WEB-STIL

I know the impact of ignoring buyer’s journey keywords all too well. Early in my SEO career, I generated two million clicks for an ecommerce store. The client and I were thrilled. The graph on Google Search Console was trending strongly up.

The problem? I couldn’t quantify a single sale from two million visitors. I had no idea how to generate a keyword strategy for buyers.

I learned my lesson the hard way. Now, everything I do in SEO is centered around the buyer and the end goal: a sale. Using buyer journey keywords, I can better quantify the value of my work. I know which landing page converts and which keywords influence sales, and I can quantify the monetary contribution articles had on sales. Keep reading to learn how.

Table of Contents

• The Role of the Buyer’s Journey in Keyword Research
• Keyword Intents for Each Buyer’s Journey Stage
• How to Do Keyword Research for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
• Tips for Doing Keyword Research Aligned With the Buyer’s Journey

The Role of the Buyer’s Journey in Keyword Research

Source

The buyer’s journey includes the steps a potential buyer will take before they purchase. SEOs who want to serve buyers and sell products or services need to understand the buyer journey to effectively strategize content.

Generally, the buyer journey will have three stages:

• Identification = pain and problem awareness
• Consideration = solution awareness
• Decision = provider aware

Sometimes, it’s represented in a funnel, known as the marketing or conversion funnel. I’ve placed an image of one below. You may also know these stages as:

• Awareness = Top of Funnel (ToFu)
• Consideration = Middle of Funnel (MoFu)
• Conversion = Bottom of Funnel (BoFu)

Understanding buyer’s journey keywords will pivot your SEO strategy from clicks to revenue, which matters for every business. Google is serving more of your potential buyers with AI overviews, which appear in 47% of results. Now, people can just read the AIO without clicking a link. So, SEOs must be tactical to win clicks and conversions.

Keyword Intents for Each Buyer’s Journey Stage

Each buyer journey stage has a separate need that you need to meet by matching the right keywords to the right stage. Meeting the buyer at different stages on their journey isn’t always about sealing the deal but building relationships.

In the State of Marketing survey, HubSpot found that marketers believe that building connections across the buyer’s journey and developing relationships at scale introduces new operational needs.

Awareness

The buyer has identified a problem but doesn’t fully understand it or doesn’t know a solution exists. They are seeking general information or education to clarify the issue. This stage is about discovery and research.

This stage of the buyer journey needs helpful, educational content to better understand the problem or opportunity.

Keywords for this buyer journey will be problem-based and question-driven, such as “how to,” “why does,” or “what is.” These terms align with the buyer’s intent to learn and explore their situation without feeling sold to.

Here’s an example of a buyer in the awareness stage and the keywords to support them.

Consider that a buyer in the awareness stage is using keywords about a problem. For example, a sales manager might research:

• Why doesn’t my team follow up with leads?
• How to motivate a sales team.
• Processes to manage leads.

During this stage, content wants to educate the buyer. While this top-of-funnel content might not seem the most impactful for sales, according to Hubspot’s State of Marketing survey, the website and blog are some of the most effective channels for ROI.

Consideration

The buyer understands the problem and is exploring different approaches or solutions. They are actively researching options and comparing them.

This stage of the buyer journey needs solutions and guidance on which route might be best for them.

Keywords for this buyer journey will be comparison and solution-oriented keywords like “best tools for,” “top strategies,” “[solution] versus [solution]” or “solution to [problem].” These help your content show up when the buyer is evaluating ways to solve their issue.

Here’s an example of a buyer in the consideration stage and the keywords to support them.

Let’s stick with the example of a buyer looking for a CRM. In the consideration stage, they will know what their options are, and they might be overwhelmed. They are looking for support and want help weighing up solutions.

Conversion

The buyer is ready to make a decision and take action. They’ve narrowed down their options and are looking for reassurance, offers, or reasons to choose your product or service.

This stage of the buyer journey needs to reassure the buyer’s confidence in your solution and make conversion easy and tempting.

Keywords for this buyer journey will be targeted, intent-driven keywords like “buy,” “get a quote,” “pricing,” or “[product/service] near me.” These align with transactional searches and indicate the buyer is close to making a purchase.

