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Heat Up Your Summer Marketing with Influencer Campaigns

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With the official start of summer quickly approaching, The Motherhood’s social listening team compiled a few ideas to heat up your summer marketing tactics by integrating influencer campaigns that take advantage of trending topics and seasonal events.

Social posts on mobile devices increase by about 30 percent in the summer, and posts with the keyword “travel” spike by 46 percent, so this is no time for online marketing strategy to take a vacation. Brands can reach consumers online during this peak vacation and travel time by knowing the trends and drawing on natural topics and tie-ins for the season.

According to Facebook, the top summer topics from 2015 were running, beach, parties, parks and forests, and movies. This summer, consider crafting an authentic influencer marketing campaign to create valuable content while leveraging these summer events and trends.

Here are some seasonal events and search trends to be aware of when creating your summer marketing campaigns or your brand’s social posts:

June

airplane

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR THE SUMMER – As kids’ annual vacation from schoolwork begins, parents plan activities. There are more than 40,500 searches of “summer activities for kids” in June alone. Celebrate summer break and include your product in posts or pictures of fun summer activities.

TRAVEL PLANNING – Make your brand top-of-mind during summer travel planning. Fun fact: Tuesday is the most popular day to make travel-related purchases online. If possible, post early in the week about how your brand purchase can help with consumers’ travel plans!

FATHER’S DAY – Searches related to “Father’s Day,” specifically related to “gifts” and “ideas,” peak this month! Mobile dominates Father’s Day searches and social posts and the most likely requirements for gifts are “fun” and “practical”.

Fun June Holidays: National Candy Month & National Adopt-a-Cat Month

July

fireworks

INDEPENDENCE DAY – The average American spends about $300 on Fourth of July celebrations. Searches for “grilling” peak around this holiday. Festival- and holiday-related content brings 1.5x more engagement than average. Creating Independence Day themed content can generate high engagement and value yearly.

STAYCATIONS – Searches about “staycations” peak in July and increase in popularity every year. A surprising number of travel searches are for hotels near home. This trend promises to increase in popularity in the future, so creating evergreen content could bring high value over time.

Fun July Holidays: National Ice Cream Month 

August

kidsbooks

RIO OLYMPICS – Nothing brings the world together like the Olympic games, with millennials more focused on team victory than individual glory. It is an inherently social event, with 86 percent of online users planning to use Facebook for “voicing Olympic reactions.”

MOVING MONTH – Searches for real estate and house hunting peak in late summer. This, as well as all of the college students moving into their new dorms, leads to a increase in moving.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL – Be early and be online: consumers search for information on back-to-school products before searching for a store near them to purchase. Pay attention to the must-haves in your product category this season and bridge the gap between search and store.

Fun August Holidays: Family Fun Month & National Picnic Month

September

flaginbarn

LABOR DAY – Searches related to “Labor Day” are highest on the day itself, including a high number of searches for sales around this holiday.

GRANDPARENTS DAY – There are more than 450,000 searches for “Grandparents Day” in September. While only 13 percent of grandchildren communicate with their grandparents via social media, younger generations will still be posting about the holiday on their social channels!

Fun September Holidays: Baby Safety Month & Self Improvement Month

Timing is everything with these summer trends and events, especially on social media. By posting content at the beginning of the week or month that is focused on planning and activities, you can fuel inspiration long-term! Posting slightly before peak periods will allow your brand to lead the conversation as well as provide opportunity to rise to the top of online search results. Furthermore, these trends and events resurface every year, so evergreen blog content from trusted influencers created with SEO in mind will continue to provide value for years to come.

Keep in mind that for every topic and event listed above, there is bound to be a trending hashtag with it, so consider adding a trending hashtag or two to your social posts to increase the reach of your summer marketing efforts.

Happy Summer!

Interested in building an influencer marketing campaign with these trends in mind? Contact us!

Blogs Motivate and Support New Year’s Resolutions

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Have you set any New Year’s resolutions for 2016?

