimonials.

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B. Analyze Your Audience

Customer analysis helps you uncover new and innovative methods to engage their interests more. Customers who have purchased your services belong to the audience group that wants them. You can create customer personas based on their profiles, which will give you an exact idea of their requirements, and you can work on them to your advantage.

Use demographics such as age, gender, location, position, industry type, and business size to the list of information to your buyer persona to better understand your consumer market.

For instance, Twitter analytics will help you gain insights into the likes and dislikes of your targeted customers.

Analyzing Audiences Will Help You-

• Learn what works for them
• Create similar posts that interest them
• Advertise in appealing and suitable ways

C. Stay With the Trends

B2B social media trends are vital to follow to make your social presence visible. You do not need to hire a completely new team to keep your posts up to date with your target's choices. Many tools for social listening help you monitor your mentions, customer feedback, and conversations. Moreover, they also plan long-term strategies using the data they collect.

Tools to Use for Social Media Listening-

Tool #1 - Sprout Social: It offers a complete set of features you would need for social listening. Some features of Sprout Social are audience listening, consumer research, competitor comparison, trend research, and much more.

Tool #2 - Socialbakers: The tool by Socialbakers uses artificial intelligence to help you conduct social listening. It also allows you to monitor competitive and industry benchmarking and identify the content your competitors invest in.

Tool #3 - Digimind: This platform provides you with real-time social listening and brand monitoring options, focusing on sentiment analysis over consumer care and community management. Digimind is also based on artificial intelligence.

D. Create Engaging Content

Social media is all about creating intriguing content and attractively presenting it. Even though B2B services are usually presumed boring, they can still provide exciting content to their targets. Moreover, your prospects also need you. Hence, you are not boring but essential to those consumers.

Here Are Some Points to Remember When Creating Your Content –

• Create long titles and headlines because they have 76.70% more chances of shares.
• Aim for questions as they get more than average shares and views.
• A professionally written content does not have to stick to the rules of formal language.
• Be social media-friendly with indulging posts.
• Keep commenting open. People feel more comfortable when they can communicate their thoughts about something.

E. Focus On Creating Short Posts

The average social media user does not want to spend much time on one post. Moreover, you have a character limit that needs to be obeyed for every platform. This means you will have to promote your service in the quickest possible way. Instead of creating long blog posts, try to go for the following few points-

• Use captions and formats of your posts that are most appealing,
• Choose infographics over long textual posts,
• Post short videos if your content is long to read,
• Long texts are standard on LinkedIn. For any post that has a technical format and too many characters, use LinkedIn.
• You can add Twitter threads instead of external links.
• Make list posts instead of paragraphs, as they are shared 218% and 203% more than how-to videos and infographics, respectively.

F. Use Attractive Multimedia

As mentioned before, people do not have time to waste on long-form textual posts. To instantly grab their attention, you can use multimedia as your option. Multimedia has more potential of engaging the viewers and getting you more views. Use following instead of text-based posts-

• Use infographics
• Add exciting elements to your campaigns
• Post short and easily readable content
• Use short clips and videos
• Share stories to build and sustain interest

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G. Create Dedicated Support Accounts

Simple things grab more attention. Keep your profiles streamlined by dividing them into different categories. This separation also helps the consumer. For example, they do not need to search for a customer support section in your marketing profiles. The various accounts you can create may be-

• Manufacturing insiders for educational purposes and internal insights
• Marketing for promotions and sales
• Support services
• Customer relation and testimonials
• Research and development for persevered curiosity

H. Check On Your Competitors

For your business to succeed, you should always know what your competition is doing. Monitoring gives you beneficial insights into what will work and what does not. You can either do it manually or use monitoring and social listening tools to keep an eye on your contenders.

Things to Check While Monitoring Your Competitors –

• Invested campaigns,
• Used hashtags and keywords,
• Schedule and lengths of posts,
• Targeted consumers and networks

I. Conduct Performance Analysis

To evolve your social profile with the company’s growth, you need to analyze the efforts you have put into your branding. Look out for the following when conducting performance analysis-

• Follower growth
• Engagement rate
• Effects of your optimizations
• The efficiency of your social media strategy
• Improve your plans according to B2B social media trends

J. Invest Money for Better Reach

Just like for B2C brands, B2B businesses also need to build campaigns and get in front of more people. Social media allows your brand name to reach out to a much larger crowd when you invest in their ad strategies.

According to Gartner, marketing budgets have climbed to 9.5% of total company revenue in 2022, an increase from 6.4% in 2021.

In 2022, the total social media advertising spending by US companies is expected at just under $80.67 billion, expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2027) of 10.10%.

For a better reach, try creating ads that will relate to the pain points of your targets. For instance, you can create effective ads using the LinkedIn Campaign Manager.

Here Are a Few Practices to Follow to Create Effective LinkedIn Ads -

• Stay Within the Specifications: You can create attractive promos with visuals and texts using the specs provided by LinkedIn. LinkedIn offers multiple options, so you don't entirely depend on long-form textual posts. Some options are- single image ads, carousel ads, video ads, and message ads.
• Attach Lead Gen Forms: LinkedIn features the option to attach their Lead Gen Forms with your sponsored ads and in-mails. These forms help generate leads by filling in all the details, and the viewers only need to submit them to you.
• Analyze Your Ads: LinkedIn ads are created to gain some form of return on investments. Analyzing your ads will help you understand which ones are worthy of improvement and which ones should be entirely removed to improve your visibility. You can track all these key metrics using the LinkedIn Ads Manager. Further, use LinkedIn Insight Tag to gain more knowledge of your prospects.

K. Use Employee Advocacy

The best people to review you and your brand are those who work closely with the services you sell. An employee with a large following can be used as an asset to enhance your reach. They can be key influencers for your business. Your consumers would prefer getting an internal perception of your work.

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Reasons for Using Employee Advocacy

• Increases the trust of the prospects in your brand
• Humanizes your brand,
• Suggests that you value your employee’s opinions
• It is an earned advertisement

FAQs

1. Do Social Media Platforms Work for B2B Businesses?

We make most of our decisions based on what society thinks about something. And social media provides you a stage to showcase your brand in front of a large crowd to boost your business. You can easily promote your products and services and effectively reach out to your audience.

2. Which B2C Strategies Can Be Used as B2B Social Media Strategies?

Whether it is B2C or B2B business, eventually, we, as marketers, sell things to a human. You can employ all social media strategies used in the B2C market for B2B businesses with little to no changes.

3. Which Is the Most Effective Platform for B2B Businesses?

LinkedIn runs first in the professional networking platform base. However, other platforms like Facebook and Instagram also have a substantial impact on B2B clients.

4. Should I Hire a B2B Social Media Agency or an In-House Manager?

Although developing a social media strategy for a B2B business is not a complex task, you can still hire professionals if your requirements are more. Make sure the outsourcing service or the in-house manager you employ checks all of your specific needs and is result-driven.

Conclusion

In the tough competitive market, every business needs to play its best card to win. Social platforms are a rich source of media to help you enhance your sales, create networks, and communicate with your prospects directly and more openly without being too much in their face. The above guide will help you realize your goals and work on them using different platforms. You can use the given B2B social media strategies involved with any social media for whichever purpose suits your need the best.