Here’s an example of a buyer in the conversion stage.

If looking for a CRM, the buyer is ready to click “Start Free Trial.”

The key things to understand are:

• Every buyer goes through a series of stages before they buy.
• Not every buyer starts at the awareness phase.
• The three stages above could be considered broad stages, and each has its own nuance, varying by industry, business, customer, and more. You need to understand your buyer’s journey before you can serve them.
• At each stage, buyers have different needs.

How to Do Keyword Research for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Now you understand the context of the buyer journey, each phase, and some ideas of keywords, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step process of how I do keyword research for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

When doing keyword research, it’s tempting to start from the top with the awareness stage, but I reverse this process and start at the bottom buyer journey stage, conversion. I start with conversion for two main reasons:

1. Conversion-driven keywords are the most important.
2. Starting with conversion keywords keeps me focused. You can quickly become overwhelmed by the content opportunities starting ToFu.

Stick with me as I share the complete guide.

Step 1: Prepare a Google document.

I love to record my buyer journey keyword strategy on Google Sheets. For now, you don’t need to do anything fancy.

Simply set up a document and save it somewhere safe. You will use this document to import all your keyword research.

Step 2: Identify your bottom-funnel keyword.

There are many ways to gather bottom-funnel keywords. If you have a strong and well-managed ads account, start there.

Use Google Ads to identify buyer journey keywords for bottom-funnel keywords.

To find keywords that convert, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Google Ads.
2. Click “Insights and Reports,” then “Search Terms.”
3. Filter the table by the highest conversions.

The screenshot above shows a redacted Ads account for one of my clients. It shows the steps you take to find the keywords.

I want to note that not all keywords in the ads account work. The highest-converting keyword is excluded because although it received conversions, it didn’t get sales. The ads manager excluded this keyword, so SEO should likely exclude it, too.

Top tip: Many of the highest-converting keywords will include your brand name. You will be ranking for these anyway, so don’t focus on them. Choose keywords that you need to work on to increase rankings.

Research buyer journey keywords using SEO tools.

SEO tools such as Semrush offer insights into keywords, volumes, and intent. There are many on the market, but my favorite is Semrush, so I’ll demonstrate this stage using Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

On your chosen keyword research tool, add your head keyword. Your head keyword will be the product or service you are selling.

For this example, I’ve chosen “CRM.” Many keyword research tools allow you to filter results, including “transactional” keywords, which are likely to convert.

You need to:

1. Identify your head keyword.
2. Search it in your keyword tool.
3. Filter results by “transactional” intent keywords.
4. Manually review keywords, choosing the keywords that work for your business.

Top tip: Don’t worry too much about search volume and keyword difficulty. Generally, conversion keywords are the most difficult to rank for and often have lower search volumes. Remember the funnel from earlier? The smallest section is at the bottom, as users at this point in the buyer journey reduce.

Research buyer journey keywords using Google Search Console and G4.

Google Search Console is not the easiest way of identifying buyer journey keywords, but it is free, so I’ve included it.

To determine whether a keyword is helping you make sales, you need to understand how users engage with the pages the keyword drives traffic to.

First, let’s find pages that convert.

1. Log in to G4.
2. Navigate to Reports
3. Navigate to Life Cycle > Engagement> Landing Page Report
4. Filter by revenue

Take your highest-performing pages and analyze the URL in Google Search Console (GSC).

1. Log in to Google Search Console.
2. Go to Search Results.
3. Click “Add Filter.”
4. Add a page.
5. Add the URL.

GSC will filter all keywords generating clicks for the page input. Review the keywords and identify if keywords are likely to result in a sale.

Top tip: Google Search Console won’t tell you which keywords are converting, so you’ll need to use some common sense.

Step 3: Conduct keyword research for middle funnel (consideration) buyer journey keywords.

From the stage above, you should have a list of keywords that you’d love to rank for. These are your bottom-funnel or conversion keywords.

Generally, these keywords are used on:

• Product pages
• Service pages
• Conversion-driven landing pages

Later, I’ll discuss keyword mapping so you know exactly where to place your keywords.

