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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Fake news is a real problem — and not just for journalists.

Look no further than a new survey that says 75-percent of Americans find it difficult to determine what news is accurate and what is not. Worse yet, when Stanford researchers studied the ability of students to analyze the credibility of information online — the same kids we all consider “digital natives” — the researchers described the results as “bleak.” They were “shocked” by how many students failed to effectively evaluate the credibility of that information.

So, what’s the solution? “The world needs the truth now more than ever,” says Hamish Nicklin of The Guardian. “In a world where the most important people on the planet are using fake news to undermine the values so many of us hold so dear,” she told a roomful of reporters at The Guardian’s 2017 Media Summit, “it has never been so important that we have a strong and vibrant media, and remember that facts and truth are sacred.”

Although she was speaking specifically to journalists, the same advice holds true for content marketers. As the audience grows more skeptical, content needs to grow more credible. Click bait, re-purposed press releases, and glorified commercials just won’t hold up to the tougher scrutiny, and they might even get you in trouble. In the past, the audience might just click away. But now that the audience is more skeptical, bad content runs the risk of getting lumped in with all of the other fake stuff — and actually harming your brand.

Do you really want to take that chance? Instead, focus on real facts and true stories. Be genuine. Be honest. Fight the fake news epidemic by using the same tactics that journalists use to bridge the credibility gap.

Use the principles of journalistic objectivity to build your credibility.

You’d be surprised how many newsroom discussions involve “Big J” journalism — the stuff we learned in journalism school. Most of those conversations involve integrity, or, in the words of the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics, the mandate to “seek the truth and report it.” Following that mandate, and showing it as transparently as possible, is the easiest way for journalists to separate themselves from fake news.

For marketers, I’d make the mandate even simpler: “Don’t BS your audience.” Content marketing is supposed to be all about answering the audience’s questions. Giving them what they’re looking for. When people click on a headline, they expect content that delivers. They expect relevant information that will help them. Try to manipulate them with ham-handed marketing messages and you’ll lose your credibility quickly.

For journalists, this means “follow the truth.” Don’t let advertisers (or anybody else) influence your coverage. That’s why there’s a separation of “church and state” in newsrooms — to keep the sales department and their advertisers away from the journalists. That independence breeds objectivity, impartiality, and credibility.

Marketers who force themselves to act independently will notice similar results. Nothing builds credibility like pure honesty. Avoid the temptation to act like a salesman. In fact, consider mentioning the competition as a way to showcase your objectivity. And don’t shy away from admitting they’re actually better on a few occasions. They’re going to find that out anyway, but when they learn it from you, your credibility will shine through.

For journalists, this is easy. Real stories should seem more real than the fake ones. For content marketers, it takes a lot more discipline. It’s tempting to repurpose a press release or brochure, but is that what your audience is looking for?

If you put on your journalist’s hat and focus on real stories and information instead of your marketing story, you’ll build credibility. Create content that fills a need or answers a question and then ask yourself, “what is the next step the reader needs to take?” By answering the reader’s questions and making it easy for them to take the next step, you’ll begin to create a relationship of trust and open up the doors for further communication.

I’m not talking about Woodward and Bernstein — they were dealing with confidential sources. I’m talking about the way content marketers can build credibility by simply citing source information properly. For starters, why should I believe you’re using a fact from a study in proper context if you don’t link to it? Same thing with a quote. Let me see where you got it.

Besides building credibility with your transparency, you’ll also add an extra layer of objectivity. When you link to the source, you’re likely to vet it further. If it doesn’t feel like something you’d want your reader to see (whether it’s out of context, not the original source, or anything else that doesn’t feel right), you might reconsider using it. That a level of extra thoughtfulness that’s guaranteed to elevate both the quality and credibility of your content.

Seeing is believing. It’s as simple as that. Showing a video instantly boosts your credibility because it allows the audience to see or hear for things with their own eyes and ears. Think of this the way you think when you look at one of those glossy hotel photos that’s just too good to believe. Now picture how you feel when it’s replaced by a short video. You see more of the room and you feel like you’re seeing it with your own eyes. It instantly starts to feel more credible.

Now think through the same thing with other examples, like a testimonial or case study where a recorded interview lets the audience vet the endorsement for ourselves. Same story for a demonstration or any other video. It simply feels more transparent and objective because there’s more information to process (both audio and video) and more access to it.

