Buffer for Instagram is Here: 8 Ways to Get Your Best Instagram Marketing Results with Buffer

Instagram has fast become one of the largest, most lucrative social networks: 300 million people use the app every day and Instagram’s users spend more in purchases than any other major social network.

That’s a huge audience and a huge opportunity!

We’re thrilled at the chance to help you succeed there.

There are many different tactics and strategies for finding success on Instagram—timing, consistency, hashtags, links, and more. Being able to act on these strategies and to do so in a streamlined way alongside your other social media marketing can be a huge difference maker as you seek results on Instagram.

We’re so excited to announce today that we’re setting out to help you achieve this with the launch of Buffer for Instagram!

As you may know, Instagram does not allow outside apps to post directly to Instagram. So while Buffer can’t do the posting for you, we’re excited to help you at every step. Buffer for Instagram works by sending a notification to your phone when it’s time to post.

1. Find your best time to post to Instagram

Like most other social networks, two of the most important factors for success with Instagram content are …

1. When you’re posting
2. How consistently you’re posting

With Buffer for Instagram, you can make good on both (read more about consistency in point #2 below).

Here’s how to find your best time to post to Instagram, with Buffer:

1. Visit Buffer’s Analytics section for your Instagram profile
2. Click on the Posts tab
3. Click to sort your Instagram posts according to the Most Popular (a combination of likes and comments)

The sorting works just like Buffer’s support on our paid plans (Awesome & Business) for networks like Facebook and Twitter. With Buffer for Instagram, you can sort every post by the most popular, most likes, and most comments. You can also select any custom timeframe or choose from presets like 7, 30, or 90 days.

Once you’ve sorted, do you notice any trends?

If the same time keeps coming up on your top posts, you can feel confident knowing this might be a time to focus on with your future posts. This tip works great when you test multiple times, say a best practice like 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern plus an outlier like 9:00 p.m.

Using this method, we’ve found that our best time at Buffer is 11:00 a.m. Pacific.

2. Post consistently to Instagram

After timing, the next consideration to make is how to post consistently.

What feels best for a consistent rhythm on Instagram?

Union Metrics put together data on brands and Instagram (note: data came prior to the change to an algorithm), finding that most brands post 1 to 2 times a day on Instagram (the actual average was right in the middle, 1.5), and — this was really interesting — that there was no correlation between increased frequency and lower engagement, meaning brands that posted more than twice per day didn’t see any ill effects.

The takeaway: Post often on Instagram. Brands that get in a regular flow with Instagram posts tend to see the best results.

To post consistently with Instagram, we schedule Instagram reminders in Buffer. Here’s the process:

1. Find, edit, and upload a beautiful picture to Buffer. Add a caption with hashtags, @-mentions, and emoji. Schedule for the ideal time.
2. Receive a push notification from the Buffer mobile app at the scheduled time.
3. Open the notification, select Open in Instagram. This loads the photo into Instagram, with the caption saved to the phone’s clipboard, ready to be pasted.
4. Make any final edits (filters, geolocation) and share from the Instagram app.

The Instagram API doesn’t quite allow scheduling, so Buffer has made it possible to plan in advance by adding a post through the Buffer dashboard on web or mobile and having a reminder pop up on a user’s phone when it’s time to send it out.

Here’s a look at how things appear from the web dashboard:

And this is the look from a mobile device:

To see the effect of a consistent Instagram presence, you can dig into the advanced analytics for your Instagram account in Buffer (available on our paid plans). Here’s how:

1. Visit Buffer’s Analytics section for your Instagram profile
2. Click over to the Analysis tab
3. View Posts Per Day plus Likes or Followers

The combination of these stats can help you judge the effect of a consistent schedule on important Instagram metrics like likes and followers. If the spikes in engagement match the spikes in posting, you can have visual evidence of a strong correlation between the two.

3. Track and sort through your Instagram history

Right now, when you connect an Instagram account to your Buffer, all of your past Instagram posts will appear in your analytics dashboard, giving you loads of great data on what’s working best for you on Instagram.

Then each successive time you share to Instagram, all your stats will be integrated directly into the Buffer dashboard where you can sort, compare, and analyze.

What this means: You don’t have to wait until a week from now to start analyzing what’s been working for you on Instagram.

