The Simple Website Personalization That Increased Conversions by 560%

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As someone who does conversion rate optimization (CRO) for a living, I can’t express to you how excited I get when a simple change makes a big impact. And this particular example? It doesn’t get much simpler or more impactful.

Sure, I’m a self-proclaimed CRO geek, but if you were able to increase the conversion rate on a web page by 560%, I bet you’d be geeking out, too.

Free Resource: Website Optimization Checklist [Download Now]

Personalization as an Optimization Tool

As a member of HubSpot’s web strategy team, I’ve been optimizing the core website pages on HubSpot.com for the last eight years.

Prior to that, I spent many years optimizing this very blog.

And in the past year, I’ve been experimenting a lot more with using personalization as a tactic to improve both user experience and conversion rates on the website — by tailoring calls-to-action (CTAs) and content for different segments of people visiting our website.

But personalization can be tricky. By creating more than one version of a single page, that means you also need to maintain more than one version of the page.

Multiply that by each page on your website, and things can start to get pretty unmanageable. This makes it critical to track the performance of any personalization you put live on your website, and keep only the ones that are worth the return on investment.

Luckily, this one was worth it.

Personalizing for Free Users

On many of the core pages on HubSpot’s website, we typically show visitors two CTAs by default:

  • One CTA encourages visitors to start using the free version of our software.
  • And one CTA encourages visitors to get a demo of the premium editions.

When I started experimenting more with personalization on the website, it occurred to me that it was pretty silly to show free sign-up CTAs to contacts who are already free users.

And if these contacts are still visiting our web pages after becoming a free user, they’re probably still evaluating their options and might be interested in trying the premium editions.

it was pretty silly to show free sign-up CTAs to contacts who are already free users.   And if these contacts are still visiting our web pages after becoming a free user, they’re probably still evaluating their options

So on one of our highest trafficked pages — a product page about our free CRM and other free tools — I created a rule using HubSpot’s smart content to replace the free sign-up CTAs with demo CTAs for any contact who was already a free user of our software.

Since there was no risk to free sign-up demand and therefore no reason to run a true A/B test, I ran this as a lookback test. (Meaning I made the change for 100% of visitors, then compared a period of time before and after the change to assess impact.)

Here’s what that looked like in action:

Default Content:

Screenshot: Free CRM Software & Tools for Your Whole Team. CTA: Get Free CRM

Smart Content:

Screenshot: CRM Software for Growing Businesses. CTA: Get a demo

The results were staggering. Once I implemented the free user personalization, it increased our demo conversion rate by 560%, increasing demo requests from about 40 demos/month to 260 demos/month, just from this one page. Aww yeah.

What’s more, there was absolutely no negative impact on free sign-up demand.

Even better? This approach can be implemented on any page where we have free sign-up CTAs. Meaning we’re bound to generate even more demo demand as we implement this across more website pages. That’s what they call a win-win! Or maybe it’s a win-win-win. 🤔

How to Set Up Personalization With HubSpot Smart Content

If you’re a HubSpot user who is subscribed to the Professional or Enterprise editions of Marketing Hub or Content Hub, you have the ability to personalize your web pages with smart content. There are several options for how you can segment smart content to your visitors, including by device type, country, referral source, language, and more.

For this particular use case, I based my smart content on contact list membership, first creating a list of contacts in our HubSpot Smart CRM that included anyone who is a free user of our software. And because this list is also smart, it’ll automatically update whenever a new or existing contact becomes a free user, ensuring that my personalization will always be up to date.

Next, I set up a smart rule in the page editor for each module on the page I wanted to personalize, based on membership to the contact list I’d created.

Screenshot: Show different content based on contact list membership

This enabled me to modify certain parts of the page (like copy and CTAs) just for free HubSpot users, while leaving the rest of the page content unchanged by default.

Best of all, it only took me a few minutes to set up. Talk about low-hanging fruit!

How to Make Personalization Work for You

The segmentation strategy you use to personalize your web pages should be based on your website’s overall conversion strategy and your business goals, which only you will know.

For example, one of our challenges on the HubSpot website is that we sell products that suit various business sizes, ranging from small startups to large, scaling businesses. These different-sized businesses have various challenges and needs and, therefore, will respond differently to certain content and conversion flows.

So the crux of our current personalization strategy is segmenting content based on both business size and where a contact is in their buying stage.

For some additional guidance and inspiration, check out our article on website personalization. (Pro Tip: If you’re a HubSpot user or are considering becoming one, you might also be interested in the new Breeze Intelligence functionality that enriches your contacts with third-party data, which can make your personalization efforts even more powerful.)

However you decide to segment your personalization strategy, start small, and keep a close eye on ROI. You might be surprised to find that sometimes, even the simplest change can make a big dent 😉

 

Workplace Loneliness Isn’t Getting Better [New Data]

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Workplace loneliness has been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way a lot of businesses operate — with most shifting to hybrid or completely remote working.

However, that all started almost five years ago (half a decade, can you believe it?!). While some businesses are continuing on as remote or hybrid, many have returned to the office.

And still, loneliness persists.

Download Now: Free Company Culture Code Template

Brand new data from aaask reveals that this problem could be even worse than you might think. The survey aaasked 170 people (who work remotely at least some of the time) how they currently feel in the workplace.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the data.

Loneliness is not caused by working from home.

