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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

Influencer marketing is evolving, and so is the way brands measure success. That’s why Meltwater is proud to announce a new partnership with YouTube, integrating YouTube’s Creator Partnerships API directly into our Influencer Marketing platform.

Introducing Verified YouTube Data in Meltwater Influencer Marketing

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

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

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

29%
The percentage of women who hold Senior positions in Africa.

7%
The percentage of female Executive Directors with Board positions in Africa.

63%
However, companies with women in senior positions deliver 63% higher returns than those without.

To drive change through technology and innovation, we cannot just have 50% of the world focused on it. 

At Meltwater Africa, we are proud to boast a 50 / 50 split between men and women across the management layer, with the overall operations being made up of 65% women. As an organisation, we are fully committed to the advancement of women in business and we remain optimistic that it won’t be long until all other companies in Africa can say the same.

When a woman is empowered it changes absolutely everything in the community,” Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle stated recently during her royal tour to Southern Africa. But, with a recent, growing societal movement towards women empowerment, we need to ensure that the few women who have made it to the top aren’t the only ones, but that every other women has the opportunity to make it, too.

And so, we sat down with a couple of high-power, successful, inspiring women in Marketing and Communications across the African continent, and asked them about their career growth and success, the state of women representation in their industry and what they predict the future will hold in technology, marketing and innovation in Africa.

A common thread was the importance of “rising by lifting others” – each interviewee credited powerful mentors for their success, and stated how passionate they are about mentoring, inspiring and empowering other young women in their fields to reach the top.

As you read this article, begin to see the tapestry that validates that hard work and big dreams matter, and that the next generation of fierce females have advice that will help them go beyond the barriers that these women have boldly broken.

Nontokozo Madonsela: Refusing to Apologise For Her Success

The “#NoApologyForMySuccess” Campaign in August 2019 proved to be effective as women across South Africa shared their success stories, inspired by this campaign that went viral. The idea for the campaign stemmed from the personal experience of Nontokozo Madonsela, Momentum’s Group Chief Marketing Officer. She realised that women who had done well in business, generally underrated their success. She set out to change this attitude and the impact was immense.

An undeniable problem-solver with a curiosity to challenge conventional thinking, Nontokozo has been at the forefront of transforming big brands with marketing campaigns. She was personally responsible for creating and driving marketing campaigns such as the Standard Bank “What’s Your Next?”, the change of brand name from MMI to Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, and the “Womentum” Campaign for South Africa’s Women’s Day in August.

Nontozoko is a woman who not only makes no apologies for the successes she has worked hard for, but she also truly knows how to own them too. 

Rayhana Erasmus: Always Up For a Challenge

Rayhana Erasmus – a visionary and strategic thinker – heads up marketing for Africa’s largest private equity infrastructure investment house, African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM). Marketing comes naturally for this marketing maven, who finds herself drawn to the industry because of how it encompasses her personality, creativity and innate ability to solve problems.

Rayhana knows how to build and grow multiple brands, including the likes of AIIM and now, Old Mutual Alternative Investments. If there is one thing you should know about Rayhana, it’s that if you throw her in the deep end, she will find a way to rise – “and then some.”

Having been in the industry for over 20 years, current Communications Director for Viacom International Media Networks Africa, Fathima Beckmann has established herself as a global thought leader within Communications across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

With a heart for creating mentorship and finding ways to give back to women who are coming into the industry, Fathima has a passion for understanding the need to create and facilitate a process of including more women in, especially, the tech industry.  She knows how crucial women and children development is, and works closely with UNICEF to help host mentorship programs like International Day of the Girl Child.

Stephanie Stoneham: Breaking Boundaries and Smashing Glass Ceilings Comes Naturally

Stephanie Stoneham personifies a passionately paramount woman who currently heads the Marketing department for Stanbic Bank in Botswana. Her career cycle includes achieving success working at Saatchi & Saatchi and BancABC. 