Both new and established brands use social media for a variety of reasons - to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and boost sales. Given the number of social media platforms available these days, building a brand on social media may seem like a daunting task. However, that is hardly the case. Using social media to connect with your audience and grow your brand is not as difficult as it might seem at first.

Whether you have just begun or have been active on social media platforms for quite some time now, you can always follow some social media marketing tips to grow your audience and move ahead of your competitors. These tips also help you in times when coming up with A+ social media content can become a challenge on an everyday basis.

Social Media Marketing Tips For Every Brand

The constantly evolving social media compels marketers to shift their strategies in order to keep up with the trends and updates. However, these tips will prove useful if you are looking to beef up your social media accounts at any given point of time:

1. Focus on Visual Content

If you decide to invest in visual content, it will indeed be a step in the right direction. On average, retweets featuring pictures are more likely to gain higher views and clicks as compared to text-only posts. 49% of marketers use visual content on websites and blogs, followed by Facebook and Instagram. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you focus on visual content.

Now you may wonder how to use visual content on social media. Let us give you some examples:

You can post infographics that shed light on your industry on LinkedIn or post a high-speed video featuring a tour of your office on Facebook.

2. Consider Influencers To Promote Your Service Or Product

First, let’s look at some of the latest statistics for a clearer picture on the subject:

1. Social media influencers influence Gen Z the most.
2. 40% of Twitter users purchased something because an influencer recommended it.

Need we say more?

Investing in influencers is an excellent route you can take to generate sales. In this day and age, young audiences listen to their most-loved influencers. In case you have a younger audience, hunt for influencers in your industry and consider partnering with them.

3. Create Engagement With Interactive Content

Interactive content is a great means to easily connect with your audience or inform them more about your product. For instance, you can conduct Instagram Q&A or Twitter polls to engage with your audience. Essentially, interactive content is any content a user can click through, click on, play with, or answer. This type of content delights your audience and gets them involved. Some interactive content ideas include quizzes, contests, and interactive videos.

Tip: For more ideas on how to engage with your audience, you can always check what your competitors are doing.

4. Provide a Behind-The-Scenes Experience With Stories

Stories offer an amazing opportunity to market to Instagram and Facebook users with unique, snappy content. It may come as a surprise to you, but one-third of the most-viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses. Keeping this data in mind, we highly recommend that you use Stories to share some behind-the-scenes content of your business.

Remember, consumers use social media to engage with their favorite brands. Therefore, when you give your loyal following an exclusive sneak-peek inside the working of your business, you make them feel a part of your group.

5. Blend Your Brand Into Your Social Media Marketing

Once you establish your brand, think about incorporating it into your social strategy. Do the following to blend your brand in your social media marketing:

• Add your logo to posts
• Include a company hashtag
• Highlight your employees

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Check out this branding from a company named Metter Media. When you scroll through the company's homepage on Instagram, you can easily spot the company colors, know who they represent, and get an idea about their team as well.

6. Invest in Video Content

With the speedy growth of YouTube, IGTV, and Facebook Live, users are consuming more and more video content. 49% of marketers say that video helps in engaging their audiences. 52% of marketers state that video helps them create trust among their potential customers. Keeping these stats in mind, investing in video content is a social media marketing tip that we highly recommend.

Tip: Read these stats before you begin to produce video content:

• 81% of marketers state their videos perform better with music.
• 68% of individuals will watch a complete video if it is a minute in length or even smaller.
• 84% of customers make a purchase after seeing an explainer video.

7. Join Communities

It is important to switch your focus to smaller communities within social networks. LinkedIn Groups, Twitter Chats, and Facebook Groups provide excellent opportunities to connect with like-minded people and companies within your niche. When you participate in these communities, you get to interact with your most passionate audiences and establish your business as an authority. Pretty cool, isn't it?

As a first step, search for communities linked with your industry on social media platforms you stay active on. Next, become an active member of these communities. You can even create your very own group around your brand as well!

8. Establish A Two-way Line of Communication on Social Media

Apart from posting relevant and supreme quality content, ensure you keep an eye on all the social media platforms you are using to engage with your audience. We recommend that you do the following for your social media presence to represent a two-way line of communication:

• Provide answers to questions that come up on your handles or posts.
• If you see users talking about your product or brand, don’t hesitate to chime in and add value.
• Give a prompt reply to individuals who mention you.
• Thank individuals who have shared your content.

Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Must Avoid

If the latest social media statistics are to be believed, there are 4.59 billion social media users around the world in 2022. These figures prove that social media marketing is a powerful tool to expose your business to a massive audience. Although most businesses are aware of this fact, only a few succeed in correctly using social media marketing.

For your social media campaign to show excellent results, there are some mistakes you need to avoid. Take a look:

1. Not Having a Social Media Marketing Plan

Even today, many companies fail to create a prompt social media marketing plan. They just keep posting things on social media without having a real plan in place.

Social media marketing is something that should be taken seriously. And for that, we recommend that you make a list of specific objectives you wish to achieve, make a budget, and create a plan of action that you can easily follow.

2. Choosing The Wrong Tone

Brands should definitely know this one important thing - the way a brand behaves on Instagram or Twitter is subject to strict scrutiny. For instance, if you choose a brand voice that is too official, you may sound boring to social media users. Or, if you try to appeal to the users by being offensive, it will be considered a much greater social media sin!

So before you start posting on Instagram or begin tweeting, dedicate some time to figure out the tone you are going to set. It should be consistent across all your social media posts, a reflection of your brand, and should easily connect with your audience.

3. Choosing to Remain Silent in The Comment Section

The Instagram algorithm likes you when you have a lot of comments on your posts. The same holds true about Facebook as well. So, ensure you don't stay silent in the comment section.

Leaving comments also gives you another benefit- it helps you create a connection with your followers. When they notice that you care enough to reply to their comments, they will develop an even deeper liking for your brand.

4. Promoting Yourself A lot

On social media, you should be sociable. If all you do is promote your content on social media, a lot of users will start disliking your business, decreasing your following. Promoting your brand is crucial, but we recommend that you be subtle about it.

5. Deleting Negative Comments

You may have come across a situation where a brand got a negative comment, then engaged in an ugly and lengthy conversation, and then deleted the entire thread. This is a route that a brand should never take.

If you receive a negative comment, we suggest you be objective and show your audience that you have nothing to hide. If the person who wrote the negative comment has highlighted your wrongdoing, thank them and make it a point to improve. If they are toxic in their comment, we recommend you just ignore them.

Image Source: Starbucks Instagram Page

6. Not Creating Content People Would Want to Engage With

The time you invest in creating content for your social media channels will be a complete waste if no one shares or comments on them. Therefore, take out some time to develop content that individuals would relate to and want to engage with.

In case your updates are not getting any reactions, dedicate some time to re-evaluate the social media marketing approach you have taken.