Make no mistake, fake news is a legitimate threat to all content creators. It muddies the waters of the entire internet. However, that threat also creates a giant opportunity for content marketers who embrace the principles of journalistic objectivity. With an increasingly knowledgeable and skeptical audience on the other end, producing “good” content will not only burnish your brand’s credibility but it will help distance your content (and your brand) from those who don’t.

This article originally appeared in The StoryTeller Media Blog.

This article was written by Gregg Litman from Business2Community and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com

How to Boost your Content's Credibility

Following the kudos Wendy’s received by throwing shade on Twitter about McDonald’s current use of frozen beef, will more brands get bolder in calling out their competition?

Received wisdom is that it’s better to let the press and public opinion do the dirty work of negative PR. But, since Wendy’s was punching up in their rap-style Twitter-beef (pun fully intended), they may have been thinking they’ve got more to gain than to lose. Specifically, gains in Twitter cred, visibility, and followers. Given that’s exactly what happened, other brands are surely taking note. Let’s take a closer look at what’s worked.

Though McD’s 2016 revenue was close to 17 times that of Wendy’s and their worldwide locations outpace the redhead 6 to 1, on Twitter at least, the margins are slimmer, with Wendy’s at 1.65 million followers to 3.41 million for the golden arches. It’s important to note that Wendy’s didn’t use subterfuge, insults, or underhanded tactics. Instead, they seized on McDonald’s marketing language promising fresh beef by 2018 and with humor, pointed out the cracks in Mickey D’s business positioning. After all, bragging about the introduction of fresh beef means you haven’t been using it up until now. Wendy’s ran with it.

McDonald's on Twitter: "Today we've announced that by mid-2018, all Quarter Pounder burgers at the majority of our restaurants will be cooked with fresh beef.… https://t.co/W12JXwCpj6"

And with that reply tweet, a strategic trendjack—within three hours of a campaign that took significantly longer to produce — @Wendys sailed into a social media win with over 75k RTs and over 180k hearts. It’s not so surprising that social media is receptive to snarkiness.

Taking Off the (Social Media Gloves) During a Crisis: The Case of United Airlines

It would’ve been hard to miss the two scandals that recently rocked United Airlines, considering the volume of above-the-fold headlines. Both center around United policies that seem to leave the service out of “customer service.” The first might be called “Leggings-gate” concerning enforcement of their dress code. While gender discrimination may have come into play, as dress codes aren’t uniformly enforced, the issue might have blown over (as minor brand crises do), except for the United Express Flight 3411 passenger dragging incident.

Subsequent non-apology, leak of an insensitive internal memo, as well as the launch of a smear campaign around the dragged passenger compounded the crisis surrounding United, with PR pros taking note.

Royal Jordanian on Twitter: "We are here to keep you #united Dragging is strictly prohibited 🚫… "

Again, not surprisingly, the funnier the jabs got, the more successful they were. The Southwest Airlines crew included colorful commentary on some flights and were the beneficiary of a spoof ad that has gone viral.

Doug Haller on Twitter: "Attendant on my Southwest flight tells passengers: "We're going to need four passengers ... just kidding.""

Delta, on the other hand, took the opportunity to highlight brand values; striking a more straightforward note.

Rachel F. Elson on Twitter: "Trying to be the anti-United >> Delta just dramatically increased the $$ it can give to bumped passengers https://t.co/Jz2tQKVmrK"

United hasn’t come up for air yet as they try to stop the crisis spiraling, while ignoring the pile-on they’re receiving from competitors and consumers on social media.

Right now, while the United scandal is still fresh and public perception continues to tank, we won’t yet see the full benefits for the airlines employing this kicking-them-while-they’re-down tactic. But we do know that, so far this year, using similar practices have netted Twitter wins for both Wendy’s and Lyft.

Since January, Lyft has been subtly boxing Uber. As crisis after crisis befell the leader in hailing apps (including, but not limited to: employee gender discrimination, treatment of drivers, a seat on the advisory board of the current Presidential administration, and breaking a taxi strike in NYC), Lyft put out a statement that reinforced their principles, without ever mentioning their competitor by name.

Logan Green, Lyft’s co-founder and CEO, tweeted late January that, “Trump’s immigration ban is antithetical to both Lyft’s and our nation’s core values.”