Coming from a big family, Stephanie’s love for people have brought her to an industry where she not only draws inspiration from the very people that she is inspired by but knows how to draw parallels with her personal life and work life. As a forward thinker, Stephanie is already looking to 2020 with aspirations of personal development and understanding the way that technology is impacting the customer experience within the Marketing industry. 

Storytelling is naturally embedded in us as. We learn from stories and as marketers, we use this in our strategies to help businesses and brands become more authentic and relatable to their audiences. But there is a beauty about hearing the stories of these women and how they came to be who they are in their Marketing careers.

Mentorship manifested as a clear story arch for each of these women, with each one sharing how being mentored by someone set them on the course they find themselves on today. “I see myself as a facilitator of change,” says Rayhana, who reflected on how she flourished in an environment that enabled her to operate freely while having mentors that helped her think entrepreneurially. This was an environment where learning was encouraged and her employers wanted to nurture her leadership. From there, Rayhana saw the value in knowledge, and how it could take you from being ignorant to being empowered. The age old saying “Knowledge is power” is exactly what Rayhana has achieved with self-empowerment.  

Fathima speaks with a gentle appreciation for the male mentors she had during her career, but also understands the value of having women as mentors too. “It’s a different narrative to the mentees,” Fathima says, echoing how this dual dynamic to mentorship provides a holistic experience to mentorship. But this isn’t a competition of having more female mentors than male, or vice versa. There is value in having both, something that Fathima recognises and appreciates. And so does Nontokozo. “Isn’t not about being anti-men. We are simply, for women.”

Sipping coffee like a casual catch up, Nontokozo continued her story of her career path in Marketing, recounting how she was recruited by British American Tobacco. It was here where she learned about experiential learning. “This is where I learned how to be stretched,” she shared, describing how she now sees marketing as a simple formula: Solving a Problem + Being Emotional + Understanding People.

I see Marketing as problem-solving, and I’m clear that my role in Marketing is to solve problems, ask questions and disrupt thinking to shape ideas. Because generations need to find a way of accepting that the future is digital. – Nontokozo Madonsela

People, and the growth and development of people, was at the heart of this topic for these women. Mentorship is the guided movement of going from one point of your life to another, and Stephanie expressed her sense of gratitude to the women who had mentored her. “It has been women rallying and supporting me,” she warmly echoed during her interview, and it’s her words that defy the common narrative that women don’t want to help each other succeed. We do, and we will. It is only a matter of creating these opportunities for more women to be led by women.

Nontozoko exudes an energy that you can’t help but be captivated by. Throughout the interview, she’s friendly, lively and emanating a warmth that you feel will reignite career passions within yourself as you listen to her own career journey.

We have seen the stats – more women get into higher education institutions and job streams than men, and women generally outperform men. Yet few women actually find themselves in senior, executive positions within these spaces, particularly in South Africa. So what could we, as a nation, do to challenge this?

“Women must sell themselves,” was a point that Nontozoko raised. Moving up the corporate ladder is often a tough and lonely journey for women in South Africa. According to research by the Sirdar Group in 2018, only 21.8% of South African boards have a female director. While a number like this may sound disheartening, it certainly shouldn’t stop us from going into the spaces that we are called into.

“Sometimes, there will be resistance to this,” Nontokozo continued as she spoke about the challenges women face when wanting to advance themselves in their careers. And while some current narratives emphasise how women need to empower themselves, Rayhana posed a question directed more to men: “How do you, as a man, empower and create the change?” It was a question that lingered languidly in the air for a moment. Rayhana affectionately refers to herself as a “facilitator of change” and urges both men and women to do the same. 

We need to create platforms where women, across industries, can come together to learn from each other and talk honestly about the challenges we face. – Fathima Beckmann

Coming from Botswana, Stephanie enlightened us on the level of maturity the country has. It is one of the few African countries with a stable democracy, a high adult literacy rate and a nation rich with resources. She said it is also country where the number of women who are succeeding in the workplace is increasing. “But we still need more women in industries that have been traditionally male-dominated, like technology, and finance. This will help us balance the scales.”

