55+ Best Brochure Mockup Templates (Free & Premium)

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Most clients don’t see designs the way you do. Since they’re not designers it’s hard for them to imagine what a brochure design will look like as a printed document. However, a great-looking mockup will go a long way to help them get there.

With mockups, you can show clients what your design may look like as the end result. This will not only help you to get your designs approved faster but it will help show your professionalism as well.

If you’re working on a brochure design for a client, we handpicked a few great brochure mockups you can use to present your designs in a more attractive way.

In this collection, you’ll find both free brochure mockups and premium ones for multi-page, bifold, and tri-fold brochures with various styles of designs. Take a look.

Glossy Magazine & Brochure Spread Mockup

Glossy Magazine & Brochure Spread Mockup

This is an impressive mockup template ideal for presenting brochure designs using a page spread view. Its greatest features are its versatility, lifelike texture, and high-quality frame. You can easily add your design using the Smart Object layer and see it transform into an inspiring showcase.

Stylish Brochure & Magazine Mockup

Stylish Brochure & Magazine Mockup

This premium brochure mockup offers a realistic effect and an impressively high-resolution look for your presentation. Easy to edit with Photoshop, it features organized layers, a realistic texture, and a changeable background.

Elegant Magazine and Brochure Mockup

Elegant Magazine and Brochure Mockup

This brochure mockup comes with three prepared items within a well-structured PSD file and employs a smart-object feature for quick and easy customization. Suited for both bright and dark designs, it offers customizable background colors, adjustable lighting, and comes with a PDF guide for ease of use.

Bold Magazine & Brochure Mockups

Bold Magazine & Brochure Mockups

This pack includes smart, high-resolution mockups that offer real-world detail for visualizing your designs in a realistic way. The templates are easy to use; simply drag and drop your design into their clearly organized layers, adjust, and save. Perfect for magazine, letter, and brochure format designs.

Stylish Magazine Cover Mockups

Stylish Magazine Cover Mockups

This is a comprehensive brochure mockup template ideal for graphic designers. Its versatile use ranges from professional presentations of cover designs to showcasing editorial layouts. With changeable backgrounds, organized layers, and high resolution, this mockup displays a realistic view of your magazine or brochure designs.

Modern A4 Brochure Mockup

Modern A4 Brochure Mockup

This brochure mockup allows you to professionally present your creative work. It offers a realistic setting that can enhance your presentations and help you impress clients. The template includes organized layers, vibrant color options, and interchangeable backgrounds for maximum versatility.

Landscape Magazine Brochure Mockup

Landscape Magazine Brochure Mockup

A terrific way to present your brochure designs. Featuring 4 customizable, well-layered PSD items, this mockup kit allows quick and effortless editing via smart objects. It caters to both bright and dark designs with adjustable light, shadows, and customizable background colors.

Creative Bifold Brochure Mockup

Creative Bifold Brochure Mockup

This is an exceptional brochure mockup for graphic designers looking to highlight their design prowess. Boasting high-quality, realistic shadows and textures, this mockup is perfect for showcasing corporate branding and design projects across various color schemes and graphics.

Catalog Brochure A4 Mockup

Catalog Brochure A4 Mockup

A professionally crafted brochure mockup template that allows for quick and efficient customization via its smart-object feature. The mockup boasts high resolution (4500 x 3000px, 300 DPI), well-organized layers, easily adjustable light settings, and customizable background colors.

Photo Album Brochure Mockup

Photo Album Brochure Mockup

This mockup template kit is ideal for showcasing portfolios, brochures, and photo collections. Its realistic, high-resolution design includes various views, open spreads, and changeable backgrounds, providing an unparalleled platform for visual presentation. Its versatility makes it perfect for exhibitions, book designs, and thematic photo collections.

A4 Magazine Brochure Mockup

A4 Magazine Brochure Mockup

A creative brochure mockup for graphic designers, allowing you to effectively showcase their work and corporate branding to clients. This mockup features a range of layouts including an open spread, upright cover, single page turn, and multiple pages, all presented with high-quality, realistic detailing.

Square Brochure Mockup Template

Square Brochure Mockup Template

An excellent mockup template for designers wanting to show off their brochure and magazine designs. This template offers high-resolution images (4500 x 3000px at 300 DPI) that make your designs look their best, either bright or dark. It includes three well-layered PSD files with smart-object features.

A4 Magazine & Brochure Mockup

A4 Magazine & Brochure Mockup

An elegant brochure mockup template with 03 components that features an easily editable, high-resolution PSD file. Its smart-object feature allows for quick design changes, while its customizable background colors and adjustable light cater to both dark and bright designs.

Bifold Brochure Mockup Template

Bifold Brochure Mockup Template

This is a convenient mockup for presenting your bi-fold brochure designs effectively. With its 4 layered PSD files offering a 4500 x 3000 px mockup, you can easily customize the background and shadow color with smart object layers. Simply double-click the Smart Layer, insert your design, and hit save.

Magazine & Brochure Catalog Mockup

Magazine & Brochure Catalog Mockup

This mockup is perfect for previewing your brochure and magazine design work in a professional and stylish setting. It contains 2 well-organized, high-resolution items, with layered PSD files for easy editing. You can fully customize the background and shadows as well.

Bold Magazine & Brochure Mockup Set

Bold Magazine & Brochure Mockup Set

The bold and stylish look of this mockup makes it a great choice for presenting luxury brochure designs. It features three PSD files, easily editable via smart objects with dimensions of 5000 x 3500 px, well-organized layers, and changeable colors.

Simple A4 Brochure Mockup

Simple A4 Brochure Mockup

Another beautiful brochure mockup designed to showcase your publications in a sleek, modern style. With its easy-to-edit, high-resolution design, this mockup allows your content to shine in a minimalist portrait A4 format.

A5 Trifold Brochure Mockup

A5 Trifold Brochure Mockup

This A5 brochure mockup template comes with four individually styled mockups. It offers quick and easy editing via smart objects, layered PSDs for organization, and customizable background colors for both light and dark tri-fold brochure designs.

Clean Brochure Mockup Template

Clean Brochure Mockup Template

A clean and simple look is always a sign of professionalism. This clean mockup will help you present your brochure designs in a way that captivates your clients. It comes in 10 different views of the brochure and you can easily edit it using Photoshop to place your designs via smart objects.

Brochure & Catalog Mockup Template

Brochure & Catalog Mockup Template

This mockup doubles as both a mockup for brochures and catalogs. It comes with a simple design that allows you to show both inner pages and cover designs simultaneously. It’s perfect for showcasing your designs on portfolios as well. The template is easily editable and comes in PSD format with changeable backgrounds.

Minimal Bifold Brochure Mockup

Minimal Bifold Brochure Mockup

Working on a bifold brochure design with a minimal layout? Then this minimal brochure mockup is just what you need to showcase your design. It comes in 8 different views and angles for presenting your brochure like a true professional. The background is customizable and the shadow effect is adjustable as well.

4-Fold Brochure Mockup Template

4-Fold Brochure Mockup Template

Brochures with four folds are quite popular these days as they allow you to showcase more information with less space. This mockup is designed for presenting those 4-fold brochure designs. It comes in 5 different mockup styles and in both PSD and AI file formats.

Hands Holding Brochure & Magazine Mockup

Hands Holding Brochure & Magazine Mockup

A very realistic mockup template for showing the end result of your brochure designs. This mockup is made based on a real photo that shows what your brochure will look like in a real-world environment. There are 10 different angles and scenes to choose from in this pack. And they all feature color effects and a depth of field effect.

Free Standing Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup

Free Standing Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup

Even though this is a free mockup, it features a very premium look that will make your brochure look incredible. This mockup is perfect for presenting a tri-fold brochure with multiple views.

Stylish Magazine & Brochure Mockups

Stylish Magazine & Brochure Mockup

Even though this mockup is made for showcasing magazines, you can easily use it to show off various types of brochure designs too. The bundle includes 4 mockup layouts with customizable backgrounds.

A4 Brochure & Catalog Mockup

A4 Brochure & Catalog Mockup

This bundle comes with 5 different mockup scenes for presenting your brochure designs. It’s great for showing off catalog designs as well. The template feature customizable shadows, separate objects, and smart object layers.

Simple Catalog Brochure Mockup Template

Simple Catalog Brochure Mockup Template

The simple and minimal design of this brochure mockup will fit in nicely for presenting modern lifestyle and fashion brochure designs. It has a very natural look with its shadow cast over the design.

Modern Trifold Brochure Mockup

Modern Trifold Brochure Mockup

A simple and modern mockup kit for presenting tri-fold brochure designs. This bundle includes 4 different mockups with easily customizable backgrounds and smart objects.

Free Brochure Mockup Template

Free Brochure Mockup Template

This free brochure mockup is ideal for showing both your brochure cover and inner pages at the same time. It comes in high-resolution and easily customizable smart object layers.

Creative Magazine & Brochure Mockup

Creative Magazine & Brochure Mockup

Another modern mockup template for showcasing magazines, catalogs, and brochures. This bundle has 4 different mockup scenes for you to choose from. Each template can be fully customized to your preference.

Landscape Magazine Brochure Mockup

Landscape Magazine Brochure Mokcup

If you’re working on a brochure design with a landscape-style layout, be sure to save this mockup set for later. There are 4 different brochure mockups in this pack with editable backgrounds and organized layers.

Simple Bifold Brochure Mockup

Simple Bifold Brochure Mockup

A simple and effective mockup template kit for showcasing bi-fold brochure designs. This bundle also comes with multiple mockup layouts for showing your brochures from different angles.

Minimal Magazine Brochure Mockup Set

Minimal Magazine Brochure Mockup Set

This is one of the most beautiful mockups on our list. It features an elegant and minimal design for presenting magazines and landscape brochures. There are 8 different mockup scenes in this pack with customizable backgrounds.

Free Modern Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup

Free Modern Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup

You can download this brochure mockup for free to present tri-fold brochures in a creative environment. It has smart objects for easily placing your designs in the mockup as well.

Free Bi-Fold Brochure Mockup Pack

Free Bi-Fold Brochure Mockup Pack

A simple and free mockup template for presenting bi-fold brochures. This template can be customized with smart objects and the background is changeable as well.

Multipurpose Brochure Mockup Template

Multipurpose Brochure Mockup Template

This is a set of simple and multipurpose brochure mockups that includes 7 different styles of mockup templates. It mainly includes mockups for showcasing brochure covers and has ones to show the brochure being held by hands as well. All mockups are available in fully-layered PSD files with smart object layers.

Square Brochure Mockup Template

Square Brochure Mockup Template

Square-shaped brochures are a popular trend in brochure designs, especially for agencies and creative brands. This mockup is designed for showcasing those brochures in style. There are 8 attractive angels and views in this mockup pack for showing both inner pages and covers. You can edit them with Photoshop.