You can get insights, today, on what’s worked well yesterday, last week, last month, and beyond.

When I connected my Instagram account, the first thing I did was visit my analytics and sort my past photos to see my most popular Instagram posts. Having that knowledge helped me prep and plan for the next one (in my case, hashtags proved quite key).

Speaking of hashtags …

4. Add a hashtag (or 11) to your caption

Buffer for Instagram cannot post directly to the app for you — but it can get you 95% of the way there!

You can plan nearly every detail from the Buffer dashboard, including the full caption you wish to use with your photo. And as part of this caption, we’ve found that hashtags work extremely well on Instagram.

Hashtags have become a uniform way to categorize content on many social media platforms, especially Instagram. Hashtags allow Instagrammers to discover content to view and accounts to follow.

Research from Track Maven found that posts with over 11 hashtags tend to get more engagement.

To find your best hashtags, we recommend a tool like hashtagify.me, which ranks and analyzes all sorts of different hashtags. This is what we typically look for:

• Hashtags used by others in your industry
• Hashtags that are the most popular (by volume of posts)
• Hashtags that are the most active (trending)

When you’ve chosen your hashtag, you can add it to your caption and set your Instagram notification in Buffer. Later, when it’s time to post, you can open the reminder notification from your phone to have your photo automatically added to Instagram and your full caption copied to your phone’s clipboard.

5. Include emoji in your caption

Along with hashtags, you can also include emoji in your captions (there’s even a bonus 3rd thing you can include, if you keep reading).

Why might you go with an emoji? Well, they’re popular, they’re expressive, and they might just be the new way we communicate online.

Plus, they’re a key part to the language of Instagram, so much so that Instagram itself commissioned an emoji study on their network. What Instagram found is that many popular emoji have meanings in-line with early internet slang and have been adopted as a way to replace these words.

Here are a few emoji and the slang Instagram found them to represent:

• : lolol, lmao, lololol, lolz, lmfao, lmaoo, lolololol, lol, ahahah, ahahha, loll, ahaha, ahah, lmfaoo, ahha, lmaooo, lolll, lollll, ahahaha, ahhaha, lml, lmfaooo
• : beautifull, gawgeous, gorgeous, perfff, georgous, gorgous, hottt, goregous, cuteeee, beautifullll, georgeous, baeeeee, hotttt, babeee, sexyyyy, perffff, hawttt
• : #keepitup, #fingerscrossed, aswell, haha, #impressed, #yourock, lol, #greatjob, bud, #goodjob, awesome, good, #muchlove, #proudofyou, job, #goodluck

If you’re keen to get emoji into your next Instagram caption, we have a couple quick ways to do it from a desktop:

• Cmd+Ctrl+Space on a Mac
• Windows touch keyboard on a PC

6. Reference the link in your bio

There’s only one place on Instagram where you can add a link: in your bio.

The way that savvy marketers have skirted this limitation is by changing that bio link often, and referencing the bio link in the caption of new photos. It’s as simple as writing a caption like this:

“… Click the link in our bio to read more.”

“…Check out the link in our bio!”

(or the super short Gary Vaynerchuk method)

“… Link in bio.”

This tip works even better if you use a shortened URL with tracking information as the bio link. Tools like bitly let you shorten a URL that contains UTM parameters: you can track the links to your bitly URL and also analyze the UTM information in Google Analytics for deeper insights.

We manage all this via Buffer for Instagram by using the “link in bio” language in the captions that we compose. The Buffer app notification to post also serves as a reminder to update our bio!

7. Post the same picture + native content to each network

Many brands choose to post natively to Instagram, opening the app each time they wish to send a message.

This was the way we had done it for quite some time at Buffer, too.

We’re happy to be using a more streamlined workflow now. All of our Instagram posts begin in the Buffer dashboard, right alongside our posts for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+.

One key benefit we notice from this: We have a coordinated presence on all networks while also being free to honor the individuality of each.

Let’s say we have a team photo that we’d love to share with our social media followers. We can share it to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all from the same dashboard without needing to log in to any extra places. We can coordinate the time so it all posts in sync. Plus, we’re able to create custom messages on each network, speaking in Instagram’s language (hashtags + emoji) on Instagram, speaking Twitter on Twitter (brief + 140 characters), and Facebook on Facebook (personal + fun).