We not only need more women in these industries across Africa – more importantly, we need them to succeed. And how this is accomplished is through constant and consistent collaboration.

“I remember being seconded to the office of Litha Nyhonyha, the Chairman of Regimans. He is my second, and most influential, mentor,” Rayhana recollects as she reflected on the individuals who guided her in her life. You can see the shift in her eyes, a fondness that takes over as she shares the pivotal part Litha played. “When I sat in front of him, he asked me if I was ready for the challenge that his demanding office was. And I told him that I would exceed his expectations – and then some!”

While women still face gender disparities at work, there are other common challenges that women encounter – from striking a balance between work and family to feeling the need to tone down their success in boardroom scenarios, how can women be more empowered and given the platform to grow into leadership roles?

“Firstly, women need to help each other,” Nontozoko answered. It’s true – we need more women at the top of corporations and businesses in South Africa, and Nontokozo calls on men to not just take a chance on us but to focus on inclusion, especially in the diverse thinking that women have to offer. “Women need to put their hands up,” Stephanie echoed, and you can almost feel the need to physically raise your hand as we sat with her in the boardroom during her interview. Doing so felt like an empowering expression of doing exactly that – owning the boardroom.

Botswana, for me, has given me all the tools I’ve acquired in my personal capacity to raise my hand and level the playing field. – Stephanie Stoneham

Rayhana spoke passionately about this burning issue. “There’s not enough women rising to the top in the Finance industry,” she shared, highlighting that we, as women, should not compete with one another. “Let’s transfer skills to one another,” was her challenge, along with her call for men to accept the undeniable fact that women will rise – no matter the pace – and those in leadership should do what is necessary to empower these women.

Tip: Learn more about financial services marketing trends in South Africa

The women we interviewed are, without a doubt, powerhouses in Marketing. They are breaking borders and barriers across Africa while still maintaining their own identities outside of the boardroom. Because at the end of the day, even Superwoman hangs up her high heels and cape to call it a day. 

“So, I’m 41.” This is how Nontokozo began her introduction. And she owned it unashamedly. As the room reverberated with her laughter, those three simple words paved a path for us to learn more about Nontokozo outside of being Momentum’s Group CMO. She’s proud to be a mother of two boys, and craves cuddles on Sundays, much like how the rest of Twitter does. But you can tell how comfortable and content Nontokozo is with herself and the woman she has become.

Much like how Stephanie has a passion for connecting people, so does Nontokozo, who loves to do this by hosting dinners in her home. And while you can find her indulging her inner Nigella Lawson for those close to her at home, she also values the time she takes to discover new wines and interesting places, like Cape Town’s very own Bombay Bicycle Club. 

I love to read! And study! I keep saying to myself ‘After this, it’s the last one! But it never really ends. I’m starting a leadership course, because ultimately, the world opens up to you when you have knowledge. – Rayhana Erasmus

With the utmost pride, Stephanie also indulged us on her love for running with us, particularly half marathons. She’s found a way to combine her love for people and running, and has even co-founded a running club that, today, has 60 people as members. But when she isn’t getting gold in the office or delivering keynotes, Stephanie fuses her love for unofficial mentorship and making an impact in people’s lives through coffee catch ups with aspiring marketers. It’s in creating these informal moments for young women to be themselves where Stephanie truly enjoys the help that she can provide.   

Fathima took us back to her part of her childhood that unlocked her love for literature. “I found that reading took me into incredible worlds and discoveries, and it was fascinating for me.” Books and learning – even Rayhana echoed how she empowered herself like this is a part of her passion. It isn’t all contracts and strategy meetings for these women. Their passion outside of the workplace only emphasise the greatness and well-roundedness of who these women are.