Logan Green on Twitter: "3/ We are donating $1,000,000 over the next four years to the ACLU to defend our constitution. https://t.co/0umGOlkhSx"

To further emphasize differences, Lyft made a public donation of one million to the ACLU, an organization responsible for bringing immigration ban lawsuits against the current administration (an issue that the NYC taxi strike addressed). Though they never mention Uber, Lyft used the increased visibility brought on by these crises to position themselves as their rival’s antithesis. With the positive affirmations from their ACLU donation, Lyft continues on this path, donating 20% of rides to the @LeanInOrg on Equal Pay Day.

Lyft on Twitter: "This #EqualPayDay, we're partnering w/ @LeanInOrg to donate 20% of ride proceeds to orgs for women: https://t.co/y9cEYD0yaf #20PercentCounts… https://t.co/hWE9UDwVnt"

Lyft’s agile comms team and leadership have crafted a PR strategy that shows, by example, that they share the #deleteUber crowd’s principles.

While loyal presidential administration consumers attempted a #deleteLyft campaign, it didn’t catch fire like #deleteUber has. Even with a backlash, the media coverage and Twitter praise are likely worth the strategic play of throwing shade on social.

2017 has ushered in a social media strategy that uses a competitor’s crisis or newsjacking to broadcast your brand values and elevate visibility. PR is no longer only about protecting your brand and broadcasting messages; it’s also about going for the jugular in pointing out how much better you are than a competitor. This is especially true if they’re facing scrutiny because of a crisis or a well-financed marketing campaign. Being nimble and doing this well is the key to success. That’s why you’ll need a media intelligence platform that is always listening for industry keywords, so when something happens to a competitor, you can work on the perfect snarky @ reply.

Throwing Shade on Social: Newsjacking and Negative PR

There’s no shortage of inspiring content from fashion brands and retailers on Snapchat these days—from big initiatives surrounding fashion shows to ongoing posts throughout the year teasing new product lines and behind-the-scenes insights into some of the world’s most glamorous companies.

Snapchat today has 150 million daily active users globally, with 60% of that base in the 18-34 year old age bracket. Within that, 25-34 years olds are the fastest growing demographic. Otherwise known as Millennials, which are due to be the largest generational segment, not to mention one with the fastest growing spending power by 2018-2020, it’s no surprise fashion brands have looked to jump on board.

Snapchat itself, or Snap Inc as the parent company is now known, only supports a paid strategy—that being the decision to make use of any one of its three advertising propositions. These include Snap Ads, which appear between Stories and Discover content, Sponsored Geofilters, which are location specific overlays on images and videos taken, and Sponsored Lenses, which are augmented reality additions to selfies taken by users. While many brands have been jumping on board with these, including Burberry, ASOS, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, John Lewis and more, there are a multitude of others also looking to an organic strategy based on native content and a big push around storytelling.

Read on for 10 of the best examples of both for inspiration on individual campaigns as well as ongoing content planning.

Everlane undoubtedly comes top of any list of effective Snapchat content strategy. It uses the platform as its primary social media channel, anchoring each and every post with insights from its candid and personable team members, Red Gaskell and Isadora Sales. They share everything from sneak-peeks into new product releases, updates on life inside the company and even tours to its factories. Its standout campaign takes place every Tuesday however: #TransparencyTuesdays does what it says on the tin, enabling a transparent view on the company in-keeping with its Radical Transparency tagline. The duo presenters spend time answering questions from fans, providing that ever candid perspective on what the brand stands for. Rumour has it the duo also aim to respond to every single Snap they get from fans with at least a selfie back.

Burberry has long been a brand nailing how to do platform-native content, and Snapchat is no exception. It uses it to reveal new product, and does so in increasingly creative ways. During London Fashion Week in February 2016 for instance, it told the tale of two models planning to break into its flagship store on Regent Street in London—cue lots of security footage, references to numerous heist films, and entertaining moments before the duo eventually find the locked collection, play dress up in it, and then get caught. “Break in at Burberry!” read the headline on the front of the Snapchat newspaper the next morning. It was a huge example of how storytelling can play out via this platform, and done in a way that was fresh and exciting while other designers primarily concentrated on showing behind-the-scenes at their catwalk shows.