Modern Trifold Brochure Mockups

Modern Trifold Brochure Mockups

Want to showcase your tri-fold brochure in a more creative environment? Then be sure to grab this mockup template. It features a very modern and stylish layout for presenting tri-fold brochures like a pro. There are 2 different PSD mockups in this bundle with editable backgrounds.

7 Brochure & Magazine Mockup Templates

7 Brochure & Magazine Mockup Templates

With this bundle of brochure mockups, you can show off your brochure designs in all kinds of views and angles. There are mockups with standing views, page-turning views, cover views, and much more. All of the mockups come with smart objects for easily placing your designs and with changeable backgrounds.

5 Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup Templates

5 Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup Templates

This collection features 5 different mockup scenes for showing off tri-fold brochure designs. They are designed for presenting brochures with various angles and views. The mockups come in PSD files with 5 stylish photo filters to make your designs look even more attractive.

Free US Letter Brochure Mockup (PSD)

Free US Letter Brochure Mockup (PSD)

Grab this free mockup to present and promote your brochure designs on a budget. The template works for both brochure and magazine designs. And it’s easily editable. You can choose from several other views as well.

Free Trifold Brochure Mockup Scene (PSD)

Free Trifold Brochure Mockup Scene (PSD)

This is a beautiful brochure mockup scene that features a professional environment for showcasing your brochures on websites and portfolios. The PSD template is free to download.

Realistic Brochure & Catalog Mockups

Realistic Brochure & Catalog Mockups

If you’re looking for more realistic looking mockups to make your brochure designs look amazing, this bundle of mockups is for you. It includes several mockup templates based on real photos that let you give a close-up look at your brochure designs. There are 7 mockups in the bundle with various close views and angles.

Page Turning Landscape Brochure Mockup

Page Turning Landscape Brochure Mockup

Presenting your landscape brochure designs will be much easier with this set of mockups. It includes several mockup designs with page-turning hands and horizontal views. The bundle comes with 8 different mockup layouts with smart objects, changeable backgrounds, and a depth of field effect.

Tri-Fold Brochure Mockups with Hands

Tri-Fold Brochure Mocks with Hands

This brochure mockup bundle includes many creative mockup designs featuring hands holding tri-fold brochures. It allows you to show open, closed, and cover views of your brochures in a professional way. You can customize the templates with Photoshop to even edit the lighting and shadow effects.

Brochure Mockup Templates PSD

Brochure Mockup Templates PSD

Another collection of mockups for showing your designs being held by hands. This set is designed for showcasing brochure and magazine designs. There are 8 mockup styles and views in this collection. All featuring smart objects and editable backgrounds.

A5 Horizontal Brochure Mockups

A5 Horiozontal Brochure Mockups

You can use the mockups in this pack to present your landscape A5 brochures to clients in a creative way. Choosing from 9 high-quality views and styles, these mockups let you easily add a varnish, change backgrounds, and place your designs using smart objects.

Free Folded A4 Brochure Mockup

Free Folded A4 Brochure Mockup

Another free brochure mockup for showcasing bifold brochure designs. This mockup features a luxury-themed design that will help show off your brochures for high-end brands.

Free A5 Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup

Free A5 Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup

Tris tri-fold mockup is designed for A5 brochures. It comes in multiple views and styles featuring various angles of the brochure. You can download it for free to use with your personal projects.

Creative Brochure & Catalog Mockup

Creative Brochure & Catalog Mockup

A different style of a brochure mockup you can use to showcase your designs in a creative way. They are ideal for portfolios and websites. You can choose from 8 different mockup templates in this pack.

Bifold Brochure Mockup Template

Bifold Brochure Mockup Template

A simple yet very professional mockup template featuring a clean view. This mockup is perfect for presenting your bifold brochures to clients. It’s easily customizable and comes with changeable paper and background colors.

Stylish Trifold Brochure Mockup

Stylish Trifold Brochure Mockup

This trifold brochure mockup is designed for modern brochures that use wider layouts. The mockup is easy to edit and includes smart objects for placing your design into the mockup.

Modern Fourfold Brochure Mockup

Modern Fourfold Brochure Mockup

Another mockup template for four-fold brochure designs. This one features a simple layout that gives a full clean view of your design. The mockup can be customized to change the background as well.

A4 Brochure Mockups Bundle

A4 Brochure Mockups Bundle

This is a bundle of 8 stylish brochure mockups. These mockups are designed for A4 brochure designs and it includes multiple angles and views for showing off your brochure in style.

Free Stylish Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup

Free Stylish Tri-Fold Brochure Mockup

A simple brochure mockup for showing off your designs in style. This mockup is designed for tri-fold brochures and it includes smart objects for easy editing as well.

Looking for inspiration for your brochure design? Then check out our best professional brochure templates collection.

The HubSpot Blog’s 2024 Instagram Marketing Report [Data from 600+ Instagram Marketers]

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Sometimes, it feels like Instagram looks different every time I open the app—IGVT is long gone, and Reels and Shopping tools are now front and center. 

New Data: Instagram Engagement Report [Free Download]

These shifts align with the trends we saw in our 2024 Social Media Trends survey, but I wanted to dive deeper into Instagram research.

So, I asked another 600+ Instagram marketers in Jan. 2024 about how they’ll approach this changing platform in 2024. Here’s what I found. 

Table of Contents

Top Instagram Marketing Survey Findings

Based on our results, most Instagram marketers are already ahead of the game:

  • 88% say Instagram marketing has been effective for their company this year. 
  • 37% leverage Instagram Shopping tools.
  • 62% post video content on the platform and the content formats they use most are video-based.
  • Image posts have the highest ROI of any content format and get the most comments. 
  • Content that showcases a brand's products/services (demos, teasers, etc.) has the highest ROI of any content type. 
  • The best strategies to grow your following on Instagram are engaging with other users (follows, likes, etc.), partnering with influencers, and posting interactive and engaging Stories. 
  • Instagram marketers will prioritize increasing engagement (likes, comments, shares, etc.) in 2024 and creating content that encourages engagement. 
  • 13% use the app for customer service. 
  • 21% partner with influencers (or creators).

This was a top-level taste of the most important findings I gleaned from the survey. Now, I’ll dive deeper into the benchmarks that will help you see how your brand compares to the competition. 

Instagram Marketing Benchmarks To Know In 2024

1. Over half of branded Instagram accounts have between 100K-750K followers.

3% of our survey respondents have under 10,000 followers, while 11% have between 10K and 100K followers. 

The largest distribution of respondents have between 100K and 450K followers (48%). 

instagram research: how many instagram followers do you have

2. Most engagement comes from likes and comments.

Likes and comments are tied as the main ways followers engage with branded Instagram accounts. 

instagram research: top sources of instagram impressions

Shares take second place, followed by direct messages, which makes sense to me, considering the rise in consumers who seek customer service via DMs on the social channels they already use. 

Overall, marketers say that content that performs exceptionally well/goes viral always has engaging elements, whether simply encouraging discussion, easy shareability, or interactive elements.

Take a look at where the impressions came from on your top posts and look for any patterns you can turn into a consistent strategy to recreate your success.

3. Most accounts have major YoY follower growth.

61% of respondents told us that the follower count of the accounts they manage has increased from 2023 to 2024. Just 10% say follower count has decreased. 

How have follower counts changed on your Instagram channels

This is a change from the last time we ran this survey in 2021 when less than half of business accounts said follower counts increased.

Part of this change can likely be attributed to the rise of social shopping — in the past three months, Instagram is the second most popular app consumers have used to make an in-app purchase. 

Now that we’ve reviewed some benchmarks, I’ll discuss goals and strategies.

Instagram Marketing Strategies

Top Strategies and Goals of Instagram Marketers

Instagram marketers' top goals on the platform in 2024 are increasing engagement (likes, comments, etc.), advertising their products/services, increasing brand awareness/reaching new audiences, and improving customer service/retention. 

primary goals of instagram marketers

Let’s talk about each of these goals in terms of how they relate to Instagram’s changing platform.

1. Increasing Engagement (Likes, Comments, Shares, etc.)

Since increasing engagement is marketers' primary goal, it’s not surprising that the most popular marketing strategy is interacting with audiences (like replying to comments) because that’s exactly how you increase engagement. 

graph displaying the most popular instagram strategies in 2024

It’s also no surprise that the strategy to get the most investment in 2024 is creating content that encourages engagement and that this offers the highest ROI. 

graph displaying instagram strategies with the highest ROI

The Importance of Interacting With Your Audience

There are various ways for you to interact with your audience, from simple reactions to comments and DMs.

However you go about it, I recommend taking the time to engage with your followers to strengthen the bond they have with your brand. But, interaction is a two-way street, so you’ll want to create content that encourages engagement.

2. Advertising Products/Services

Advertising products/services is the #2 goal for 2024, and marketers will accomplish this by creating content that showcases their products/services.

I’ll talk a bit more about high-performing content later, but here’s a sneak peek: content that showcases products and services offers the highest ROI of any content type.

bar graph displaying the content types that have the highest performance on Instagram

3. Increasing Brand Awareness/Reaching New Audiences

Increasing brand awareness is Instagram marketers' third most important goal in 2024. 

My top recommendation for increasing brand awareness is to have a consistent schedule and presence on the platform so you are more likely to be seen.

The data recommends sharing video posts (they get the most reach/impressions) and image posts (which get the most shares).

instagram research

4. Increasing Customer Service on the App 

Fostering meaningful relationships with consumers is one of the biggest benefits of having a brand presence on social media, so it’s no surprise that improving customer service and retention is a top goal for marketers in 2024. 

Sure, customer service might not seem like your job, but since consumers are shopping on social media more than ever, they expect to get service on the platforms they already use to make purchases. 

To strengthen the case for providing customer service on the app, I found that marketers who rate their strategies as very effective are more likely to use Instagram for customer service than those who report the opposite. 

5. Building Relationships and Community with Engaging Content

Marketers want to build relationships and community, and they’ll do it by creating engaging content. And, creating content that encourages engagement is receiving the most investment from marketers in 2024, with 37% planning to invest more in it than any other strategy.

graph displaying instagram strategies with the highest ROI

Going out of your way to connect with those in your digital community, especially when you aren’t trying to sell them anything, can help foster a deep relationship between them and your brand.

6. Gaining Revenue With Instagram Shopping Tools

Instagram Shopping tools are still evolving, but 71% of social media marketers who sell products directly within the app say its social shopping features have high ROI. 

37% of marketers currently use shoppable posts or other Instagram Shops features. A majority say that 25-50% of clicks on shopping/linked posts lead to purchases.

And the same percentage of clicks lead to non-purchase-related conversions (like form submissions), which can help you nurture leads into paying customers. 

shoppable-clicks

What’s more, consumers are using the platform to make purchases; 46% say they’ve made a purchase on Instagram in the past three months, and it has the second-best in-app shopping experience. 

To round it out, marketers using Instagram shopping tools are likelier to say that their Instagram strategy has been very effective this year. 

Featured Resource: To learn more about selling on Instagram, I recommend downloading our 2024 Instagram Engagement Report.