8. Mention other users

A lot can happen in an Instagram caption, and we’re excited to let you do it all. In addition to hashtags and emoji, another key inclusion for growing your Instagram marketing is to use @-mentions in your caption.

Every time you @-mention a brand or person (for example, @buffer or @kellybakes), they receive a notification. This has a number of neat effects:

• It feels good to be mentioned! When you’re acknowledging a contributor, partner, or friend in your feed, you’re passing along a bit of social media karma.
• It might help your post spread! There’s a bit of viral “pay it forward” when it comes to @-mentions. Many influencer strategies start by mentioning the influencer in a post.

To add an @-mention to your Buffer for Instagram caption, simply type it as you would any other text, and when pasted into Instagram’s text field on your device, Instagram will recognize it as a mention.

Questions and Answers on Buffer for Instagram

Is this for all users or is it a paid feature?

This feature is for everyone! Any user can connect one Instagram account. The Awesome plan and above lets users connect more than one account.

What happens if I miss a reminder?

If for whatever reason you miss a notification, you will be able to find the posts you missed by clicking on the “View past reminders” link in your Buffer dashboard, and you’ll still be able to share them on Instagram or reschedule them from there.

How can I access Instagram reminders?

This feature has been rolled out to everyone! If you are already a Buffer user, you can head to your Buffer dashboard here, and if you haven’t yet signed up, you can do so here. Composing a post for Instagram is available on the Buffer web app, as well as Android and iPhone apps.

How do I add a post?

You can add an Instagram Reminder from within the Buffer dashboard on the web (https://buffer.com) or from any mobile device. Since Instagram is a mobile-first social network, to complete the process of posting to Instagram, you’ll need to have a mobile device with the Buffer app (for receiving reminders) and the Instagram app (for posting).

Any restrictions on content?

The content shared to Instagram through Buffer still needs to comply with both our own terms at Buffer, and Instagram’s own terms around content.

Get Buffer for Instagram! Start amplifying your Instagram marketing today

With Buffer for Instagram, we’re excited to be giving you the power to manage your social media marketing from one central location, and we’re eager for you to have the tools you need to plan, track, and amplify your Instagram marketing.

We’d love to hear what you think!

We’ll be hanging out in the comments here to answer any questions, and you can get in touch with us any time at hello@buffer.com.

Happy Instagramming!

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4 Tips for Choosing the Best Mobile Protection Plan

If you’re the type of person who falls into pools or drops your phone 10 times a day, then you might want to invest in a phone protection plan. After all, even the best phone case won’t help in some instances , while an insurance plan will get you back to texting — and falling […]

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3 Unique SEO Tools That Have Emerged In 2016

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Influencers and Brands: Finding Out What Works

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Elon Musk Has a Secret

Elon Musk Has a Secret…Secret, Secret. Elon Musk has a secret, and the Internet is blowing up trying to figure out what it is. He tweeted that he is working on “Part 2 of Tesla Master Plan.” Part 1 was “building a sports car, using that money to build an affordable car, and using that […]

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28 of the Best Marketing Campaigns and Experiments of 2016 (and the People Behind Them)

It’s easy to get tunnel vision as a marketer.

You’ve got lots of goals to achieve, and only so many hours in the day to get there. So you put your head down, get focused, and get results.

At the same time, it’s important to let yourself be inspired by others. 

Our industry can be creative, groundbreaking and a lot of fun. If you’re in need of a marketing recharge, here are 28 amazing marketing campaigns and experiments—and the amazing people who dreamed them up. Read on, and get inspired to add your own innovative contribution to this list!

1. Marketing himself, after a high-profile layoff

Marketer: Sree Sreenivasan

Innovation: If I were laid off from a high-profile job, I imagine I’d be pretty quiet on social media. But Sreenivasan,, former chief digital officer at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, wasn’t—he shared the news far and wide on Facebook, and asked for advice on what he should do next, even linking to a form inviting friends to give advice. In return, he racked up hundreds of likes, encouraging comments and more—proving that vulnerability can turn a low point into an opportunity.

2. The newsroom as marketing

Marketer: Danielle Morrill

Innovation: To be an authority on your topic, you’ve got to know it inside and out. At Mattermark, which collects and organizes information on the world’s fastest growing companies, CEO Morrill takes authority one step further: The company basically set up a small, independent newsroom (led by former TechCrunch reporter Alex Wilhelm) within the team, producing reporting and analysis on financial trends, the venture capital space, startups and more.

