How to Breathe New Life Into Your Google Search Results With Rich Snippets

Google rich snippets. What the heck are those?

They're these awesome things that can help you improve your website's SEO and generate more site traffic from search engine results pages (SERPs), and in this article, I'm going to tell you how to set them up.

Let me first pose a question to you: Have you noticed that when doing a Google search, certain listings just look a little sexier than others? For example, if you were doing a search for "apple pie," which of these listings when you rather click on?

I'll bet you chose option #2. If you didn't, you must really not like apple pie.

Between the thumbnail image and the five-star rating scale, what are these sites doing to make their Google listings include this extra media? The secret to these fancy pieces of information are rich snippets, which these websites have optimized for using the HTML of their website pages.

Google Rich Snippets

Google rich snippets are enhanced search results that produce more details about a website than the average link. This "rich" media can include images, ratings, authors, dates, locations, and more. Publishers can give Google these details by including structured data in the backend of their webpages.

Google rich snippets -- also called "rich results" -- extract information from your website to display on your site's listing in the search results, in addition to the typical page title, page URL, and meta description.

Each search result is guaranteed to display these three pieces of information, making up an individual snippet. The thinking is, the more information included in a search result's snippet, the more likely users are to click on that result. With enough structured data on the page, you can earn a rich snippet.

Rich snippets are often overlooked in businesses' SEO strategies because they are more difficult to implement than traditional on-page SEO. But with how complex Google search results look today, it would be worth your while to spend a little time learning how to do this. Adding this content-rich information to your Google search listings draws the eye and can increase your listings' click-through rates, even when you're not ranking in the #1 position.

There are a few options for how to install rich snippets, but I'm going to show you the easiest method: using microdata.

Keep in mind this process won't guarantee that you'll get a rich snippet. But giving these details special treatment can dramatically increase your chances of enhancing the appearance of your search result -- and, in turn, the traffic you get from it.

How to Create Rich Snippets

1. Identify which details you want Google to focus on.
2. Define your webpage using Google's Structured Data Markup Helper.
3. Create microdata for your webpage using your selected data type.
4. Create new HTML from this microdata.
5. Tag your content with this microdata.
6. Test your rich snippet.
7. Be patient.

1. Identify which details you want Google to focus on.

Your webpage's topic and format will dictate which types of information you want Google to display in its search results. Are you writing an article? An event page? A book review? A product page? Here are some examples of details included in rich snippets for the several types of snippets available to you:

• Article: You can add tags for the article title, author, meta description, publish date, featured image, and more.
• Restaurant pages: You can add tags for food items, item prices, item descriptions, item images, item calories, and more.
• Product page: You can add tags for product names, product ratings, product prices, product availability, product images, and more.
• Event page: You can add tags for the event name, event speakers, event schedule, event dates, and more.
• Recipe: You can add tags for recipe rating, ingredients, image of final product, cooking duration, total calories, and more.

2. Define your webpage using Google's Structured Data Markup Helper.

So, how do you create the tags listed above? Unfortunately, it's not as easy as writing "Here's the product's price" in your webpage's HTML and expecting Google to take the hint. To properly communicate this information to Google, the company offers a handy tool for creating structured datasets based on the type of webpage you're publishing. It's called the Structured Data Markup Helper. Use it here, and see it below.

As you can see, above, you'll start by selecting the attribute that best describes the content you're creating. Then, at the bottom of this page, enter the existing URL of the webpage to which your content has been published. (Note: To use this tool, you'll publish your content first, and then retrieve the URL so you can structure your data accordingly.)

3. Create microdata for your webpage using your selected data type.

Microdata is a way to label content to describe what this content represents. An event, for example, has all sorts of information associated with it, including the venue, starting time, name, and category. You can then use a bit of code to basically tell Google, "Here's my event and the most important information people would need to know about it."

How Microdata Can Be Used

Microdata wraps your text in very simple HTML tags, such as <span> or <div> tags, to assign descriptive terms to each bit of information. Here's an example block of HTML showing some basic information about me -- the author of this article -- below.

<p>My name is Diana Urban, and I was born and raised in New York. I'm on the marketing team at HubSpot, an all-in-one marketing software company in Cambridge, MA.</p>

See those <p> tags at the beginning and end of the copy, above? This denotes text that is in standard paragraph style. There's nothing unique about the text above compared to any other paragraph in this article. This makes it hard for Google to interpret it the way you might want it to be interpreted.

Now, here is the same HTML tagged with microdata:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://bit.ly/2SiqKuOPerson">
My name is <span itemprop="name">Diana Urban</span>, and I was born and raised in New York.
I'm the <span itemprop="title">Head of Prospect Marketing</span> at <span itemprop="affiliation">HubSpot</span>, an all-in-one marketing software company in Cambridge, MA.</div>

Those bold tags in the HTML above tell Google what each piece of my author bio actually is. The "person" tag indicates this is about a person. The "name" tag indicates the following text is my name. The "title" tag indicates the following text is my job title. The "div" tags single out the entire section of HTML so Google knows it can highlight it in my article's snippet, given the appropriate search term a user might enter.