The data revealed that 60% of people feel more lonely at work than they did 5 years ago.

workplace loneliness data from aaask, 60% of people feel more lonely at work than they did 5 years ago

Honestly, his figure didn’t really come as a shock. Given the pandemic, it’s easy to blame working from home for this rise in workplace loneliness. The solution is just to get everyone back on site, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

The survey also found that 47% of people always or often feel lonely when working from home

workplace loneliness data from aaask, 47% of people always or often feel lonely when working from home, and 43% of people always or often feel lonely when working on site (in the office)

… and 43% of people always or often feel lonely when working on-site (in the office).

Now, this data was surprising! It shows that remote working isn’t to blame for increased loneliness. It’s clear that regardless of where people are, they’re feeling a disconnect from their colleagues.

Current strategies aren’t working …

We didn’t just uncover problems with our data. We also explored solutions to workplace loneliness.

Surprisingly (compared with the above statistics), most people (78%) are largely happy with the methods their employers have put in place for them to stay connected and engaged with co-workers.

workplace loneliness data from aaask, most people (78%) are largely happy with the methods their employers have put in place for them to stay connected and engaged with co-workers

These methods include email, virtual meetings, asynchronous communication tools, and project management tools.

“At aaask, we can relate to this. We use all of these methods to keep our co-workers connected — including regular, automated feedback surveys — and we find this combination works well for keeping everyone on the same page.”

84% of people even said they have a true friend at work — someone they can rely on for emotional support.

And while this is all great stuff, it’s clearly not good enough. If it was, almost half of all workers wouldn’t state that they are still lonely most of the time.

The Impact of Loneliness

Loneliness has many detrimental impacts on people on both a personal and professional level.

In fact, 76% of people said workplace loneliness has negatively impacted their mental health, with 40% adding that the impact had been severe.

workplace loneliness data from aaask, 76% of people said workplace loneliness has negatively impacted their mental health

On a professional level, the biggest impact of loneliness in the workplace is a reduction in engagement (57%), followed by a sense of burnout (45%).

Workplace loneliness has also made 43% of people want to quit their jobs, reduced the overall job satisfaction of 28% of people, and made 24% of people feel as though they are disconnected from their team.

workplace loneliness data from aaask, the biggest impact of loneliness in the workplace is a reduction in engagement (57%)

Overall, 73% of survey respondents agreed that workplace loneliness had affected their career growth and professional development.

While all companies experience these challenges to some extent, it’s quite shocking to see that the figures are so high.

If your team isn't engaged, doesn't feel like they are making any strides professionally, and feels disconnected from each other, you can probably guess that productivity and work output are going to take a big hit.

So, employers seem to be doing all the right things …

They’re putting tools in place that people are happy with, and companies are making it so colleagues can form close bonds and friendships.

But workplace loneliness isn’t improving.

What can we do?

Given the data, it seems that the issue isn’t making sure we use the correct tools to solve loneliness — it’s making sure we have the correct conversations.

Here are two ways to do just that.

1. Schedule regular one-on-ones.

When asked how they’d most prefer their employer to tackle workplace loneliness, 41% of people said they wanted more virtual check-ins.

Make sure you’re having regular chats with your team. These conversations should offer staff a safe place to talk about any pain points, including workplace loneliness. And if they don’t bring it up, try asking them about it.

Then, work with them to find solutions.

Pro tip: Tools like aaask can help you automate check-ins about anything. You just set a prompt, select a group of co-workers to be included in the conversation, and then aaask sends it out to everyone.

2. Encourage more non-work-related conversations.

If you don’t already, encourage your employees to have conversations that aren’t about work.

Sure, you might worry about the impact this could have on productivity. But a lack of engagement, increased burnout, and reduced job satisfaction, could be much worse. And the reality is these are all caused by workplace loneliness.

Plus, people used to have these conversations anyway — around the water cooler, in the kitchen, or on the way to the bathroom. You’d only be reinstating the time that employees used to use for bonding.

The Bottom Line

It’s clear that a sense of community has been lost (or at least reduced) in the workplace.

Employers can only get that back by asking the right questions and giving their employees more opportunities to build meaningful connections with each other.

Imani Ellis’ Guide to Using Research and Discovery to Build Your Event

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Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

One of my favorite parts of experiential marketing is the research and discovery process. Often overlooked, I believe that spending a good amount of time exploring data can make all of the difference when it comes to planning your next successful event.

Download Now: Event Planning Checklist [Free Download]

Data isn’t just found in pie charts and exported Excel graphs, it’s everywhere you look. Key insights and learnings are swirling around you as you move through the world, catch up with close friends, or overhear conversations at a coffee shop.

These sentiments can all contribute to curating your next event and planning out your consumer journey — ensuring that your attendees feel seen and considered.

How to Use Research and Discovery to Build Your Next Event

1. Before you can truly dive into your research, spend some time getting clear on the problem you’re solving.

It can be tempting to go into the world, ready to conquer every challenge your business could potentially face, but the key to successful research and discovery is focus. Spend time getting clear on what problem you want to solve, how you plan to discover insights about it, and what key takeaways you’re looking for.

This can help ensure you stay on course and avoid getting distracted as new problems or challenges arise in the process.

Ultimately, the goal of research and discovery is to be outcome-oriented. This exercise should help to provide clarity against key questions that you have. There will be time to focus on new challenges but staying aligned with the task at hand is a key component to avoiding overwhelm and burnout.

Once you’ve decided the problem you’re looking to solve, spend a considerable amount of energy on where you can find the audience to answer your questions.

Immerse yourself in your audiences’ work and dive deep into their interests, preferences, and behaviors. You’re not just asking, “Who are they?” but also, “What moves them?”

