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It’s Collector Car Appreciation Day, Reader... Shout out to our graphic designer and car enthusiast, Chris!

In today’s edition:

• 👋 Today's Tip of the Day is for engagement management

• ⚖️ A fresh take on video strategy

• Instagram’s new best practices for Reels

• LinkedIn offers sponsored articles and newsletter articles

• LinkedIn rolls out Company Page verification badge

• 📣 Additional industry news from TikTok, X, and YouTube

For entrepreneurs and marketers, every hour counts, especially when engagement is at stake. But how can you balance engaging with your audience with everything else on your plate?

The One-Hour Instagram Engagement Routine

This simple workflow will help you maximize your impact on Instagram without leading to burnout.

• Spend 15 minutes engaging with those who recently commented on your previous post.

• Dedicate 15 minutes to replying to Stories and starting DM conversations.

• Use 15 minutes to interact with content on the Explore page, leaving comments on posts in your niche.

• Split the final 15 minutes between saving 3–4 inspiring posts to recreate later and leaving comments on larger accounts in your niche.

Today's tip is inspired by Lucas O’Keefe, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Why Consider Attending, Reader?

Social Media Marketing World is the place marketers go when they want to improve their results. But the conference is so much more than three days of soaking up the latest marketing knowledge. 

"This was my first time at Social Media Marketing World, and it exceeded every expectation I had. The value of the sessions and networking experiences cannot be overstated," said Maddie Young.

"OMG, what a conference that was! This was beyond anything I was expecting. I'm already having Social Media Marketing World withdrawals 😂," said Rehema A.

"Such an amazing event. As always, five stars! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐” said Cindy Kocsis.

"I wish more people understood how attending Social Media Marketing World could change their life. You have definitely changed mine!" said Roger Wakefield.

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The QvQ Video Content Marketing Strategy

Are you using the wrong types of video in the various stages of your customer's journey? Wondering how to make adjustments?

Video content has become an essential part of marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes. However, creating compelling video content that drives results requires a thoughtful approach. 

A good strategy helps you create the right content for each stage of your marketing funnel, effectively balancing quality and quantity. It also ensures that your content aligns with sales objectives, bridging the gap between marketing and sales teams.

Videos to Grow Awareness

At the top of the funnel, the focus is quantity over quality. Your goal is to create many short-form videos to reach a broad audience. These videos should be:

• 30–90 Seconds Long: Use clips from longer content like podcasts or presentations and look for soundbites that stand out.

• Focused on Providing Value Instead of Selling: Avoid strong calls to action.

• Easy to Produce Quickly: Don't worry about perfect production quality.

At this stage, your content should never look like an advertisement. You want to provide value and capture attention quickly.

For example, if you interview an expert for a podcast, you might extract several 30-second clips of their best insights. 

Share these videos on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and LinkedIn to reach a broad audience.

Videos to Maintain Interest

As people show interest in your brand, you can create slightly longer videos. This stage still leans toward quantity, but quality becomes more important. Your videos can:

• Combine top-performing short clips into 3–5 minute videos.

• Expand on popular topics from your short-form content.

• Start introducing more about your brand and offerings, but maintain a balance between providing value and promoting your business.

When creating these videos, use the performance of your short-form content as research for your longer videos. If certain awareness-focused clips resonated well with your audience, use those topics as the foundation for more in-depth content.

Share these videos on social media platforms and your website. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are allowing longer videos, so don't be afraid to experiment with longer content where your audience is already engaged.

Videos to Encourage Consideration

At the consideration stage, focus on creating less video. What you create should be higher-quality, longer-form, more polished content with stronger calls to action. Your content can be based on:

• Case studies and research presentations

• In-depth product demonstrations

• Thought leadership content from company experts

Share these videos on your website, YouTube channel, and as targeted ads for interested audiences.

Videos to Prompt Action

At the bottom of the funnel, create videos heavily focused on quality and designed to push viewers to make a purchase decision by giving potential customers a peek into life as a customer. Here, it's okay for your content to be more promotional, as your audience is actively considering a purchase.

Consider creating videos that feature the following:

• Customer testimonials and success stories

• Detailed product walkthroughs

• "What happens next" videos explaining the onboarding process

Place these videos on landing pages and use them in final marketing pushes to convince potential customers to buy.

Videos to Deepen Customer Loyalty

After the purchase, maintain a commitment to quality over quantity to create exclusive video content designed to build a community around your brand and encourage repeat business. Consider these types of videos:

• Advanced tips and tutorials

• Behind-the-scenes looks at your company

• Sneak peeks of upcoming features or products

Pro Tip: Tease this exclusive content to potential customers to incentivize purchases.

Today's advice is provided with insights from A. Lee Judge, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

🗞 Instagram’s Best Practices for Reels: Instagram's Professional Dashboard now includes a Reels best practices section. It recommends using a 3-second hook, keeping videos 30–60 seconds long, using trending hashtags and audio, uploading in high resolution, and posting 10 Reels monthly. Source: @liahaberman via Threads

🗞 Instagram Won’t Focus on Long-Form Video: Instagram head Adam Mosseri says the platform will not focus on long-form video anytime soon. Source: @mosseri via Instagram 

🗞 LinkedIn’s Sponsored Articles and Newsletters Articles: LinkedIn now offers sponsored articles and newsletter articles. Company Pages can post sponsored articles organically or as thought leader ads. Sponsored newsletter articles, currently being rolled out, are limited to company-authored content posted organically by Company Pages. These can only be used for brand awareness and engagement campaigns. Sponsorships for member-authored newsletters will be available in the future. Both types of content are written on LinkedIn with LinkedIn URLs. Source: LinkedIn Help

🗞 LinkedIn’s Company Page Verification Badge: LinkedIn is rolling out Company Page verification badges soon to select organizations. Source: LinkedIn Help

🗞 TikTok Stats Since US Ban Threat: TikTok's ad spend growth has slowed since the potential United States ban announcement in March 2024, with year-over-year growth cooling from 19% to 6% by May. Despite this, ad spend reached $1.5 billion from January to May, up 11% from 2023. Some major advertisers reduced spending, while others shifted to performance-driven objectives. TikTok is experiencing demographic shifts, with fewer younger users and more users aged 35–44. The average US user is now over 30, and daily usage has slightly decreased. Source: Adweek

🗞 X Reports Q2 2024: X has reported growth in user engagement and platform usage for Q2 2024. Users collectively spend approximately 361.9 billion seconds on X daily, up 8% from last year. Monthly active users have grown to about 570 million, a 6% improvement. Additionally, video has emerged as X's dominant content type, with daily views hitting 8.2 billion, a 45% jump from the previous year. Source: @XData via X 

🗞 YouTube’s New Shorts Tools: YouTube is launching six new tools for Shorts to enhance creativity and ease of use. These include Auto layout on Android for converting longer videos, Text to Speech for narration, and an "Add yours" sticker for community engagement. Additionally, YouTube is launching Minecraft-themed effects, customizable auto-generated captions, and a "Remix a Remix" feature. Source: YouTube Blog

Did You Know?

Found at an elevation of 13,420 feet (4,090 m) above sea level, Pacific Tarn is the highest named lake in the United States. This is not that lake.