7. Including Calls to Action in Content

We asked Instagram marketers whether asking followers to “like,” “share,” or “save” their content is most effective at triggering the algorithm to promote their content, as these are among some of the top metrics Instagram monitors.

Here are the results:

the most effective CTA type on Instagram

While Instagram marketers rank likes at #1, shares second, and saves last, I can also make a case for viewing it differently. 

To explain why, consider your behavior when on Instagram.

If you’re like me, you probably give out likes mindlessly while scrolling through your feed, but how often are you sharing content to your story or in chats with friends? How often are you saving posts to look at later? Those pieces of content are probably much more carefully selected.

When we share posts on Instagram, we are telling others that we found the content so valuable that we couldn’t help but share it with them - the algorithm picks up on this. Sharing also gets bonus points because it inherently exposes more people to a piece of content.

Similarly, when saving content, we tell the algorithm that we found it so valuable that we want to bookmark it for future reference.

So while all three of these are the most important metrics Instagram tracks, I would prioritize saving, sharing, or even commenting in your call-to-actions ahead of asking for likes.

Strategies Marketers Aren't Using in 2024

Affiliate marketing campaigns, contests/giveaways, and user-generated content are among the least used Instagram strategies, receiving the lowest investments in 2024. 

If you're having difficulty building an effective UGC, affiliate marketing, or giveaway plan, consider alternatives, like partnering with influencers in your niche who can generate authentic content for your brand to establish social proof and spread awareness.

And it will pay off, as marketers told us influencer marketing offered the third-highest ROI. 

While these strategies can still be successful and valuable to some brands, marketers we surveyed say they are not as effective as the other strategies we asked about.

Another strategy receiving lower investments is hashtags, but despite this, I still recommend using them because they help increase brand awareness and reach new audiences. 

Leveraging Hashtags

Hashtags have been around on Instagram since 2011, and they work in terms of increasing brand awareness and reaching new audiences.

However, Hashtags have dropped in popularity, and they’re at the bottom of the list of Instagram strategies marketers plan to invest in in 2024. 

So, here’s the important data I have about using them on Instagram. 

How Many Hashtags Should You Use on Instagram?

Our survey shows that when they use hashtags, a majority of marketers use between 9 and 11 hashtags (19%). Only 3% use between 27 and 30 (30 is the maximum amount).

how many hashtags should you use on Instagram?

And, when you do use them, leverage a mix of niche and general hashtags. For example, a specific hashtag like #Dachshunds and broader ones like #Dogs can help you attract a wider audience. 

Marketers say that hashtags have the most impact on comments and impressions, meaning that they can help increase brand awareness and visibility. 

We’ve gone over goals and strategies; now let's talk about the most effective formats.

Which Instagram formats are most effective?

The most popular formats/features among Instagram marketers are image posts, videos, and Stories. 

most popular formats/features on instagram

Fun Fact: The last time we ran this survey, live video was the most popular format, but it’s now the least leveraged. 

Image Posts

Image posts have the highest ROI, and marketers who use them say they make up most of their content mix (67% of posts are image posts).  Marketers also share image posts multiple times per week.

roi-of-instagram-formats

Video Posts

62% of marketers share video content on Instagram and say 59% of their content mix consists of videos they post multiple times per week. 

Videos get the most likes of any other format.

Instagram Stories

48% of Instagram marketers leverage Instagram Stories, and the feature makes up 43% of their content mix. Out of the most common engagement metrics, Instagram Stories bring in the most DMs. 

Marketers who leverage Stories say they share them multiple times per week (33%) — 14% post multiple times per day. 

how often should you post instagram stories

When you do post them, how long should your Stories be? 75% of marketers say their audience watches 4-9 before dropping off, with only 7% saying their audience watches the entire Story regardless of length. 

We also asked about the ideal number of stories to have up at once — 74% of Instagram marketers say 4-9 stories is best.

Curious about which story types are most engaging? Check out this post.

Instagram Reels

37% of Instagram marketers use Instagram Reels, making up more than a quarter of their content mix. 

The frequency of posting varies, with a majority posting multiple times per week (31%). 25% post Reels once a day.

graph displaying how often to post instagram reels

Reels fall towards the middle of the pack across engagement metrics, but I think the feature provides unique brand opportunities. 

For example, brands and influencers focused on it have seen major benefits to leveraging it. For example, my teammate Caroline Forsey spoke with with Kar Brulhart, who has organically grown her Instagram account from zero to 45,000+ viewers in under ten months using Reels.

She told Caroline about the incredible opportunity Reels presents for Instagram marketers:

 "I went from less than 2,000 followers in February 2020 to over 15,000 the next month through Reels, because Instagram is pushing Reels to new audiences. And 75% of the people who find my account are coming from Reels — compared to Stories and posts."

Considering the popularity of short-form videos and the emphasis Instagram places on Reels, I recommend giving the format a shot. They’re relatively easy to make and can also provide a boost in exposure.

Which types of content perform best on Instagram?

The most popular content types on Instagram are content that showcases a brand's products/services (demos, teasers, etc.), funny content, relatable and authentic content, and content that reflects a brand’s values (like social responsibility). 

When it comes to ROI, the top three remain the same, but behind-the-scenes content (like meet-the-team videos) takes fourth place.

content-with-high-performance-1

Content Centered Around A Brand’s Products/Services

49% of our survey respondents share content centered around a brand’s products/services and say it has the highest ROI. 

I’m not surprised: marketers' #2 goal in 2024 is advertising their products and services, and, well, they act on that goal by sharing content centered around their products/services.

Funny Content

Funny content has the second-highest performance on the app, and it’s most popular among B2C and D2C businesses.

Also no surprise there, as consumers say funny content is the most memorable type of content brands can post on social media. 

B2B-vs-B2C

Relatable Content

Relatable content offers the third-highest ROI, likely because of consumer preference. Audiences care more that the content they see is authentic and relatable than having a high production value.

Content That Reflects Brand Values

Content that reflects brand values is the most popular content type in our social media trends survey this year, and 35% of Instagram marketers use it. 

53% of social media marketers plan to increase their investment in this content type this year and say it offers the second-highest ROI of all content types. 

Behind-the-Scenes Content and Interactive Content

29% and 28% (respectively) of Instagram marketers share behind-the-scenes and interactive content, and usage of both is growing in 2024. 

While knowing what type of content to post on Instagram is helpful, it’s only part of the equation. An optimized Instagram marketing strategy also includes the ideal days and times to post based on what brings in the most engagement.

In fact, just 9% of our survey respondents told us that this kind of optimization has no noticeable impact on performance. 

According to marketers, the best day to post is Friday between 6-9PM. Sundays also bring in high performance, and you’ll find success between 12-3PM and 6-9PM on most other days.

ROI of Instagram Marketing

How do marketers look at the overall ROI of their presence on Instagram? 

I asked marketers about what they look at to determine overall ROI, and the most important metric is revenue/sales of products within the Instagram app. That’s followed by the amount of leads and conversions driven from Instagram. 

Regardless of the metrics you prefer, your followers are the true drivers of your success on the app. Let’s go over the top strategies for growing your following on Instagram.

Instagram Audience Growth Benchmarks

How Brands Grow Instagram Audiences

The best strategies for growing your following on Instagram are engaging with other users, partnering with influencers, and posting interactive and engaging Instagram Stories. 

most effective strategies for growing your Instagram following

Partnering with brands/accounts with similar audiences is #4, and it’s a growth driver because you gain exposure to audiences who might not yet know about you but are likely interested in your content. 

Another powerful growth strategy is diversifying your content to resonate with a wider audience. You’ll also want to study your audience for trends and create targeted content to attract others with similar interests. 

Those are the best strategies for growing your following, but I also asked marketers what methods to use to reach your first thousand followers, and the results show key differences.

How To Get Your First 1,000 Instagram Followers

Earning your first 1,000 followers on Instagram is a massive milestone, and 78% of Instagram marketers I surveyed have been part of growing an account to 1K followers.

According to them, setting a regular posting schedule, customizing your profile, and writing engaging shareable captions are key to reaching your first 1K followers. 

strategies brands used to get their first 1000 followers

Remember that the formats most effective at getting shares are image posts, video posts, and Reels. 

How long does it take to reach 1,000 followers on Instagram?

Most marketers say it takes 4-6 months to reach 1K followers on Instagram. Only 17% reached that in under a month, and just 1% took over a year.

But just as you gain followers, it’s also possible to lose them. Let’s take a look at what has caused Instagram marketers to lose followers, so you can avoid those mistakes.

What causes Instagram marketers to lose followers?

Not posting enough and being too “sales-y” are the top culprits when losing followers. Nearly a quarter of respondents report losing followers from not using a consistent aesthetic/voice and Instagram removing bot followers. 

Lastly, using “banned” hashtags can result in your posts being hidden. You can check if a hashtag is banned by searching it on Instagram and looking at the top or most recent posts -- if those sections come up empty, it’s likely banned.

what strategies cause you to lose followers on Instagram?

Next, let’s take a look at whether Instagram marketers are leveraging organic or paid media on the platform, and which performs better.

Organic vs. Paid Instagram Content

Most marketers (46%) use organic content over paid (16%) content, and 38% use both. 

organic vs. paid engagement

Those who use a mix of both say organic content is more effective for reaching business goals and gaining followers. 

Instagram Marketing Challenges

We have an entire article about Instagram marketers' challenges, but I’ll give you a sneak peek at that data here. 

Survey respondents told us that the greatest challenges with Instagram marketing are driving traffic to their site, driving purchases/revenue, and increasing brand awareness/reaching new audiences. 

If these resonate, take a look at this piece to see how to overcome them.

Setting Effective and Ineffective Instagram Marketers Apart

I asked marketers whether their Instagram marketing strategies have been effective or ineffective this year and cut the data by the two separate groups and strategies they use. Here are some of the biggest differentiators:

what sets effective and ineffective strategies apart on instagram

As we end this post, here are a few themes we've picked up from the chart above and the overall results of our survey:

  • Video is key: Instagram is constantly evolving to welcome more and more video formats. While you don't need to create a large live video event, consider starting small with Reels as it is being favored by consumers and the Instagram algorithm. But, don’t forget about the original Instagram content format: Images.
  • Engage constantly: Whether you're responding to their comments, exchanging DMs, or creating content that sparks a conversation – it's important to ensure that your Instagram strategy caters to your audience and meets them where they are.
  • Social Shopping is the future: Shopping on social media is the future of e-commerce, and Instagram is a great place to do it. With a handful of shopping tools to choose from, there is no better time to get started.
  • Use Instagram for customer service: Using Instagram for customer service is a quick and convenient way to answer customers’ most pressing questions, and marketers who use it see high ROI.

More of Our Instagram Marketing Research

Check out these posts for a deeper dive as well as tips and tricks related to our Instagram marketing data.

Interested in learning even more about Instagram marketing and engagement from some of our expert partner brands? Be sure to download the free resource below.