British retailer River Island turned to Snapchat’s paid-for geofilters as a way of driving brand reach and engagement with fans visiting any one of its 280 stores. Available by swiping left and right on images or videos once taken on the app, filters include standard things like time, temperature and city, as well as the occasional branded version tied to a physical location. In River Island’s case, there were numerous different designs available across its stores for what it called its ‘Snap & Share’ campaign this fall. They were only available when physically there in person and included taglines like “But first, coffee”, “Every week is fashion week”, and “Word hard, shop harder”.

Bloomingdale’s is another retailer that turned to Snapchat’s geofilters throughout its stores. This time however, it did so based on the idea of a scavenger hunt for users to find different bespoke designs. Placing hundreds of them in and around its departments during September 2016, again thanks to GPS, the campaign invited shoppers to take selfies with them and send them back to the store in order to win various prizes. The initiative was inspired by the uptake of Pokemon Go earlier this summer. Jonathan Paul, operating VP of social media at Bloomingdale’s, told Luxury Daily: “We thought that if we could gamify Snapchat geofilters, we could connect with shoppers in a playful and creative way.”

Agent Provocateur is a great example of a brand that fully embraces the idea of Snapchat’s very candid and raw aesthetic. Is used the app, as well as Twitter’s live streaming tool Periscope to provide insights into life working in one of its shops around the world. #ShopGirlTakeover, as the campaign was called, saw sales associates taking control of the brand’s channels for a day to share an inside (and slightly naughty) view of what they get up to, and enable them to answer fan questions throughout. As creative director Sarah Shotton said: “I love how Snapchat and Periscope offer a candid way to document a moment in time, and who wouldn’t want to see what AP Agents from around the world get up to? Want to know how to get into suspenders in 30 seconds, or what to do with a whip? These are your girls!”

Fendi created a campaign called Snapchat Tour this year, which saw different influencers including Kendall Jenner, Zara Martin and Irene Kim taking over the brand account for various moments around the globe. Rather than just accepting the fact that content would only live for 24 hours, as is the Snapchat setup, Fendi recently captured and reuploaded the assets to its website where it lives on for fans to explore. Each city, including Rome, London, Moscow, Paris, Seoul and Miami and more, can be scrolled through and the resulting content explored from the influencer that made it.

Bally is another brand that took to the idea of a treasure hunt to celebrate the opening of its new Rodeo Drive store in Los Angeles. Rather than just basing it around that particular location, as Bloomingdale’s did, however, it took to the whole of the city. Partnering with influencer Natalie Suarez, the campaign saw three key locations teased out over the channel where geofilters were on hand for people to Snap by physically visiting there in person, to be in with a chance of winning a VIP ticket to the opening party. “People [like] playing games and being entertained for a very small amount of time with content,” said Cult LDN, the agency behind the campaign.

New York designer Misha Nonoo teamed up with Refinery29 during fashion week in September 2016 to reveal her collection exclusively on Snapchat rather than via a traditional show. She used the platform to drip-feed content to the Refinery29 account throughout a single day as a live shoot of it took place. Illustrator Ana Strumpf then decorated the resulting images in real-time using the apps own drawing tools. On Nonoo’s own Snapchat account meanwhile, she also showed the behind-the-scenes action of that slick affair taking place, detailing how it was shot within the app and the delicate illustration process being achieved using an iPad.

This Brooklyn-based shorts brand is another one heavily focused on storytelling on Snapchat. Having recognized the value in both humor and entertainment, it uses the platform to share a weekly video series called True Thighs. This fictionalized tale is about an evil company wanting to hypnotize people into working on the weekends (which fits with Chubbies’ wider marketing strategy geared to living for the weekends), and follows its team members going back in time to stop that plan ever happening. Fun and silly it features a cardboard time machine, various low-budget props and plenty of emojis placed on top.

Sophia Webster is a great example of a brand that uses Snapchat to truly document life behind-the-scenes with its team. It regularly posts updates on what each of its employees is wearing, encouraging personable insights about them and who they are, as well as makes full use of the illustration and emoji tools within the app to show off new products. Adopting a classic FOMO strategy, all of its content is designed to encourage fans to come back and tune in each day.

This article was written by Rachel Arthur from Forbes and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

Tip: Learn more about Consumer Insights for Fashion.