Creating Your Microdata

Once you've selected your data type in the previous step, you'll be taken to a page where you can automatically associate certain details of your webpage with microdata that describes those details. To create microdata for an article's author, for example, you'll highlight the author's name on the webpage -- which Google projects on the lefthand side of the tool -- and select "Author" in the dropdown that appears. See how this looks, below.

 

4. Create new HTML from this microdata.

Next, you'll create new strings of HTML from the microdata you created in the previous step. Once you've finished assigning each part of your webpage a proper tag, click the red "Create HTML" button on the top-righthand corner of the tool, as shown below.

5. Tag your content with this microdata.

With your HTML successfully created, you'll see every tag you created in step 3, above, listed in a block of code you can then insert into your article's HTML. You'll insert this code in your content management system (CMS).

Google recommends adding the HTML it created for you into the "head section" of your article's HTML. If you use HubSpot's CMS, you'll find separate HTML boxes designed just for this occasion, as shown below.

Learn more about adding HTML to webpages in HubSpot Academy.

Want another way to tag your HTML with various pieces of microdata? Review the different examples of rich snippets below this list of instructions. Each of these rich snippets link to separate Google instructions on how to optimize for each type of rich snippet. (When you load their page, always select the "microdata" approach to get the right instructions.)

6. Test your rich snippet.

Google Webmaster Tools has another nifty feature that lets you test your rich snippet. Click here to use their Structured Data Testing Tool. This will confirm whether or not Google can read your markup data and whether your rich snippets are appearing in their search results.

7. Be patient.

If you don't see your rich snippets in Google's search results right away, don't freak out. It actually takes Google as long as a few weeks to crawl and index this new data. So go to the beach. Sip a margarita. Soak in some sun.

Okay, it's more likely that you'll just keep working on other stuff in the meantime, but a girl can dream ...

Rich Snippets Examples

Let's run through some of the different types of rich snippets that are available to use on your website. Each section links to Google's instructions on how to actually install the rich snippets -- remember to select the microdata option for the easiest installation process!

Business and Organization Snippets

A rich snippet about a business or organization can include location information, contact information, price ranges, hours, and customer reviews, if there are any available.

Learn how to create rich snippets for organizations >

Event Snippets

Event snippets include the date, location, and time of the event. If there are more than one option for the events, up to three will be displayed.

Learn how to create rich snippets for events >

Music Album Snippets

Using music album rich snippets will display links to individual songs in an album, or even lyrics to the song if available.

Learn how to create rich snippets for music >

People Snippets

The people snippet displays information such as a person's job title, the company they work for (a.k.a. affiliation), and location. It can also display a photo, nickname, and more.

People snippets are different than author snippets. Here is the difference, with an example of yours truly.

Learn how to create rich snippets for people >

Product Snippets

Product rich snippets include things like a picture of a product, ratings, and price range of the product.

Learn how to create rich snippets for products >

Recipe Snippets

Recipe rich snippets provide users with additional information about a specific cooking recipe, such as the ratings (1 to 5 stars), cook/prep time, and calorie information.

In order to qualify as a recipe, you must have at least two of the following tags in place:

• A photo of the dish
• The tag: prepTime, cookTime, totalTime, or ingredients
• Calories
• Review

 

Learn how to create rich snippets for recipes >

Review Snippets

You've already seen a bunch of examples of snippets that have 5-star ratings included. But you can also set up a snippet that is just the review portion.

Learn how to create rich snippets for reviews >

Video Snippets

If you want a thumbnail of a video to display next to your search listing, the markup works a little different. Google recognizes the Facebook Share markup code, so you might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Learn how to create rich snippets for videos >

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4 Ways to Build Transparency as a Leader

Trust and transparency are fundamental to business success. A recent survey by Ernst & Young found that less than half of global professionals trust their employer, boss, team or colleagues. A host of factors improve trust in the workplace -- from diversity and inclusion to individual leaders being more open and transparent with their teams.

To discuss trust in the workplace, I spoke with best-selling author Marcus Buckingham, who recently finished his latest book Nine Lies About Work (co-authored with Ashley Goodall).

Our conversation, coupled with my own experience, solidified 4 keys to help leaders build trust and transparency with their team, while also reinforcing why it matters in the workplace:

1. Build connection through swift and focused frequency.

One of the biggest takeaways from my conversation with Marcus is the importance of holding quick and frequent check-ins or 1:1s with your team. Trust starts with honest, open dialogue, and the frequency of that dialogue matters just as much as the content itself.