How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Beginner’s Guide

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Keyword research has remained a constant in a rapidly changing search landscape. If you’re an inbound marketer looking to optimize your website, understanding how to do keyword research is a must.

Download Now: Keyword Research Template [Free Resource]

In this post, we’ll define what keyword research is, why it’s important, how to conduct your research for your SEO strategy, and how to choose the right keywords for your website.

Table of Contents

Why is keyword research important?

Keyword research helps you find your SEO sweet spot — the overlap of keywords that aren’t too hard to rank for and keywords that you can confidently produce excellent content on. It also identifies the queries that your target audience is actually searching on Google.

I talked to HubSpot Growth Manager Amal Kalepp, who says that keyword research “determines who your competitors are and which area of the search landscape you can rank for. Doing keyword research and understanding where your blog or website sweet spot is — that’s what gives you rankability.”

“Doing keyword research and understanding where your blog or website sweet spot is — that’s what gives you rankability.—Amal Kalepp, Growth manager, HubSpot.”

Insights from actual search terms can inform your content strategy as well as your larger marketing strategy.

Your Purranormal Detective Agency may have the best ghost-detecting kittens in the business, but if nobody’s searching for “cat paranormal detective” (they aren’t; I checked), you aren’t going to have much luck — or traffic — if you base your content strategy on that keyword.

Your SEO Sweet Spot. Two overlapping circles. One says “Keywords that aren’t too hard to rank for” and the other says, “Keywords that you can confidently produce excellent content on.” The overlap says, “Insights that will inform your content strategy.”

People use keywords to find solutions when conducting research online, so if your content successfully gets in front of your audience, you stand to gain more traffic.

Therefore, you should be targeting those searches with content that features those keywords in a meaningful way.

Additionally, inbound methodology focuses less on creating content around what we want to tell people. Instead, we should be creating content around what people want to discover.

In other words, our audience is coming to us for helpful content that provides the answers they’re looking for. And it all begins with keyword research.

Benefits of Keyword Research

Conducting keyword research has many benefits, the most popular being:

Marketing Trend Insight

Conducting effective keyword research can provide insights into current marketing trends and help you center your content on relevant topics and keywords your audience is looking for.

Traffic Growth

When you identify the best-fitting keywords for the content you publish, the higher you’ll rank in search engine results — and the more traffic you’ll attract to your website.

Customer Acquisition

If your content meets the needs of your users, adding a strong call-to-action will lead them into the buyer journey from the awareness stage to the point of purchase.

By researching keywords for their popularity, search volume, and general intent, you can tackle the questions that most people in your audience want answers to.

For instance, the Purranormal Detective Agency would do better to produce excellent content on the broader topic of paranormal investigators, which has a monthly search volume (MSV) of 800.

Keywords vs. Topics

“Search intent” is something I frequently hear about from HubSpot SEOs. That’s because the reason a user types in a particular keyword matters — a lot.

Our content has to solve users’ problems. If you found your way to this article via the search term “SEO keyword strategy,” we have to anticipate your questions on this topic. And then answer them.

SEO is evolving at breakneck speed, but keyword research is still foundational to search intent. It tells you what topics people care about and how popular those topics actually are among your audience.

The operative term here is “topics,” plural. By researching keywords with a high volume of monthly searches, you can identify and sort your content into topics or buckets that you’ll use to create content.

Then you can use these topics to dictate which keywords you look for and target.

Elements of Keyword Research

There are three main elements to conducting keyword research.

1. Relevance

Google ranks content for relevance.

This is where the concept of search intent comes in. Your content will only rank for a keyword if it meets the searchers’ needs.

In addition, your content must be the best resource for the query — Google won’t rank your content as highly if it doesn’t provide better value than its competitors.

If you’re starting an SEO business specializing in small businesses, you might assume that “SEO tips for small businesses” would be the most relevant keyword. But take a look at the Ahrefs keyword research dashboard:

Screencap of Ahrefs results for the keyword “SEO tips for small businesses.”

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“SEO tips for small businesses” has an MSV of 300 and a high keyword difficulty. Its parent topic, “small business SEO,” has an MSV of 2,500 and a very high keyword difficulty.

2. Authority

Google provides more weight to sources it deems authoritative.

You can become an authoritative source by enriching your site with helpful, informative content and promoting that content to earn social signals and backlinks.

Both HubSpot.com and the HubSpot Blog are well-established sites, and we work hard to make sure we provide the content our readers are searching for. As a result, the root domain and subdomain have very high domain authority:

Screencap of Moz’s link explorer results for blog.hubspot.com. “Domain authority: 93. Linking domains: 222.1K. Inbound links: 9.8m. Ranking keywords: 628.9K.”

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Screencap of Moz’s link explorer results for hubspot.com. “Domain authority: 93. Linking domains: 408.2K. Inbound links: 909.4m. Ranking keywords: 803.3K.”

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If you’re not seen as authoritative in the space, or if a keyword’s SERPs are loaded with heavy sources you can’t compete with (like Forbes or The Mayo Clinic), you have a lower chance of ranking.

3. Volume

You might rank on the first page for a specific keyword, but if no one ever searches for it, you won’t see any traffic. It's like setting up a shop in a ghost town.

Volume is measured by MSV (monthly search volume), which means the number of times the keyword is searched per month across all audiences.

Compare Ahrefs’ results for “cat detective agency” versus “paranormal investigator”:

Screencap of Ahrefs results for the keyword “cat detective agency.”

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Screencap of Ahrefs results for the keyword “paranormal investigators.”

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Even though kitten detectives are your business’ differentiating factor, absolutely not a single soul is trying to locate a cat who can sniff out their resident poltergeist.

“Paranormal investigators” isn’t a wildly popular search term, but it gets significantly more volume than “cat detective agency,” so it’s a much better keyword to try to rank for.

Kalepp says that one of the common mistakes people make is assuming that a higher MSV is better. “‘Instagram marketing’ might seem like the best choice to rank for because it has millions of searches,” she says. “But it makes it much more difficult to rank for that.”

“You might have better luck with something like ‘Instagram marketing for small businesses’ — and then that can be your niche.”

She says that you could get “a lot more traffic ranking for a keyword that has a lower MSV and lower competition” than one with a high MSV.

I’m going to lay out a keyword research process you can follow to help you come up with a list of terms you should be targeting.

That way, you’ll be able to establish and execute a strong keyword strategy that helps you get found for the search terms you care about.

Step 1. Make a list of important, relevant topics based on what you know about your business.

To kick this off, think about the topics you want to rank for in terms of generic buckets.

You’ll come up with about five to 10 topic buckets you think are essential to your business, and then you’ll use those topic buckets to help come up with some specific keywords later in the process.

If you’re a regular blogger, these are probably the topics you blog about most frequently. Or perhaps they’re the topics that come up the most in sales conversations.

Put yourself in the shoes of your buyer personas. What types of topics would your target audience search that you’d want your business to get found for?

List of keywords and respective MSV via SearchVolume.io.

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HubSpot, for example, might have general topic buckets like:

The number in parentheses is the MSV, according to Ahrefs.

That data allows you to gauge how important these topics are to your audience and how many different sub-topics you need to create content on to be successful with that keyword.

Screencap of Ahrefs results for the keyword “CRM software.”

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To learn more about these sub-topics, we move on to step two.

Step 2. Fill in those topic buckets with keywords.

Now that you have a few topic buckets you want to focus on, it’s time to identify some keywords that fall into those buckets.

These are keyword phrases you think are important to rank for in the SERPs (search engine results pages) because your target customer is probably conducting searches for those specific terms.

For instance, if I took that last topic bucket for an inbound marketing software company — “marketing automation” — I’d brainstorm some keyword phrases I think people would type in related to that topic.

Those might include:

  • AI marketing tools
  • marketing automation tools
  • how to use marketing automation software
  • what is marketing automation?
  • how to tell if I need marketing automation software
  • lead nurturing
  • email marketing automation
  • top automation tools

The point of this step isn’t to come up with your final list of keyword phrases; you just want a brain dump of phrases you think potential customers might use to search for content related to that particular topic bucket.

We’ll narrow the lists down later so you don’t have something too unwieldy.

Keep in mind that Google is encrypting more keywords every day, so another smart way to generate keyword ideas is to determine which keywords already bring users to your website.

To do this, you’ll need website analytics software like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or HubSpot’s Sources report, which are available in the Traffic Analytics tool.

Get started with HubSpot's free Traffic Analytics Tool.

Drill down into your website’s traffic sources and sift through your organic search traffic bucket to identify the keywords people use to arrive at your site.

Repeat this exercise for as many topic buckets as you have.

Remember, if you’re having trouble brainstorming with relevant search terms, you can always head on over to your customer-facing colleagues in sales or service. Ask them what types of terms their prospects or customers have questions about.

Those are often great starting points for keyword research.

Here at HubSpot, we use the Search Insights Report. This template is designed to help you do the same and bucket your keywords into topic clusters, analyze MSV, and inform your editorial calendar and strategy.

Featured Resource: Search Insights Report Template

keyword research - search insights report template

Download the Template

Step 3. Understand how intent affects keyword research and analyze accordingly.

User intent is now one of the most pivotal factors in your ability to rank well on search engines like Google.

That means it’s vital that your web page addresses the problem a searcher wants to solve rather than simply including the keyword the searcher used.

So, how does this affect your keyword research?

It’s tempting to take keywords at face value, but they can have many different meanings.

And because the intent behind a search is so important to your ranking potential, you need to be extra careful about how you interpret the keywords you target.

Let’s say you’re researching the keyword “how to start a blog” for an article you want to create. “Blog” can mean a blog post or the blog website itself, and the searcher’s intent behind that keyword will influence the direction of your article.

Does the searcher want to learn how to start an individual blog post? Or do they want to know how to launch a website domain for a new blog?

If your content strategy only targets people interested in the latter, you’ll need to determine the keyword’s intent before using it.

To verify a user’s intent, it’s a good idea to simply enter this keyword into a search engine yourself and see what types of results come up.

I did a quick search for “how to start a blog,” and it looks like most users are searching for info on how to start a website with a blog, not an individual blog post:

Google search results for “how to start a blog.”

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Make sure the type of content Google is displaying relates to your intention for the keyword.

Step 4. Research related search terms.

This is a creative step you may have already thought of when doing keyword research. If not, it’s a great way to fill out those lists.

If you’re struggling to think of more keywords people might be searching about a specific topic, take a look at the related search terms that appear when you plug a keyword into Google.

I searched Google for “AI search grader,” a new free product from HubSpot. At the bottom of the first page, I can see that users are also searching specifically for a free AI search grader.

List of search terms people use who have also searched for “AI search grader.”

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These keywords can spark ideas for other keywords you may want to take into consideration.

Want a bonus? Type in some of those related search terms and look at their related search terms. Looking at the related search terms for “AI search grader free,” I can see that people are also searching for the best AI search grader.

Alt text: List of search terms people use who have also searched for “free AI search grader.”