Before creating more content, though, I like to ensure I have the content available to support bottom-funnel pages in a way that builds E-E-A-T. I like to start with the next most important item, which is content that fits the middle-funnel buyer’s journey: Consideration.

The type of content we can use for keyword research includes:

• Case studies.
• Reviews.
• Some articles.

You likely already have these pages on your website. I might take these pages and put them into Google Search Console to see if I can find any relevant keywords. To do this, use the steps above for keyword research and filter by page.

Important note: Your review keywords are really important and often missed by brands. I see too many websites that lack a review page and therefore give clicks away to review sites or even social media. You want a page on your website that showcases your reviews and manages your brand narrative.

Top tip: If you don’t find much in terms of keywords and search volume, don’t worry too much. Not every piece of content for the buyer journey has to be for SEO. Some content can be shared with other marketing departments via email, for example.

Step 4: Conduct keyword research for top funnel (awareness) buyer journey keywords.

Finally, I identify keywords for the awareness buyer journey stage.

Visualize the funnel from earlier. The funnel shape provides a visual for the traffic volumes at each stage of the buyer journey. Awareness is at the largest point of the funnel because it has the most searches, keywords, and users. As you get further down the funnel, it narrows because the audience gets smaller.

To do keyword research for this phase, I go back to Semrush, following the steps above, and navigate to the Keyword Magic Tool. I remove filters for the intent and look at Questions as well as keywords to see which keywords inspire content.

Important note: The tools do a fantastic job of providing keyword inspiration, but there is no replacement for talking to customers and your peers. Ask sales what types of questions people ask. Find out exactly who your target audience is and what they need from you. It’s very easy to get distracted at this stage. You must create content that your audience needs.

Creating the right content and targeting the keywords your audience needs has never been more important. With the rise of AI, top-funnel keywords get far fewer clicks as AI overviews serve the buyer. You need every click to count.

Step 5: Understand search intent and SERP analysis.

These next two steps are my favorites.

You might already have an idea of where you’re going to use your keywords. Bottom-funnel keywords are generally pretty self-explanatory. “Demo CRM,” for example, clearly needs to go to a page where a CRM can be demoed.

Many keywords won’t be as self-explanatory, though.

I like to use Google in private browsing, so the search engine results pages (SERPs) are not tailored to my usual search history.

Let’s Google “best CRM for sales and marketing teams,” and I’ll show you how I analyze the SERPs.

Here’s what I’m thinking when I look at these SERPs:

• Which pages are ranking? Looking at the organic listings, all pages, bar the top result, are product pages with “demo” or “free” in the URL and or title tag.
• Which SERP features are available? I can see People Also Ask, videos, and review snippets.
• Priority is given to the Zapier round-up article and videos.

From this information, you can gather:

• The type of page you need to rank (a product page).
• Components to include on the page (video, questions, aggregateRatings schema).
• Videos are a high priority and should be added.

What you’re doing here is using Google’s “understanding” of the searcher’s needs to determine what they want and what you’ll create to meet it.

Google has a complex algorithm dedicated to providing helpful content to its users. Google’s success in being helpful and providing quality information is paramount to its success as a search engine. It’s fairly safe to assume Google has search intent right.

Mimic the content Google is prioritizing (but do it in your own way), and you’ll likely meet user needs.

Step 6: Map keywords to pages.

As an extension of the step above, correctly map buyer journey keywords to the right content. This is called keyword mapping. You assign keywords to the page that have the highest possible chance of ranking.

Once you’ve done the first step, you need to correctly identify your supporting keywords.

A good example to illustrate this point is People Also Ask. I often see websites that see each FAQ as its own page or article, but this isn’t always the most efficient way to map keywords.

For the search “road bike for women,” People Also Ask provides the following questions:

• What is the best road bike for ladies?
• What size road bike do I need for a woman?
• Which bike is best for females?
• Are road bikes good for weight loss?

It would be a mistake to use the keywords “What is the best road bike for ladies?” and “Which bike is best for females?” as keywords for the same article.

You can see this in your SERP analysis. When Googled, you can see the ranking articles.

There is one commonality, but the rest of the articles are different. The keyword “What is the best road bike for ladies?” is more nuanced, bringing up results that mention “road,” whereas the other keyword is more general.