For example, since CultureCon is dedicated to creating community and resources for Black creators and entrepreneurs, we need to consider what they want to experience that aligns with their career aspirations and community goals. We need to know where they get their news from, what they like to do for fun, and what inspires them.

Learning this information can allow us to speak directly to their experiences and invite them to see themselves in the event.

2. Listen to your audience and keep an open mind.

Now that you’ve identified your audience, it’s important to become an active listener.

Remember, while this business or event is important to you, it is not your “baby.” Keeping this in mind can help you distance your personal beliefs and ego from the feedback you’ll receive so that you can objectively digest what comes your way.

There are many ways to incorporate active listening and establish feedback channels in your research process including:

  • Focus Groups: Personally, I love focus groups because they provide an environment where participants can engage in open and honest discussions that provide nuance that can often be missed in surveys or other quantitative methods.
  • Surveys: Pre and post-event surveys are another great way to listen to your audience and understand what they want more of. In your survey, try to stick to one or two open-ended questions and make the rest multiple-choice so that you have an easier time reading the data.
  • Don’t ignore the comment section: The comment section is a great place to engage in active listening. Dive into the comments on your social pages to gauge what attendees are excited about or concerned with and use those findings to guide your event and marketing strategies.

3. Get out and explore.

Beyond the digital screen, there are so many other ways to conduct research and discovery IRL. Explore different events in your city and ask friends what experiences they're excited about over dinner.

All of these learnings can inform key trends and insights for the event that you’re building. Avoid the temptation to try and become everything to everyone. Remember that learnings only need to be implemented if they are useful and applicable to what you’re hoping to build.

Remember that you are also your audience — what gaps are you experiencing, and what do you wish there was more of? Answers to these questions can prove to be extremely helpful.

4. Analyze your findings and follow the data.

Now that you’ve collected your feedback, it’s time to make sense of it. I like to organize the data into categories — positive, negative, and neutral feedback — and then I begin to look for patterns.

This is an opportunity to see raw and unfiltered information for your business. It may not all apply but it can be helpful to see where there may be potential blind spots in your strategy or approach.

Read more:

Quantitative data can show overall trends, while qualitative feedback can give you deeper insights into why certain aspects succeeded or failed.

Remember: All of this data can work together to inform a holistic story. Don’t just look at the numbers — context matters.

For example, if you choose to provide a rating system for your event, include a follow-up question like “What could change a 7 to a 10?” This answer can help to convert a lukewarm attendee into a brand enthusiast.

5. Take action.

Research and discovery only work if you act on the insights you’ve gathered. Take the data you’ve analyzed and use it to inform your next steps. What are the key points that bubbled up in the feedback and how can you take one small step towards implementing a plan of action?

Pro tip: Look for patterns and prioritize feedback that has a common theme. Remember that not every suggestion needs to be implemented, but if several guests mention the same issue (like unclear communication or super long wait times for food), those topics should be top priorities for your next event.

6. Iterate, improve, and repeat.

Research and discovery is an ongoing process. Once you’ve implemented the changes, gather feedback again. Did the feedback lead to active change? Did the changes work? What’s the next area you can tackle?

With each phase, you can continue to refine and elevate the experience, ensuring you’re constantly optimizing, improving, and staying in touch with your community’s needs.

Key Tip: Make feedback loops a regular part of your process, not just a one-off event. This way, you’re always evolving and improving based on real, timely insights.

Creating a feedback loop for research and discovery involves listening, analyzing, acting, and then repeating the process. It’s about creating a culture of constant improvement where every event or project iteration is more aligned with your audience's needs and expectations.

The HubSpot Blog’s 2024 Video Marketing Report [Data from 500+ Video Marketers]

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More than ever, social media channels are putting video content front and center on their feeds, as audiences increasingly turn to TikTok, Reels, and live videos to be entertained, discover products, and even learn about exciting new brands.

And for marketers, leveraging video not only offers the highest ROI of any media format, but it plays a key role in helping marketers exceed their goals.

Download Now: Free Video Marketing Trends Report

So, where in the world of video marketing should you focus your video marketing efforts? To help you determine your next steps, I surveyed 500+ video marketers to get their takes on all sorts of topics and tactics, including: 

Let’s dive in.

Video Marketing Survey Findings

Video Marketing Benchmarks

The effectiveness of video marketing is obvious from the survey results — 73% of respondents say video marketing is effective at helping them reach their companies overall business goals. 

Video marketers also overwhelmingly say that video marketing is very effective at helping with more specific goals, such as helping customers understand their products/services, engaging audiences, and generating leads.

video-marketing-effective-for

I also asked marketers how many videos they publish per month, and a majority (30%) are churning out between 8 and 10. 23% say they’re publishing between five and seven. 

I wanted to know how many views these videos get, so I asked about that as well: 

  • Most videos get between 5K-10K views.
  • 45% of marketing videos average less than 10K views
  • 16% average under 1,000 views
  • 17% average over 100K views

video marketing benchmarks graphic

Views aren’t the only metrics marketers track, though. There’s a long list of data points to keep your eyes on, so let’s take a look at which are the best measure of your video’s performance. 

The Most Prioritized Video Marketing Metrics

Video marketers told me that engagement (likes, comments, etc.) is the most important video marketing metric to track. That’s followed by watch time and view count. 

most important video marketing metrics

I’ll dive a bit deeper into the importance of each major metric. 