10 Fashion Brands Nailing Their Snapchat Content Strategy

Every time I tell someone that I work as a ‘Marketing Data Analyst,’ I’m met with questions about the specifics of the job. Typically, people assume I’m a data scientist and work exclusively with code and database querying languages. While there is overlap between marketing analysts and data scientists, there are also distinct differences. As the name suggests, marketing analysts specialize within the marketing field, so engage with marketing-specific programs such as CRM and Marketing Automation platforms. The modern marketing analyst has evolved over the last ten years from a strict data-crunching role within the confines of a marketing department to a cross-functional position that influences product development and strategy decisions.

As the marketing analyst position has expanded, so has its responsibility. On any given day, I will analyze program performance using data-driven marketing and statistics tools, develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of existing programs and success of recently completed campaigns, monitor marketing trends, forecast future outcomes, highlight areas for growth and improvement, and report findings to management through text and data visualizations. Additionally, I work collaboratively with marketing team members to provide quantitative findings that support qualitative and illustrative reports and presentations.

There are a variety of tools and resources to help accomplish these daily tasks; some of those tools are available for free or freemium. Many of my responsibilities are standard for 0marketing analysts; however, specifics vary as marketing analysts work across a wide array of industries. (I.e. A conference focused marketing department might wade into statistics related to conference attendance, geography-related budgets, and the efficiency of specific caterers.)

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marketing analyst employment is projected to increase by 19 percent from 2014 to 2024, an increase significantly faster than the 7% average for other occupations. The expected uptick in marketing analyst positions is due to the widespread adoption of analytics across all industries, creating more need to quantify and measure the effectiveness of marketing departments and their effect on business goals. The expected demand for marketing analysts thus begs the question: what traits make an effective marketing analyst?

In general, analysts are scientifically oriented, driven by numbers, data, and logic. Marketing analysts are no exception, but they also possess an appreciation for data visualization, design, and collaboration. Strong math, statistics, and analytics skills are vital to success in this role, and, although not required for all organizations, there is an increased interest by employers placed on technical skill and expertise in statistical analysis software, predictive analytics, and SQL databases. Further, effective communication is a critical function of the marketing analyst role—it’s imperative to relay key findings to colleagues and decision makers (including non-technical audiences) in easy to understand language. It is this communication that is often the basis for future department financial decisions.

Overall, marketing analysts study information to help their company and team make informed strategic decisions and optimize processes. Marketing analysts have the ability—if utilized appropriately—to positively contribute to the health and progression of a successful marketing department.

If you’re considering implementing more data-driven processes into your marketing department, download our free ebook, The Keys to the Kingdom: Making Marketing More Data-Centric, to get started.

Why You Need a Marketing Data Analyst on Your Team

The average social media marketer typically starts their day by scanning their social listening platform of choice, sharing a few interesting articles, thanking new followers, responding to @mentions, wondering where the past two hours went, and then starting the cycle all over again in a few hours. 

They also mix in whatever requests land in their email inboxes from the PR and marketing teams. Unfortunately, this recurring set of activities isn’t a sustainable or efficient social media workflow. Having a casual approach to social media activities can make it nearly impossible to go on vacation. For these reasons and more, it’s important to create—and stick to—a social media content calendar.

Preparing and following a set editorial plan has many benefits, including:

Enhancing your planning and time-management

There's more, so keep reading this post to get your social media marketing workflow right with an editorial calendar. 

Once you start documenting social media content, you’ll notice posting patterns that lean towards sharing certain content types significantly more often than others. Although it’s unlikely that you’ll end up with a perfect balance of audio, visual, and written content, a content calendar makes sure you won’t accidentally leave out key content types that appeal to highly engaged customers or outspoken influencers.

Your editorial line will definitely contain recurring elements. For example, you might share a new blog post each Wednesday and an inspiring image each Friday. Create placeholders in your social media content calendar for these recurring activities so that you can effectively plan around them.

If you know you have a new blog post every Wednesday, you can plan a lot of content around it each week. Here’s an example of what we mean:

Plan recurring shares, switching up the text that accompanies the blog link


While you don’t want to use the same tone and copy across all social channels, keeping with consistent messaging in your content strategy and adopting a distinct voice will keep you on-brand, regardless of channel.