Marketers know how powerful, or pointless, hashtags can be in marketing strategies. Inspiration can strike from anywhere. For Nontokozo, “#NoApologyForMySuccess” stems from her own personal experience, an experience that perhaps many more women in Africa face. “Women apologize too much,” Nontozoko began, as she unpacked the process of coming up with the successful “Womentum” campaign.

But her passion for creativity and strategic thinking led her to start asking the question of “What’s that got to do with us [Momentum]? How can we connect this question to our proposition of connecting this to success?” What an important question to ask because it speaks to the very heart of Marketing – solving a problem. Any brand can ask themselves what does this particular experience have to do with us, but as soon as you can start connecting dots that begin to solve problems, you are doing Marketing.

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

Perhaps Marketing may not be your particular career path, but there is something within yourself that you love. Find what moves you, and when you do, move passionately.

“As a woman, you also got to understand what fuels you. So whether that’s gym, or business, or cooking. Whatever it may be, do those things! You’ve got to go out there and do those things because that’s your creative soul food,” Fathima advised. Much like how all of these women have identities outside of their work in Marketing or Communications, these identities have various passions and hobbies that should be fed and worked on so that you become a multidimensional yet holistic woman.

I promise you, it takes a village. Our success is not in individual success. Our success is because of the people around us. – Fathima Beckmann

Rayhana was fueled by her answer to her previous mentor, Litha: “I will exceed your expectations, and then some!” And it is this answer that we hope sparks something within you.

These women – powerhouses in their own right yet connected through similar experiences of working hard to rise to the top of their careers – have imparted wise words of wisdom that serve not merely as advice but as little matches that we hope you will add fire in lighting your career paths. Women are natural leaders; our interviews with some of the Top Women in Marketing in Africa have proven so.

And we hope that wherever you are in your career, this article gives you enough fuel to face your challenges at work, and exceed expectations – and then some!

Empowering Africa: The Women Who Are Rising and Inspiring Us All

Digital marketers move fast to keep pace with the digital marketing channels they are managing, and to help them do so, they’ve developed a language of their own. From CPA to CMO, CTR to CTO, it’s easy to get your marketing terms or definitions mixed up. You may think someone is speaking about email marketing but they could very well be chatting out their paid advertising strategy. 

We built this glossary of the most important digital marketing and social media marketing terms and definitions to help you keep it all straight during your next team huddle. The keywords, terms and definitions stretch across a variety of digital marketing channels as well as traditional marketing channels.  

An overview of the marketing terms and definitions covered include:

What are marketing terms and why are they important?

Whether you are new to marketing or a veteran, understanding the jargon can be a little confusing. With a multitude of acronyms, like CPC or words like newsjacking, it’s crucial to understand what everything means to make the best-informed decisions. Here are the terms and statistics you must know. 

Digital marketing: A comprehensive and loose term that refers to marketing that utilizes various digital channels to build brand awareness and ultimately generate customers. Fifty percent of companies surveyed by Smart Insights and TFM&A say they use it but lack a defined strategy.

Brand positioning: The way you differentiate yourself from your competitors and how consumers identify and connect with your brand. It’s comprised of the key qualities and values that are synonymous with your company. It can be conveyed through tone of voice, visual design, and how you represent your brand online. 

Brand awareness: This is the degree to which consumers recognize your brand. It’s a key step in promoting your brand and a big part in your social media strategy.

Demand generation: The use of paid, owned and earned channels to produce awareness and interest in a company's offerings through the use of technology.

Sales enablement: Sales enablement is a combination of coaching, tools and content to help your sales team be more efficient and effective. Your sales team needs to be properly enabled to carry out a successful sales strategy. 

Account-based marketing (ABM): According to Optimizely, ABM is a business marketing strategy that concentrates resources on a set of target accounts within a market. It uses personalized campaigns designed to engage each account, basing the marketing message on the specific attributes and needs of the account.