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Step 5. Use keyword research tools to your advantage.

Keyword research and SEO tools can help you brainstorm more keyword ideas based on exact-match keywords and phrase-match keywords based on the ideas you’ve generated up to this point.

Some of the most popular ones include:

1. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Some of the best SEO reports and keyword research I’ve seen have come from SEO experts using Ahrefs Keywords Explorer.

Screencap of Ahrefs’ keyword explorer tool.

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Their webmaster tools offer plenty of detail into any verified domains you own if you’re looking for an overview of backlinks and organic keywords.

2. SE Ranking

I found SE Ranking was not quite as user-friendly to dive into as some of the other options.

When I typed in my keyword “keyword research,” I was prompted to set up a free seven-day trial, and it immediately asked for the domain I wanted to track.

Screencap of SE Ranking’s keyword suggestion tool.

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While it gave me some good intro data, I had to do some digging to get to the keyword research and keyword suggestion tools. However, when I found them, the resulting data was comprehensive and gave me lots of great ideas.

It’s free and doesn’t require setting up an account.

3. SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool

Semrush is one of the most comprehensive SEO companies out there, so I wasn’t surprised to find that their keyword magic tool was comprehensive as well.

Screencap of SEMrush’s keyword magic tool.

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While you do need to set up an account, it’s free. Then, you can type in your keyword, get a list of similar keywords, and sort based on how specific you need your results to be.

4. Ubersuggest

I’ve been a fan of Ubersuggest for quite some time. You get up to three free searches a day, and it’s so easy to use.

Screencap of Ubersuggest’s keyword research tool.

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In addition to finding out specific keyword performance, you can find related keywords and do a quick reverse search to find out what your site is already ranking for.

It’s one of the easiest, most comprehensive free options, if you don’t mind the limitations of the free searches.

5. Free Keyword Research Tool

I found Ryrob’s keyword research tool easy to use. When I plugged “keyword research” into the “Explorer” tab as my keyword, it gave me several related keywords that could be solid blog topics.

Screencap of Free Keyword Research Tool.

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Then, when I shifted to the “Ideas” tab, it gave me other keyword cluster ideas that are more likely to be specific search terms that I might want to include in future articles on keyword research.

6. Google Keyword Planner

Google’s tools are always gold. They’re free, and it’s always good to get the info straight from the horse’s mouth. Once you sign in with your Google account, you can search for keyword ideas based on the keyword or your website.

Screencap of Google Keyword Planner.

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7. Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere comes highly recommended, but it’s not a free tool.

Screencap of Keywords Everywhere.

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It’s a browser extension and it takes a little more setup than browser-based options. The lowest price tier, “bronze,” is $2.25/month and limits you to 100K keywords annually.

Since it’s a browser extension, every time I do a Google search, I get data about related keywords and similar searches, which gives me lots of ideas for new content.

For the price and the detail, it’s one of my favorite tools.

8. KeywordTool.io

Using KeywordTool.io is exactly what they promise in the headline. When I typed in “keyword research,” I got a list of 502 keyword ideas.

Screencap of KeywordTool.io.

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Although I only see search volume, trend, CPC, and competition for the first five, I can see all of the keywords, which provides a solid search starting point.

9. KWFinder

KWFinder is another easy tool. While I quickly found that an account is needed to get started, it’s free and quite easy to dive in. I was able to quickly start finding the top keywords.

Screencap of KWFinder.

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10. SearchVolume.io

When I plugged in a handful of keywords into SearchVolume.io, after doing a quick “Are you a human?” check, the monthly search volume immediately popped out.

Screencap of SearchVolume.io.

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A quick cross-comparison with other tools showed that the data was consistent with other platforms.

11. Rank Tracker

Rank Tracker by SEO PowerSuite is a solid tool for monitoring SERP data and doing keyword research.

There are a lot of great features, but Rank Tracker works best as a tool to rank relevant keywords, identify keyword gaps, and autocomplete phrases on different search engine tools.

Screencap of Rank Tracker.

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Rank Tracker allows you to see all the phrases a particular domain ranks for, along with search volumes and keyword difficulty.

Their keyword gap tool allows you to determine which keywords competing websites are ranking for that you might be missing out on.

Rank Tracker also integrates with Google Search Console and Keyword Planner, providing a free version for unlimited testing.

Once you have an idea of the keywords that you want to rank for, now it's time to refine your list based on the best ones for your strategy. Here’s how.

Step 1. Use Google Keyword Planner to cut down your keyword list.

In Google’s Keyword Planner, you can get search volume and traffic estimates for keywords you’re considering. Then, take the information you learn from Keyword Planner and use Google Trends to fill in some blanks.

Screencap of Google Keyword Planner for the keyword “AI marketing software.”

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Use the Keyword Planner to flag any terms on your list that have way too little (or way too much) search volume and don’t help you maintain a healthy mix like we talked about above.

But before you delete anything, check out their trend history and projections in Google Trends. You can see whether you should invest in some low-volume terms now so you can reap the benefits later.

Or perhaps you’re just looking at a list of terms that is way too unwieldy, and you have to narrow it down somehow. Google Trends can help you determine which terms are trending upward and are worth more of your focus.

Step 2. Prioritize low-hanging fruit.

That is, prioritize keywords that you have a chance of ranking for based on your website’s authority.

Large companies typically go after high search volume keywords, and since these brands are well established already, Google typically rewards them with authority over many topics.

You can also consider keywords that have little competition. Keywords that don’t already have multiple articles battling for the highest rank can afford you the spot by default — if there’s no one else trying to claim it.

Screencap of Google Keyword Planner for the keyword “paranormal investigator.”

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Step 3. Check the monthly search volume (MSV) for keywords you’ve chosen.

You want to write content around what people want to discover, and checking MSV can help you do just that. Monthly search volume is the number of times a search query or keyword is entered into search engines each month.

Here are the results from Ahrefs on “SEO keyword strategy,” which has an MSV of 400:

Screencap of Ahrefs’ results for “SEO keyword strategy.”

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Tools like searchvolume.io or Google Trends can help you find the most searched keywords for related keyword clusters for free.

Step 4. Factor in SERP features as you choose keywords.

There are several SERP feature snippets that Google will highlight if used correctly.

An easy way to find out about them is to look up keywords and see what the first result looks like.

But for a quick overview of the types of SERP featured snippets, we’ll summarize the more common ones here — you can read about all 22 of them on Google.

Image Packs

Image packs are search results displayed as a horizontal row of images that appear in an organic position. If there’s an image pack, you should write an image-heavy post to win placement in it.

For instance, here’s the image pack for “cat detective agency”:

Screencap of Google image snippet for “cat detective agency.” Three images of a cartoon labeled “Hidden Cats Detective Agency.”

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AI Overviews

A relatively recent addition to Google’s rich results, AI Overviews provides an AI-written summary for a certain percentage of searches. (That percentage has changed a few times to meet the demand for accuracy.)

Screencap of Google’s AI Overviews’ definition of rich results, “enhanced search results that appear on Google’s search engine results page (SERP).”

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Paragraph Snippets

Featured snippets, or paragraph snippets, are short snippets of text that appear at the top of Google search results for quick answers to common search queries. I asked Google, “Where do elephants live?” and it returned this featured snippet:

Screencap of featured snippet for the search, “Where do elephants live?” “African elephants live in diverse habitats including wetlands, forest, grasslands, savanna, and desert across 37 countries in southern, eastern, western, and central Africa.”

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Understanding the searcher’s intent and providing succinct answers can help you win a featured snippet.

List Snippets

List snippets, or listicles, are snippets made for posts outlining steps to do something from start to finish — often for “How To” searches. Writing posts with direct, clear instructions and formatting can assist in winning this placement.

List snippet. “The 7 Best SEO Courses & Certifications.”

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Video Snippets

Video snippets are short videos that Google displays at the top of a SERP in place of text-based featured snippets.

Screencap of Google’s video snippets for “Marketing Against the Grain.” It shows thumbnails and titles for four video podcast episodes.

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Posting a video on both YouTube and your website can help you win this placement if you’re tagged in the targeted keywords people are searching for.

Step 5. Check for a mix of head terms and long-tail keywords in each bucket.

Head terms are keyword phrases that are generally shorter and more generic — typically just one to three words in length.

Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, are longer keyword phrases usually containing three or more words.

It’s important to check that you have a mix of head terms and long-tail terms in order to build a well-balanced keyword strategy with long-term goals and short-term wins.

That’s because head terms are generally searched more frequently, making them often (not always, but often) much more competitive and harder to rank for than long-tail terms.

Think about it: Without even looking up search volume or difficulty, which of the following terms do you think would be harder to rank for?

  • how to write a great blog post
  • blogging

If you answered #2, you’re absolutely right.

Screencap of Ahrefs results for “how to write a great blog post.”

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Screencap of Ahrefs results for “blogging.”

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But don’t get discouraged. While head terms generally boast the most search volume (meaning greater potential to send you traffic), the traffic you’ll get from “how to write a great blog post” will usually be more desirable.

That’s because someone who’s using a specific query is probably a more qualified searcher for your product or service (presuming you’re in the blogging space) than someone with a more generic search query.

Because long-tail keywords tend to be more specific, it’s usually easier to tell what people who search for those keywords are actually looking for. Someone searching for the head term “blogging,” on the other hand, could be motivated by reasons that aren’t related to your business.

Kalepp says that short-tail keywords “can make it really difficult to rank, especially if you are a newer blog and you don't have that domain authority quite yet.”

She recommends “targeting those long-tail keywords, because a lot of times the competition is lower on them. And it allows you to really develop a niche and allows you to rank.”

So check your keyword lists for a healthy mix of head terms and long-tail keywords. You definitely want some quick wins that long-tail keywords will afford you, but you should also try to chip away at more difficult head terms over the long haul.

Kalepp, who’s worked on both the HubSpot and The Hustle blogs, says that it can be challenging to find the right balance.

When she worked on the HubSpot blog, “there wasn't a lot of fluctuation in what the search volume looked like, but for The Hustle blog, there were constant changes because we were writing about subjects that were really trendy.”

“And so it was imperative for us to strike when it was hot,” she says of The Hustle blog.

Step 6. See how competitors are ranking for these keywords.

Just because your competitor is doing something doesn’t mean you need to. The same goes for keywords. Just because a keyword is important to your competitor doesn’t mean it’s important to you.

However, understanding what keywords your competitors are trying to rank for is a great way to help you give your list of keywords another evaluation.

If your competitor is ranking for certain keywords that are also on your list, it makes sense to work on improving your ranking for those.

Kalepp says she’s a big fan of “doing a competitor analysis and understanding that landscape really well — and then using those same content pillars to build out a content library.”

“Do competitor analysis and understand that landscape really well. Then use those same content pillars to build out your content library.—Amal Kalepp, Growth manager, HubSpot.”

Don’t ignore the ones your competitors don’t seem to care about — it could be a great opportunity to own market share on other important terms.