3. The trend caller

Marketer: Mary Meeker

Innovation: No slide deck is more anticipated every year than Meeker’s giant analysis of digital trends from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In the 2016 Internet Trends Report, Meeker breaks down why Snapchat video marketing works, what motivates Millennials and so much more.

4. The foolproof formula

Marketer: Bamidele Onibalusi

Innovation: Busy marketers love surefire formulas. We love it even more when someone lets us in on a secret they could have kept to themselves. Onibalusi covers both in his actionable and thorough step-by-step opus on writing content that gets more than 100,000 views—every time.

5. Bringing more fun to newsletters

Marketer: Susan Su

Innovation: Is your inbox full to bursting? Mine too, but somehow there’s still room for newsletters that surprise and delight. Su’sDistro Snack, from 500 Startups, is one such delight, a beyond-quick read that consists of a daily startup growth tip and a “delightful GIF alongside.”

6. No more forms

Marketer: David Gerhardt

Innovation: Imagine a content marketing landscape with no gated content. No content upgrades. No more forms or hurdles to getting to what you want. At Drift, CEO David Cancel and Marketing Lead David Gerhardt are going all in on the idea of taking marketing back to its roots. Sensing a shift in the air toward true authenticity and connection above ROI, they’ve removed all forms from the site.  “All of the content we create and share from here on out will be free,” they announced. Talk about turning the funnel upside down!

7. Startups 101 on Snapchat

Marketer: Mark Suster

Innovation: Does Snapchat marketing have to look like emojis and rainbow vomit filters? Not necessarily.Suster, a venture capitalist in Los Angeles, uses Snapchat to deliver what he calls “Snapstorms”—mini lectures across many video snaps that offer the inside scoop about startup challenges like hiring, power dynamics among boards, CEOs, and shareholders; and how to write a great email. Follow him here:

8. The surprise mixtape

Marketer: Toki Wright

Innovation: While most brand’s April Fools Day jokes are forgotten within 24 hours, Hamburger Helper produced an April 1st “prank” that’s a cut above: a shockingly good mixtape called Watch the Stove. The project started as a Twitter joke, but after General Mills enlisted music veteran Toki Wright and the students at McNally Smith College of Music, the project took on new heft—and then took the Internet by storm.

9. The videos taking over Facebook

Marketer: Andrew Gauthier

Innovation: You’ve seen them on Facebook: Quick, mouthwatering recipes that you experience from beginning to end over the course of 30 seconds to a minute (sound optional!). The source is often Gauthier’s project Tasty, a year-old pilot from BuzzFeed that has amassed more than 62 million Facebook fans (and taken over your feed). BuzzFeed followed up Tasty’s success with TastyJunior as well as Nifty, a hacks and DIY site with an even bigger following.

10. The automation experiment

Marketer: Tami Brehse

Innovation: Always be testing is our marketing mantra. So we were inspired by Brehse, who did just that by automating her Twitter posts for a full month to find out what would change (spoiler alert: the all-green stats above are hers!)

11. The DIY marketer

Marketer: Annie Cushing

Innovation: OK, we all know SEO is important. But getting from that basic understanding to the intricacies of site audits and technical SEO can be a huge hurdle—unless you’ve got Cushing in your corner. After years of educating the public through speaking, she now offers resources that bridge the gap (site audits! analytics basics! Excel dashboards!) that turn any marketer into a technical marketer.

12. The authenticity revolution

Marketer: Mack Fogelson

Innovation: When is a rebranding more than a rebranding? For Fogelson’s company, formerly known as Mack Web, rebranding was a chance to tie deeply felt values into their services. In doing so, the brand now known as Genuinely created a manifesto for a new marketing era:

“The way our world has evolved has completely changed how companies must shape and market. People not only interact differently with businesses, they expect more. A ‘brand’ isn’t about generating a virtual identity through websites, emails, social media, and being found at the top of Google. Great brands are real and human and they follow through.”

