Source[De]Coded: 👤 Get ahead of the competition

Well, we’ve hit the unofficial start of summer. I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend. We’re buzzing away over here working on a few more new products (did you catch our Demand Cloud announcement last week?), some other marketing initiatives (which may or may not include a snazzy new designed website), and still marveling at the Homebase client team who has just locked down their 4th award for the work we’re doing for together. Yea, you read that right…fourth. 🤓

Before we dive into the newsletter, a few notes – 

1. Are you headed to Cannes or Collision? If so, let us know! We’ll be on the ground in Toronto and Cannes. 
2. We’re still hiring! Reach out to us if you know someone great.

This week, we’re getting back to basics. We looked at how post timing can impact engagement, how Samsung jumped on Apple’s crush advertising blunder, and some interesting counterpoints on traditional web page layout ‘truths’. 

Enjoy, team! See ya in two weeks.

Greg & Becky

Find your perfect timing: Here are the best times to post to social platforms in 2024

TL;DR: Posting at optimal times when your audience is online is key to maximizing social media engagement. Sprout Social analyzed social content from its over 34,000 customers to understand when content was most and least frequently engaged with by platform and industry.

Takeaway: Sprout’s study found that key times to post on social were on weekdays across all social networks. Facebook sees the highest engagement from mid-morning to early afternoons (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Instagram’s highest engagement was mid-week (Tues/Wed/Thurs) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. LinkedIn also peaked mid-week from 10 a.m. to noon, whereas TikTok saw peak engagement from 2 to 5 p.m. on weekdays as well as on Saturdays. Overall, data showed posting on Sundays should be avoided. That said, these stats may not match up with how your own audience performs. Make sure to take this data with a grain of salt, and don’t hesitate to experiment or pivot.

Consider:

• What times are you currently sharing content? Are you seeing positive results during those times?
• Have you tried pivoting your post times? Start by rescheduling posts into these times that are strategically proven to have higher engagement.

Think fast: How Samsung turned Apple’s controversy into its success

TL;DR: As mentioned in the last newsletter, Apple missed the mark with their ‘Crush’ iPad Pro ad which they later had to apologize for after so much public upset. In a quick turnaround, Samsung promoted its latest product line in an ad spot called ‘Creativity Cannot Be Crushed,’ taking a not-so-subtle jab at Apple’s campaign. 

Takeaway: People were really upset about Apple’s original ad, and even those who weren’t were at least talking about it, which is why swooping in on the tail of Apple’s buzz added so much potential for Samsung. Sometimes it’s all about who can produce quickest. Furthermore, Samsung’s approach to the ad – having a musician pick up the guitar that was supposedly crushed by Apple’s hydraulic press – positioned them as the antithesis of Apple. They’re embracing the creativity that consumers want to maintain, while supplementing it with their tech (instead of replacing it, like Apple). Samsung won out by being quick to understand what audiences want, create something uniquely competitive, and publish quickly.

Consider:

• What are your competitors doing that consumers hate? How can you position yourself as the antihero?
• How can you become more efficient and quick at creating? The best responses are often real-time reactions. If a major company like Samsung can do it, you can too.

Enhance engagement: Tactics and techniques to use to get more users scrolling through your content

TL;DR: Did you know that in A/B tests, long webpages often outperform shorter pages? Conversion Rate Experts tested it and found that longer pages could outperform by up to 52%. Through constant testing, understanding page folds, identifying what users see, and employing techniques to encourage scrolling, they were able to increase a page’s conversion rate by 36%.

Takeaway: In short, think about Amazon’s product pages. They’re quite long, but they contain all the potential questions any buyer might have when landing on a page and they’re often considered the world’s most successful online retailer. You should first identify what customers are seeing – whether it’s throughout the whole page, when they scroll on mobile, or simply the “above the fold” content users see without scrolling. Then, once you know what’s leading user behaviors, use one of many techniques to encourage users to scroll. But remember: all these techniques will only work if you first produce great content. Hacks and tricks won’t help bad content.

Consider:

• One of the tactics we love is making it clear that there’s more on the page, to keep users scrolling. This might look like a simple down arrow or emoji, or it could be a live scroller as you flow through the page.
• Another great tactic is adding “click to scroll” functionality, aka linking to lower parts of the page at the start. This gives users an easy way to jump to the content they care about without getting lost within the page.