Important note: Although this search is an excellent guide, sometimes you need to use common sense and do what is right by your values and business. For example, if you only sell road bikes, you might choose to cluster those keywords together.

I like to record my buyer journey keyword map in Google Sheets. Here’s what my sheet looks like:

I record a draft title, the page’s focus keyword, and supporting keywords. This way, when I write the content, I know where the keywords are mapped.

If you want more support with SEO content writing, HubSpot’s SEO Marketing Software allows you to optimize your content within one easy-to-use-tool.

Tips for Doing Keyword Research Aligned With the Buyer’s Journey

Finally, here are some final tips to help you feel confident about keyword research aligned with the buyer journey.

Ask customers what they searched to find you.

This tip is easy to implement, especially in B2B, because the person on the other end of the phone likely understands. If you work in marketing, there’s a good chance the buyer will also respect your diligence.

Once you’ve built a good rapport with the prospect, ask them what they searched for to find you.

This information will give you exactly the type of keyword your buyers are searching for.

Start with buyer needs.

If you follow my process for buyer journey keyword research detailed above, you’ll do this, but I can’t stress enough the importance of starting with buyer needs. It’s very tempting to go to the tools and start finding keywords, but you really want to hone in on conversions and scale back from there, discovering impactful keywords that actually help your buyer.

Talk to sales and customer service representatives.

No one knows your customers like sales and customer service. Ask them which questions buyers ask frequently and what you can do in content to address common apprehensions and build trust.

Remember to repurpose content.

Although keywords and SEO are incredibly important, it takes time to rank in the top spots of Google. In the meantime, get content out to your users through other means: ads, emails, social media, etc.

Refer to Google Search Console regularly.

Google Search Console (GSC) data updates frequently. Keep a close eye on keywords you search, clicks, and impressions. Look for new opportunities to add more keywords to your content.

I like to look at high impressions and low clicks to spot keywords people are searching for.

Feeling conflicted about SERPs? Do the integral thing.

Sometimes, you’ll encounter a keyword map or SERP analysis that doesn’t quite feel right. You should always do what’s right for your buyer and business.

I always say that you should do the integral thing first. You might be surprised at what you can rank, even if the SERPs aren’t quite in line with what you want to create. You can always come back and compromise later.

Buyer Journey Keyword Strategy Helps You Qualify Content’s Role

SEO is notorious for being tricky in tracking its contribution to sales. It’s not like ads where you have keywords with sales assigned. Instead, you can only really assign click quantities.

However, there is a major benefit to buyer journey keywords: you know that not everything is created to convert. Some keywords are used on pages that convert, and others are there to build awareness. This means you can alter your tracking accordingly.

• For ToFu pieces, track clicks, impressions, newsletter signups, and return visitors.
• Use segment gap analysis to establish content (and therefore keywords) that contribute to the buyer journey and sales. You can create two segments: purchasers and users who viewed an article and bought it after X time. This helps show the role of content and keywords on the buyer journey..
• Track sales from bottom-funnel pages gaining clicks from bottom-funnel keywords.
• Monitor pages that are generating revenue and ranking only for non-brand keywords.
• Use ad data to determine SEO’s impact. If something converts in ads, then it likely converts organically, too.

Turn Your SEO Strategy Into a Revenue-Generating Machine With Buyer Journey Keywords

Since using buyer journey keywords and building a strategy from the bottom-funnel keyword, I’ve felt much happier with my SEO.

Upward trending graphs are still deeply fulfilling and exciting, but the benefit of generating revenue (and being able to prove it) is far superior.

Facebook ads can be incredibly powerful — when they’re done right. Most marketers say it consistently delivers a better ROI than any other social media platform.

There’s just one catch — you need a solid Facebook ad strategy in place before you dive in. Otherwise, Meta’s evolving algorithms, changing audience expectations, and the nuance of different ad types can make things expensive fast.

I work with clients every day who use Facebook ads and rely heavily on ad experts who stay current on best practices. To help you develop a smarter, more effective Facebook ad strategy, I’ve connected with several pros and am sharing their insights in this article.