Viewing copy for each channel, side-by-side, will prevent you from sounding like two or three different company personalities. And will help avert misfires, such as sharing three conflicting sets of information for the same event.

Ask yourself  What’s my goal with this post? Do you want to generate traffic, engagement or share important information with your followers?

Make sure that you note the specific purpose of your post directly on your social media content calendar. This will help you to understand which metrics you should be using to measure whether or not you’ve successfully met your objective.

Don’t forget to add a note detailing what type of content the post is. Having this visible ensures you plan for a good balance. For example, only pushing promotional content will soon make you feel like you’re shouting into a black hole! Try to alternate between posts about your products, sneak peeks behind the scenes, industry news, posts from third parties etc. As rule of thumb, aim for 20% of the content you share to focus on your company and 80% from third parties. When the content is promoting your brand, use engaging CTA’s so that your followers don’t get bored.

Following that same logic as the point mentioned above, both you and your audience will soon get bored if you constantly post about the same subject. Include the subject in your social media content calendar for an easy overview of your key topics. This will act as a reminder to keep things fresh and interesting for your audience! To help you choose subjects, take a look at Google Keyword Planner to understand what your audience is googling, then engage around the topics via social, preferably answering their questions.

You can also use a media intelligence tool like Meltwater to uncover trending themes in your industry that you can then jump on and become a thought leader by doing so.

Understand which topics are dominating the conversations online. Use the trending themes as inspiration when creating your content calendar.

Make sure the subject of your post is clear to your followers, particularly when it comes to the title and caption. Not all headlines are created equal. “10 easy tricks for irresistible headlines” is already more exciting to the reader than “How to write a headline.” Keep this in mind when titling your content and drafting your tweets and captions. Don’t get too “click baity” however. The content you link to must reflect the caption you’ve used or people will bounce off the page very quickly and you’ll lose the trust of your audience too.

Elements of a Useful Social Media Editorial Calendar

There are calendar, workflow and strategy tools available for managing social media editorial calendars, including CoSchedule, Kapost, and Divvy HQ. However, you can get started without a financial investment by using a spreadsheet - Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets (example above). The tool you use is less important than its ability to assist you in documenting social media activities in an easy-to-navigate manner.

So what to include in a social media content calendar? We have found including the following fields to be immensely helpful:

For organisational purposes, this may seem a bit too obvious, but the days of the week can also directly inspire your social media content calendar. Certain days of the week even inspired their own hashtags on social media. Think about #TBT (Throwback Thursday), #WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday) and, of course, #TGIF!

When planning your content, organise it chronologically by date and time of publication. This may seem intuitive, but many professionals forget to do this and lose sight of their weekly, monthly and daily routines. Planning your social media content calendar chronologically ensures you see the frequency of your posts at a glance and identify the times that work best for your audience.

Use tools like monday.com, Meltwater Engage, an excel worksheet or even Google Calendar to plan content together with your team. This way you make sure your plan is clear for yourself and everyone else who needs to be in the loop.

Each social media channel has its own characteristics. Some users favour one platform over another because of this. Twitter people engage little and often with the content leaning more towards real-time updates. When we compare this to Facebook, the content tends to be more evergreen. Because of this, you need to adapt the copy of your posts to the different platforms. For example, a food brand would use Facebook to post a recipe, but Twitter to make a PR crisis comms announcement. 

Manually copying and pasting the hashtags for all of your posts can be a tedious task and you run the risk of getting lazy and using the same (less relevant) hashtags for all your posts. Creating a space in your content calendar to save the hashtags you’d like to use for important subjects ensures a consistent/ varied use of hashtags and of course, saves you time!

To create your editorial calendar, you can start with a simple spreadsheet. However, using a community management tool such as Meltwater’s engagement platform will allow you to create a more visible, practical and actionable calendar through which you can plan and publish your posts.

If you’re ready to get started with your own social media content calendar and need a tool that you and your team can use to start implementing the tips above, get in touch with us using the form below for a free demo of our Social Media Management Platform. Plan, edit and publish your posts in a collaborative environment, and maintain an overview of your upcoming content. 