13. Virtual reality that connects an audience

Day in the life: What The New York Times’ first VR editor does

Marketer: Jenna Pirog

Innovation:  In November 2015, The New York Times distributed more than 1 million Google Cardboard viewers/glasses to Sunday home delivery subscribers. Since then,VR Editor Pirog has been in charge of innovating in storytelling’s newest platform: virtual reality. Viewers have explored everything from Pluto to SXSW thanks to Pirog’s pioneering work in a new medium.

14. Arts and crafts on Snapchat

Marketer: Soul Pancake

Innovation: Far beyond selfies and landscapes, Soul Pancake is turning Snapchat into a true hub of creativity and community. On the day I wrote this, snaps focused on creating a doodle self-portrait and featured tons of community examples. Even better, lots of their coolest experiments are on YouTube in case you missed them on Snapchat. Follow them for more:

15. The newsletter that loves you

Marketer: Anand Sanwal 

Innovation: Ever wondered who’s really paying attention to the emails you’re sending?Sanwal, founder and CEO of CB Insights, a private market intelligence firm, did. So he changed tactics, adding conversational tidbits readers wouldn’t expect into his daily emails (each one is signed with an “I love you”). The result? The newsletter has nearly 200,000 subscribers and has “taken the tech industry by storm.”

16. The political mythbuster

Marketer: Rhea Drysdale

Innovation: When you name your company Outspoken Media, you set the bar high. But even for an outspoken marketer, Drysdale has been on a roll. Her honest account of being a pregnant CEO opened industry eyes and set the stage for her to debunk a political rumor involving Hilary Clinton and Google. When you know your stuff well enough to correct news outlets, you’re going to get lots of attention—deservedly so.

17. The real-time case study

Marketers: Devesh Khanal and Benji Hyam

Innovation: The co-founders of Grow & Convert are racing against the clock to hit a goal of 40,000 monthly unique visitors—and they’re doing the whole thing in public. (What can we say, we’re suckers for transparency!)

18. Simplifying remarketing

Marketer: Elizabeth Marsten

Innovation: Remarketing can be a big annoyance to your audience—unless it’s done right. In the presentation Make Your Remarketing More Than an Echo, Marsten lays down the context and strategy to make sure your remarketing hits all the right notes.

19. Inside views with Facebook Live

Marketer: Christine Dwyer

Innovation: Have you harnessed the giant potential of Facebook Live yet? Dwyer has. The fitness trainer and speaker uses Live to take viewers inside her classes on Facebook, with engaging results. No wonder she’s one of Facebook guru Mari Smith’s fave follows.

20. Email + video = success

Marketer: Ellie Mirman

Innovation: Video isn’t just for social media—it can also be highly targeted and optimized to convert just the right customer. Find out how with Mirman’s presentation from WistiaFest: How to Use Video to Nurture Leads through the Marketing Funnel.

21. A heatmap for your Google Analytics

Marketer: SEER Interactive

Innovation: Google Analytics’ heatmap feature lets users visualize metrics, like users or revenue, over time. But you can’t have it in a report—until now.  The analytics team at SEER built a custom Google sheet that allows you to create a heatmap metrics and identify growing or hot trends over time.

22. Social with personality

US: DID IT WORK?
You: Did what work?
US: YOU KNOW, THE #NIGHTMARKETING?
You: No of course it didn
US: PLEASE BUY SMOOTHIES
You: [Sigh]

— innocent drinks (@innocent) July 5, 2016

Marketer: Helena Langdon

Innovation: Whether she’s live-tweeting the Euro 2016 semi-final or finding the humor in Brexit, Langdon, the social voice of Innocent Drinks, keeps followers enthralled by innovating on the medium daily. We’re also fond of Innocent’s compliment generator. It’s our kind of weird.

23. A Tumblr of Internet ephemera

Marketer: Juan Buis

Innovation: Honestly, I think I’m too old to understand what’s going on with The Next Web’s Tumblr, expertly curated by Buis. But I do know I couldn’t stop staring at it for quite a while.

24. She knows what we want to see

Marketer: Pam Grossman

Innovation: Where do stock photos even come from? Someone has to be dreaming up all those women laughing with salad, and that person is Getty’s Director of Visual Trends Pam Grossman (well, the salad thing probably wasn’t her idea). What visual trends are on her radar for this year? “People who push the envelope and visuals that break with tradition,” along with meaningful consumption and surreal imagery.