Lead nurturing: Lead nurturing is the process of educating and building trust with your prospects in order to guide them through the buyer’s journey. The ultimate goal of lead nurturing is to provide your prospects with a unique experience that keeps them coming back for more — and eventually converts them into customers.

Closed-loop marketing: The use of analytics and data throughout a customer’s lifecycle to improve marketing and sales strategies. To “close the loop", marketing and sales teams unify their reporting and strategies to generate higher ROI. Considering 69 percent of CEOs believe they are wasting money marketing initiatives, according to Forbes, the majority of marketers have adopted closed-loop marketing in one form or another.

Content marketing: Similar to inbound marketing, content marketing is the use and distribution of content that provides valuable information to help a company grow and retain website visitors and customers. Altimeter cites that 70 percent of marketers do not have a consistent or integrated content strategy.

Contextual marketing: Contextual marketing refers to any advertising or tailored marketing messages that are based on the user’s demographic or behavioral data. When in-house marketers are able to quantify ROI and use a personalized website, they see a 19 percent increase in sales (Monetate/eConsultancy).To deliver contextually relevant information, you need to understand the psychographics of your buyer personas to know how to speak to them and what content will resonate with them.

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM): Word-of-mouth marketing (or word-of-mouth advertising) are the actions taken by a business to motivate others to spontaneously talk about their products, services, or brand. Word-of-mouth marketing also refers to the actions of those who are sharing their experiences and recommending others on your behalf. And these days, 64% of marketing executives believe word of mouth is the most effective form of marketing.

Email marketing: The use of email and email performance benchmarks to reach prospects, customers and evangelists. Email marketing leads are rated as high quality by 40 percent of B2B marketers (Software Advice Survey).

Inbound marketing: A marketing strategy that builds interesting and valuable content to attract the attention of people to your company. Tactics include blogging, social media, and SEO. 

Marketing automation: The use of software and technology to streamline various marketing channels and make them automated. Over 50 percent of top-performing companies have adopted marketing automation (Forrester).

Marketing channel: A way of moving products or services from the producer to the consumer. Marketing channels can be direct, indirect, or a combination of both. For example, a company may rely on distributors to sell its product but also use a company website to drive sales directly. According to a survey from 2014, 48 percent of marketers say search-optimized websites are the most effective channel for distributing their product or service (Statista).

Native advertising: The placement of a brand, product, or service where the ad appears in the same context of the user interface. It’s almost like an ad in disguise because the marketing content blends with the content on the third-party application. A study published on Adweek found that 57 percent of millennials are OK with sponsored content, which is really another term for native advertising, but only if it is interesting.

Search engine marketing: A marketing tactic that works to grow a website’s online presence through traffic from search engines. Nearly 100 percent (93 percent to be exact) of online experiences start with search engines (ImForza).

Buyer’s journey: The process a prospective customer goes through to reach your product or service, consider it and evaluate it. It involves three critical stages: Awareness, consideration and decision. Your sales team will work closely in each stage to personalize the message to add value to a potential buyer. 

Buyer persona: As defined by HubSpot, “A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.” A specific persona will help you determine where to focus your efforts. Using a buyer/marketing persona makes 2 to 5 times more effective and easier to use by ideal users.

Editorial calendar: Helps marketers to plan development, publish and distribute the content of various types. An editorial calendar helps marketers to carry out their overall content marketing strategy. 

Content mapping: Allows marketers to be more personalized and timely in delivering content by mapping existing and required content needed for each buyer persona and buyer’s journey. Its intentions are to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time, 

SMART Goals: A common goal-setting framework used in marketing. The acronym “SMART” stands for specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, and timely. It establishes a strong foundation for success. 

Bid: The total amount that you will pay for a keyword on paid search for top placement. Insurance industry keywords have been found to be the most expensive keywords (WordStream).