Table of Contents

• Are Facebook ads worth pursuing in 2025?
• What to Know Before Setting Up Your Facebook Ads
• 11 Facebook Ads Strategy Tips

Are Facebook ads worth pursuing in 2025?

Short answer — yes. Over 10 million businesses are actively using Facebook advertising to reach billions of active users.

Clearly, something is working:

• 43% of marketers we surveyed plan to maintain the same investment in Facebook in 2025 as last year.
• 25% plan to increase their investment in 2025.
• More marketers plan to invest the most in Facebook in 2025 than in any other social media channel.

“Facebook is still the most efficient, scalable ad network for businesses of all sizes. The real question isn’t whether it works — it’s whether you’re committed to doing what it takes to make it work,” says Zachary Murray, founder of Foreplay.co, a creative collaboration and ad inspiration platform for marketers and creative teams.

Which brings me to the longer answer — Facebook ads may or may not be the perfect fit for every business. Before you invest time, money, and energy into them, I always recommend asking three questions:

1. Why are you running Facebook ads?
2. What results are you hoping to achieve?
3. What else needs to be in place for your ads to be effective?

Some background here: I first started playing with Facebook ads in 2012 when it was still the Wild West. You could throw $20 behind a post and see real traction — without knowing much about targeting or creativity.

Today, the platform is considerably more sophisticated, so you’ve got to have your ducks in a row and a Facebook ad strategy designed for your goals.

I share that not to scare you off but to ensure you’re thinking things through. After all, according to Nicole Morton, marketing operations manager at Keystone Click, a digital marketing agency, “Facebook remains one of the largest social platforms and provides diverse ad formats, robust targeting options, and the potential to reach a wide audience.”

So the real question isn’t should you advertise on Facebook — it should be, “How do I make sure it’s worth my time and money?”

And if you want to make sure you’re picking the best Meta channel for your social media strategy, we’ve compared them here to help you make an informed decision.

What to Know Before Setting Up Your Facebook Ads

Based on the questions I shared above, you’ve probably guessed that you need to take a step back before you even think about opening Ads Manager, creating a Meta ad account, or developing creative assets.

Here are four things you need to know to create your first Facebook ad strategy.

1. Know your audience better than they know themselves.

If you want to reach the right people, you need to know who they are and what makes them want to click. Not all marketers subscribe to buyer personas or customer avatars, but in my experience, having them is invaluable before you do any kind of marketing — not just ads. (HubSpot has a handy tool you can use to get started.)

Demographics (age, career, income, location, etc.) are a good place to start — and absolutely necessary for targeting.

As Catherine Wilson, founder of Eviva Media, explains, “The platform allows precise targeting based on location, interests, and demographics, making it ideal for reaching your ideal customers even on a small budget.”

But to ensure your ads can really perform and drive conversions, you’ve got to dig deeper:

• What do they care about most right now?
• What’s going on in their lives that they need your solution?
• What motivates their decisions?

According to our 2025 survey, most marketers have access to the following information about their target audience:

• Basic demographics (35.46%).
• Shopping habits (34.57%).
• Past purchase history (32.08%).
• Interests and hobbies (29.04%).

Only 19.71% of marketers have access to audience pain points, so this is your opportunity to shine for the best possible ad targeting.

Better yet, by speaking directly to their mindset, you can ensure your ads feel less salesy and more like a solution. That’s what makes people stop scrolling.

2. Map your average customer journey.

Facebook ads are part of a bigger conversation that starts with what’s happening in their mind and continues based on what your customers’ next move is likely to be — both in their lives and within the context of your business.

That means understanding the steps they take as they:

• Recognize they have a problem.
• Identify what that problem is.
• Discover potential solutions.
• Become aware of me as an option.
• Choose to purchase my product.

While I often find this journey to be slightly different for each customer, most buyers generally fall into three categories, each of which needs slightly different messaging, offers, and CTAs.

• Awareness Phase (top of the funnel). Focus your ad content on the problem your audience is facing.
• Consideration Phase (middle of the funnel). Try out ads that show your solution in action.
• Decision Phase (bottom of the funnel). Offer urgency like limited-time offers, bonuses, or even something showing the benefit of getting your solution in place now.