1. Engagement Rate

43% of video marketers say engagement is the most important video marketing metric to watch, and this makes sense to me because engagement clearly outlines how your videos resonate with your audience. 

High engagement means people are eager to take action in addition to just watching the video (liking, commenting, sharing, etc.). 

Here’s what Jigar Thakker, Chief Business Officer at INSIDEA, told me about why he thinks engagement rate is the most important video marketing metric:

“This metric [engagement rate] shows how well your audience is connecting with your content. High engagement indicates that your video is resonating with viewers, encouraging interaction, and fostering deeper connections with your brand…Engagement reflects the true effectiveness of your video in driving meaningful actions and interactions.”

Jigar-thakker

2. Watch Time

Watch time is the second most important metric that video marketers track. It’s key to understanding how long people spend watching your videos.

And also, according to Michelle Tabor, Solutions Engineer at Lynton, the quality of your video: “I want as many people as possible to watch, and view time is a top indicator of if my content is boring or not.”

michelle-2

For example, if the average watch time for your five-minute video is four minutes, most viewers are sitting through nearly all of it because you’ve successfully hooked them. If you see a dropoff halfway through, the video may have been too long or not held interest enough to keep people watching. 

The overall average watch time of your videos can be useful when comparing similar-length videos. I do recommend, if possible, checking the percentage of viewers watching at key moments throughout your videos. 

Speaking of video length, I also asked marketers about how long marketing videos should be.

How long should a marketing video be?

A whopping 91% of marketers agree that the optimal length of a marketing video is under 10 minutes.

the optimal length for marketing videos

Beyond that, opinions start to differ, with the largest chunk (36%) saying videos should be between 1-3 minutes, while 16% think the sweet spot is between 4-6 minutes. Another 30% say the optimal video length is under 60 seconds. 9% advocate for videos between 7-9 minutes long.

At the end of the day, the length of your video will largely depend on which type of video best suits your goals (I’ll talk more about this later on).

3. View Count

View count is the third most important video marketing metric to track, and the third most popular video marketing metric overall.

The meaning of views is in the word: how many people view your marketing videos. The more views you have, the more people, well, viewed your video. 

However, high view count doesn’t always equal high quality video, which is why it’s important to monitor multiple metrics (including the ones I mentioned above) to get a well-rounded picture of your videos success. 

Some other notable video marketing metrics I want to call out are follower/subscriber growth and click-through rate (CTR). 

If you’re gaining followers/subscribers from a video, it resonates with viewers and they want to see more from you. If your growth rate is higher than normal, you can replicate your strategy with that video to optimize the rest of your content. 

CTR speaks to your thumbnail and title/caption. It tells you how effective they are at getting people to watch your video in the first place. 

Let’s dive into the next section: video marketers top goals for 2025. 

Video Marketing Goals

Video marketers' top three goals are increasing brand awareness and reaching new audiences (52%), increasing online engagement (38%), and increasing revenue and sales (36%). 

More than ¼ of video marketers are also focused on using video to grow their online community/following, while 23% are using video to foster relationships with customers and increase brand loyalty. 

top video marketing goals in 2024

As I mentioned at the very start, our survey shows video marketing is highly effective for reaching all of these goals, so let’s dive into some of the strategies video marketers are using to succeed.

Video Marketing Benefits & Challenges

Video Marketing Benefits

Marketers say that the biggest benefit of video marketing is that it helps customers better understand a product/service.

They also say that videos are already popular among their target audiences and generate more leads than other types of content.

graph displaying the benefits of video marketing

While this seems perfectly in line with video marketers' goals, those benefits can come along with a few challenges. 

Video Marketing Challenges

Creating an effective video strategy is the biggest challenge video marketers face, followed by a lack of time to create video content and a lack of content ideas.

graph displaying the challenges of video marketing

Video Marketing Budgets

Having inadequate budgets to create video content is something that 28% of our survey respondents struggle with. 

81% say they have a dedicated budget for video marketing, and it makes up 41-60% of their overall marketing budgets. Here’s what those budgets look like: 

  • 8% of companies spend over $100K on video marketing per quarter. 
  • 47% spend under $20K
  • 45% spend between $20K-$100K

graph displaying the amount of budget dedicated to video marketing

How much does creating a marketing video cost?

91% of marketers’ companies spend under $50,000 to create a marketing video, and over half spend under $10,000.how much does it cost to create a marketing video

Our survey results show that marketers spend the most money during the production stage of creating a video (filming, setting up lighting and audio, etc.).

video marketing spend allotments

Video Marketing Strategies

The Top Tactics for Creating Effective Videos

The most important factors for creating effective video content are capturing viewer attention in the first few seconds, engaging video editing, and engaging storytelling/scripting. 

most important video content factors

Why Immediately Capturing Viewer Attention Is Key

Capturing viewer attention in the first few sections (and even seconds) of your video is important because it’s what gets them to stick around. 

If they’re intrigued, they’re more likely to watch more and the more they watch the more likely they are to benefit from its content (like educating them about a product or even just making them laugh).

The longer they watch the more likely they are to form an impression of your business, and a positive impression can inspire follows/subscriptions. 

If you capture their attention and they stick around, you also have a higher chance of driving some sort of action, like a viewer sharing the video with friends. 

So, how can you immediately capture this attention?

Adriane Grunenberg, HubSpot Automation & Digital Analytics Expert at Pinetco, says: “The opening moments of your video are crucial for capturing attention. You could use an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a visually appealing scene to grab viewers' attention immediately.”