Why Your Social Media Needs an Editorial Calendar

In today’s digital age, a growing number of businesses are beginning to include social media in their marketing mix. Instagram has gained considerable popularity in South Africa since its official launch in 2012, and now has 2,68 million local users.  With a 133% increase in users within South Africa over the course of the last year alone, more and more local businesses are turning to Instagram as a platform for driving brand awareness, and ultimately, sales. Instagram is also increasingly being recognised as a platform able to transcend geographic boundaries and generate business among new markets. Today we’ll be taking a look at the possibilities of Instagram for business, as well as how marketers can go about monitoring their social media success with a social media monitoring tool.

Tip: Are you looking for the right influencers to partner with? Check out the top South African Instagram Influencers and the best South African fashion influencers.

Despite its rapid growth and promising business prospects, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Instagram is still a form of social media. This means that users access it to be social, and can become quickly impatient with obvious brand advertisements and online sales pitches.

Introducing: The Golden 20/80 Rule. To maintain an attractive business profile, ensure that just 20% of your Instagram content is directly about your brand, product or service. The remaining 80% of your posts should seek to promote a lifestyle – or in other words, content that audiences are interested in and want to share. The key here is listening to what your audience is talking about and then tapping into that interest by using a social listening tool like Meltwater.

Tip: By listening to social conversations you also find more detailed South African social media statistics.

For instance, one of South Africa’s most successful Instagram accounts, Mr. Price, simply shares a picture of the trendy, recently revamped Grand Cafe and Beach in Cape Town with the caption “About today… Double tap and tell us how you are spending this Saturday.” This post has nothing to do with Mr. Price clothing, but instead utilises a perfect picture for audiences to screenshot, filter and regram, while also encouraging engagement. The use of trending hashtags such as “#currentmood” and “#summerfeels” further promote the fashionable, fun-loving and youthful lifestyle of Mr. Price.

Tip: Check out the most trending hashtags in Australia and the most trending hashtags in South Africa.

In a similar way, the retailer Woolworths will also post content on Instagram that they know will resonate with their customers’ epicurean desires. One such example made use of a decadent bread and cheese board, captioned, “Sweet dreams are made of cheese, #findthemagic”. By understanding the gourmet interests of its customer base, the brand is able to maximise engagement and ultimately drive up their own online visibility.

Once you’ve nailed the lifestyle content balance, creative captions and relevant hashtags, it’s time to step your game up. Keeping up-to-date with Instagram’s innovations (of which there are many) helps to maintain the interest of current followers, gain new ones, and stay ahead of competitors.

2016 saw Instagram introduce the Instagram Story, allowing audiences to post short videos or pictures with a 24-hour lifespan in a feed running alongside users’ existing galleries. Since its launch in August, Instagram has added valuable updates such as the ability to stream live video and send disappearing messages. The latter being in direct competition with Snapchat, the popular social media app which has subsequently experienced a decrease in popularity. Instagram is poised to become the social media platform of choice for businesses targeting younger demographics – as is demonstrated in the contrast between Nike’s most-viewed Snapchat story at 66 000 views, and their first Instagram Story which received 800 000 views.

Owing to the temporary nature of each Story, brands are able to exercise more of their creative flare when it comes to publishing inventive and engaging content. Dear Rae, the South African jewellery designer, recently posted a Story of an adventure through Babylonstoren, drawing comparisons between the country’s natural beauty and that of the designer’s locally produced goods. While Red Bull South Africa’s approach has been to include a variety of extreme sporting events, local talent and athletes; sometimes simultaneously promoting the actual energy drink and new flavours.

Audiences appreciate authenticity and spontaneity, so taking a spur-of-the-moment Instagram Story can often work in your favour.

A business should aim to share one to two relevant and high-quality images on Instagram per day (and at peak-time) to ensure it will be noticed. Don’t overload your audience, as this will lessen your chances of maintaining quality and originality, and it may even be overlooked as spam. We recommend sharing relevant content on Instagram Stories throughout the day to take full advantage of the feature – such as behind-the-scenes footage, “sneak peaks” at upcoming products, and the inclusion of colleagues and work environments. This gives audiences the opportunity to have a deeper, more personalised connection with your brand.

Most importantly, the success of Instagram for business needs to be monitored. Meltwater’s online media monitoring software monitors over 350 million social sources, including Instagram.

Harnessing media intelligence can help determine which posts or Stories generated the most active audience engagement and whether it was positive or negative feedback – giving marketers the insights necessary to inform and refine their social media strategy.