By tailoring your ads to each stage of your customer journey, you meet your audience where they are, which makes it easier for them to say yes.

As Morton explains, “Don’t rely on a single ad to carry the success of your Facebook campaign. It should be part of a larger strategy that guides your prospects from awareness to consideration to conversion.”

Want to see this in action?

Let’s say I want to run ads for a fitness tracker. In the awareness phase, I’ll create a short, engaging video of the everyday challenges of maintaining fitness, like busy work schedules and lack of motivation.

For the consideration phase, I can create carousel ads showcasing the tracker’s features and benefits. These may include heart rate monitoring, step tracking, and sleep analysis. I can also include customer testimonials and quick illustrations of how the product integrates seamlessly into daily life.

In the decision phase, I’ll run a series of ads offering a limited-time discount on the fitness tracker and highlight the ease of purchase. I will also include a clear CTA to drive urgency and encourage immediate action.

After nailing down the customer journey, I begin segmenting my audience.

3. Segment your audience.

Grouping customers based on where they are in the customer journey helps me target people with the right offers at the appropriate time.

Here are a few examples of my potential audience segments:

• New customers. They enter my funnel as warm leads because they’re interested in my product.
• Lukewarm leads. Those who visited my website but didn’t engage. I can use retargeting ads to remind them that I have the solution to their problems.
• Engaged blog readers. Those who like my content and keep coming back for more. They’re more likely to share my posts on Facebook or make a purchase.
• Landing page visitors. They typically come to a specific landing page and are probably interested in a particular product.
• Shopping cart abandoners. They were close to buying an item, but something stopped them. So, I may need to gently push them to finish their purchase.
• Return customers. They love my brand. They’ve already purchased from me in the past and come back for more. They’re brand advocates who praise and recommend my product to their friends.

Jeremy Bogdanowicz, founder and CEO of JTB Studios, segments his audience based on their interests, which he says is always effective on Facebook because “The algorithm allows Facebook users to find content according to their interests. If they like a post or page, they will see similar posts or pages on their Facebook timelines. Thus, I find people whose interests align with our brand’s services. Afterward, I leave the rest to Facebook.”

I agree with Jeremy. Audience targeting based on their interests is a smart strategy. It ensures my ads reach people who are more likely to engage with my content, increasing their chances of opening the ads.

4. Install your Meta pixel.

Meta Pixel (formerly Facebook Pixel) is a piece of code you embed into your website to track visitors’ actions. It’s a must — no exceptions.

Pixel data delivers insights that allow you to:

• See which ads are driving results beyond clicks (whether or not your audience converts).
• Retarget people who didn’t convert.
• Optimize your campaigns.
• Create lookalike audiences and expand your reach.

I recommend checking out Meta’s step-by-step instructions to help you install Meta Pixel on your website.

Pro tip: Download our free Facebook Advertising Checklist. It will guide you through every step of setting up and optimizing your Facebook ads.

11 Facebook Ads Strategy Tips

Once you know your audience, map the journey, segment your list, and install your Pixel, it’s time to put that knowledge into action.

Now that we’ve gone over the basics, I’ll share some of my top tips for creating effective Facebook ad campaigns that can help you maximize your return on investment (ROI).

1. Combine Facebook ads with content marketing.

Running Facebook ads doesn’t mean you should stop creating helpful, relevant content — in fact, the two work better together.

One mistake I go out of my way to avoid is targeting my warm leads with ads designed to turn them into paying customers. Since warm leads aren’t ready to buy from me yet, instead of turning them off with straight sales offers, I offer them helpful content that answers their questions and solves their pain points.

Kurt Uhlir, chief marketing officer at EZ Home Search, follows the same pattern with a two-fold strategy: “First, we provide information that addresses both the emotional and logical queries pertinent to their [audience] customer journey. Secondly, we share success stories where our clients are the superheroes, not just beneficiaries, of their success.”

This approach positions his company as a valuable resource and showcases the tangible impact of their solutions through relatable narratives.

Here’s how I typically see Facebook ads work alongside content marketing:

• Create a valuable blog post, guide, or video tailored to a specific stage in the journey.
• Share it organically on Facebook.
• Boost it to reach more of your ideal audience.
• Retarget engaged viewers later with a more focused offer.