“Building trust isn’t just about intent, but also frequency and detail,” shares Buckingham. “Employees need to know that you have their back and that only happens through regular check-ins or light touch, individualized communications. If you meet with employees once a week for 10-15 minutes and simply ask, ‘what are you working on and how can I help?’, it goes a long way toward building trust.”

Create a foundation of trust through regular communication and engagement. “People want to know where they stand with you as a manager, and every employee knows that’s a moveable feast,” notes Buckingham. “When you take time to hear from each team member on their near-term priorities, while also letting them know ‘we don’t need to solve everything this week’, you move the relationship forward, and see stronger engagement and performance as a result.”

2.  Build transparency into culture.

Employees want to work for leaders who are authentic and transparent -- who openly seek new solutions and ideas. However, many leaders struggle with consistency in this area. Trust takes commitment. Embracing transparency requires leaders to openly share both good and bad news. Effective communication, listening, and clear and quality feedback go a long way in creating a positive and open dialogue.

Many leaders hesitate to be transparent because they worry they’ll be viewed as less authoritative or directional as a leader. This is completely false. People want to connect with their leaders.

Leaders have to exhibit behavior they want their team to imitate, and openly share problems they’re facing and lessons they’ve learned. They should take stock of how the team is performing and what issues need to be addressed and what areas will require change. When leaders do this in an open and constructive way with their team, it builds trust.

When leaders aren’t open to discussing challenges facing their business, or the picture they paint doesn’t match the team’s day-to-day experience, the gap can create a loss of trust. Once trust is lost, it is extremely difficult to rebuild.

3.  Activate experimentation.

Building a foundation of trust with employees requires leaders to create a positive environment, where everyone on the team feels empowered to openly speak and problem-solve. Great leaders give team members the space, autonomy and feedback they need to be successful with specific projects they are owning.

Fear of failure prompts behaviors that can diminish the effectiveness of a team. In absence of trust, employees are guarded, less engaged and less likely to stretch themselves beyond their comfort zones. Empower employees to experiment. This flexibility demonstrates your trust in your team and in turn their trust in their leader.

Focus on creating an environment that empowers employees to succeed. This means providing a safe place for exploration, experimentation and risk-taking, which translates into success for the organization, increased profitability and talent attraction.

4. Encourage and empower.

Enthusiasm is contagious and it’s a force multiplier. Negativity impacts energy and optimism with decreases motivation and productivity by creating stress and pressure.

Maximize every opportunity you can find to provide positive encouragement. Doing so requires some effort, but the results are impactful. In my experience, employees will find ways to deliver results beyond expectation, when leaders express encouragement and sincere appreciation for their accomplishments.

By recognizing employees for their performance, you give them the opportunity to shine through projects, which increases motivation and confidence.

Empower your team and amplify their strengths. Organizations that put people first and allow team members to leverage their individual strengths will see stronger results, better employee engagement and lower turnover.  

Why This Matters

With transparency and trust, comes higher levels of performance. When leaders and teams focus on transparent and frequent communications, authentic relationships develop naturally. With a foundation of trust, people work better together and develop faster as a team – making it much easier to build momentum, retain high performing employees and attract new talent.

Ultimately leaders who focus on each of these areas position themselves to succeed in motivating their teams to do their best work, while building relationships that are vital to the success of their business in the future.

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The Ultimate Guide to Amazon Advertising

In 2018, the advertising duopoly of Google and Facebook seemed to dominate the market once again, owning 37% and 20% of the pie, respectively, while Amazon owned a measly 7%. However, if you dig a little deeper into the numbers, Amazon isn’t actually the third wheel in this equation.

While they own significantly less market share than Google and Facebook, Amazon’s advertising revenue skyrocketed by 250% in the third quarter of 2018 compared to the third quarter of 2017. And some industry experts predict that the long-standing advertising duopoly of Google and Facebook will turn into a triopoly as soon as next year, with Amazon charging right behind these established incumbents.

One of the biggest reasons brands are dedicating more advertising spend to Amazon is because it has become the central hub for online shopping. In fact, 44% of shoppers start their online shopping sessions on Amazon (which is 11% more than Google) and 40% of Americans buy products on the website at least once every month.

If you’re in the ecommerce industry, advertising on Amazon is your best bet for maximizing your revenue. So to help you start advertising on Amazon, we’ve created this simplified guide that fleshes out each type of ad you can run on Amazon and some of their best practices. Read on to learn how to advertise on the eCommerce platform in 2019.

Amazon Advertising Strategy

Even though we’ll be describing five unique types of Amazon advertisements that all have different best practices, here are three general tips for shaping a successful Amazon advertising strategy.

1. Determine your goals.

Whether you want to drive more sales or boost brand awareness, Amazon allows you to align your targets with your goals. For instance, you can deem your Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS) as your metric of success if you’re focusing on driving more sales. Alternatively, you can deem impressions as your metric of success if you’re focusing on boosting brand awareness.