Approximately 45 percent* of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, but only about eight percent are successful in reaching their goals. Among resolutions for 2016, the top categories included:

  1. Self improvement or education-related resolutions (47 percent)
  2. Weight-related resolutions (38 percent)
  3. Money-related resolutions (34 percent)
  4. Relationship-related resolutions (31 percent)

The Motherhood analyzed anonymous Facebook conversations on the topic of New Year’s resolutions leading up to the start of 2016. Here are some interesting points we uncovered:

  • Top general topics mentioned included: family, friends, health and religion.
  • The most-shared links included links to fitness/health sites, travel sites and blogs.
  • People ages 24-35 are most actively talking about their resolutions on Facebook.

Most of us know that New Year’s resolutions can be hard to maintain. As this FastCompany article states, it’s because resolutions often require changes in habits, which are difficult to make (or break)!

Finding Support Online

From our perspective, blogs, social networks and other online communities have a huge opportunity not only to serve as a source of information and motivation, but also to help with accountability and support for those wishing to make a change in their habits. In fact, of the most-engaging links about New Year’s resolutions on Facebook, four of 10 were links to blog posts. Further, the most-shared blog post link included a free printable to help people define goals for 2016!

Last year during this resolution-making time, Kentico Software released survey results that showed one-third of those who made New Year’s goals planned on searching online for products or services to help support them in their endeavors, and 38 percent planned to turn to sites or apps that can help them track their progress throughout the year. (Apps such as Charity Miles and StickK help hold users accountable by tracking progress while adding a charitable aspect.) Furthermore, the report stated that 26 percent planned on using blogs and other sites to help them achieve their resolutions.

We recently saw the supportive nature of the online blogger community in action during a campaign we hosted on behalf of a weight loss client. During the first half of this blog tour (second half results are not yet available), 91 percent of blog post comments and 83 percent of Facebook comments showed support for the influencers’ weight loss, demonstrating a strong sense of community, as well as the involvement and interest of the readers.

Bloggers: What is your experience with your online community support system and New Year’s resolutions?

*University of Scranton, December 2015

 

Why It’s Important to Know Search Trends for Thanksgiving

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Marketers, especially food brand marketers, should take note that the holiday responsible for the highest number of recipe searches is upon us: Thanksgiving! The Motherhood team was interested in exploring search trends for Thanksgiving and made a number of delicious discoveries.

Updated: November 13th, 2017

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a holiday focused on food, Thanksgiving generates the highest number of online recipe searches compared to every other holiday. But knowing exactly when holiday searches spike can be beneficial for putting your brand in front of users most interested in your content at the most opportune time. For example, in this case, the data reveals a certain amount of procrastination when it comes to meal prep — searches for Thanksgiving recipes peak on Thanksgiving Day! But few advertisers implement marketing tactics for the actual day of the holiday, when doing so could potentially lead to significantly increased visibility and last-minute ingredient purchases.

Suggested Strategy #1: Solicit Evergreen Branded Content

When it comes to holidays like Thanksgiving, evergreen content is key. Creating branded content focused on holiday events will live on in search and social platforms.

According to Google Trends, searches relating to “Thanksgiving side recipes” increase by 400 percent in the month of November, and searches related to Thanksgiving desserts, recipes and easy recipes increase by 250 percent. Unless users filter searches to include specific dates, then branded blog posts, reviews and recipes from previous years will appear in current searches. That is a huge opportunity for brands to be seen again and again, year after year.

 

Suggested Strategy #2: Use Targeted Tactics

Using the available data and knowing where and when to focus your marketing tactics will help you leverage search trends for Thanksgiving to make your campaigns successful.

Curious what consumers are looking for in different areas of the country? Google has segmented the most popular Thanksgiving preparations by U.S. regions, based on search volume. Brining the turkey is most popular of searches, especially in the Northeast. For the South, it’s frying, and for the Midwest, smoking the turkey methods are most searched.

In the dessert category, it’s no surprise that pumpkin pie holds the title of top searched pie recipe across the country. And the day after Thanksgiving, searches related to desserts and what to do with leftovers spike. In fact, searches for “leftover recipes” hits an all time high three days after Thanksgiving each year!

Social platforms require targeted approaches, as well. For example, Pinterest reported that Thanksgiving pin trends for 2017 include painted pumpkin centerpiece decor and specialty diet (paleo, gluten free, dairy free, etc.) friendly takes on classic Thanksgiving dishes — both trends that brands could piggyback on at the right time for high exposure.

