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Tomorrow is 💐 Plant a Flower Day, Reader! 🪻 Lilacs, 🌷 tulips, 🌹 roses… so many ways to drop a spot of color.

In today’s edition:

• Today's 👉 Tip of the Day is for YouTube

• Marketing with benefits for a 🏁 competitive advantage

• 🧵🧵🧵 More Threads features

• Free Reddit ⚒️ tools

• 📣 Additional industry news from Facebook and more

Having trouble getting people to watch your YouTube videos? Could the issue be that people don’t see your videos in their search results? 

When developing the titles, descriptions, and timestamps for YouTube videos, your content has a better chance of being found by viewers when you use the words they use rather than industry jargon. This is where keyword research comes in. How can you be sure the results you see aren’t diluted by your browsing and search history?

Go Incognito

Instead of doing keyword research on YouTube in a regular browsing tab, switch to Incognito mode. This will give you fresh results so you can see what words and phrases consumers are using when they look for your product or a solution to a pain point.

Today's tip is inspired by Justin Brown, a featured presenter in the Social Media Marketing Society.

Exciting News, Reader...

We just opened the doors to the Social Media Marketing Society. It's for marketers seeking ongoing training on the latest topics. 

For nearly a decade, the Society has been helping people just like you wrap their minds around the ever-changing nature of our space. Today, AI is the latest disruption, but tomorrow, it will be something else.

You can always trust the training you get with the Society. Plus, you get to make friends with other marketers dealing with the same challenges you face. You'll fit in perfectly.  

I'm ready to find out more.

How to Use Benefits to Improve Your Marketing

​​In a crowded, noisy marketplace, it's tempting to tout every possible feature and attribute of your offering. But customers don't buy features—they buy benefits. They buy the positive outcomes and experiences they believe your product or service will deliver.

3 Main Types of Benefits

Functional Benefits: These are the practical ways the product helps the customer, such as saving time, reducing costs, or solving specific problems. Examples include a car's fuel efficiency or a software's compatibility with existing systems.

Symbolic Benefits: These benefits are about how the product makes the customer feel about themselves or how they believe others will perceive them. Using the product might make them feel successful, sophisticated, environmentally conscious, or part of a desirable group. Apple's sleek designs and Patagonia's commitment to sustainability provide symbolic benefits for many customers.

Experiential Benefits:  These are the pleasant sensations or emotions the customer experiences while using the product, such as excitement, comfort, or nostalgia. Disneyland delivers powerful experiential benefits through every aspect of its theme parks. Even products as simple as cinnamon rolls can evoke positive experiential benefits.

The most effective marketing often incorporates multiple types of benefits. For example, a luxury car company might emphasize functional benefits like performance and safety, symbolic benefits like prestige and success, and experiential benefits like the thrill of driving and the comfort of the interior.

Which should you prioritize? One technique to help you decide is called "laddering." 

'Laddering'

Start by asking a customer why they like a certain feature of your product. When they answer, ask why that reason is important to them. Keep asking "why" to dig deeper until you uncover the underlying benefit they truly care about. 

For example, imagine you're marketing a graduate school program. You might ask a prospective student why they're interested in earning a graduate degree. They might say they believe it will help them get a better job. Ask why getting a better job is important to them. They might explain that a better job will give them financial security. Keep probing to understand why financial security matters to them. You might ultimately discover that what they really care about is being able to provide a stable, comfortable life for their family. That sense of providing for loved ones is the core benefit to emphasize in your marketing.

Market Segmentation

Segmenting your market based on benefits allows you to create more relevant, targeted messaging. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, you can focus on the two or three benefits that matter most to a specific segment. 

For example, in the home insurance market, one segment might care most about comprehensive coverage, even if it costs more. Another segment might prioritize the lowest possible price, even if it means accepting some gaps in coverage. A third segment might be willing to pay a little extra for the convenience and personal touch of working with a dedicated agent. Each of these segments will respond to different marketing messages.

Prioritize Marketing by Segment

Once you've identified your key market segments, it's time to choose which segment(s) to focus on. Consider these factors:

Segment size and growth potential—how large is the segment, and how quickly is it growing? Larger, faster-growing segments may be more attractive.

Competitive landscape—how many competitors are already targeting this segment? What unique benefits can you offer that competitors can't match?

Your capabilities—do you have the right products, services, skills, and resources to serve this segment well? If not, what investments will you need to make?

Alignment with your brand—does serving this segment fit with your overall brand identity and values? Will it enhance or detract from your brand?

Based on this analysis, choose one or two priority segments to focus on first.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Allen Weiss.

The Go-To Podcast for Marketers 

If you’re looking for fresh marketing ideas—or ways to improve what you’re already doing—check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast. 

We’ve been helping marketers like you navigate the constantly changing marketing jungle for over a decade. With over 600 episodes you’re sure to find tips, tricks, and strategies to boost your marketing.  

Check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast now.

🗞 AI-Video Recommendations on Facebook: In a move to enhance its video recommendation algorithm, Facebook is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the user experience across Reels, Groups, and the platform's main feed. Facebook head Tom Alison announced this move at a Morgan Stanley tech conference in San Francisco, where he revealed that the social media giant has already implemented the new AI-powered engine for Reels, resulting in an 8–10% boost in watch time during initial tests. Source: Engadget

🗞 Reddit Pro Tools: Reddit has announced the launch of Reddit Pro, a free suite of tools designed to help businesses establish and grow a meaningful organic presence on the platform. These tools include AI-powered insights that surface relevant communities, trending topics, and conversations based on specific categories and brands, allowing businesses to join or start conversations and connect with audiences. Additionally, performance analytics help businesses analyze organic post performance, inform their strategy, and grow engagement. The suite also offers publishing tools to assist with drafting and scheduling profile posts, as well as a Pro dashboard to monitor overall organic engagement and monthly progress. Source: Reddit

🗞 New Threads Features: All users can now save drafts and take photos in the app. Source: @mosseri via Threads

🗞 Long-Form Articles on X/Twitter: The platform has introduced a new feature called Articles, which allows users to create and share long-form content with their followers. The Article composer, accessible via the sidebar on the web version of X, provides a range of formatting options such as bold, italic, and strikethrough text, as well as bullet points and numbered lists. Users can also embed images and videos within their Articles to enhance their storytelling and add visual appeal. Once published, Articles will appear on the user's profile in a dedicated Articles tab and will be visible in their followers' timelines, similar to regular X posts. Access to the Articles feature is currently limited to Premium+ subscribers and Verified Organizations. Source: @Write via X

Did You Know?

The Diphylleia grayi, commonly called the skeleton flower, has white petals that turn translucent when covered in dew or rain. Look it up!