7. Treating Every Social Media Account As Same

Every social media platform differs from the other. That’s why you must only speak the language the users speak on a particular social networking site ‌you wish to grow on. Learn the language of the platforms you have chosen for your brand and speak to the users in a language they will understand.

For this, we recommend ‌you learn how different social media platforms work to leverage the opportunities they have on offer. Each platform offers its own set of unique opportunities that you can use for increasing exposure and growing your business.

The Bottom Line

To sum up, the above-mentioned tips provide you with relevant ways to upgrade your content, organize your page, and help grow your target audience. Also, the mistakes we discussed are the ones you need to avoid to succeed with social media marketing.

In the end, remember that social media, when properly optimized, offers the greatest path to brands to reach more customers and increase their sales. As your followership increases and validates your services or products, your social proof increases, and more individuals get drawn to your business, boosting your sales.

Now that you are armed with some of the best social media marketing tips, are you ready to optimize your marketing strategy with them? Which one of the tips are you definitely going to implement?

Listen Up: DashClicks' white label social media posting service helps agencies save up on the cost involved in paying for the workforce that manages the social needs of their clients. The white label unified solution (platform + dashboard) simplifies things by automating client onboarding, fulfillment, and reporting.

The power of storytelling is unrivaled in business marketing.

YouTube ad sequencing empowers marketers to deliver brand stories to consumers with ease. No longer do you need to dump all of your content into one video. Instead, you can highlight key selling points in bite-sized content that's easy to digest.

But, what is YouTube ad sequencing and how does it work?

We're going to show you how to create a successful video ad sequence that drives conversions below.

What Is a YouTube Ad Sequence?

A YouTube ad sequence is a marketing tool that allows you to play advertisement videos in a bespoke order.

With traditional video ads, you upload your content to YouTube. After you select your targeting, YouTube will play this ad to key demographics before, during, or after their regularly scheduled content. It will generally select one of the videos in your ad group at random to play.

When you create an ad sequence, you get to determine the exact order. This way, you can ensure that every new viewer sees ad A, followed by ad B, and finishes with ad C. Google will automatically display your ad sequence to one user, one time, every 7 days.

YouTube Ad Sequencing vs Standalone Videos

The power of video can't be questioned.

Even a standalone video ad will drive significantly more conversions than images. A survey of Facebook marketers by Databox found that video accounted for 60% more ad clicks compared to pictures.

Google also declares that more than 33% of shoppers purchased a product thanks to a YouTube ad.

On the other hand, YouTube ad sequencing accounts for a staggering 74% ad recall lift when compared to the standalone video.

The reason for this is that ad sequencing works much like the traditional sales funnel. Rather than expecting a viewer to act on the first discovery, you get to reinforce your message with multiple interactions.

Furthermore, multiple videos provide more breathing room for your content. Rather than trying to sandwich all of the bullet points into one short video, you get to take your prospect on a journey. The gaps in between each video in the sequence then allow the viewer to reflect upon what you've previously shared. Instead of seeing your brand once and forgetting about it, they might see your second and third video and decide to convert at that time.

The trick to creating a great sequence is to ensure that your ads tell an excellent story. Google/YouTube knows this and offers all marketers pre-built storytelling templates to guide you to creating the perfect video ads.

What are these templates? How do you make sure your videos fit into the sequence? We're going to guide you through that setup process next.

How to Set up a YouTube Ad Sequence?

To get started with YouTube ad sequencing, you'll need to create a brand-new campaign within your Google Ads account.

If you've yet to get started with Google Ads, you can create an account for your business here.

Step 1 - Select an Objective

First, you'll need to select a campaign objective. Google uses this to provide campaign options that work best for that goal.

YouTube ad sequencing is limited to the following objectives: Product and brand consideration or Brand awareness and reach. Select the former to promote a specific offering and the latter to boost your audience discovery efforts.

Step 2 – Campaign Creation & Bidding Options

Next, select Ad sequence as the subtype to get started. You’ll need to name your campaign and select your ideal bidding strategy. You can choose between the following options (per Google support):

• Target CPM (recommended) – Google Ads optimizes bids to show your entire sequence campaign to your audience, which can help you get a higher sequence completion rate.
• Maximum CPV – Set the most you’re willing to pay each time your video ad is viewed.

Google recommends the first option as it provides more flexibility to show the full ad sequence. That means that you can leverage all three video types to maximize viewing time while keeping your costs low.

You may be able to brute force your way to securing spots with max CPV, but you are strictly limited to skippable video ads.

To help you select the ideal bidding option, here’s an overview of YouTube’s available video ad types:

• Skippable in-stream ads – Your ad will interrupt the user’s current YouTube video. Users can skip the video after 5 seconds elapse.
• Non-skippable in-stream ads – Your ad will interrupt the user’s current YouTube video. The video may be no longer than 15 seconds and the user may not skip it.
• Bumper ads – Your ad will play at the beginning or the end of the current YouTube video. These are meant to be short and no longer than 6 seconds.

We concur with Google's recommendation as being able to utilize each ad type or a combination allows greater creative freedom.

Step 3 - Deciding Who to Target

YouTube ad sequencing presents a caveat when it comes to a typical campaign targeting setup.

As per Google: You can't target keywords, topics, or placements but you can exclude keywords, topics, or placements at the campaign level.

Unlike your typical ads, you may not target users based on keywords or phrases they utilize to discover new videos. Instead, you're going to primarily focus on the most important audience demographics and the devices they utilize.

Google Ads will allow you to check off any number of demos you wish to target including age ranges, employment status, or household income levels. You can also choose which devices you want Google to prioritize for this campaign. Having pre-existing audience data on your Google Ads account will prove helpful for getting the most out of this ad sequence.

After you select your ideal audience, you'll need to select your content exclusions.

Whenever a YouTube account uploads a video, they’re required to identify the video as having any of the following attributes:

• Profanity
• Sexual content
• Nudity
• Violence & injury
• Drug use
• Crime

As an advertiser, you can exclude any content that contains these characteristics. Users often make a direct association with a brand and the content they view. If your brand is family-friendly, you'll want to exclude any strong examples of the above when possible.

You can choose three inventory types that dictate how often Google excludes content for ad placement:

• Expanded Inventory – This gives you the greatest selection of videos to use for your ad campaign. However, content may include sensitive materials that feature all of the above attributes. It will exclude excessive profanity, graphic sexual content, and graphic violence.
• Standard Inventory – This is the level deemed appropriate for most everyday brands. Google Ads makes the effort to exclude repeated profanity, strong sexual content, and violence either real or dramatized.
• Limited Inventory – This is for advertisers that must go the extra mile to ensure everything stays brand-safe. Google will exclude even moderate profanity and sexual content. However, this greatly limits your available real estate.

Choose the appropriate option that makes the most sense for your brand. As Google states, the standard option should work for most companies. Not only will choosing the right content better speak to your company values, but you're also more likely to connect with the correct audience demographics.

Step 4 - Choosing a Template & Adding Your Videos

Google Ads will prompt you to upload your videos at this time. You must upload a minimum of two unique videos.

However, we're going to help you out by skipping ahead to the next step - choosing a sequence template. Having an idea of how you're going to sequence your storytelling will help you in selecting the most effective videos for this campaign.