2. Choose the right products to advertise.

Advertising your most popular products gives you the best chance to convert clicks into purchases. You should also make sure these products are in stock and priced competitively.

3. Craft clear, concise, and compelling product detail pages.

Amazon ads can entice shoppers to visit your product detail pages, but the product detail page is what will ultimately turn those shoppers into customers. To craft a persuasive product detail page, consider including accurate and descriptive titles, high-quality images, and relevant and useful product information.

Amazon Sponsored Ads

Image Credit: Shopify

Amazon Sponsored Product Ads are pay-per-click, keyword-targeted display ads for individual products that appear on search results and product detail pages. With Sponsored Product Ads, there are three types of keywords you can bid on if you decide to leverage manual targeting: broad, phrase, and exact.

Broad keywords can include words before and after the target keyword, like “white hand mixers”, if you sell hand mixers. Targeting these keywords will expose your ads to the greatest amount of traffic.

Phrase keywords focus on how the sequence of the words you use changes the context of a query. For example, “stainless steel hand mixer” indicates you sell hand mixers. But “hand stainless steel mixer” indicates you sell stainless steel mixers, but not necessarily stainless steel hand mixers.

Exact keywords are the most constraining type of targeted keyword -- a shopper’s search query must contain the exact keyword for your ad to show up and no words can come before or after the keyword. For example, if you choose to target exact keywords, you can target an ad for “hand mixer”, but it won’t show up for the query “electric hand mixer”.

Using Sponsored Product Ads, you can also use automatic keyword targeting, which leverages an algorithm to target the most relevant keywords for your product ads.

To gauge the performance of your ads, Sponsored Product Ads offers a reporting tool that displays your ads’ clicks, spend, sales, and advertising cost of sales (ACoS).

Amazon Sponsored Ads Best Practices

Targeting

With Amazon Sponsored Product Ads, you can find keywords that have low conversion rates and flag them as negative. This way, Amazon will stop showing your ad to shoppers who search for those queries. Ensuring you flag certain keywords as negative is critical -- even if these keywords have a high click-through-rate, their low conversion rate means they’re probably not reaching the right type of shoppers.

Bidding

Available in Manual Targeting ad campaigns, you can leverage Bid+ to boost the odds of your ad appearing at the top of search results. You can only use Bid+ on ads that are eligible to appear at the top of search results, but when you do, you can increase your default bid by up to 50%, keeping your top performing campaigns competitive, without having to constantly adjust your bids manually.

Amazon Headline Search Ads (Now Known as Sponsored Brand Campaigns)

Image Credit: Amazon Advertising

Currently known as Sponsored Brand Campaigns, this type of Amazon advertising allows you to promote keyword-targeted ads of multiple products above, below, and alongside search results. Using Sponsored Brand Campaigns, you can target three types of keywords: branded product keywords, complimentary product keywords, and sponsored products automatic targeting keywords.

Branded product keywords are a combination of your brand name and a product you sell.

Complimentary product keywords are a bundle of two individual products that influence the demand for each other and can be sold together (like ketchup and mustard).

Sponsored products automatic targeting keywords are search queries that you’ve already experienced success with while running automatic targeted sponsored product campaigns.

Sponsored Brand Campaigns also lets you feature up to three unique products in your ads, customize your ads’ image, headline, and landing page, and even tests these elements.

To determine how much you pay for Sponsored Brand Campaigns, Amazon uses a pay-per-click, auction-based pricing model, so you’ll never pay more than you bid per click. In addition to manual bidding, you can choose automated bidding, which will optimize your ads for conversion.

If you want to know how well your advertisements are performing, Sponsored Brand Campaigns offers a reporting feature that displays your ads’ clicks, spend, sales, estimated win rate for keywords, and ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales).

Sponsored Brand Campaigns Best Practices

Ad Creative

It's a good idea to feature three top-performing products in your Sponsored Brands Campaign to increase the amount of clicks and sales your ads generate.

Amazon also recommends including your product’s top benefit in your ad’s headline because mobile shoppers can only see the ad’s main image and headline.

Additionally, when describing your product, try not to claim your product is “#1” or a “Best Seller” -- your ad won’t get approved.

Testing

To run the most accurate and fruitful tests, consider only changing one variable at a time, run them for at least two weeks, and anchor the success of your tests to business goals.

Landing Page Design

With Sponsored Brands, you can direct shoppers to your Amazon store or a customized product page. Consider testing how different product pages convert visitors into customers, as well as the order in which your products appear.

Amazon Product Display Ads

Image Credit: CrazyLister

Product display ads are pay-per-click ads that appear on product detail pages, customer review pages, on top of the offer listing page, and below search results. You can also place these ads on abandoned cart emails, follow-up emails, and recommendations emails. Their main objective is to cross-sell or upsell your customers.

