August is here and we’ve put together a hashtag calendar with an ample sprinkling of marketing ideas to help your team transition your audience into fall holiday mood. If you’re a K-12 family who hasn’t yet hit up the stores (physical or virtual) for back-to-school stuff, you’re in the minority at this point, as 59 percent of back-to-school spending happens by the end of July. But from August and mid-September, shoppers will be looking for ways to spend the remaining $44 billion. Which means… In addition to laying the foundation for your Halloween campaigns, you have the opportunity to woo cu ..read more

How do you know when an influencer campaign has truly been successful? It all boils down to data, sure, but which data points are the most important, and which data points are the key indicators you should be watching as you build, roll out, and monitor your campaigns? If you’re a little unsure which metrics to track for your influencer campaign, you’re not alone. Most marketing teams don’t fully grasp how to go about measuring and improving the ROI of an influencer campaign.  In this post, we’re going to identify the key metrics that are most important to the ROI of your influencer campa ..read more

Who is using YouTube? How many users does it have? How many videos get watched every month? And how do older consumers use the platform compared to younger buyers? We cover that, and a lot more in this post. YouTube has 2 billion monthly users. YouTube is the OG of the video content world. Launched back in 2005 (on Valentine’s Day), YouTube now has over two billion unique users every month. To put that in perspective, nearly half the people on the entire internet are using YouTube. That is A LOT of people. 80% of YouTubers are outside the U.S. Eighty percent of YouTubers are outside the U.S. T ..read more

Fathers. The entire concept of nature providing a gatekeeper who instructs, protects, directs, and loves you is a stroke of genius. The fact that many dads are also willing to battle zombies, soccer coaches, bullies, and morning traffic to keep us safe is also quite cool. This year, Father’s Day spending is expected to jump to $20.1 billion, up from $17 billion last year and 15.96 billion in 2019. Yay! Go, Dad! For the 7 in 10 Americans who plan to celebrate Father’s Day, finding the best way to represent your undying love and appreciation by presenting Dad with a gift on the third Sunday in J ..read more

Influencer selection can sometimes feel like speed dating where you’re constantly trying to see if you and the other person align with one another. You seek out influencers because they cut through the noise and help tell a brand’s story in a way that resonates with your target audience. With the transparency that comes with half the global population being on at least one social media platform, being able to successfully align with the right influencer for your brand has become absolutely crucial. But it’s not easy. Influencer selection is one of the biggest hurdles for brands and market ..read more

Mother's Day is right around the corner, creeping up on both consumers and brands alike. And even though, year after year, the majority of presents are bought super last minute, spending on Mom increases A LOT year after year.   And why shouldn't it? If there’s one thing the whole world has learned in the past year it’s that moms are both our weights in gold. Two million moms left the workforce last year to be mom. Many more moms have spent the last year balancing being mom and co-worker and teaching assistant simultaneously, 5 days a week. Grueling work. So, this Mother’s Day - like last ..read more

Mother’s Day is one of THE MOST celebrated holidays on earth. There are something like two billion moms around the world, 85 million of whom are in the United States. Most Americans (84 percent of them) are going to be celebrating their mothers in just a few weeks, so we crafted this post for marketers who are inevitably targeting the daughters, sons, hubbies, grandkids, and partners who will be making their way to stores between now and May 9th. Friend, it’s time for some Mother’s Day marketing… and right here is where you’re going to find some really legit strategies. But first... Here Are t ..read more

As marketers, we are on a steady diet of A/B testing - messages, images, marketing channels - to see which ones are working. Smart brands are strategically leveraging influencers to get more mileage out of those messages and channels… all while creating new marketing assets.  Pretty neat, but it takes technical know-how beyond just looping influencers into the mix… IF you want to run an influencer marketing campaign that actually delivers on promised metrics (because your agency should definitely be making some promises on metrics). So, this post is the result of our team putting tog ..read more

While it’s technically our last winter holiday, for many of us, St. Patrick’s Day is considered the first holiday of spring. Back before “the big flash” (Book of Eli reference, but really, I’m just talking about the the pandemic), St. Patrick’s Day celebrants (hereinafter referred to as partiers) were keen on heading outdoors in the nippy March air for parades, bar crawls, parties, and overall mild to severe debauchery (depending on the day of the week on which St. Patty’s Day fell). Traditionally, St. Patrick’s Day has been a time to gather for food and drinks, or go out for food and drinks ..read more

The influencer marketing industry has grown exponentially in the last few years, and according to Business Insider, it is expected to be a $15 billion industry by 2022. That’s a big number. Which is why we decided to create The Periodic Table of Influencer Marketing.  Cute, but why? Hear me out on this one: We’re almost a decade into the Instagram influencer phenomenon and I would venture a bet that most marketers still have no idea how to run an influencer campaign from start to finish, which explains why there are thousands of agencies out there that specialize in building influencer ca ..read more