Call extensions/ click-to-call: A feature of paid search ads that includes the business phone number on the add. With click-to-call, the user can click the phone number to make the call.

Clicks: The total number of users who actually click the ad or paid search result. 95% of ad clicks on mobile devices go to Google Ads’ campaigns (Source).

Cost-per-click (CPC): The amount of money paid for each click-through to the company’s website that an advertisement generates on search engines or other publication websites. The average cost-per-click on the AdWords search network is between $1 and $2 (WordStream).

Cost-per-conversions (CPA): This term, in relation to paid Facebook and Twitter ads, is the amount of money paid per converted event. The term, as it relates to Adwords, is the total cost of generating clicks or impressions divided by the total amount of conversions.

Cost-per-impression (CPI): The amount of money paid for each view of an advertisement rather than paying per click. This method of tracking ROI is most relevant to paid social promotions since Google AdWords calculates based on cost-per-thousand. CPM helps to determine other calculations for ads such as CPC (cost per click) and the CTR (click-through rate). Facebook advertising costs is $7.19 per 1000 impressions

Cost-per-thousand (CPM): A tracking metric only relevant to the Google AdWords display network, cost-per-thousand is the amount of money paid per thousand impressions with the maximum being a set bid. If a website publisher charges $2.00 CPM, that means an advertiser must pay $2.00 for every 1,000 impressions of its ad.

Display ads: A digital marketing advertising method that uses rich media and graphic advertising through banners, videos, images, flash, and audio. Display advertising is used in paid search.

Display network: The display network is a channel on Google Ads that uses a collection of partner websites to present text and banner ads based on filtering partner sites relevant to the company, the user’s keywords and searches or past engagement with the company. Display Network sites reach over 90% of Internet users worldwide (Source).

Impressions: The total number of internet users who see your ad, no matter if it was clicked or not. The pricing is generally established per 1,000 impressions. In other words, you pay a set amount for your ad to appear 1,000 times on the site for various users (Source).

Paid Search: A form of advertising where search engines, like Google, or allow advertisers to show their ads on the search engine result pages (SERP). Paid search works on a pay-per-click basis, meaning you only pay when someone clicks your ad for a given keyword.

Paid media: This is an umbrella term for any media attention that is paid for and includes marketing tactics such as social media ads, paid content promotion, pay per click, television ads, radio ads and direct mail. 68% of marketers stated that paid advertising is "very important" or "extremely important" to their overall marketing strategy (HubSpot, 2020).

Remarketing: This is used to present targeted ads to website visitors or existing customers around the internet when they aren’t actively looking for your company. Retargeting on Google Display Network Reaches More than 90% of All Internet Users. Everywhere (Source).

View-through conversion: The number of visitors who saw a Google Adwords ad and did not click, but later visited the landing page. The reporting data can be used to understand which sites work well for display-oriented placement-targeted campaigns. Another benefit is you can optimize your campaign performance based on how users are responding to your display ads, even if they don't click. Thus, the view-through conversion rate provides a more accurate measure of ad effectiveness.

Blog: As a noun, a blog is a web page that is written to inform and educate readers. For many companies, it has become a source of business from digital channels. Marketers who make blogging a priority are 13X more likely to have positive ROI (HubSpot).

Call-to-action (CTA): A message in the form of text-only or as a banner image that instructs the reader to take the next step. Calls-to-action is a critical part of your content marketing because they help convert all that site traffic you're driving through content creation into actual contacts in your database. A personalized CTA converts 42 percent better than a general CTA (HubSpot).

Clickthrough rate: According to HubSpot, a clickthrough rate (CTR) is one of the metrics that show how engaged readers are with your content. Did they click on the CTA at the end of the blog post? Did that visitor turn into a lead? Did they even open the post? This data can inform how you approach content creation, giving insight into which content types and subject matters are most appealing to your readers -- and even what type of copy they enjoy reading.