Using product display ads, you can use two types of campaign targeting: product and interest. Product targeting is a contextual form of targeting, so you can target specific products and related categories. Interest targeting is a behavioral form of targeting, so you can target shopper interest and reach a larger audience.

Product display ads also let you choose which in-category detail pages you want to advertise on, customize your creative, and offers a reporting tool that displays your campaigns’ clicks, spend, sales, advertising cost of sales (ACoS), detail page views, spend, units sold, total sales, and average cost-per-click (ACPC).

Amazon Product Display Ads Best Practices

Targeting

Use product targeting on competitor pages, complimentary product detail pages, and your own product detail pages to cross-sell and upsell similar products. Using product targeting on related categories also extends your reach to sections of Amazon’s catalog that are related to your products.

Ad Creative

When crafting your headlines, Amazon allows you to include phrases like “Exclusive”, “New”, “Buy Now”, and “Save Now”, but making claims like “#1” or “Beat Seller” will get your ad rejected.

Amazon Native Ads

Amazon Native Ads are ads that you can place on your brand’s own website. There are three types of native ads: recommendation ads, search ads, and custom ads.

Recommendation ads are ads you can place in product article pages on your website. These ads are dynamic, so Amazon will populate your most relevant product recommendation based on your web page’s content and visitors.

Image Credit: Amazon Associates

Search ads are ads that populate on your website based off keywords that your customers search for on Amazon or on your website.

Image Credit: Amazon Associates

Custom ads allow you to select your own assortment of products you’d like to promote and place them on your product article posts.

Image Credit: Amazon Associates

Amazon Native Ads Best Practice

Just like a call-to-action on a blog post, make sure your native shopping ads are extremely relevant to the pages you place them on. This way, when your website visitors finish reading your post, the ads are a natural next step and can lead to more conversions.

Amazon Video Ads

Amazon Video Ads are ads that you can place on Amazon-owned sites like Amazon.com and IMDb, Amazon devices like Fire TV, and various properties across the web. You can buy Amazon video ads regardless of whether you sell products on Amazon or not, and you can set your ad’s landing page as an Amazon product page, your own website, or any other web page on the internet.

Image Credit: Amazon Advertising

If you want to work with Amazon’s video ad consultants, you can sign up for their managed-service option, but to be eligible, you usually need to spend a minimum of $35,000 on video ads.

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Twitter vs. Facebook: Which Platform Should Your Business Be On?

When you begin implementing a social media strategy for your business, one of the first questions you'll ask yourself is this one -- Should my business be on Twitter, or Facebook?

Both social media sites offer considerable opportunities to connect and engage with a network, increase brand awareness, and drive traffic to your site. But they're also incredibly different in terms of purpose.

Ultimately, Facebook's purpose is to connect people with their friends and family. People use Facebook to share photos, videos, and general updates on their lives.

Twitter, on the other hand, is used to share ideas, real-time information, and trending news. While people may also use Twitter to connect with friends and family, they largely use it for a bigger purpose -- to connect to the wider world as a whole, and hear what's happening (in 140 characters or less).

Of course, this still begs the question -- where does your business fit into all this? To explore the pros and cons of Twitter vs Facebook, we've created a comprehensive breakdown of both.

Keep reading to figure out which platform is a better business investment for your company.

Twitter vs Facebook Users

Twitter vs Facebook Demographics

To start, let's consider the potential demographic your business could reach on each platform.

The total number of U.S. adults who use Twitter is 24%. By comparison, Facebook undoubtedly reaches a wider demographic, with nearly 70% of U.S. adults on the platform.

Twitter typically appeals to a younger demographic -- 40% of Twitter users are between the ages of 18-29, while less than 20% of people ages 50 and up use the platform.

While Facebook also appeals to the 18-29 age group (attracting over 80%), it proves more popular for an older demographic, as well. 65% of people ages 50 and up use Facebook.

In terms of mass appeal, then, Facebook wins by a landslide.

Twitter vs Facebook Engagement

It's equally critical you determine quality over quantity -- how long does each site's audience stay on the platform? Or, alternatively, how many minutes per day do they spend on each?

Here's a quick breakdown -- roughly 46% of Twitter users are on the platform daily, and 81% of millennials check Twitter at least once per day.

Since Twitter is popular with journalists, politicians, and celebrities, many users turn to Twitter for trending news. In fact, 74% of Twitter users say they use Twitter to get their news.

Additionally, Twitter accounts for 16% of referrals to longer articles from social sites and 14% for shorter news articles.

With all this in mind, you might ask yourself -- does your business have content that aligns well with Twitter's fast-paced community? If you have quick, easily digestible business tips or news articles you're eager to share with your audience, Twitter might be a better bet.

However, it's important to note, Twitter is meant for quick, compelling 140-character statements that can quickly get buried under new Tweets. To build brand awareness, Twitter might be a good platform. However, its fast-paced nature might make it difficult for you to gain traction on a post for long.