25.Keeping it weird on Facebook

Marketer: Sarah Burton

Innovation: How do you get an increasingly overstimulated audience interested in reading the news? What if you read it to them in a sultry whisper? BuzzFeed’s Burton has been experimenting with “ASMR News”—that’s “autonomous sensory meridian response,” for those not in the know, a kind of “brain orgasm” triggered by sounds such as scratching and whispering. “Right now we’re keeping it weird, but simple,” Burton told NiemanLab. “We’re trying to see what people respond to.”

26. Don’t skip the ads on this podcast

Marketers: Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton

Innovation: There’s only one podcast whose advertisements I never, ever skip, and it’s Another Round, a “boozy podcast that covers everything from race and gender to squirrels and mangoes.” Heben and Tracy (and the whole “pod squad”) make sure to put thought into every single moment of their time on air, which means even ads become hilarious drinking games and pop quizzes.

27. Letting the community call the shots

Marketers: Benefit Cosmetics

Innovation: Another great Facebook Live example! We love Benefit’s”Tipsy Tricks” series every Thursday. Viewers have learned to count on this series, and know that  they’ll get the chance to ask questions, make requests, and generally take the lead in how the video will go.

28. Curation with care

Marketer: Ashley Hockney

Innovation: Curated content works great because it’s not all about you. Hockney’s weekly “Make Change” newsletter from Teachable is such a great example of sharing the love and building authority and trust as a result.

Bonus: 75 more examples!

Marketer: Alexandria Heinz

Innovation: In case this post isn’t quite enough to get you inspired, Siege Media’s Heinz has curated an incredible resource of 75 content marketing examples, grading each one on a scale of elements that includes traffic, revenue, UX, design and interactivity.

Over to you!

It was so much fun to see all the cool ways folks are innovating with their marketing. I bet you know of many more incredible examples and marketers, and I can’t wait to hear them. Share your top picks for marketers doing awesome things in the comments and add to our inspirational list!

Image sources: WOCinTech, Pablo

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How to Ethically Use Your Customers’ Pain as a Powerful Marketing Tactic

Pain is often a difficult subject to talk about.

But if you think about it, the entire point of being in business is to address customer pain points.

Why do I say this? Because the two biggest reasons why people spend money is to either 1) pursue pleasure or 2) ease pain.

Some people think it’s unethical to use pain as a marketing tactic.

I disagree.

Why? Because everyone is experiencing some level of pain already, and they are looking for ways to relieve it. That’s why they are interested in your product or service.

The field of neuromarketing has opened up new perspectives in how we understand and address our customers’ pain.

This method has been summed up in a New York Times article “The Secret of Neuromarketing: Go for the Pain.” It cites a marketing agency that focuses on pain as its primary method of marketing.

The company’s CEO is known as the “Chief Pain Officer.”

When you use pain as a marketing tactic—reminding the customer of their discomfort, for example—you also offer a relief to that pain.

Obviously, there’s a right and a wrong way to do this. In the thick of marketing action, we don’t always know where the lines are drawn.

Among BuzzFeed’s endless archive of clickbait listicles is a list of the top 10 worst jokes comedian Gilbert Gottfried made after hearing of the 2011 tsunami that devastated Fukushima and other parts of Japan, leading to the Daiichi power plant meltdown.

Critics say he went way too far way too soon. I agree. Gottfried was released from his contract as Aflac Duck.

It may seem insensitive, but the man is a comedian who also notoriously opened a Friars’ Club Roast in NYC a few months after 9/11 with a bang.

Gottfried’s job is to entertain people through humor in times of pain. Maybe he was trying to alleviate pain during a trying time. But at the same time, he screwed up.

Pain isn’t a laughing matter, especially when it involves suffering and death.

We as marketers need to keep that in mind. We also need to realize that simply addressing pain isn’t enough. We need to genuinely understand the critical pain points, empathize with the situation, and focus on a solution.

Ethics matter, especially in the field of marketing. And when you use pain to get your customers’ attention, doing it ethically is even more important.

Here are a few best practices businesses can use to address customer pain in an ethical way.

Target pain by opening lines of communication

The only way you can learn about your customers’ pain is through communication.

Communication is a two-way street. As a marketer, you communicate through your content. Your audience, in turn, communicates through social feedback, analytics, and other commentary.

Maybe you’re wondering, Okay, but what about understanding the customer’s pain?