Conversion path: The path a user takes to convert into a lead or customer from the time they are referred to your website to the actual conversion on a landing page. Once again, there isn’t much data around this topic, so I thought I’d share that it’s estimated that at any given time 7 percent of the world’s population is drunk (are you a part of that 7 percent as you read this?).

Dynamic Content: This is a way to display different messaging on your website based on the information you already know about the visitor.

Ebook: A long-form type of content that goes in-depth on a specific topic. Marketers use Ebooks to generate leads and is generally a gated asset. Sixty percent of business decision-makers say company content helps them make a better product decision (Content Marketing Institute).

Evergreen content: Content that will remain relevant today and in the future to your readers. Evergreen content is a content marketer’s best friend because of the high SEO value provided. One case study published on MoZ showed that an evergreen piece of content helped was able to grow social shares of that article from 127 in the first year to 631 social shares a year later (MoZ).

Infographic: A visual representation of content, data, or insights. It is a popular content format because it relays complex information in an easy to read format.  

Keywords: Keywords are what search engine user inputs when looking for information. Keywords are important for content marketers because the keywords your target audience is typing into search engines are typically good topics to create content about. Spend some time carefully, and analytically, picking keywords (both short and long-tail) to optimize your content and website pages. Keywords also play a big role in your SEO strategy. 

Landing page:  A web page that is designed to help convert a website visitor into a lead or customer. Although they are considered the least popular type of signup form, they have the highest conversion rate (23%) (HubSpot)

Newsjacking: Newsjacking refers to the practice of capitalizing on the popularity of a news story to amplify the impact of a piece of content. Next time you come across a big news story that has a tie-in to your industry, see if you can find a way to cover it with your own helpful, relevant spin. (HubSpot)

Podcast: A series or single recording of an audio file that can be downloaded online and is a very popular marketing channel. In 2019, over half of all Americans listened to a podcast, with over 30% tuning in to podcasts on at least a monthly basis. With Meltwater’s new podcast integration, we are adding over 3,000 new podcasts to the platform every day, from over a dozen languages Podcasts now reach over 100 million Americans every month. (Edison Research, 2020) (HubSpot)
Helpful podcasts: The 19 Best Tech Podcasts You Should Be Listening To, 10 PR Podcasts to Help You Get Better at PR, The 20 Best Finance Podcasts 2023, The 13 Best Retail Podcasts 2023, The 18 Best Social Media Podcasts 2023, The Best eCommerce Podcasts to Listen to in 2023, The 13 Best Marketing Podcasts 2023, The Best Shopify Podcasts To Boost Your Sales, The 14 Best SEO Podcasts 2023

Visual content: This refers to any type of content to easily attract your audience. For example, infographics, stat cards, or videos. 

Webinar: In a webinar, participants are able to share visuals or presentations online. It is a real-time conversation on a specific topic and is the most popular channel used by marketers to generate leads. Webinars can be as short as 45 minutes or as long as a two-day series. Webinars are also a great opportunity to for marketers to invest in influencer marketing. 

Social media marketing: The use of social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube to grow traffic to a website or grow brand awareness. People spend 2 hours and 23 minutes daily on social media browsing and messaging (GlobalWebIndex). Additionally, 98.55% of people use at least four social media channels daily (GoodFirms).

Facebook: Social networking site that allows users to connect and stay in touch with friends and family. Facebook users spend 38 minutes per day using the platform. (SocialPilot)

Followers: On social media sites, someone who opts in to receive your updates. The most followed brand on Instagram is Nike with 96.9 million followers.

Hashtags: A keyword or phrase on social media that begins with a hash (#) or pound sign. While a statistic on hashtags was hard to come by, one of the most popular and longest-running hashtags of all time is #followfriday. This hashtag was used to give a shout out to those worthy of following. Anyone else remembers the days of the #followfriday hashtag?