A Look at the Facebook Data

During the weekend before Thanksgiving, The Motherhood tracked the increased Facebook conversation around planning for the holiday, and we found some insights through anonymous topic data:

  • States most active in Thanksgiving cooking discussions: Texas, California, Florida, Georgia and New York
  • State with the most men talking about Thanksgiving cooking: California
  • Most popular topics: Turkey, easy, dinner, recipe, table (as compared to dinner, dessert, turkey, family, and cocktails in 2015)
  • Images were the most popular media type for posts about recipes and decor (as compared to video for posts about cocktails in 2015)
  • Most popular links were related to recipes and activities

Is your brand or blog aware of and taking advantage of these search trends for Thanksgiving?

We hope you enjoy a Thanksgiving full of good food (inspired by these great trends), friends and family!

Who is Really Celebrating Halloween? The Answer May Surprise You!

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Did you know Americans will spend $6.9 billion on Halloween in 2015?

It’s true, and just when you thought Halloween was a holiday you had outgrown, you may be surprised to learn that you may just be at your prime!

Consumers ages 25 to 34 are accounting for a good portion of both the spending and celebrating, spending nearly $100 on average on Halloween festivities, making them a key Halloween demographic.

Leading up to October 31, the conversation online — be it on blogs, Twitter, Facebook or other social platforms — is very much about the spooky, fun-filled holiday. Starting in September, your Facebook and Twitter feeds, and most likely your Instagram, too, were filled with Halloween-themed posts that included costumes, recipes, crafts and more!

Knowing the aforementioned demographic is doing most of the spending, it was no surprise when The Motherhood found that women ages 25 to 34 are most actively discussing Halloween on Facebook, and they’re most often the ones sharing Halloween-inspired crafts and recipes.

So, what stood out this year?

Research by The Motherhood revealed that the majority of the most shared Halloween-themed content is from blogs, accounting for 40 percent of the top links, and more than 20 percent of the top links were specifically mom/family-focused blogs.

Interestingly, many of the most popular recipes and crafts being shared are from previous years, a true testament to the power of evergreen online content.

Sources:
The Motherhood Nuvi Research, September 2015

Social Media Updates: Social Buying, Business Pages and Dislike Button

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With the holiday shopping season on the horizon, there have been several social media updates focused on social buying and businesses. Coincidence? We think not!

Recently, Twitter opened up buyable tweets to everyone, thanks to a partnership with Stripe. Now anyone can sell products via tweets powered by Stripe’s new API, Relay, which enables instant purchases and a streamlined payment process in third-party mobile apps (like Twitter). Here’s how in-tweet purchases work. If you want to tweet buy buttons, you’ll need to follow these steps!

Social Media Updates
Image Source: Mashable

Twitter is not the only one following in the footsteps of Pinterest; other social media giants are also getting in on the social shopping action.

Facebook is giving businesses a simple digital storefront, optimized for mobile devices, through a partnership with Shopify. Merchants will be able to integrate a shop section on their Facebook page where users can browse and purchase directly within the mobile app, and can even get notified when their favorite stores add new products. The Buy Button can show up in Facebook page posts and promoted post ads run by Shopify merchants, as well.

Social Media Updates
Image Source: Tech Crunch

This move is in line with Facebook’s push for the platform to become the go-to mobile solution for businesses. A variety of updates will make business pages more like websites. Social media updates include customizable sections, prominent call-to-action buttons and improved messaging features for better customer service. We’ve noticed company Facebook pages rank in Google search almost as high as company websites, which begs the question: will Facebook pages become the go-to destination for company searches?

Social Media Updates
Image Source: Marketing Land

There has also been a ton of buzz around Facebook’s plans to launch a “dislike button.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the complication of integrating this option and his hopes that it will become a feature to show empathy, rather than creating negativity voting up or down on a post. So, where do you stand: do you like the “dislike” button?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Happy Holidays from The Motherhood!

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“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.” – Mary Anne Radmacher

Another holiday season is upon us, and we at The Motherhood are excited to spend quality time with our family and friends! Whether you’re still shopping, wrapping presents or preparing a holiday dinner, don’t forget to take a break and enjoy this wonderful time of year!

Warmest holiday wishes from our families to yours, and a Happy New Year!

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons- William Follett