Understanding the balance of terms might be a little more difficult. Remember, the goal is to end up with a list of keywords that provides some quick wins but also helps you make progress toward bigger, more challenging SEO goals.

Here’s a quick way to get a sense of the terms that your competitors rank for: Manually search for keywords in an incognito browser and see what positions your competitors are in.

Best Keywords for SEO

Understand that there are no “best” keywords, just those that are highly searched by your audience. With this in mind, it’s up to you to craft a strategy that will help you rank pages and drive traffic.

The best keywords for your SEO strategy will account for relevance, authority, and volume. You want to find highly searched keywords that you can reasonably compete for based on your competition and your ability to produce excellent content on those keywords.

You’re Ready to Build Out Your Content

You now have a list of keywords that will help you focus on the right topics for your business and get you some short-term and long-term gains.

Be sure to re-evaluate these keywords every few months — once a quarter is a good benchmark, but some businesses like to do it even more often than that.

As you gain even more authority in the SERPs, you’ll find that you can add more and more keywords to your list.

Kalepp also says to remember that building up a strong SEO strategy takes time. “It takes a long time to see results when you’re first building that strategy out,” she says. “Just understand that it takes time.”

 

How to Grow Your TikTok Following [Expert Insights + Data]

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Growing a following on TikTok can feel daunting. Trust me, I know. I first created a TikTok to promote my YouTube channel, blog, and podcast back in 2022. Though I managed to gain over a thousand followers in just a few days, that was a few years ago.

Now, I'm starting a new TikTok to promote my content for HubSpot, and I can see already the landscape has changed. Fortunately, I still know a thing or two about how to grow on TikTok, and I've done enough research to know how to do so in 2024. 

Without further ado, let's dive into the best tips and tricks to grow your TikTok.

Free Ebook: The Marketer's Guide to TikTok for Business [Download Now]

@erikeepswriting Growing your brand on TikTok doesn't have to be stressful! Check out "How to Grow Your TikTok Following [Expert Insights + Data]" on the HubSpot blog! #marketing #brands #tiktok #contentcreator ♬ love island is messyyyy - quinta

Why Growing Your Followers on TikTok is Important

Growing your following on TikTok will increase your brand's visibility. Like I said, I joined TikTok to promote my YouTube channel, blog, and podcast. And I can't tell you how many times I would see comments saying, "I saw you on TikTok and knew I had to follow your channel." 

I've also found through HubSpot's most recent Consumer Trends survey that TikTok is especially important if you're selling products or services. In our survey, the majority of our respondents (37%) say they prefer discovering new products via short-form videos such as TikToks or Instagram Reels. 

Growing your TikTok is also an excellent way to get the attention of Gen Z. Gen Z is projected to have the fastest growth in spending power, reaching about $12 trillion by 2030.

So, if you want to tap into the Gen Z market, you'll be happy to know TikTok is a popular app among them. According to our survey, 30% of Gen Z consumers say TikTok is their favorite app, and 72% of Gen Z consumers reported using TikTok in the past three months. 

Now you know why TikTok is important. Let me give you what you came here for and present 6 ways to grow your TikTok following.

1. Niche down.

When you try to appeal to everyone, you wind up attracting no one because no one knows what to expect from you. You'll end up posting content that appeals to one crowd but turns off another. 

So, niche down by researching your target audience and creating content that is appealing to them. You can do this via focus groups, surveys, creating buyer personas, or observing what competitors in your industry are doing to engage their audience. 

For example, fashion is a popular category on TikTok. So much so that the hashtag #fashion has over 66.6 million views on the platform.

If you want to post fashion-related content, you might get lost in this competitive vertical. Instead, I suggest focusing on a sub-niche like style tips and mid-sized fashion, which has a fraction of the views but a more engaged audience.

One of my favorite fashion-related creators on TikTok is Andrea's Fashion Galaxy. Rather than tackle a wide range of fashion topics, Andrea focuses on teaching her audience how to style specific pieces or how to dress for certain occasions. 

In the TikTok below, Andrea shows viewers how to style a metallic mini skirt as a top. She even adds her own flair to her videos by incorporating her many pets. 

2. Post at the right time.

Sometimes, it's not just what you post but when you post. This is especially true on TikTok.

A recent HubSpot Blogs survey of 1,400+ global marketers found the best time to post to TikTok is between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Since TikTok is popular with the Gen Z crowd  — and they're in school for a good part of the day — the morning and early afternoon "dead zone" makes sense.

When posting content on TikTok, stay clear of these slow hours and try posting towards the end of the week or during the weekend.

3. Duet or Stitch top-performing videos.

One of the most popular videos on my TikTok is one I stitched with a well-known creator. It has about 12,000 views, while most of my videos would garner an average of 300-5,000 views.

Screenshot of my TikTok video with 12k views

TikTok's Stitch enables users to play up to 5 seconds of someone else's video as an intro to their own. This is usually done to respond to the original creator, answer questions, or contribute to a viral topic.

Another helpful tool is TikTok's Duet feature, which lets you play your video next to another user's video. This is ideal if you want to add commentary or a funny reaction to the original video. Here's a duet I did a while ago with Steve from Blue's Clues.

@the_tsunderi #duet with @hioutthereitsmesteve Just talking to my pal Steve about some anime I've been watching #spyxfamily #tomodachigame #mangatok #anime #animetok ♬ Up - Movie Theme - Giampaolo Pasquile

The best way to leverage these features is by engaging with top-performing videos in your niche. You can do this by using the search bar and typing keywords relating to your brand.

Then, once you've zeroed in on a video you like, tap the Stitch or Duet button and let your creativity fly.

But there's more — you can also encourage others to Duet or Stitch your videos.

For example, Tesco, a British grocery chain, asks users to Duet the following video for a chance to become the new voice of their checkout machine:

@tesco Audition to become the new voice of Tesco checkouts by duetting with me & including #TescoVoiceOfCheckout. ♬ original sound - Tesco

The result? Tesco's original video scored 22 million views and thousands of Duet submissions.

4. Participate in a challenge (or create your own).

It seems there's a new viral challenge making waves every time I log into TikTok, and I've seen how they can explode a follower count. The trick is finding the right one for your brand.

For example, the horror film A Quiet Place: Day One recently spawned a challenge on TikTok called The Quiet Place Challenge. The challenge was inspired by a cat in the film that manages to remain quiet enough to keep alien monsters from detecting him and his caretakers. 

To partake in the challenge, TikTok users have to run around while holding their cat to see if they'd survive the film in real life. 

This challenge was perfect for cat-themed TikTok accounts like @realsirpounce, managed by a user named Carson, who has four feline companions. Check out Carson's attempt at the challenge below.

The video went viral, gaining more than 1 million likes.

You can also create your own challenge — just make sure it's relatively simple to do. For example, Chipotle started the #LidFlip challenge, which encouraged users to flip the lid of their burrito bowl with style:

In the first six days, the challenge generated over 100,000 video responses. Even more impressive, it created a record-breaking sales day for Chipotle.

5. Jump on trending sounds and songs.

88% of TikTok users say sound is essential to the TikTok experience. Thanks to the algorithm, it's also critical for driving more engagement.

TikTok has an extensive library of sounds — but you should prioritize the ones that get a lot of love from the community. This is because the TikTok algorithm tends to favor videos that leverage trending sounds.  

For example, the most popular video on my TikTok has almost 100,000 views, way more than my usual average, and it features a sound that was trending at the time and was frequently used in the anime and manga community (the niche my account occupies). 

To find a trendy sound that works for your brand, check out TikTok's Creative Center, which ranks the most popular sounds each day. You can also filter by region, which is helpful if your audience lives in a different location from you.

6. Cross-promote your TikTok.

Odds are your audience is active on other social media besides TikTok. For this reason, it's important to cross-promote your videos to other channels, such as Instagram or YouTube.

Just avoid including the TikTok watermark in your videos when uploading to other platforms, as this can affect whether your content is prioritized in the algorithm. 

To avoid this issue, I usually create a single video that is kept to about 60 seconds long, and I upload the original to each platform individually. 

For example, I interviewed actress, host, and filmmaker Cheyenne Ewulu of Amazon Prime's Anime Club for my podcast Nerds At Work w/ TsundEri.

To cross-promote the episode on both Instagram and TikTok, I took a 60-second clip from the interview and uploaded it to TikTok and Instagram Reels separately rather than downloading it from TikTok and reposting it to the latter platform. 

@the_tsunderi Nerds at Work w/ TsundEri Ep. 4 is UP! I spoke to @CheyenneTheGeek about her evolusion as a professional nerd, actress, writer, producer, and host! Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or watch on YouTube. #nerd #podcast #tsunderi #anime #comics #contentcreation ♬ original sound - TsundEri

7. Include Relevant Hashtags.

Hashtags are key to finding and connecting with the right community on TikTok. A great example of this is #BookTok on the app. The hashtag is used by both readers and authors to find, recommend, and promote books. 

The tag was instrumental in the popularity of the New York Times Best Seller "It Ends with Us" by Colleen Hoover. The book initially came out in 2016 but entered the best sellers' list in 2021 after it gained popularity with the #Booktok community

Just a few years later, the book was adapted to the big screen in a film starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. 

So, scroll through TikTok to see what hashtags your target audience is using to find content like yours.

For example, if you're a shoe store, start by including #shoes or #sneakers in your videos and look to see what other hashtags pop up in videos within your niche. 

8. Use trending songs.

There is never a shortage of trending songs on TikTok, so you're sure to find one that matches the vibe of your content and your brand. 

For example, actress Nicola Coughlan of the Netflix series Bridgerton cleverly used the song "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter to promote the show's red carpet premiere in Italy. 

Couphlan's character on the show, Penelope, is in love with another character named Colin, and fans have dubbed the couple "Polin" (pronounced like "pollen").

"Espresso" became fans' anthem for the couple thanks to the verse "My honey bee, come get this pollen." Naturally, Coughlan used it in the TikTok video below. 

@nicolacoughlan @Bridgerton in Italia 🇮🇹 6 days to go @Netflix ♬ son original - brit 𝜗𝜚

9. Use closed-captions. 

The more accessible your video is the more people can enjoy it, engage, and pass it on. One way to make your video more accessible is to include closed-captions. Fortunately, TikTok automatically adds closed captions to videos uploaded to its platform. 

However, the auto-generated captions aren't always accurate, which is why I suggest going through the captions and editing them for accuracy. To do this, click the auto-captions editor on the right-hand side of your video before uploading your video. 

Screenshot showing the auto captions option to the right From there, you can edit the captions manually and ensure your videos are accessible. 

10. Share user-generated content. 

TikTok allows users to repost content and share it with others. If you start a challenge on TikTok and you see others participating, repost their videos to share user-generated content.

You can also use the Stitch and Duet features I mentioned earlier to share user-generated content while engaging with your audience.