Instagram: A social networking platform geared around sharing images and short videos. U.S. marketers spend 31% of their Instagram ad budget on Stories and the rest 69% for newsfeed. (SocialPilot)

Likes: Basically, it is a thumbs up on Facebook. McDonald's Facebook page has 80 million likes.

LinkedIn: A social networking site designed for business professionals to connect, collaborate and share information. There are 303 million monthly active users on LinkedIn. (99 Firms) and HubSpot found that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost 277% higher than Facebook and Twitter. (HubSpot)

Pinterest: A social networking site that allows users to pin and share images and other rich media to a board. Eighty-five percent of Pinterest usage happens on a mobile device (Sprout Social).

Twitter: A network for information that is limited to 280, a high number compared to the original 140 character messages. An average of 9,000 tweets are sent every second (Internet Live Stats).

YouTube: A social networking and search engine site for videos. YouTube is the second-largest search engine globally. (HubSpot)

Reach: The exposure a brand gets across social media platforms. This is the total number of people actively following a brand through various platforms. 

Retweet: A forwarded or reposted tweet.Tweets with images receive 18% more click-throughs, 89% more likes, and 150% more retweets. (SocialPilot)

Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click an element or link in an email, ad, or web page. A high CTR is a good indication that users find your ads helpful and relevant. You can use CTR to gauge which ads and keywords are successful for you and which need to be improved. The more your keywords and ads relate to each other and to your business, the more likely a user is to click on your ad after searching on your keyword phrase.

Bounce rate: A term found in Google Analytics, which is defined by Google as, “Bounce Rate is the percentage of single-page sessions (i.e. sessions in which the person left your site from the entrance page without interacting with the page).” According to SEMrush, bounce rate is the 4th most important ranking factor on SERPs.

Direct traffic: Traffic that comes directly to your website, which means the user types your website URL directly into their browser and does not come from a referral link; blog, social media, or third-party websites. 

Entrances: A tracking metric on Google Analytics for the total number of website visitors who entered on a specific page. 

Exit percentage: A tracking metric on Google Analytics for the percentage of people who exit your website through a particular page. It is different from the bounce rate because the exit rate calculates those who may have entered on any website page but excited on that particular page. There is no statistic to share here, but instead a tip. Exit percentage can be a good indicator of where website visitors drop off your site, so track and analyze your pages with the highest exit rates to optimize.

Lead-to-customer rate: The percentage of leads that convert into a customer. 74% of companies say converting leads into customers is their top priority (Hubspot)

Marketing analytics: The measurement and analysis of marketing activities to help improve performance. Google Analytics is the top SEO tool used by marketers. (HubSpot, 2020) 

Open rate: The number of people that open an email campaign compared to the total number of recipients. At 30.5% in 2020, government emails dominate email open rates globally. (HubSpot, 2020) 

Organic search traffic: Traffic that comes from a search engine, which means that the user typed in a search query and clicked on your website in the search results. The majority of companies (67%) use organic traffic to measure their content success. (HubSpot, 2020) 

Referral traffic: Traffic that comes from a referring website outside of the company’s website domain and subdomains, like a blog or social media. If the New York Times writes an article about your company and links to your website, this is considered referral traffic. Referral traffic can help to improve your website’s overall search engine rankings when referral links are quality links. With UTM tracking, it’s also possible to determine which sites and social profiles are generating the most traffic for your website.

Sources: The various avenues that bring website visitors, leads and customers to a company. A source can be online and from sources such as organic search or email marketing, but it can also come from an offline event such as a trade show or cold call. Today, mobile traffic accounts for almost 50 percent of total traffic for U.S. retailers (Statista).

Submission rate: The percentage of people who fill out a form on a landing page relative to the total people who view the page. 

Visitor-to-lead rate: The percentage of website visitors that complete a target action. Typically, a web form is completed to turn a visitor into a lead. The top 10 percent of HubSpot customers achieve a 2.20 percent visit-to-lead conversion rate (HubSpot).

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