Adriane-Grunenberg

I do have to mention that while storytelling/scripting is important, consumers nowadays also crave authentic, behind-the-scenes, and “real-life” type content.

Gabrielle Herrera, Community Growth Senior Marketing Manager at HubSpot noticed first-hand how much people enjoy this type of content after the Community team sent people to INBOUND 2024. 

A majority of the content they created were videos, and she said: “The videos that received the most engagement and impressions weren't the ones that were polished or scripted; they were the ones that featured the average attendee, usually impromptu on the show floor, and highlighted the unique experiences and learnings of those featured in the video.”

She adds, “There's certainly a time and place for formal, scripted, and beautifully edited video marketing, but don't discount the value that UGC and peer-based perspectives can bring to your video marketing strategy!”

Gabrielle-Herrera

AI and Video Marketing

As with all areas of marketing (and I guess life in general), AI is impacting video marketing. In fact, the most commonly used generative AI tools among marketers are visual AI tools (image/video/design generators). 

I wanted to get more specific about video marketing and AI, so I asked our survey respondents whether they’re using AI in their processes and how they’re doing so—just 9% said they don’t use AI in their video strategy. 

The most popular use cases for those who use AI in their video strategy is to generate descriptions/titles/tags to improve searchability, improve or generate visual effects layered in videos, and generate other visual features life text, titles, transitions, etc.

AI and video marketing

Here are some other interesting AI and video marketing stats I dug up from other HubSpot research:

  • Visual AI tools (image/video/design generators) are the most popular generative AI tools social media marketers use to create content, used by 49% of social media marketers. (Social Media Trends Report)
  • The most popular type of content social media marketers use generative AI to create is short-form video (46%), and 55% say generative AI is the most helpful for making short-form video content. (Social Media Trends Report)
  • Marketers are more likely to say that using generative AI to create content for audio/visual channels drives positive ROI. (AI Trends For Marketers 2024 Report)

Pro tip: If you’re looking for a low-stakes and easy-to-use tool to get started using AI in your video marketing, I recommend HubSpot’s Clip Creator.

You simply answer a few basic questions about the video you’re hoping to create, choose a template, and sit back to let AI generate the personalized content you’re looking for.

Video Promotion Strategies

It can be tempting to dedicate all of your time to crafting the “perfect” video with slick edits, high production value, and an irresistible thumbnail. While these things are important, they lose their power without effective video promotion.  

In fact, the past three times we’ve run our Consumer Trends Survey, consumers overwhelmingly say that it’s more important that brands post authentic and relatable content on social media than polished and high-quality content. 

On the other hand, ineffectively promoting your video can cause your video to flop, so let’s take a look at a few strategies video marketers use to make sure that doesn’t happen.

How to Promote a Marketing Video

The most effective video promotion strategies are sharing them on social media platforms, adding videos to your website or blog, and running paid ads for your videos. 

For optimum results, I recommend a well-rounded video promotion strategy that includes the top strategies marketers told us about, and that starts before your video goes live and continues after it’s published. 

For example, if your video is going live on YouTube in the next 24 hours, hop on Instagram and start a countdown on your story. Share the thumbnail and title 3-5 hours before the video drops to generate more interest. Prepare a teaser to hook viewers in and share that on social media as soon as your video releases.

Once the video is out, you can run an interactive poll related to your video on social media to engage your core audience and pique the interest of those who haven’t seen it yet. You can also set up an email campaign to go out announcing your video a few hours later, or add a banner to your website linking to the video.

All in all, continue to promote your videos whenever the opportunity arises. For example, if you notice a conversation on X (Twitter) related to the topic of a video you published three months ago, you can share the link if it adds value to the conversation. 

Now that you’re up to speed on video marketing goals and strategies let’s take a look at which video formats are most effective.

Top Video Formats

Survey results showed that the majority of video marketers use short-form video (83%), 39% leverage long-form video, and just 14% use live video. 

In this section, I’ll dive a bit deeper into each of these formats. 

1. Short-form Video

Of all the video formats, short-form has the highest ROI and is also #1 for lead generation and engagement.

top video formats

Short-form video use also grew significantly this year, with marketers overwhelmingly planning to invest it in more than any other media format.

To top it off, 30% of marketers who didn't already use short-form videos started doing so this year. Our blog team even tested out using short-form videos as a promotional tool.

Exactly how short are these short-form videos marketers make? The consensus among survey respondents is that 21-30 seconds (42%) is the optimal length. 32% say 31-60 seconds. 

optimal short form video length

2. Long-Form Video

Long-form videos, defined in this survey as videos over three minutes, come in 2nd to short-form for ROI, lead generation, and engagement.

most engaging video formats

The biggest chunk of marketers (36%) say the ideal length for a long-form video is 3-6 minutes. 

optimal length of long-form marketing video pie chart

Where long-form outshines short-form video is that it takes first place in terms of format marketers plan to leverage for the first time this year. 

3. Live Videos/Live Streams Metrics And Benchmarks

Live video has lost popularity among video marketers — a -56% decrease in usage, in fact, since the last time we ran this survey. It comes in third place in terms of leads, engagement, and ROI. 

The Top Video Marketing Channels

Social media is, overall, the most used video marketing channel—81% of our survey respondents use it. YouTube/Vimeo is the second-most popular. 

top video marketing channels

Social media is also the channel that brings in the highest ROI and generates the most leads, significantly outshining the second-place holder (blog/website) — 83% of survey respondents chose social media as having the highest ROI, and 10% chose blog/website. 

which channels offer the biggest roi for video marketing

While all these channels can be effective for sharing marketing videos, social media is the clear winner. Let’s dive into which platforms are most effective for video sharing. 