A. Choosing a Sequence Template

The four base options Google includes are as follows:

• Introduce & reinforce – This is a simple two-video sequence that features a long video to introduce your brand. You then follow up your initial content with a short video to reinforce the message.
• Prompt & inspire – This is an inverse of the first option. Instead of asking for more viewing time up front, you make the viewer aware of your brand or offer a quick video. After they’re aware of you, you then inspire them to act with a longer video.
• Attract & direct – This is the first three-video sequence template. It’s essentially a continuation of Prompt & inspires, but with a short video that features a direct CTA.
• Engage & differentiate – This is a four-video sequence template. The idea is to continuously reinforce one message through different angles and approaches to the same idea.

Note that you are not restricted to any of these templates. You can elect to make a Custom sequence and formulate any story you desire.

Google explores these sequence ideas more here with additional templates. They support the different use cases for these YouTube ad sequences with demonstrable increases in brand awareness, ad recall, and purchase intent.

1. Tease, Amplify, Echo – Develop curiosity with an initial short video. Follow up with a longer video that provides the opportunity to deepen engagement. Finish with a short video that compels them to action.

This is most comparable to Attract & direct. Tests of this sequence showed a 115% average increase in brand awareness, an 86% increase in ad recall, and a 134% increase in purchase intent.

2. The Mini-Series – This format leverages the 3-act story. Three videos share the rising action, the climax, and the resolution.

This sequence obtained high marks across the board with over a 100% increase in all three areas. It speaks directly to how impactful a genuine story is for marketers.

3. The Direct Shot – We can compare this to the Engage & differentiate template. Rather than focusing on different ideas, you want to revisit one idea multiple times for alternative perspectives. The message never changes significantly, but deviations from the first video cause the user to recognize each subsequent video as unique content.

This format, once again, scores high across all metrics. However, the focus on one idea shows a significant boost to purchase intent.

4. The Follow-Up – This sequence banks a lot into a long-form opening act. You can then follow up a longer video with as many shorter videos as necessary to drive it home.

This format boasts high marks, particularly in brand awareness and purchase intent. However, it appears to be less effective than the previously mentioned formats.

5. The Lead-In – This is the direct reverse of the follow-up. You utilize a short video to peak interest before establishing your message in a longer format.

This YouTube ad sequence showed the weakest performance out of all tested formats.

Using these metrics as a guideline, it’s hard to go wrong with any of the first three sequences. For example, Tease, Amplify, and Echo may be best for purchase intent, but the Mini-Series and Direct Shot are going to leave you with comparable results.

As you become more familiar with ad sequencing, you can set up custom sequences to experiment with other options.

B. Adding Your Videos

With the template you want to use in mind, you can proceed with adding videos to your campaign.

The highest-performing sequences share a commonality in establishing the message quickly. It’s estimated that 9 in 10 users will skip your ad when given the option. This is true even if your targeting is generally on-point.

Remember that users have the option to skip longer ads after five seconds. For skippable in-stream ads, you have exactly that long to make an impact.

You may be thinking: “But, non-skippable ads give me fifteen seconds to work with.” The problem is that the human attention span is on average nine seconds. Even if we run a longer ad, we get distracted by other browser tabs, our phones, our smartwatches, and so on. Just because the video is running doesn’t mean that people will watch.

Consider that the number one reason people visit YouTube is for entertainment. People already don’t enjoy ads, and delaying their chosen content to promote yourself already puts you at a disadvantage. You owe it to yourself and the viewer to make every second count. That means that your emphasis must be on quality versus quantity.

While longer ads are accepted, shorter is almost always better. You may want to think of the shorter videos in a sequence of 5-10 seconds, while your longer videos should be no longer than 15-30 seconds. There are exceptional cases where you may want to go longer, but this will highly depend upon your offer and the audience’s historical reaction.

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Give the most pertinent details upfront. Additionally, look to take full advantage of the disruption by acting outside of the norm. For an everyday watcher, ads are an expected part of life and they're going to tune out without even realizing it. By doing something unexpected, or maybe even shocking, you have a far better chance of demanding attention in the first few seconds.

Finally, avoid any lingering one-shots. Many content creators utilize snappy editing styles, using video editor for YouTube, even when the subject of the video remains the same. Cutting to different angles can trick the brain into feeling like the video is more dynamic than it is. You can also use this to maximize every second and eliminate unnecessary dead air and fluff from the ad.

Step 5 - Assigning Your Sequence Steps

After selecting your template and adding the videos, it's time to assemble all the moving parts.

Google will lay out your selected template as a reminder of which videos you'll want to place in each step. You'll just need to add the YouTube URL.

You can and should select one of the optional call-to-actions to add to each video. There are several options, so you should have no trouble finding the one that best speaks to your campaign objective.

You can change up your CTAs in each step. If you want to treat it like a sales funnel, you might use your first step to “Learn More.” At the last step, you could set your video to display “Buy now” to drive purchase intent.

Be aware that you can also customize your bidding options for each step if you desire. This allows for greater flexibility regarding which videos are most vital for promotion. If you need a reminder, head back up to our coverage on bidding options.

You'll also need to select the ad format for each video. Remember, your options are skippable, non-skippable, or bumper. If your video length extends beyond the allowed limits, that format will not be selectable.

Finally, you need to select the conditions that will trigger the next step in the sequence. For example, you may only want to show the next video to users that click on the first ad. Alternatively, you can pursue users that don't click by setting the trigger to impression. This means that anyone who sees the first video will be eligible for the next step in the sequence.

After you complete this process for every step, click Create Campaign to finalize the process. You can preview each as it will display on YouTube to make your last-minute checks.

Step 6 - Test & Observe Your YouTube Ad Sequence

From here on out, the process will be markedly similar to a traditional Google Ads campaign.

You'll be able to monitor results from your dashboard 24/7. You can obtain more in-depth metrics from each step by establishing custom UTM parameters at the time of campaign creation.

We strongly recommend doing this as it will provide greater insight as to which types of video work best with your audience on YouTube.

For your campaign at large, you're going to be looking for trends in not only ad views, but also minutes watched. The former tells you that you're winning the bid for the display time, while the latter indicates whether users are watching or skipping.

Other indicators of campaign success can be seen in the form of likes, channel subscriptions, and video shares. After taking a few weeks to gather actionable data, you can begin making improvements that will further drive conversions.

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This may involve swapping out videos at a step. It may also see you testing different sequence templates to better present your best content to your audience. Just like with a standard Google Ad campaign, allow the results to guide your performance.

How to Set up a YouTube Ad Sequence - Conclusion

Building a YouTube ad sequence allows you to capitalize on a marketer's greatest tool - storytelling.

By following proven narrative formulas, you get to control how your message gets delivered to your audience. Based on their impressions and engagement, you can filter out unqualified leads and further refine your content for better performance.

Finally, YouTube ad sequencing will help you stand out as a cut above compared to the competitor. Rather than randomly serving ads to target demos, you show the user that you're mindful of what they're experiencing. Leveraging the buyer journey and reinforcing your message will help build awareness and drive purchase intent like never before.