In terms of long-term engagement, then, Facebook is a superior alternative. For instance, for every one million Facebook followers, brands can expect to receive about 700 likes, comments, and shares. Alternatively, for every one million Twitter followers, brands can expect about 300 interactions.

Additionally, people tend to check their Facebook an average of eight times per day, compared to just five for Twitter. If Facebook is more addictive by nature, it makes sense you might consider putting more effort into appealing to a Facebook audience, instead of Twitter.

Image courtesy of Smart Insights.

Twitter vs Facebook Usage

With less than 140 characters to convey your brand's message, you might think of Twitter as your business' "elevator pitch". What do you want to get across to your audience quickly and succinctly?

While this might feel stressful, think of it this way -- today, many of your consumers are oversaturated with content, and easily distracted. This attention-deficit lends itself well to Twitter's platform, where you're able to quickly engage with your consumers with less risk of losing their attention halfway through.

Alternatively, Facebook is your opportunity to engage more in-depth with an audience. You can create full business pages, share videos and images, and further incentivize prospects to engage with your brand by offering 10% off if they "like" your business page, for instance.

When you consider their vastly different purposes, then, it makes sense to try both. Twitter can be seen as your initial handshake, while Facebook is that first full-length conversation.

Twitter Ads vs Facebook Ads

In general, advertising on Facebook allows you to reach a larger audience. Additionally, Facebook ads comes with some impressive targeting tools, so you're able to narrow down salary, purchase behavior, hobbies, Facebook communities, and more.

Facebook advertising's interface is relatively easy and intuitive for the user. Facebook ads can be relatively cheap, as well -- in fact, Facebook boasts "Some people spend more on coffee each day than they do on their ad campaigns". While it depends on the campaign you're running, you can often set a budget as little as $2 to $3 per day.

Twitter also offers targeting capabilities, including purchase behavior, language, interest, and followers. However, Twitter advertising is typically more expensive than Facebook.

It may be worth the extra money, though -- according to AdWeek, engagement rates for Twitter ads can be as high as 1-3%, much higher than Facebook’s average CTR of 0.119%.

Twitter vs Facebook

It's important to consider the different purposes of Twitter vs Facebook. Twitter is primarily meant for sharing ideas, while Facebook is meant for connecting with friends and family. Additionally, Facebook has a larger audience of various age ranges, while Twitter's audience is largely between the ages of 18-29. It's critical you determine which one your audience prefers, however, and tailor your content to match either platform.

Ultimately, it's likely best to try both Twitter and Facebook for a while if you're unsure which one works better for your brand. Over time, you'll gain valuable insights into how well your posts perform on either site, enabling you to dedicate more time to one over the other. Since they're both free to use, there's no harm in initially trying both.

Once you see true, valuable engagement on one, you might then consider implementing an advertising strategy to turn that traffic into conversions.

Alternatively, try researching which platform most of your competitors use. If you work for a PR agency and most PR professionals use Twitter to promote their clients, it's critical you also appear on the tool. Alternatively, if you work for a retail store and you find Facebook is often used for promoting retail products, it's probably best to put effort behind Facebook.

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How to Improve Your Instagram Photos

Are you happy with your Instagram marketing images? Looking for tips to improve your photos? In this article, you’ll discover four tips to help you create better photos so you can stand out, drive more clicks, and generate more revenue. Why Good Photography Matters on Instagram The imagery you’re posting to Instagram can help make […]

The post How to Improve Your Instagram Photos appeared first on Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner.

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How to Create a Twitter Moment: A Step-by-Step Guide

Sometimes an event is so big, it completely takes over social media -- often for days. Think back to the last awards show, sporting event, or viral meme: How many tweets about it popped onto your Twitter timeline?

When more than 6,000 tweets are published per second, it can be hard to find great content on the platform. So, in 2015, Twitter rolled out Twitter Moments -- curated tweets revolving around a single topic or story, all in one place.

In this blog post, we'll give you the 4-1-1 on Twitter Moments, how to create them, and how businesses can use them to grow their list of followers and capture more branded experiences when a few tweets just won't suffice.

What are Twitter Moments?

Twitter Moments are collections of tweets about a topic or event. They can be tweeted, liked, pinned, and embedded like normal tweets, but when you tap to open a Moment, it shows you a collection of different tweets. Moments are published with a cover photo and introduction, likening them to a "best of" compilation article.

Initially, Twitter and its editorial partners, such as BuzzFeed and The New York Times, were the only ones who could curate Twitter Moments. But in 2016, Twitter opened up Moments for all Twitter users. Now, all content creators on the platform can compile groups of tweets. Whether it's about an event, a campaign, or a pop culture moment, marketers can take advantage of this feature and potentially get discovered by new followers.