That’s somewhat more difficult to get at.

But that’s not where you start the process, either.

The process starts with authenticity and transparency. And that starts with you.

A recent MarketingLand survey found 99% of consumers are willing to share information with companies so long as they ask permission first. Trust is a big part of convincing people to communicate.

Transparency and authenticity are vital components of building consumer trust, especially online.

Your livelihood as a marketer depends on your ability to be authentic and transparent.

Businesses aren’t inherently trustworthy. Just take a look at a trust index for businesses around the world during 2015 and 2016.

Your customer base or audience must first trust you before you can understand their pain.

Why? Because pain is a sensitive and very personal thing.

In fact, pain is often seen as a form of weakness, and I’m much more likely to admit my pain to friends and family than to a profiteering business out to get my money.

Here are the two fundamental questions you should ask about your customers when you are seeking to understand their pain from a position of trust.

1. What pains do my customers have?

A business that successfully resolves a pain point is on the path to success. In order to address pain, you need to understand which pains a customer has.

What makes a person uncomfortable, scared, frustrated, angry, or sick?

Learning these triggers helps you understand how you can resolve them.

2. Which particular pain does my business address?

In order to sell a product or service, you need to be able to explain how your product or service can relieve your customer’s pain.

A recent survey of corporate executives found that to learn what customers think, companies employ nearly a dozen different techniques.

All involve either technology or customer interaction, and an extensive use of surveys and analytics.

Of course, our business technology and how we interact with customers is often a pain point itself.

Consumer Reports continuously monitors how consumers feel about companies. A recent survey found technology hasn’t really improved how businesses interact with customers.

Despite astronomical leaps in technology over the past 30 years, many customers have the same gripes when it comes to dealing with companies and customer service.

Finding out what people think is often a headache for companies, but by opening up communication online, I’ve learned quite a bit about my customers.

Using analytics and surveys to understand your customer’s pain is the most ethical method.

Take the survey above, for example. If your business has a customer service department, you should understand what kinds of things may irritate your customers.

These numbers tell you something very important: 75% of your callers will be frustrated if they can’t get a live person on the phone.

Now you know their pain.

And you know how to resolve it: get them in touch with a live person ASAP.

Let me provide a simple example using these two questions:

1. What pains do my customers have?
2. Which particular pain does my business address?

First, let’s find out the pain. To make this example super obvious, I’ll focus on a real physical pain: headaches.

You start with doing some research on your customers. You get data on headaches.

You realize that those who suffer from headaches most frequently are women aged 18-44.

Based on that information, you develop an advertisement targeting that demographic and promising to relieve their pain.

It’s simple, ethical, and effective.

• Figure out the pain.
• Understand how you solve that pain.
• Create a marketing approach that brings the two together.

Why pain context matters

Obviously, the model above is just scratching the surface.

Tools and technology are rapidly advancing, meaning we can access an increasing amount of data and intel on our customers—all completely ethically, of course.

Google and other search giants are already moving toward a contextual Internet. This means search algorithms will take the context of the content surrounding a link into consideration along with the context in which the browser is searching.

A combination of contextual search and advancements in AI is leading to a world where predictive searches are becoming smarter and smarter. In turn, we need to adapt our websites and content to succeed in the future of search.

Google’s semantic search updates have been moving toward this future.

Let’s say I’m experiencing hunger pains and searching online for a pizza. My search will indicate whether I’m looking for a pizza recipe or pizza delivery.

“Pizza order las vegas” is pretty obvious. Google knows I want someone to bring a pizza to my apartment.

A different pizza-related query gives me completely different results.

When analyzing keywords for which you’re ranking in the SERPs, consider the context in which visitors are reaching your site. Pay special attention to query type and intent. These issues have a huge impact on bounce rates, conversion rates, and other KPIs.

Although you may rank well for a particular search term, your sustainable performance depends on the content’s ability to address either the consumer’s pain or pleasure.

If all you’re selling is a pizza dress, while I may find it mildly interesting, it’s not going to relieve my hunger pains.

Contextual search is actually one of the main components of machine learning and AI. Instead of traditional column- and cell-based databases, data in graph databases is stored in nodes, which allow for data relationships to be created.