Welcome to DashClicks' Digital Marketing Training Sessions. Today's training session is about using TikTok to get inbound leads. My name is Daniel, and this training session is based on my personal experience of generating leads using TikTok. TikTok is an emerging short video platform that has set a benchmark for all other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

We will discuss the entire process of using TikTok to generate inbound leads. It will help you build your brand from scratch within a shoestring budget.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch exclusive training sessions on digital marketing. The channel also hosts the Whiteboard Wednesday series, where Chad Kodary, the CEO of DashClicks, shares tips on how to run a digital agency successfully in a highly competitive market.

So, without further ado, let's dive in.

TikTok has grown out of its old image as a short video platform known for teenage dancing girls' clips. Some people still look at it that way, but the platform has come quite far. Whatever be the truth, TikTok has revolutionized the social media world.

Today's training session is based on our real-life experience and includes proven tips to generate inbound leads.

However, you need some buffer period to grow your account on TikTok. In the meantime, you might encounter some uncomfortable situations. You might also need to do a few things you have never done before and walk through rocky terrain.

The Salient Features of TikTok

There are multiple ways you can attract inbound leads on TikTok, but let's discuss its salient features first.

1. High Engagement

The platform is designed to interact with your followers and other content creators in a way that no other platform does. That's the reason it has a very high rate of engagement.

Source: DashClicks Training Sessions ā 01:35

2. Acts as a Search Engine for Short Videos

Apart from that, TikTok is also emerging as a search engine. They have also increased the character count of a video description from 120 to 500. It implies that your content stands a chance to rank based on various text strings used in the video title, description and hashtags.

For example, if you love “smoking ribs” and use a search query “smoking rib recipes,” you’ll get a 15 second video on the topic rather than long tutorials on YouTube. It’s much better and more time-saving if you want a quick understanding of the topic.

Whenever a social media platform gets bigger, it soon becomes a search engine, and TikTok is no exception.

3. Allows You to Respond to Questions via Videos

On TikTok, you can interact with content creators and people in your audience by responding to comments or questions via your video. Your response showcases your expertise. TikTok uses a content library for this purpose where anyone can ask questions.

For example, if you post a TikTok video and share three ways to increase your conversion rate on your website, you might get a question like, “Do you really mean this?” You can take this opportunity to respond to the question and increase engagement.

4. Provides A Massive Platform

TikTok started as a dancing video platform, but now it’s flooded with customers. It’s an anomaly that grew too fast, just like a black swan event.

It was so much so that every major social media platform is now copying it in the form of “reels” and “IdeaPins” and scrollable short videos. It’s creating waves. People love this platform and the way they interact with each other on it.

5. Has More Searchable Content

TikTok has now moved to searchable content using hashtags and location factors. Apart from these, searchable elements in your content also include sounds. When you click on “music” below a video, it will list all the videos that use the same music. With so many search parameters, finding your content has become comparatively more straightforward.

People are also using the platform for education, and it’s indeed a fantastic place for learning.

Your TikTok Checklist

Here’s your TikTok checklist for getting started. After that, we can move on to the strategy.

1. Focus more on benefiting your audience
2. Use the content to become the go-to expert in the field
3. Post frequently and regularly
4. Pick a specific topic (such as marketing, sales, NFTs)
5. Educate through entertainment
6. Engage and connect with like-minded individuals
7. Make sure you are posting quality content that offers value and is engaging

Content is the soul of social media and every other online marketing vertical you can think of. Your audience should love the content you create. It should offer value, address people’s pain points, and entice them enough to click the video and watch it fully.

Source: DashClicks Training Sessions ā 07:02

Your content should be shareable to offer value. TikTok offers you tons of ways to share your videos. Cross-platform promotion is one such way that can also make your videos go viral. TikTok doesn't provide you with a shortened URL or a link while sharing it. Instead, it shares the whole video across other platforms. People love to share good content, and TikTok's easy shareability contributes to its popularity and success in a big way. You can easily find TikTok videos in Instagram reels, etc.

Pro Tip #1: Focus more on education and offering value while creating content. Avoid sales pitches and aggressive direct promotion on TikTok. Let your content answer people's queries and address their pain points.

Pro Tip #2: Push forward the narrative of benefiting the audience and always try to add value through your content. You should keep the number of salesy videos to a minimum.

Pro Tip #3: Use content to become a go-to expert in your field. It will help you prove your credibility.

When you successfully establish yourself as a go-to expert, you appear in more related searches and people's feeds. When the masses watch your videos and follow you, more and more people share your content. This way, your content is multiplied and distributed across numerous communities.

Source: DashClicks Training Sessions ā 12:29

What to Do?

TikTok is a different social media platform, but not difficult to learn and use to drive results from. To succeed on TikTok, you need to do the following things.

1. Learn the Platform

Jump on the bandwagon. Don’t worry about messing it up, as you always have an option to delete it. Just try to learn the platform. The earlier you start, the better you will get at it and receive more rewards.

2. Start Conversations

Leave comments that trigger conversation on relevant content. If you haven’t posted a single video yet, you might be a bit anxious about doing it. It can be nerve-wracking at first, but you need to take the plunge. Check your customer’s profile first. Are they landscapers or eCommerce business owners? Now, find a piece of content and comment on it. It can be a question or any other form of a conversation starter.

For example, you can say, “Hey! So, I have a startup, and we have had some challenges, but we came through. You might be wondering, how did we overcome those challenges?”

The idea is to start a conversation so that they respond to you. It will bring you under the spotlight, prompting other users to ask you questions. When you answer their questions, you build credibility and exhibit your expertise. It will also increase engagement.

3. Target Your Customers

Target your existing customers. Start comments and conversations. It will attract people’s attention. You can quickly build your brand and establish yourself as an expert by offering value, sharing insights, and building credibility. Also try to reel in people who comment on your content and send you DMs to become your leads.

4. Target People in Your Field and Interact With Their Content

You should also target people who do the same thing as you or are in the same niche. It gives you visibility in front of the masses and newer audiences. We have successfully got leads from people who commented on our content. We responded, and then they told us that they needed help. We have also got leads from people who sent a DM to us. Many of them wanted to work with us. It was all due to the content that we publish frequently. It builds credibility and showcases our expertise. People ask questions via comments on our videos, which we use as an opportunity to close one or two prospects.

Pro Tip: Leads will come from the content you produce.

5. Establish Your Expertise

The time and effort spent on creating high-quality videos ultimately establishes your expertise and increases your credibility. You get leads by responding to people’s comments. But, how do you make these leads into potential prospects and get business from them? Here are three ways you can do so!

• Get Leads by Responding to Comments to Resolve People’s Issues
  Sometimes people convey their issues through the comments and seek insights because you have created content on similar topics. Experts take this as an opportunity and create videos on the same.Responding to their comment, they warmly say, “Hey! Thanks for the comment. Here is what I recommend you do to resolve your problem.” And then they add the link to the video they have created for the same. We also use such occasions as an opportunity to network and establish relationships.
• Get Leads From People DMing You
  The content you create adds credibility and helps you establish your expertise. When people see these insights, they try to contact you through comments, DMs, or phone calls. When someone sends you a direct message, you can reply, “I would like to work with you. Could we discuss this over a call?” You can also implement this strategy for your customers.
• Get Leads From Questions People Ask Under Your Video
  There are many questions people ask when you post your video. You should take this opportunity to answer these questions. There are high chances that these people will become your prospects.