Moments are categorized under the following interest areas: News, Sports, Entertainment, and Fun. Additionally, there is a Today tab that shares the biggest moments of the day on Twitter. Here's how to access Twitter Moments:

Twitter Moments on Desktop

Twitter Moments are available via desktop and your mobile device. On desktop, you can find Twitter Moments by tapping the lightning bolt icon -- it's in the top-left corner of Twitter on your browser, as shown below.

The button highlighted in red above will bring you to your Twitter Moments feed, where you can shuffle between five Moments categories across the top: News, Sports, Entertainment, Fun, and Today. Here's what a single Twitter Moment looks like when you open it up to read on a desktop:

Twitter Moments on Mobile

On your mobile device, you can access Twitter Moments by tapping the magnifying glass icon. This will take you to the Explore tab, where you can shuffle between Twitter Moments sorted into News, Sports, Fun, or Entertainment across the top -- as shown below.

When you tap on a Moment to read more, scroll down to begin reading tweets about the topic. On mobile, the tweets belonging to a single Twitter Moment are sorted into two categories: Recap and Latest. You'll see these options in the screenshot below. These categories allow you to read the most recent tweets related to a Moment or all of the most popular tweets related to that Moment.

Ultimately, Twitter Moments help Twitter users find more quality content about topics they're interested in. Moments also help brands and content creators get discovered in a different way than relying on the Twitter timeline and retweets alone.

Now, let's dive into how to make Moments across all platforms and devices. We'll focus primarily on desktop in the steps below, as Twitter's desktop client is easiest and most customizable for creating a Twitter Moment for the first time. 

Then, we'll go over how to make a Twitter moment via mobile and how to add individual tweets to the Moments you've created.

How to Create a Twitter Moment

1. Click "Create new Moment" on the top-righthand side of your Twitter Moments feed.
2. Choose a title, description, and cover photo for your Moment.
3. Add tweets you want to include in your Moment.
4. Remove or reorder your Twitter Moment content using the icons to the right of each added tweet.
5. Click "Finish later" to save a draft of your Moment or "Publish" to push it live to Twitter.

1. Click "Create new Moment" on the top-righthand side of your Twitter Moments feed.

To start, click the "Moments" icon on the top-lefthand side of your Twitter dashboard. Then, click "Create new Moment" on the far-righthand side, as shown below.

2. Choose a title, description, and cover photo for your Moment.

These will appear as a preview of your Moment on the Moments tab and on the Twitter timeline.

3. Add tweets you want to include in your Moment.

Once you've described your Twitter Moment using the fields shown above, it's time to seed your Moment with the first few tweets related to your topic. You can choose from tweets you've liked, review different Twitter accounts to select tweets from a certain brand or individual, or search for tweets by specific keywords and hashtags. You can also enter the URL of a tweet you want to include.

You can add tweets to your Moment by tapping the grayed-out check mark next to the tweet, as shown below.

4. Remove or reorder your Twitter Moment content using the icons to the right of each added tweet.

As you add more tweets to your Twitter Moment, you'll see them appear above the "Add Tweets to your Moment" section. Here, you can reorder your tweets by clicking the up and down arrows or remove those you no longer want to include in your Moment by clicking the "X" symbol. See these options in the screenshot, below.

5. Click "Finish later" to save a draft of your Moment or "Publish" to push it live on Twitter.

Got everything you want, right where you want it? The only thing left to do is to publish your Twitter Moment. Do so using the "Publish" button on the top-righthand corner of your screen. You can also save your Moment as a draft by clicking the "Finish later" button to the left of "Publish."

Once your Moment is published, you can share it in a tweet, embed it on your website, or share a link to your Moment.

How to Add a Tweet to a Moment

You can also using individual tweets you find while browsing Twitter to create a new Moment, or add these newly discovered tweets to an existing Moment.

To create a new Twitter Moment from a tweet you find on Twitter, start by tapping the downward-facing arrow next to a tweet and selecting "Add to new Moment." This will direct you to the Moment creation dashboard described in step 2 in the section above. See how this looks below.

To add a tweet to an existing Twitter moment, on the other hand, you'll follow the exact same steps as you would in the above paragraph, but click "Add the other moment," right before the highlighted option in the screenshot above. This will open a window where you can choose from every Twitter moment you've created, whether it's published or saved as a draft. See what this window looks like below.

How to Create a Twitter Moment on a Mobile Device

1. Tap the gear icon next to your profile picture (or your actual profile photo on Android devices) and select "Moments."

Creating a twitter moment on a mobile device is a fairly easy process. Start by tapping the "Me" silhouette icon on the lower-righthand side of your screen. Then, tap the gear icon next to your profile picture and select "Moments."

To create a Twitter Moment on Android devices, the process is virtually the same -- except you access the Moments menu by tapping on your profile picture when you open up Twitter:

Source: Addictive Tips

2. Tap "+" in your "My Moments" screen to customize your Moment.

To add a title, description, and cover photo for your Twitter Moment, tap the "+" symbol in the top-righthand corner of the "My Moments" screen. From there, you'll reach a dashboard where you can customize your Moment's title, description and cover photo.