The Best Social Media Channels for Sharing Videos

1. Instagram

Instagram is the most popular social media channel for sharing videos. 76% of marketers use it, and it’s the top social platform for ROI, engagement, and lead generation when sharing marketing videos. 

most roi generating social channels

2. YouTube

YouTube comes in at #2 behind Instagram in terms of use and ROI but third for engagement and generating leads. 

social media platforms for sharing video

3. Facebook

60% of video marketers use Facebook to share marketing videos, and it ranks fourth for ROI, engagement, and lead generation. 

video marketing and social media leads

4. TikTok

TikTok offers the second-best engagement and leads when sharing marketing videos, and 54% of video marketers use it. 

social-platform-engagement

Which social media channels have low video performance?

Tumblr, Twitch, Pinterest, and Reddit are the least popular channels for sharing marketing videos, and all four offer little competition to Instagram and YouTube in terms of generating high ROI, driving leads, and getting engagement. 

Now we know where marketers are sharing their videos, but what kind of videos are they sharing on those platforms?

What are the top content types for marketing videos?

1. Content Showcasing Your Products and Services

Content showcasing products/services is the most leveraged type of video content, and video marketers say it’s the most effective at helping them reach their video marketing goals. 

video content with the best ROI

Consumers told us that content showcasing a brand's products/services is the second-most memorable type of content they see on social media, so it’s worth investing in this within your own video marketing strategy. 

2. Relatable Content

Relatable content is the second most popular type of video content, and it is also the second best in terms of helping marketers meet their goals. 

video-content-effectiveness

3. Educational and Informational Content

You should be a helpful resource for your audience, so it’s no surprise that education and informational videos are the third most popular type of video among our survey respondents. 

Learning new things is one of the main reasons consumers use YouTube, so if you leverage that platform, consider posting helpful and educational videos to your channel. 

why-use-youtube

4. Funny Content

Overall, funny content is the most memorable type of content for consumers when they encounter it on social media. 32% of our survey respondents use it, and it comes in fourth place in terms of helping video marketers meet their goals. 

Viral Videos

Creating a viral video is a goal that many video marketers may have, but it’s not necessarily a goal you have control over. You might hope to go viral by, say, jumping on trending topics or leveraging a popular influencer/celebrity, but its potential really depends on how consumers receive it. 

How to Make a Video Go Viral

However, with that in mind, I did ask our survey respondents if they’d had a hand in creating a viral video and, if so, what they think contributed to its virality. The top themes I gleaned from responses are: 

  • Videos are relatable, authentic, and humorous 
  • Viral videos capitalize on trends, pop culture, and timely events
  • Viral videos are informative and teach viewers something new or provide valuable information
  • Viral videos elicit strong emotions by showcasing real stories
  • Viral videos encourage viewer interaction through comments, likes, shares, or challenges
  • Viral videos are easy to share for people who want to pass them along to friends and family.

How long does it take to create a marketing video?

93% of marketing videos are created in three weeks or less, and 32% are made in under a week. 

This doesn’t surprise me at all: short-form videos are the most popular video format, and consumers appreciate more authentic videos.

This means that marketers can spend less time on production (shorter videos typically require less filming) and editing.

how long does it take to create a marketing video

More Insights From the HubSpot Blog

Whether you’re just getting started with video marketing or a seasoned video professional, keeping up with the latest trends and marketing strategies is key.

While video marketing is currently one of the top marketing strategies, there are a few others that have even better ROI - luckily, you can incorporate most of them into your video marketing strategy for even better results.

Just getting started with video? You can also download our free Video Marketing Starter Pack below.

video-marketing-report

8 Noteworthy Examples of Corporate Social Media Policies

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Like it or not, social media is ingrained in our everyday lives. People use it to share their happy moments and grievances, ask questions, and even find jobs while employers market themselves and connect with their buyers.

This is all fine and dandy, but what happens if someone posts about work or voices a contrasting personal opinion? This murky middle ground is why having a social media policy is so important for your business.

Download Now: Free Social Media Policy Template

Well-thought-out corporate social media policies help keep a company’s presence consistent and scalable, no matter who posts or where. Yet, 45% of companies still don’t have one in place. I’m here to help fix that.

Let’s break down how to create a social media policy that is right for your team and look at some examples done well.

Table of Contents

Does more than one person manage your social media accounts? Do you expect your employees to promote your business on their personal profiles? Or would you rather they don’t discuss office culture or their day-to-day period at all?

In organizations with a large online presence or well-established public images, a social media policy helps answer these questions and set guardrails for how the company should be represented.

Think about it: Every person you hire has their own personality, tone of voice, and views. That may even be the reason you hired them. But the truth is, we live in volatile times.

There is much political and societal unrest, and things get complicated when an employee’s views or even behavior after hours contrasts with those of the organization, its values, or its buyers.

Corporate social media policies help combat and navigate these situations. They can also help ensure that personal views don’t seep into posts on your brand’s social media accounts either.

Now, I know. Some of you may be worried that enforcing strict rules in a social media policy stifles creativity or restricts freedom of speech.

But if done correctly, it shouldn’t hinder employees. In fact, it should make them feel more comfortable amplifying your social media messages since they’ll know exactly what will or won’t be beneficial. They don’t have to guess.

Why is having a social media policy important?