Pro Tip: Stick with this practice and be consistent.

The best inbound leads I’ve ever received have been from podcasts, and the best place to get on podcasts is through TikTok, besides some occasional invites from here and there. That is why you should connect with people with the same interests and field. For example, they can be sales experts or marketing experts.

Source: DashClicks Training Sessions ā 14:12

Every podcast I’m currently on has been found from outreach on TikTok. It proves how much visibility you get when you are on TikTok. When you follow people from a specific niche or profession and interact with their content, there are two primary benefits you’ll get:

• You’ll get to know similar people
• Similar experts will pop up in your feed

So if you are a digital marketer, you might see the content of a growth expert XYZ pop up in your feed. They might have similar content to you, and in fact, you might use some of their ideas to build your content.

However, that’s another story.

Taking Your Newly Built Relationships to the Next Level

This way, both of you can see each other’s content, get familiar, and start interacting with each other. You build a relationship, add comments on each other’s content, and start sharing a great camaraderie.

So, you build relationships well through TikTok. You may find that your contact also hosts a podcast when that happens. So, when they post a podcast clip, you might comment and say, “Hey XYZ! I loved the podcast! Can I be on your podcast too and share some of my own insights and experiences with your audience?“

More likely than not, you’re going to receive a positive response from them as they are also from the same field, and it will benefit both of you mutually.

I created my first podcast this way. I built this relationship through commenting, and when I coined the idea of starting a podcast together, my contact immediately agreed.

The podcast that I sourced using TikTok and relations made through the platform opened the floodgates of leads for me.

TikTok offers tremendous opportunities similar to this if you are consistent. The procedure is simple:

• Pick a specific niche
• Offer value and build your credibility by posting quality content
• Answer questions posted by people to gravitate them towards you

So, if you do it consistently, people will reach out to you and would express their interest in working with you.

In less than six months of practicing it consistently, I have created my own fan following, starting from scratch.

Building Relationships With the Experts

The second way is to build relationships with experts in your field. They’ll see your content, and if you consistently post content that offers value, they will start enjoying it and might even reach out to build a relationship.

You can create a podcast together and distribute it through TikTok. People who follow or listen to this podcast may contact you as your TikTok account name and contact details will be shared with the podcast.

Again, appearing in podcasts increases your credibility, establishes your expertise on TikTok, and ultimately leads to inbound lead generation.

It is by far the best platform that delivers results in this fashion. TikTok is a little easier and more manageable as you can easily set it up, and things work on autopilot if you are consistent.

Final Words

TikTok is known for entertaining content that focuses on interaction with people in an engaging way. The platform is designed in such a way that it encourages engagement and relationship building. It works with an AI-based feed system that provides you with the content you love to consume. If you compare it with YouTube, TikTok is more engaging and user-friendly. Comments and video responses encourage interaction.

I hope you found this training session helpful. It worked extraordinarily well for me. Let me know if you have any questions. Ensure you subscribe to our channel and hit the bell icon for notifications if you want more of such sessions.

You are also welcome to suggest future topics in the comments section.

I’ll see you in the next training session. Until then!

Instagram features over one billion monthly users.

That figure alone makes it apparent why brands and marketers are capitalizing on the platform.

However, every other brand has the same idea. Hundreds of thousands of brands are vying for any given person's attention daily.

The result is a highly competitive environment that amounts to a densely packed minefield. One false move could cause users to reach for the unfollow button.

If this is happening to you, you're not alone. Let's take a look at what you're doing wrong so that you can learn how to stop losing followers on Instagram.

1. You Cheated the Game with Fake Followers

You're likely sitting there saying, Not me!ā

However, studies otherwise indicate that more than half of influencers on the platform are using fake followers. Nearly half of all accounts may be fake.

It's an extremely common tactic for new brands to buy followers. The more followers you have, the more likely you are to attract new attention organically. Instagram may also recognize your follower account and be more likely to promote your posts.

The problem is that it can catch up to you eventually. Instagram knows that this is a prevailing problem and is taking a proactive approach to banning these accounts.

Furthermore, if they can connect the accounts to yours, there's a good chance you can receive a full ban or a shadowban.

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You'll know if your account is banned as you will no longer be able to log in with your username.

A shadowban is more subtle as it still allows you to access the account. However, Instagram will prevent your content from appearing to new users with this type of ban.

If you engage in these tactics and find your brand losing Instagram followers, you need to take a closer look.

You may be losing followers simply because those bots are being discovered and deleted. You may also want to do some testing or reach out to Instagram to determine if you are in fact on a shadowban list.

2. All of Your Content is the Same

Instagram is unlike your other marketing channels. You cannot expect to rely on similar strategies for too long and expect great results.

Social media works much more like a local, social hangout spot. People will drop in and out as they please. They typically only stick around if there's something new and exciting happens to keep their interest.

Unfortunately, most brands go on with a full business-centric mindset. You end up being the most boring person at the event that everyone can't get away from fast enough.

They know your brand and they've heard the same pitch one too many times. Instead of being a part of the conversation, you're now talking at users instead of inviting them to join you.

One of the reasons this happens is that many brands do not devote the necessary resources to create a legitimate social media strategy. They end up creating an account, drafting up a few posts, and scheduling them to go out never to think about them again.

In reality, your brand requires a dedicated social media specialist. This person can consistently be active with other users on the platform. Not only does this provide firsthand insight into what's trending or interesting, but it also gives them more freedom to test out different types of content.

Don't be afraid to explore all types of media. Use pictures, create interesting infographics, and be sure to rely on video. Use Instagram photoshop actions to keep it quick and engaging, and always leave users hungry for whatever might come next.

3. Your Content is All About Trying to Make a Buck

Instagram users, and any social media user for that matter, are constantly bombarded with advertisements.

Any number of brands are vying for their attention on a given day. The result is that users automatically filter out promotional, salesyā  content without thinking. If all of your content is about selling, you might as well not post at all.

An effective social media strategy can and will help drive sales. However, your Instagram account is typically not the place to perform the hard sell.

Instead, social media is the place where you want to discover new leads and nurture those relationships naturally. It's about being a part of the greater conversation and convincing your following that your content is worth seeing daily in their timeline.

That isn't to say that you can't or shouldn't promote a sale or product. Highlighting a big sale or a hotly anticipated item is a great thing to include in your collection of posts. But, it shouldn't account for all or even most of them.

Great content can be educational. It can give customers a look behind the scenes. It can even just be a humorous post meant to brighten someone's day.

Brands must experiment more with different types of content to determine what resonates right now with the current audience. Just be sure that your content is consistent with your established tone and values.

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4. Your Posting Frequency is Off

In addition to creating great content, the timing of that content must also be consistent.