11. Collaborate with influencers and creators.

Most TikTok users prefer to keep up with creators and influencers instead of brands on the app, so it can be difficult to get users to become invested in your content if you're trying to promote a business.

But fear not! There is a solution. Try collaborating with creators and influencers to get them to introduce your brand to your audience. Just make sure said influencer or creator aligns well with your brand and your target audience's overlap.

For example, wallpaper brand Dizzy With Excitement collaborated with DIY home decor creator Kaarin Joy by creating a line of wallpaper patterns inspired by Kaarin's DIY projects.

Kaarin is known for quirky, out-of-this-world DIY projects, and DWE boasts an array of unique, funky patterns on its website. So, Kaarin was a perfect choice to introduce the brand to a wider audience. 

@kaarinjoy Wallpaper is going up😍 Launch day is July 29th!@dizzywithexcitement ♬ BIRDS OF A FEATHER sped up - Lilly 🎀

12. Create a content series.

A content series is a great way to engage your audience because it provides a consistent stream of content they can look forward to and associate with your brand.

For example, one of my favorite TikTok content series (that needs to be brought back, please) is Yes That's on Etsy. This series is on Etsy's official TikTok account and showcases the fun and unique products that can be found on Etsy's official site. 

Think of a series of videos that are simple to make, can be spread out over multiple videos, and can showcase the products and services of your brand. 

13. Keep an eye on what works for your audience.

As you post your videos, keep track of what generates the most buzz for your platform. Which of your videos tend to get the most likes, comments, or reports?

Make sure your TikTok is a business account so you'll have access to all kinds of analytics and metrics that can inform your strategy on the app.

14. Create TikTok Stories.

TikTok Stories work similarly to Instagram Stories. They allow users to post short videos that disappear after 24 hours. TikTok stories can drum up excitement for upcoming videos or be used to show quick, exclusive behind-the-scenes content of your business. 

15. Include CTAs.

If possible, always include a call-to-action that will encourage viewers to stay tuned to your content.

For example, Kaarin Joy almost always ends her videos by asking her followers to suggest more DIY home improvement projects in the comments of her videos or to check back later for updates on her projects. 

@kaarinjoy

Open to ideas about the bathroom mirror frame!😍

♬ Applause - Clapping Sound Effect 4 - Hollywood Sound Effects

Of course, if you don't know a good CTA to add to your video, you can always stick to the classic call for viewers to follow your channel. 

16. Talk to your audience. 

Community is important on TikTok and one way to build community with your followers on the app is to simply engage with them. Reply to their comments, stitch their videos, do a duet, or repost the content that resonates with your brand. 

All of this will build loyalty with your audience and increase visibility for your brand.

Start Creating 

Ultimately, the key to growing your TikTok is to consistently create and post high-quality content that showcases your brand. So start creating now and while you're at it, try implementing any of the above tips I gave you.

I'm also trying to grow my new account, so it's time for me to stop typing and start creating. Best of luck to both of us! 

How to Write Prompts for ChatGPT, According to HubSpot’s SEO Team [+ Examples You Can Steal]

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To use ChatGPT or not to use ChatGPT? Is that really the question anymore?

Download Now: 100 ChatGPT Prompts for Marketers [Free Guide]

If you're like me, you already use this tool to amplify your awesomeness. Like improving your email writing, analyzing data faster, or firing up your social media strategy.

But I have to admit — it’s not all peaches and cream. And others seem to agree — marketers we surveyed stated ChatGPT outputs aren’t publishable 96% of the time.

Does this mean you should throw the whole AI concept away? Not at all. Your outputs are only as good as your prompting skills.

So, I spoke to HubSpot's SEO team to understand how to write prompts for ChatGPT. Stick around to see the key elements of a good prompt, helpful ChatGPT prompt tips, and prompt writing examples.

Table of Contents

How to Write the Perfect AI Prompt

AI Prompt Writing formula: context, task, instructions, clarify & refine

1. Envision your ideal response.

It's tempting to load up ChatGPT and jump right into the prompt. However, Josh Blyskal, Associate SEO Strategist at HubSpot, recommends a more introspective approach.

“The first thing you should do is figure out what you want. Before I type anything, I always take a moment to envision what the final output will look like,” he told me.

He gives an example of a marketer who wants to generate a marketing plan.

Instead of typing “Write me a marketing plan” into ChatGPT, she should take the time to envision what the plan looks like — how many sections it has, how many bullet points are under each section, and what information it contains.

Now that she has a better grasp of the task at hand, it becomes much easier to compose a prompt that checks all the boxes.

2. Write a specific, action-oriented task.

AI models thrive on specificity. If you feed it with vague instructions, you give it room to interpret what it thinks you want.

For example, suppose you prompt ChatGPT to “Rewrite this [article/email/Tweet],” expecting it to write something new and original. Instead, it regurgitates your original message using the same words and phrases.

The solution is to get specific and intentional with your words.

Instead of “Rewrite,” for instance, you might say reimagine, expand, simplify, or modernize. Even a small change in the way you phrase a prompt can significantly change the response.

As Blyskal points out, “A lot of people treat AI like a rigid system that can be hacked with the right words or phrases, but that's not the case.

There are no secret keywords that can guarantee the best results. It's like playing a game of words, and you have to think intentionally about the ones you use.”

3. Set the stage with context.

You could get away with stopping at the previous step — especially if your request is fairly straightforward (e.g., “Write five knock-knock jokes for kids”).

However, you can supercharge your prompts by padding them with context. This gives the AI model more ingredients to cook up a great response.

Bianca D'Agostino, former SEO Specialist at HubSpot, puts it this way:

“Suppose your friend asks you to go to the store and pick up a few things. You definitely need more context — which store, what things, what's the budget, and so on. The more context you get from your friend, the easier it is to do the task. The same goes for AI!”

Let's look at an example:

example of providing Prompt Writing Context for ai model

Both of these prompts might yield good results, but the second prompt will give you a more detailed and compelling description.

This is because the AI model has more context to work with, including the product's name (“Squeaky Queen”), its form (a scrub), and its key features (vegan, gluten-free, recyclable packaging).

4. Add clear instructions.

Although AI models are powerful, they still need you to take the lead. Without clear instructions, they're essentially a chef without a recipe or a new employee without a handbook.

Here's an example: Imagine you need to write an article about Instagram marketing. Along with the main task ("Write an article about Instagram marketing"), you also instruct ChatGPT to:

  • “Cover the following subtopics…”
  • “Incorporate the following quote/statistic…”
  • “Add an example to demonstrate…”

Not only are you giving ChatGPT a clear topic, but you‘re also guiding and shaping the content itself. You’re adding quotes, statistics, and examples to give the output more texture.

Of course, it's not just what you say but how you say it. The content of the article might be up to par, but it may lack a unique voice or perspective. This is where style and tones come in.

Adding Style and Tone

For Sylviain Charbit, HubSpot Senior Technical SEO Specialist, adding style to prompts is a multi-step process. He starts by letting the AI tool generate a general answer and then progressively molds its response for style.

“You can ask it to inspire itself from a situation, character, or profession, or provide it with already made examples to emulate,” he told me.

Charbit also incorporates ChatGPT tone modifiers, such as “cheerful,” “humorous,” or “authoritative,” to guide the AI further.

Let's look at some examples:

chatgpt Prompt Writing examples of style, tone, and perspective

Other style parameters include length and format. You can specify the length of the response (e.g., “Keep the article under 800 characters”) and its format (e.g., “Create a list of bullet points”).

5. Clarify and refine.

Blyskal follows the 60% Rule.

He told me, “When you generate something and it's at least 60% of what you want, you should continue refining that specific prompt. But if it falls short of that, it might be time to start from scratch.”

So, if you ask ChatGPT to generate a list of ten blog ideas and you only like two, it's a good indication to go back to the drawing board.

Even if you meet the 60% threshold, you can still refine the output by giving follow-up instructions such as, “Make it sound more conversational” or “Condense this into one paragraph.”

Remember that prompt writing isn't an exact science. Like any creative process, it often takes multiple revisions to get the right output.

Prompt Writing Techniques

Give It a Role

Role-playing is a technique that involves asking the AI model to adopt a specific role, job, or function.

“When you ask an AI model to play a specific role, you're giving it a certain level of expertise,” Blyskal told me. “For instance, if you prompt it to act as a professional interviewer, it will look for examples of good interviewing skills and respond with professional-seeming questions.”

By defining a role for the AI model to play — such as a professional interviewer, a graphic designer, or a nutritionist — you're also tapping into different viewpoints and perspectives, which can be especially helpful for marketers.

For example, let‘s say you’re launching a new product, a cold plunge tub. You need to create an ad that appeals to your target audience: long-distance runners. In this scenario, you ask the AI model to play the role of a long-distance runner and list the key benefits of your product.

Here’s an example from Perplexity (my fave AI tool) because it provides images and links to sources (peace out hallucinations):

chatgpt prompt example of advertising a cold plunge tub to long-distance runners

Now, the AI model will generate responses that align with the needs and preferences of long-distance runners. This gives you valuable insight into your audience, enabling you to create a more compelling and relevant ad.

Chain of Thought

Imagine you‘re on a road trip, and you’re relying on GPS to guide you from point A to point B. Throughout the journey, it gives you turn-by-turn directions until you reach your destination.

Chain of thought prompting follows a similar approach. You give the AI model one prompt after another, with each prompt building on the one before it. This keeps the model on track, giving you greater control of the output.

chatgpt prompt tips, Chain of Thought Prompting

“You're basically asking the AI model to explain its reasoning at each step. If you don't like any of the explanations, you can tinker with the output until it's ready for the next prompt,” Blyskal explains.

This is ideal for tasks that can be broken down into smaller steps.

For example, consider a copywriter using AI to create an article. She first prompts it to create an outline. Once she‘s happy with the outline, she prompts it to write the article, and then the headline, and then the meta description. She doesn’t move to the next step until she's satisfied with the current output.

That's the power of chain prompting. By guiding the model in a logical sequence, you generate more accurate and relevant responses.

Provide Examples

“If there's any one tip that will take your prompting to the next level, it's providing examples to the AI model,” Blyskal told me.

You can think of examples as reference points, helping the AI model emulate a certain style, tone, structure, or format. On top of that, AI can analyze a piece of content and offer improvements.

Here are several types of examples you can provide to ChatGPT:

  1.  Style and tone reference: Don’t ask for a blog post in a specific topic and hope for the best — provide a sample paragraph or excerpt showing the style and tone you want. For instance, include a snippet of witty and conversational text, if that’s what you’re going for.
  2.  Structural guidance: Include a sample or visual outline when requesting a content outline. It should show the expected flow, sections, and key content elements (e.g., intro, X subheadings, bullet lists, etc.).
  3.  Content improvement suggestions: After drafting content with ChatGPT, provide specific examples of areas that need improvement or refinement. Highlight sentences or sections that need clarification, enhancement, or a different approach. Don’t forget to include style and tone references to ensure it stays consistent.