Good social media policies remove ambiguity. They give teams a single, documented playbook to follow and ultimately help every post about the company align with a brand’s values, tone, and goals.

Also, while no one wants their social media policy to be grounds for disciplinary action, it does give businesses somewhat of a safety net should things go awry.

I witnessed the importance of this first-hand during a presidential election at a previous employer.

We didn’t have a social media policy at the time, and my teammate posted something politically charged on their personal profile. Some third-party partners saw the post and were upset, putting the company in a difficult spot.

This likely could have been avoided if a social media policy had been established.

Benefits of a Corporate Social Media Policy

To get more granular, here are a few major benefits of creating a corporate social media policy:

  • Maintain consistency of brand voice, tone, and messaging across social channels
  • Prevent a public relations (PR) crisis as a result of a potentially offensive post
  • Enable employees to handle legal and regulatory issues with sensitivity
  • Protect the data privacy of customers and stakeholders
  • Have effective responses at the ready for crises or data breaches if they do occur
  • Ensure each new employee will have the tools to create a positive, consistent, and valuable brand message across social channels

So, what does a great social media policy look like?

Components of a Social Media Policy

First off, remember there isn‘t just one ’right' policy that works for every company.

Below, I’ve shared several components that, from my experience, make for great social media policies — but some may not make sense for your team, business, or industry. Pick and choose what you like to fit your culture and business objectives.

1. Purpose and Scope

  • Outline the purpose of the policy and its importance in protecting both the company's reputation and employees’ rights.
  • Encourage responsible, respectful communication and emphasize that employees represent the company even on personal accounts.
  • Specify who the policy applies to (e.g., all employees, contractors, interns, etc.).

2. Employee Guidelines for Personal Accounts

  • Specify when and how employees can discuss work-related topics on personal accounts.
  • Encourage disclaimers like “views are my own” when relevant, especially if discussing industry-related topics.
  • Provides guidance on sharing public information versus confidential details.

3. Guidelines for Social Media Use During Work Hours

  • These days, personal smartphones and tablets are not just permitted at the workplace but are even required for some jobs. Therefore, setting guidelines for personal social media use at the office is essential.
  • This could include time limits, phone-free areas or events, etc.

4. Brand Voice and Tone

  • Detail the brand's tone, style, and messaging standards for official social media channels.
  • Clarify how employees should align with the brand’s image if they represent the company.

5. Confidentiality and Privacy Concerns

  • Emphasize the importance of protecting proprietary company information, customer data, and client details.
  • Include examples of what constitutes confidential information.

6. Intellectual Property Protection

  • Outline rules for using company logos, images, and other branding materials on personal accounts.
  • Specify that company content should not be reproduced without permission.
  • You also may want to go into rules for user-generated content or republishing content that tags or is shared on your social media platforms by your audience.

7. Official Social Media Responsibilities

  • Outline which departments or individuals handle official accounts, post frequency, and escalation procedures.
  • Provide a list of official accounts and expectations. (This may include what audiences can expect from your brand as well as what you expect employees to do when managing your social media accounts.)

8. Engagement Guidelines (for Responding to Public Interaction)

  • Outline how to respond to comments, questions, complaints, or negative feedback.
  • Provide examples of appropriate responses and escalation steps for sensitive issues. This will be extremely valuable reference and training material.

9. Security and Privacy Protocols

  • List steps to protect official accounts, such as using strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and limiting access.
  • Provides guidance on recognizing and handling potential security threats (e.g., phishing, hacking attempts).

10. Legal and Regulatory Compliance

  • Highlight legal considerations, such as compliance with advertising standards, disclosure requirements, and industry-specific regulations (e.g., HIPAA for healthcare, GDPR for EU).

11. Consequences of Policy Violations

  • Clearly state the disciplinary actions for violating the policy, from warnings to termination for serious infractions.
  • Ensure this section is in line with existing company policies on disciplinary actions.

12. Resources and Training

  • Provide links to resources for further reading or training on effective social media use.
  • Offer contact information for team members who can answer questions or provide guidance on specific scenarios.

13. Plan for Updates

  • Explain how and when the policy will be reviewed and updated to reflect social media or business strategy changes.
  • Consider scheduling a regular review to keep up with evolving social media trends and regulations.

Creating a comprehensive social media policy helps empower employees to use social media effectively while minimizing risks to the company’s brand and reputation.

How to Create a Social Media Policy

Social media policies can take many different shapes and forms.

Need some putting yours together? Our free social media policy template will help you collect your thoughts into a formal document that can be downloaded as a Word document, Google doc, or PDF.

HubSpot’s free social media policy template can be downloaded as a PDF, Google or Word Doc.

8 Examples of Great Social Media Policies

Let's explore how prominent companies created effective social media policies to inspire your own today.

1. Best Buy

Screenshot of Best Buy’s Instagram profile

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Best Buy has a social media policy in place that preemptively addresses privacy concerns that could arise using social media.

What do I like about Best Buy's social media policy?

  • It looks out for both the employee and the company.
  • It’s skimmable but specific about what matters (i.e., what information should never be shared)
  • It’s written in direct, simple language that anyone could understand.
  • It’s clear about the repercussions of breaking the policy.
  • It gives you guidance on where to go for more information.

What could be better?

  • It’s dated. The policy appears to be from 2010 and even calls out “tweeting” specifically. Companies should regularly update their social media policies to reflect new platforms, behaviors, and concerns.

2. Adobe

Adobe keeps it even shorter than Best Buy, including social media simply as a footnote its much longer “Code of Business.”