Here’s what a graph database entails:

Graph database platforms such as Neo4j power much of the personalization and recommendation software used in search engines, social media feeds, digital TV interfaces, and much more.

The information can be…complicated.

But the results are extraordinary.

In the context of a movie search, a graph database would take into account which actors and directors are in the movie along with the rating, genre, and availability of online streaming services.

All of this information is then paired with previous choices made by friends of the searcher or people of similar demographics and interests to present personalized contextual search results.

You can get similar information by looking at your search trends.

How do you get this information?

• Log in to Google Search Console
• Click “Search Traffic.”
• Click “Search Analytics.”

The information you see can help you understand what people are typing in when they see your site in the SERPs or when they click through to your website.

Search queries give powerful insights into the kind of pain people are experiencing and the kind of solutions they are looking for.

Data that includes queries, pages, countries, devices, impressions, CTR, and dates provides great contextual information. You can use this information to understand, address, and promise to relieve your customer’s pain.

If you do sell a pizza dress, for example, certainly a keyword focus on “Pizza Dress” is a good idea as is focusing on “Funny Dress,” “Creative Dress,” and other contextual ideas that may draw customers.

I wouldn’t waste money advertising to pizza customers, though, because it’s a competitive keyword, and these searchers are not interested in a dress they can’t eat.

5 ethical best practices for addressing pain

Since we’re talking about ethics, we need to address privacy as well.

Today’s customers are jittery about privacy, and with good reason. We’re in an age of increasing data breaches.

If we’re truly exercising ethical behavior, let’s make sure we’re respecting the customer’s privacy.

Following these five best practices will ensure you address your customers’ pain without taking away their control, eroding their trust, or risking their displeasure.

1. Ask permission and provide awareness

By this point, Google Analytics has existed long enough that the layman has a general idea of how information is being shared and used.

I’ll share my info with any site for this kind of personalization:

Mobile devices are such a personal item that permission checks have become a regulatory requirement. It’s now generally best practice everywhere online.

You are even required to make your site visitors aware of the use of cookies.

Always ask for whatever permissions you can. Be transparent about notifying visitors of the type of information you’re tracking and why.

2. Be mindful of the time

Back in the days of analog telephones, a lot of consumer protection laws were enacted by state and federal governments to limit the hours a person can be contacted.

Although the web provides seemingly unlimited access to data, it’s still important to be mindful of the times when people are working, sleeping, eating, etc. before bothering them with your pitch and becoming a pain point yourself.

Here’s when people are typically using their devices:

Understanding the timing of your communications with customers helps you reach them more efficiently when you need to.

This is especially important if you use real time marketing tactics such as push notifications or SMS.

3. Know your role

Always remember you’re a guest in someone else’s life.

Like any other friendship or relationship, your relationship with your customers has boundaries. You don’t ask for too much. You don’t stick around longer than you should.

Above all, you treat the customer with professionalism and respect.

4. Act only with good business intent

Banks and other secure institutions flag celebrity and other high-value accounts to ensure they’re protected. This is just one extra layer on top of several other layers of information protection, which is why people trust banks with their personal financial information.

This same discipline should be practiced by every level of your company in order to build customer trust.

Build the kind of relationship that a patient may have with a physician, and customers will open up about their pain.

5. Document, and track everything

It’s important to track the analytics even when it comes to pain and satisfaction levels.

What kind of pain is your customer experiencing? How are you working to resolve it?

Take this Starbucks graph of customer satisfaction, for example.

Without documentation, Starbucks would have had a difficult time figuring out why scores dipped in 2009, 2012, and 2015.

Tracking metrics across the board makes it much easier to figure out what and why went wrong, and what to do about it.

Another reason for careful tracking and documentation is the ethical reason. If you’re willing to document what you’re doing, it establishes your ethical standards.

Documentation enables transparency and provides proof of the tracking you’re doing.

Conclusion

Pain is an unavoidable part of the human condition.

We all feel it at one point or another in our lives, and often the pain is shared among many.

Businesses exist to ease pain. You as a marketer should be able to learn how your customers feel so you can address any pain they have. This takes a commitment to building mutual trust.

Tracking information is necessary to research and evaluate pain points, but this data must be collected, analyzed, and acted upon ethically.

What is your perspective on the role of pain in marketing? How do you work to address pain in your customers’ lives?

from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/29IglrT via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/29yZHWu