While AI prompting is a science, it’s also an art. So don’t be afraid to get creative with your examples and instructions to get out-of-the-box outputs.

ChatGPT Prompt Writing Examples

Here are three use cases I’m seeing many people use in content marketing today. I included the prompt, why it works, and the generated output by ChatGPT.

Social Media Campaign for a New Product Launch

Prompt: “Create a social media campaign to launch our new eco-friendly water bottle. The campaign should include 5 Instagram posts, 3 Facebook posts, and 2 X posts. Each post should highlight the product's sustainability features, target eco-conscious consumers, and include a call-to-action to visit our website.”

Why it works:

  • Context: Specifies the product and its unique selling point (eco-friendly water bottle).
  • Task: Clearly defines the number and type of social media posts needed.
  • Instructions: Details what each post should highlight (sustainability features) and the target audience (eco-conscious consumers).
  • Clarification: Includes a call-to-action to drive traffic to the website.

Generation:

example of how to write prompts for chatgpt

Fun fact: 31% of marketers use AI for social media post creation based on our AI marketing survey.

Email Marketing Campaign for a Seasonal Sale

Prompt: “Draft an email marketing campaign for our upcoming summer sale. The email should be engaging, highlight the 20% discount on all summer clothing, and include a clear call-to-action to shop now. Target young adults aged 18-30.”

Why it works:

  • Context: Specifies the event (summer sale) and the discount offered.
  • Task: Defines the content of the email (engaging, highlight discount).
  • Instructions: Details the target audience (young adults aged 18-30).
  • Clarification: Includes a call-to-action to encourage immediate shopping.

Generation:

example of how to write prompts for chatgpt

Fun fact: We found 28% of marketers use ChatGPT to create and answer emails.

PPC Ad Campaign for a Service-Based Business

Prompt: “Create a PPC ad campaign for our digital marketing consultancy. The campaign should include 3 Google Ads and 2 Facebook Ads. Highlight our expertise in SEO and social media marketing, and include a call-to-action to book a free consultation.”

Why it works:

  • Context: Specifies the type of business and services offered.
  • Task: Defines the number and type of ads needed.
  • Instructions: Details what each ad should highlight (expertise in SEO and social media marketing).
  • Clarification: Includes a call-to-action to drive consultations.

Generation:

example of how to write prompts for chatgpt

Fun fact: 90% of marketers see AI reducing time spent on manual tasks (like creating ads).

Back to You

Blyskal said it best: “At the core of prompting is conversation.” You don't engineer or program AI. Instead, you talk to it.

Like any conversation, you naturally adjust your tone, provide ample context, and share details, anecdotes, and examples to give your story texture. These are the same elements that make a really great prompt.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

20+ Best Disco Fonts (Retro Disco Style)

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The disco era was all about bold colors, flashy lights, and an unmistakable sense of fun, and the right font can instantly transport your audience back to that time.

Whether you’re looking for a font that screams “Saturday Night Fever” or a more subtle nod to the carefree disco era, our disco fonts collection has got you covered. From glittery typefaces that shimmer like a disco ball to bold, funky fonts that get the party started, we’ve got the perfect options to help you create designs that dance off the page.

These retro disco fonts are designed to evoke the glitz and glamour of the 70s, with their flashy typefaces, playful curves, and dynamic energy. Perfect for any project that needs a dose of nostalgia and a whole lot of style.

Disco Diva – Groovy Disco Font

Disco Diva - Groovy Disco Font

Disco Diva is a groovy font that truly encapsulates the vivacious spirit of the 70s disco era! Its four unique weight variants; Base, Inline, Line, and Sketch, offer a potpourri of creative opportunities, adding a funky touch to any project. Whether you are working on posters, branding, or digital content, this simple-to-install typeface will infuse an undeniable retro appeal into your designs.

Disco Rendezvous – Modern Disco Font

Disco Rendezvous - Modern Disco Font

Disco Rendezvous is a modern disco font that marries the charm of an elegant script with a sleek sans serif font. It’s inspired by neon-lit nightclubs and legendary disco hits, capturing the essence of the golden age of disco. With abundant creative options offered by OpenType features, Disco Rendezvous brings a genuine hand-crafted feel to your titles.

Alavine Disco – Classic Disco Font

Alavine Disco - Classic Disco Font

The Alavine Disco is a captivating, disco-style font that perfectly marries futurism with funk. It comes with a unique dot pattern, creating a dynamic feel ideal for eye-catching displays like posters or album covers. Despite its bold, retro look, this typeface is remarkably versatile and user-friendly for headings, banners, logos, and more.

Albercio Disco – Narrow Disco Font

Albercio Disco - Narrow Disco Font

Albercio Disco is a sleek, modern display typeface with a unique disco-inspired dot effect. Its sans-serif condensed design gives it a trendy vibe, perfect for adding a bold touch to any contemporary project. Tailored for display applications, it’s versatile enough for use in posters, advertisements, or digital platforms. It comes in regular and italic styles and includes uppercase, lowercase characters, numerals, and punctuation.

Arshine Disco – Creative Disco Font

Arshine Disco - Creative Disco Font

Arshine Disco is a versatile, easy-to-use display font that combines retro charm with disco vibes. Its standout feature is a dynamic dot pattern, which brings a touch of vintage flair and modernity to your designs. Perfect for creating eye-catching displays, Arshine Disco works well in various sizes – ideal for headlines, logos, and banners.

Eighties – Retro Script Disco Font

Eighties - Retro Script Disco Font

The Eighties retro script font is influenced by the bold mono line, disco-style typography of the 1980s. It not only brings a timeless design to casual handwriting but is also versatile due to its minimal node feature. This font is optimal for branding, logos, social media posts, advertising, and more, with multi-language support and provisions for uppercase, lowercase, numerals, and symbols.

Retro Disco – Modern Retro Disco Font

Retro Disco - Modern Retro Disco Font

Check out the RETRO DISCO font, a modern retro disco-style typeface that effortlessly combines quirky boldness with unique letterforms for playful, engaging designs. It offers versatility with upper and lower case modes, and three width types: Narrow, Regular, and Wide, catering to every creative demand.

Disco Queen – Stylish Disco Font

Disco Queen - Stylish Disco Font

Disco Queen is an exciting, eye-catching disco-style font. Its vibrant nature makes it perfect for quotes, headers, or giving a lively edge to your client’s logo design. Your download comes with complimentary extended licensing, exciting free updates in OTF and TTF formats, and instant access.

Arbane Disco – Modern Disco Font

Arbane Disco - Modern Disco Font

Arbane Disco is a unique, modern font with a nod to retro charm. Its captivating dot pattern gives it a distinct disco flair, perfect for projects that demand a touch of classic style. Versatile and user-friendly, this font works well for headlines, logos, and eye-catching displays. It comes in both regular and italic versions, supporting multilingual characters, numerals, and punctuation.

Badoney Disco – Classic Disco Style Font

Badoney Disco - Classic Disco Style Font

Badoney Disco is a unique serif font with a retro spin, featuring a distinctive dot pattern that adds a playful hint of disco to its traditional style. Versatile and stylish, it’s perfect for creating eye-catching headlines, logos, or other displays that stand out. Despite its lively look, Badoney Disco is easy to use for both small and large typography, adding a touch of vintage charm to any design.

Benicio Disco – Retro Disco Font

Benicio Disco - Retro Disco Font

Benicio Disco combines vibrant energy and playful aesthetics, delivering a unique bubble-style retro disco font. Ideal for display uses, from posters to social media, its eye-catching design infuses designs with an exciting twist. It comes in regular and italic styles, and includes uppercase and lowercase characters, numerals, punctuation, and accents.

Smokey Brown – Funky Disco Font

Smokey Brown - Funky Disco Font

Smokey Brown is a vibrant typeface, inspired by the 70’s funk and soul scene. Its bold letters and thin lines give a distinctive style that epitomizes energy and movement. It’s perfect for retro-themed designs, brand logos, or any project aiming to evoke nostalgia. This versatile font offers uppercase, lowercase, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual support.

Thunderstorm – Hand Painted

Thunderstorm - Hand Painted

Thunderstorm is a hand-painted typeface inspired by the music and pop culture of the 80s and 90s – with hints of disco, grunge, and retro elements. This versatile font, available in both ttf and otf formats, boasts multilingual support and is excellent for use in logos, posters, apparel, books, invites, quotes, packaging, and even album covers.

Fatbun – Disco Style Font

Fatbun - Disco Style Font

Fatbun is a whimsical, hand-lettered typeface that draws inspiration from retro disco aesthetics. Its bold style is perfect for use in a variety of formats, from social media posts and logo designs to movie or book titles. The font pack includes standard uppercase and lowercase, numerals, punctuation, multilingual characters, alternates, ligatures, and is PUA encoded.

Boho Melody – Groovy Disco Font

Boho Melody - Groovy Disco Font

Experience a taste of the ’70s with Boho Melody, a groovy disco-style font. This typeface, with its retro-chic design, exudes the youthful spirit of bell-bottoms and peace signs. Its unique characters dance playfully, adding a nostalgic charm and a modern edge to your projects. Boho Melody is available in both OTF and TTF versions and is perfect for those seeking something distinct yet timeless.

Summer Flowers – Disco Font

Summer Flowers - Disco Font

Summer Flowers is your go-to retro-style typeface with a funky groove to it. This playful and authentic font is a brilliant addition to any hippie-inspired designs, whether it’s for logos, blog posts, ads, invitations, or even decorations. It comes in a handy zip file containing both OTF and TTF files. Enjoy enhancing your designs with this nostalgic charm!

Saturday Night – Disco Style Font Family

Saturday Night - Disco Style Font Family

Saturday Night is a retro-inspired font bursting with 70s and 80s flair. This pack includes seven uniquely styled fonts boasting features such as stylistic alternates, swashes, and an impressive 777 pairs of ligatures. Ideal for headings, logos, apparel designs, and so much more, this versatile font family can add a funky vibe to any project.

Free Disco Fonts

Retro Star – Free Disco Font

This is one of the grooviest fonts on our list. It comes with a beautiful letter design with stylish curves and waves. The font features a classic retro design with disco-style elements. It’s free to use with personal projects.

Funky Round – Free Retro Disco Font

Funky Round is another classic retro font featuring a disco-style design. The font comes in two different styles and they work perfectly together to create unique vibes for titles and headings. It’s free to use with commercial projects.

Bafline Disco – Free Retro Font

This free font comes with a classic disco-themed design and it’s perfect for everything from retro graphic designs to cool custom t-shirt prints. The font is free for personal use only.

Godger Disco – Free Groovy Font

Another fun and playful disco font for your creative design projects. This free font comes with a narrow, condensed letter design that will fit perfectly with your title and headings. The font is free to use with personal projects.

Art Disco – Free Retro Font

This free font combines elements from the Disco era with the Art Deco theme to create a unique and stylish letter design. It features uneven strokes and sharp edges to create a professional look and feel as well. The font is free for commercial use.