In conclusion, using Instagram for business is about branding yourself according to your customer interests, promoting a lifestyle in line with said interests, and creating a #vibe.

How to Leverage Instagram for your Business in South Africa

Everyone needs something to strive for to keep them on track. Getting clear on important KPIs to support your business goals is essential in moving towards data-driven content marketing. After reading this post, download our ebook to get an overview of measurable metrics with actionable tips.

57% —that’s how far the average B2B buyer is through the purchase decision cycle before engaging a team member in sales. With nearly 60% of your customers engaging first with your content, then with your team, there’s still only 88% of B2B marketers that consider themselves to use content marketing as part of their business strategy.

As a result, content marketing efforts aren’t a strategic business function, which means less budget and resources are given to marketing teams to engage prospective buyers. This lack of resources means that most content efforts end up being experimental with a “just get it done” mentality, leaving thousands of dollars of untapped potential on the table.

Here are four key ways to make your content efforts data-driven:

Showcase the potential of content on your business’s bottom line by identifying the right metrics to measure content initiatives against.

If you know where you’re headed, you’ll know what to track to stay focused.

To be a data-driven content team, look beyond just measuring how much content you’re creating and answer why you’re creating content in the first place. Data-driven content teams think how content makes a difference long-term and beyond just the project to how that content impacts other functions of the business.

A new webinar, for example, will get the business 100 new leads in the short-term, boost brand awareness, and increase web traffic. Long-term, the same webinar contributed to the bottom-line of closing $100,000 new sales in the quarter. Each webinar created, marketed, and executed captures more leads, builds brand trust, which all feed a marketing funnel.

All these efforts work in various ways to help with conversion to revenue. So how do you get started proving that connection and showing ROI? Think backward.

Working backward from strategic business goals ensures you’re not creating content for the sake of it, but you’re focused on the right content to deliver on the bottom line every time. Ask yourself what each campaign created is hoping to get you.

If your goal is to land $100,000 in new sales, think to the prerequisites needed to make a sale:

Figure out which exact metric you need to increase. Do you have enough leads to convert to opportunities, or do you need to focus on lead generation? Based on previous quarters' conversion rates, you may need to focus on lead generation, or perhaps you have buckets of leads and need to focus on conversion nurturing).

Identify a benchmark you’re working at to improve. Look to last quarter’s conversion numbers to predict what specific areas you can focus on increasing.

Create a strategic plan that highlights what content activities will improve each metric. Some content activities such as webinars, newsletter signup optimizations, events, or content downloads will work to capture leads, while email marketing will nurture and aim to convert leads to opportunities.

In the list above, it’s clear what content activities are tied to increasing revenue of the bottom line. While the direct impact of blog X compared to blog Y might be difficult to prove, a documented strategic plan clearly highlights what metrics matter, what content is contributing to metrics and provides a quantifiable foundation for benchmarking.

Being a data-driven comes to always ensure the following two questions get answered:

What metrics does our business deem important?

What content mediums are most likely to help us deliver on that metric?

If you’re unsure, always default to asking, does the metric you’re using to identify success help you make decisions? Do you know what you need to do to execute and make it happen? If you don’t, you’re probably not linking content output to the right metric.

Lean on the goldmine of data that is already right in front of you: Analyze what content lead to conversions in the past to map out future content campaigns.

One of the benefits of data-driven content marketing is that there’s always opportunities to iterate and optimize on what’s currently being done. If the business goal is to generate $100,000 in new revenue, and you know that to hit the marketing to sales conversion % you’re going to need 1,000 more new leads, look at past campaigns that have delivered the most leads.

The Meltwater Blog

How to Boost your Content's Credibility

Throwing Shade on Social: Newsjacking and Negative PR

10 Fashion Brands Nailing Their Snapchat Content Strategy

Why You Need a Marketing Data Analyst on Your Team

Why Your Social Media Needs an Editorial Calendar

How to Leverage Instagram for your Business in South Africa

What Does It Mean to Be a “Data-Driven” Content Team?

Hashtags for Health: Successful Social Media Campaigns

How to be a Guest Blogger on 10 Popular Websites

Non-Marketing Employees: An Untapped Content Resource

Interactive Content for Every Stage of the Sales Cycle

20 Brilliant B2B Marketing and Digital Business Stats and Facts