Screenshot of Adobe’s social media policy

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What do I like about Adobe’s social media policy?

  • It’s concise.
  • It applies to multiple platforms.
  • It links to additional resources.

What could be better?

  • It’s vague. Unlike Best Buy’s policy, which was short but easy to understand, Adobe’s feels like there is much to interpret. For instance, “appropriate” can vary greatly depending on the person.
  • It doesn’t mention what happens if the policy is broken.
  • It’s cold and formal with its language.

3. Walmart

Screenshot of Walmart’s social media policy

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Walmart is dedicated to its social media accounts and believes in social media as an avenue for customer service. Its social media policy mentions all the networks it has a presence on, zeroes in on Twitter (X), Facebook, and Instagram.

What do I like about Walmart’s social media policy?

  • It’s written in direct, simple language that anyone could understand.
  • It’s specific about what audiences can expect from them.
  • It addresses both Walmart employees and official brand accounts.

What could be better?

  • It would make sense to discuss the other platforms Walmart is active on as well: YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Medium. There really is not explanation as to why they are not.

4. Ford Motors

Screenshot of Ford Motors social media policy

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Ford focuses solely on its Facebook page in its most current social media policy version.

A PDF of “Ford Motor Company’s Digital Participation Guidelines” is also circulating online, but it is over 14 years old and includes several rebranded social media networks.

What do I like about Ford’s social media policy?

  • It takes a unifying and welcoming tone.
  • It’s specific about what you can expect from them and the expectations of others in its “community.
  • It’s clear about its rights and use of content on its page.
  • It gives you guidance on where to go for more information.

What could be better?

  • It focuses just on Facebook. It should be opened up to address other platforms, as Ford is active on Instagram and X, among others.
  • It doesn’t offer guidelines on how employees of Ford should conduct themselves

5. Coca-Cola

Screenshot of Coca-Cola’s social media policy

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Coca-Cola doesn’t have a social media policy in the traditional form, but rather “responsible social media principles” it promises to abide by.

This establishes a more timeless “brand” of social media for Coke rather than specific practices that may become dated quickly.

What do I like about Coke’s social media policy?

  • It focuses on their impact and responsibilities to their audience.
  • It establishes its values in detail with examples. For example, it explains that “platforms that accept responsibility for the content carried on their sites” partially means they must be moderated and free of hate or division.
  • The principles are general enough to apply to any social platform or practice. This makes them timeless.
  • It’s clear about what audiences can expect from Coke and what happens in the case of policy violations.

What could be better?

  • It should include more specific guidelines for Coca-Cola employees.
  • It should include intellectual property, brand, tone, and voice information.

Swaybase shares a document covering these items, but is unclear if this content is still in use.

6. The New York Times

Screenshot of New York Times social media policy

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The New York Times (NYT) recognizes the price of its popularity — namely, that anything its employees state on their personal accounts could come across as the official opinion of The Times.

It also recognizes how essential social media is to its position as a credible house of journalism, making that very clear in its social media policy.

What do I like about NYT’s social media policy?

  • It’s current. Updated in June 2024, it’s the most recently created social media policy I’ve encountered.
  • It’s extremely thorough and specific. This includes but is not limited to who and what platforms fall under the policy.
  • Most points are actionable.
  • It uses bullet points to make it easier to digest.
  • It explains NYT’s development process. The policy was created by collecting insights and quotes from actual reporters. This provides additional accountability and a sense of fairness, as the points came from employees.
  • It starts with “highlights” to draw attention to the most important pieces of the policy.
  • It offers guidance on troubleshooting and where to reach out for more information.

What could be better?

  • This is presented in many ways, like a NYT article. This is on brand, sure, but I’d have recommended it be presented in a less verbose and easier-to-skim format.

7. Oracle

Screenshot of Oracle’s social media policy

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Oracle is pretty tight-lipped about its social media practices. This is made apparent by reports in 2014 that they fired an employee for discussing their plans for X (then Twitter).

Oracle's social media participation policy documents how social media is used as a business, but its employee code of conduct and business ethics touch on how employees can engage in personal social media.

What do I like about Oracle’s social media policy?

  • It makes the “dos and don’ts” of social media for employees very clear.
  • Its language is simple and easy to understand.
  • It links to additional resources.

What could be better?

  • It could provide more detail and examples of acceptable or unacceptable content/behavior online.

8. U.S. Department of Defense Social Media Policy

Screenshot of Department of Defense’s social media policy

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Every organization should take precautions to make sure their classified information isn’t shared recklessly on social media. But this is even more critical for government agencies like the U.S. Department of Defense.

What do I like about Oracle’s social media policy?

  • It’s concise and easy to skim.
  • It links to related resources and makes those easy to find.
  • It uses headers, bolding, and bullets to organize the information and draw attention to the most important parts.

What could be better?

  • It focuses solely on how the DOD uses social media as an organization. It doesn’t speak to how DOD employees should approach social media, which seems important for a government agency.
  • The language is formal and technical. I would simplify to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding. For instance, “disseminate” could easily be “share” despite coming from the government.

A great social media policy is step one.

Ultimately, the rules and regulations you choose to include in your policy should reflect your own brand's values, messaging, and tone.

However, you can use these examples and guidelines to ensure you include statements that can help protect you against legal or regulatory disputes in the future based on an employee's social media posts.

Additionally, aim to use your social media policy as your first step toward increasing the effectiveness of your social media strategies and ensuring a positive brand image on any platform on which you post.