3. Add tweets to your Moment by tapping the "Add Tweets" button in the bottom center of your screen.

You can choose from your tweets, tweets you've liked, and by searching for tweets. Add them by tapping the tweets and then tapping the green "Add 1 Tweet" button.

4. Tap the "Reorder" button in the bottom-lefthand corner of your Moments dashboard to customize your Moment.

5. When you're done, tap "Finish later" to save a draft, or "Publish" to share your Moment on Twitter.

You can also create a new Moment by tapping the downward-facing arrow next to a tweet and selecting "Add to Moment." This will direct you to the Moment dashboard in step 2, above.

How Brands Can Use Twitter Moments

1. Events

Create a Twitter Moment that showcases what's going on at an event your brand is hosting or participating in. You can share what others are saying about your brand and keep followers up-to-date about what's going on if they can't attend the event themselves.

Here's a Twitter moment published by INBOUND at the kickoff of INBOUND 2016, when Gary Vaynerchuk kicked off the weeklong marketing and sales event with a keynote speech. The Moment compiled various tweets about the speech from different attendees and influencers and provided an inside look at the event for those following along at home.

Gary Vaynerchuk Kicks Off #INBOUND16

2. Tweetstorms

For those times when live-tweeting a series of related tweets is necessary, a Moment can serve to showcase a tweetstorm after it's happened to bring attention to what a brand or individual is tweeting about.

Here's an example from Persil UK & Ireland, a laundry detergent brand that created a Twitter Moment tweetstorm to promote its social media conversation, #DirtIsGood, about the importance of kids getting outside:

Kids spend less time outdoors than prisoners

3. Breaking News

Another great use case for Twitter Moments is breaking news. Journalists and publications can produce Twitter Moments to group together tons of tweets about an emerging story. Whether the tweets are all originals from the brand's account or are a compilation of different voices, the Moment serves to provide Twitter users with as much information as possible.

Here's a breaking news Twitter Moment from Bloomberg about the World Economic Forum in Davos:

Thursday at Davos has been all about Brexit

4. Behind-the-scenes

One of the great things about social media is it gives customers a window into brands they love that they wouldn't otherwise have. Brands can use Moments to create behind-the-scenes looks at products, employees, and events on Twitter.

Here's Allure's Moment featuring a behind-the-scenes look at ringing the New York Stock Exchange opening bell:

This is what it's like to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange

5. Content Promotion

A multi-channel strategy is key to successfully promoting content you publish on your blog and website, and social media channels are no exception. Try publishing insights and data from your latest blog post or research report in the form of a Twitter Moment.

Here's an example from the team here at HubSpot. We published a Moment about our annual State of Inbound survey results back in 2016:

State of Inbound 2016

(Want to see our 2018 State of Inbound report? Get it here.)

Now that you're a pro at creating Twitter Moments, try publishing one today to see how it impacts your Twitter engagement. Don't let your clever tweets and hashtags go to waste -- create a Moment and share content with your audience year-round.

How do you use Twitter Moments? Share with us in the comments below.

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The Non-Techie's Guide to Adding Music to Videos

As a video marketer, choosing the right music can be the difference between crafting a video that grips your audience from start to finish and one that they can barely get halfway through. Play a fitting soundtrack, and you’ll be able to evoke the exact emotions you want your audience to experience while watching your video. Neglect the musical aspect of your video, and it might not even be able to hold your parents’ full attention.

Music can make your videos much more captivating, impactful, and, in turn, convincing. Whether you’re creating fun social media videos, persuasive product videos, or even serious training videos, music can separate your video from the rest of the pack.

If you need a refresher on how to add music to your videos or you want to learn how to do it, we’ve got you covered. Check out our quick and easy rundown of adding music to videos in Adobe Premiere Pro. 

How to Add Music to Videos

1. Download music onto your computer.

If you don’t have any music saved on your computer, check out our roundup of the best royalty-free music sites. By signing up for their services, you pay a monthly fee to get access to thousands of songs rather than paying an individual fee for each song you download.

2. Import the music into Premiere.

Once you’re in Premiere, select “Window”, “Workspaces”, and then “Audio”. After you do that, open the Media Browser panel by choosing “Window” and then ”Media Browser”.

In the Media Browser panel, right click on your audio file and press “Import”.

Image Credit: Adobe

3. Add the music to your Timeline panel and edit accordingly.

After you import your music into Premiere, open up the Project panel by selecting “Window” and then “Project”. You will see your imported audio files stored there. Next, drag your audio clips under the video clips in the Timeline panel. You can trim your audio clips and adjust their volume just like you can with a video clip.

Image Credit: Adobe

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