Many social media users are creatures of habit. They have their social routine which may be checking before work, on lunch, or strictly on the weekends. If you establish a routine of posting new content on schedule, they'll be sure to see it.

Conversely, posting on a haphazard schedule will cause users to miss your posts entirely. For example, posting during prime working hours may be a surefire way to alienate much of your would-be audience.

Different social platforms seem to have their peak times for ideal posting, and Instagram is no different. Sprout Social finds that the hottest times to post are during weekdays just around lunchtime. However, there also seems to be strong engagement throughout the afternoon before tapering off into the evening.

Your posting schedule may also vary depending on your audience's behaviors as well as your industry type. Just like with content, you will also want to perform some testing to see which hours are the best for your brand to post.

Once you find a schedule that works, it's imperative to show consistency. When users are clicking and following, don't push them away by changing things up unnecessarily.

5. You Failed to Establish a Unique Voice

Finally, your brand needs to have something unique and interesting to say. If you fail to make yourself stand out, nothing is stopping your audience from unfollowing and discovering countless other brands in your industry.

It's worthwhile to investigate the competition and analyze what's working in their social media strategy. However, your goal should not be to directly copy their voice and style.

Instead, it's time to do some deep reflection and think about what your brand has to offer that's different from the other voices on Instagram. If you have a unique value proposition worth listening to, the followers will come naturally.

If you're observing a loss in followers, it can be a result of this. Users may scroll through the timeline and one-day question why they're following an account that is too generic or too similar.

Find ways to separate yourself from other voices in your industry. Furthermore, you can also use your Instagram account to survey your followers directly. Not only are users generally willing to provide insight, but adding this type of engagement to your repertoire could help facilitate better relationships in the long term.

Stop Your Brand from Losing Instagram Followers

Seeing a loss of Instagram followers is disheartening. However, we are lucky to have such immediate access to analytics and insights as this alerts us to a fixable problem.

Instead of panicking, stop reflecting on your current Instagram strategy. Review the types of content you're sharing, think about your voice, and monitor your frequency. Some issues may be easily corrected, while others may require you to head back to the drawing board.

Marketing, in general, is a rapidly changing industry. However, social media is that much faster. Interests and trends can change without warning. The best brands on social are agile and ready to adapt to anything.

If you want to rebuild your Instagram follower base, then your brand, too, has to be dynamic. Create engaging content, target users at the right times, and results will come.

When it comes to social media branding, presentation is everything.

It's all too common for brands to come up with the perfect image, only to realize social media image sizes change for every platform. You find yourself with a pixelated profile picture and an ill-fitting banner image that's an eyesore for everyone.

If you need to know the best size for social media images, you’re at the right place. Check out our quick guides below for the most popular social media websites.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• YouTube

Facebook Image Size Recommendations

Facebook has several image upload formats, whether you're optimizing your profile or looking to run paid social media advertisements. These recommendations come courtesy of Facebook's help center.

Regardless of where you're uploading the image on Facebook, you'll want to ensure that the file is of the highest quality possible. You'll want to utilize either JPEG or PNG format to obtain higher resolutions while maintaining a reasonable file size.

Facebook Profile & Feed Optimization

Profile Picture

• 170 x 170 on desktop
• 128 x 128 on mobile

Cover Photo

• 820 x 312 on desktop
• 640 x 360 on mobile
• 400 x 150 minimum

You can upload a larger image size and attempt to reposition it, but larger sizes can result in longer load times. If your photo meets the recommended file size, avoid repositioning.

Timeline Posts

• 1200 x 630 recommended
• 600 x 315 minimum
• 1:1 ratio

Timeline and general posts photos are different as this resolution technically exceeds Facebook’s aspect ratio. All posts will auto-adjust to 500 pixels wide, but making your photo slightly larger will help to avoid stretching or pixelation.

Facebook Event Cover Photo

• 1200 x 628
• 2:1 ratio

As an important note, you cannot edit an event photo after it’s been added. You may reposition it to get it closer to your liking.

Facebook 360 Photos

• Less than 30,000 pixels in any dimension
• Less than 135,000,000 pixels in total size
• 2:1 ratio
• 45 MB maximum for JPEG
• 60 MB maximum for PNG

Due to the slightly more technical nature of 360 panorama photos, we recommend checking out Facebook 360’s extended help article on the topic here.

Facebook Stories

• 1080 x 1920
• 9:16 ratio (full mobile screen)

As an additional recommendation, leave the top and bottom of the story text-free (approximately 250 pixels). This will ensure that users can still interact with your profile picture and any buttons that are otherwise present on the screen.

Tip: You can try a free online image editor to transform any image into an animated design and add life to capture the attention of audiences across digital platforms.

Facebook Ads

Feed Ad

• 1080 x 1080
• 600 x 600 minimum
• 1.91:1 to 1:1 ratio
• File size no larger than 30 MB

Right Column Ad

• 1080 x 1080
• 254 x 133 minimum
• 1:1 ratio.

Instant Articles

• 1080 x 1080
• 1.91:1 to 1:1 ratio
• File size no larger than 30 MB

Marketplace

• 1080 x 1080
• 1:1 ratio
• File size no larger than 30 MB.

Search

• 1080 x 1080
• 600 x 600 minimum
• 1.91:1 to 1:1 ratio
• File size no larger than 30 MB

Sponsored Message

• 1080 x 1080
• 1.91:1 to 1:1 ratio
• File size no larger than 30 MB

Inbox

• 1080 x 1080
• 254 x 133 minimum
• 1:1 ratio
• File size no larger than 30 MB

Messenger Stories

• 1080 x 1080
• 9:16 ratio
• The minimum width allowed is 500 pixels

For more detailed information about Facebook Ads guidelines, you can check out the resource we used courtesy of Facebook here.

Instagram Image Size Recommendations

Instagram supports both horizontal and vertical images. While this gives you more options, it also means there are more guidelines for you to remember when posting or sharing images. Check out the recommended social media image sizes below:

Instagram Profile & Feed Optimization

Profile Picture

• 320 x 320

While the images you upload are generally square, the image will be rounded in the final display. For this reason, you’ll want to make sure that the focus of your image is in the center.

Landscape Images

• 1080 x 566

Portrait

• 1080 x 1350

Square

• 1080 x 1080

Note that image heights vary between 566 and 1350 pixels. This will vary depending upon whether you’re choosing to post your image horizontally or vertically as previously explained. The width will always remain at 1080.

Instagram Stories

• 1080 x 1920
• 9:16 ratio

Be sure to utilize the recommended aspect ratio to avoid any errors in displaying your content.

Instagram Carousel Images

The Carousel feature utilizes the same recommended resolutions as your feed images. Once again, the height of the image should vary between 566 and 1350 pixels depending on whether you’re using landscape or portrait settings.

Instagram Reels

• 1080 x 1920 (for both Reel and cover photo)
• 9:16 ratio

Reels appear as a 1:1 image in the Instagram profile feed but appear as a 4:5 image in the home feed.

Tip: Want to apply marvelous effects to your shots? Download Instagram Photoshop actions and transform a picture into a masterpiece effectively and quickly.

Instagram Ads

Landscape

• 1080 x 566

Square

• 1080 x 1080

Instagram Stories Ads

• 1080 x 1920

Instagram ads may utilize widths ranging from 320 to 1080 pixels as well as aspect ratios of 1.91:1 and 4:5.

Furthermore, Instagram Stories works similarly to Facebook Stories. This means that you’ll want to avoid adding text or images to the top or bottom of the Stories feed. You’ll want this space free so that users can click on your profile image and other appropriate links that might otherwise be obscured.

You can learn more about Instagram ad specs here.

LinkedIn Image Size Recommendations

LinkedIn is the social media platform for professionals, and you’ll want to include high-quality photos with each post to attract more clicks.

LinkedIn image sizes will differ from the platform recommendations so far. Each image section seems to support different resolutions, meaning you’ll take additional care to ensure your company profile page has a quality appearance.

LinkedIn Profile & Company Page Optimizations

Profile Picture

• 400 x 400 (though it can support up to 7680 x 4320)
• Must not exceed 8 MB

Cover Photos

• 1584 x 396
• 4:1 ratio
• Must not exceed 8 MB

Company Logo

• 300 x 300

Company Page Cover

• 1128 x 191

Life Tab Main Image

• 1128 x 376

Life Tab Custom Module

• 502 x 282

Life Tab Company Photo

• 900 x 600

Square Logo

• 60 x 60

Except for your cover photo, all image sizes should utilize an aspect ratio of 1.91:1.

Blog Posts & Updates

• 1200 x 627
• 1.91:1 ratio
• 200-pixel width minimum

LinkedIn Ads

Company Logo

• 100 x 100

Spotlight Ads logo

• 100 x 100

Spotlight Ads Background

• 300 x 250

Sponsored Content

• 1200 x 627
• 1.91:1 ratio

Sponsored Content Carousel

• 1080 x 1080
• 1:1 ratio

You can find more information about the latest LinkedIn ad specs here.

Twitter Image Size Recommendations

Twitter is a social media platform that’s all about the fast and dirty distribution of information. With a limited character size of 280, users rely heavily on images, GIFs, and videos to attract engagement.

With our help, you can ensure that your image posts and ads have the greatest impact possible. Check out Twitter’s official recommended image sizes and aspect ratios below.

Twitter Profile & Feed Optimizations

Profile Picture

• 400 x 400 recommended
• 200 x 200 minimum
• Must not exceed 2 MB

Twitter will round your profile image, so be sure to keep the focus of the image directly in the center.

Header/Banner Photo

• 1500 x 500
• 3:1 ratio

Twitter Feed Photos

• 1600 x 900 recommended
• 600 x 335 minimum
• Anywhere between 2:1 and 1:1 ratio on desktop
• For mobile, use 2:1, 3:4, and 16:9 ratio

Twitter URL Preview / Card Images

• 120 x 120
• Must not exceed 1 MB

As an important note, all uploaded Twitter images must be either in JPEG or PNG format. You may also upload GIFs.

Twitter Ads

Image Ad (Single or Multi)

• Minimum resolution of 600 x 335

Website Card

• 800 x 418 when using a 1.91:1 ratio
• 800 x 800 when using a 1:1 ratio
• Must not exceed 20 MB

App Card

• 800 x 418 when using a 1.91:1 ratio
• 800 x 800 when using a 1:1 ratio
• Must not exceed 3 MB

Carousel

• 800 x 418 when using a 1.91:1 ratio
• 800 x 800 when using a 1:1 ratio
• Must not exceed 20 MB for collectively 2-6 cards

Direct Message Card

• 800 x 418
• 1.91:1 ratio
• Must not exceed 3 MB

Conversation Card

• 800 x 418
• 1.91:1 ratio
• Must not exceed 3 MB

You can learn about more detailed specs for different types of Twitter ads here.

Pinterest Image Size Recommendations

Pinterest may be one of the less popular social media platforms on this list, it’s still an excellent place to advertise to the right demographics. Its unique form of sharing, pins, allows you to come up with some creative image ideas to share for increased engagement.

Check out Pinterest’s recommendations to ensure that your pins look stellar when browsing your profile.

Pinterest Profile Optimizations

Profile Photo

• 165 x 165

Pinterest crops the photo into a circle, so be sure to keep the focus of the image in the center.

Cover Photo / Banner

• 800 x 450
• Recommended to use 16:9 landscape photos

Pin Optimizations

Pins

• 1000 x 1500
• 2:3 ratio
• Must not exceed 20 MB

Square Pins

• 1000 x 1000
• 2:3 ratio
• Must not exceed 20 MB

Collection Pins

• 1000 x 1500
• 1000 x 1000 for square
• 1:1 ratio recommended, can use 2:3
• Must not exceed 10 MB

Story Pins

• 1080 x 1920
• 9:16 ratio
• Must not exceed 20 MB

For all pins, Pinterest currently accepts PNG and JPEG image files. For multi-image pins, ensure that all images have the same aspect ratio. If you cannot meet the aspect ratio requirements, be aware that the Pinterest platform crops out details from the bottom up.

Pinterest Ads

Shopping Ads

• 1000 x 1500
• 2:3 ratio
• All other details are the same as standard pins

Carousel Ads

• Can utilize 1000 x 1500 or 1000 x 1000
• Can utilize 1:1 or 2:3 ratio

App Install Ads

• 1000 x 1500
• 2:3 ratio
• All other details are the same as standard pins

Learn more about Pinterest Pins and ad specs by clicking here.

YouTube Image Size Recommendations

YouTube might be the world’s most popular video-sharing platform, but optimizing your images is equally important. Whether you’re optimizing your profile or perfecting your thumbnails, you need to know Google/YouTube’s platform recommendations for getting your image sizes to look perfect.

YouTube Profile Optimization

Profile Picture

• 800 x 800
• Accepts JPEG, PNG, BMP, and GIF

Be aware that YouTube scales photos down to 98 x 98 when displayed on desktop or mobile. To avoid cropping out important details, ensure that the image focus is found at the center.

Banner Image

• 2048 x 1152 minimum
• 16:9 ratio
• Must not exceed 6 MB

If you plan to add text to your image, allow for 1235 x 338 of space within the minimum recommended size. You can learn more about branding your channel on YouTube here.

Video Thumbnails

• 1280 x 720

This file size matches the minimum recommendation for YouTube video uploads. However, YouTube strongly recommends uploading the actual video at 1080p or higher. Because thumbnails are smaller, you can safely upload at 720p without distorting or pixelating your image.

Get Your Social Media Image Sizes Right Like a Pro!

Getting a photo just right can be a hassle, but uploading with the proper resolution is what separates amateurs from professionals. Instead of scaring away would-be followers with shoddy, pixelated assets, bookmark this list and be sure to get your images in order before your next campaign.

Be sure to stick to the recommended guidelines as opposed to the minimum, so that your images can remain useful even if platform requirements shift. Certain platforms like Facebook are notorious for this, so be on your toes and check back for updates regularly.

If all else fails, be sure to lean on each platform’s respective help center to get specific and advanced guidelines for all of your image and media uploads.