2. Collaborate with influencers who align with your brand values.

One thing I’ve realized in my experience with Facebook ads is that influencers can add a layer of authenticity you can’t get from traditional ads.

In fact, 63% of consumers are more likely to buy if an influencer they trust shares your product.

Here’s where it gets even more interesting. According to our 2025 survey of marketers:

• Only 14% report using influencers in their overall marketing strategy.
• 88% plan to invest the same or more with influencers in 2025.
• 24% see influencers as one of the biggest changes to the marketing industry.
• And 10% are trying out influencer marketing for the first time.

Momentum is clearly building here, which means influencer marketing could be a huge opportunity for you. Especially when you consider that today’s consumers want authentic content.

However, that doesn’t mean just any influencer can have this effect on your business. In fact, 28% of marketers are focusing more energy on creating content that reflects their brand values, and this likely extends to their channel partners.

With that in mind, I recommend choosing influencers who align with your brand values to ensure the partnership feels natural.

3. Use lead ads to build up your marketing list.

Having a huge Facebook following is awesome. However, you and I know that Meta “owns” our contacts. If they decide to change their algorithm or shut down, we’d lose access to those people. Not to mention what happens if people decide to leave Facebook.

To protect yourself here, I always recommend building your own marketing list. When I do this, I create a lead magnet, such as a free ebook or course, and run a lead ad. This way, my followers can give me their email addresses directly on Facebook.

That said, I’m generally cautious with this approach. I never add any steps that may cause friction for users trying to access my gift. Otherwise, I may end up losing them.

Once I have their email, I add it to my marketing list and include them in my email marketing campaigns.

A few tips here to make this effective and seamless:

• Keep the form short.
• Remove unnecessary steps.
• Follow up right away via email.
• Make sure the handoff between ad and experience feels consistent.

4. Incorporate video ads.

Videos are a powerful tool for boosting conversions and sales. Our 2024 Marketing Statistics show that 96% of people watch explainer videos to learn more about a product. Even better, 89% say these videos have convinced them to purchase.

Marketers concur. Our 2025 survey shows that product demonstrations and tutorials perform better on social media than any other type of content.

These stats clearly prove my point. That’s a huge opportunity.

Morton agrees. “We’re anticipating a greater emphasis on video and interactive content. Features like Stories, Reels, and interactive ads will become more impactful.”

And, in my experience, clients who lean into short, engaging videos see higher engagement and lower cost-per-click. Here’s what I’ve noticed tends to work best — for clients and content I’m likely to engage with:

• Keep it under 30 seconds.
• Get your hook in early — the first three seconds are best.
• Use captions so you connect with people whose sound is off.
• Focus on one simple idea per video.

And since 28% of marketers we surveyed in 2025 are already using short-form video, why not start using the videos you’ve already developed in your ads?

Or, if you’re like the 17% using long-form video, consider repurposing longer content into short clips for Facebook.

Lastly, your video doesn’t need to be super polished. In fact, behind-the-scenes-style content often performs better because it feels more authentic. Whatever you do, aim to tell a story.

Wilson shared that this approach is working really well for her clients. “When we shifted a concrete coating company’s strategy from sharing before and afters to focus on storytelling, we saw a measurable increase in both the quantity and quality of leads. People connected emotionally with the story, saw the possibilities for themselves, and were more motivated to reach out. It’s about connection, not just promotion.”

5. Create Facebook and Google ads.

While many marketers see Facebook and Google as picking one or the other, I see them as platforms that can complement each other quite nicely.

As I said earlier, my strategy always depends on my campaign objectives and the audience segment I’d like to target. So, I often choose different ad types that align with my customers’ current stage in the buyer’s journey.

For example, if I’m promoting my new fitness tracker to warm leads, Facebook ads might be the better option. I can target them with helpful content to create brand awareness, as they may not yet be ready to buy my product.

Conversely, Google ads would be more effective if I’m marketing a new computer to a returning customer. Such a person is often ready to purchase and research their options. By using the right keywords and creating targeted Google ads, I can reach them at the exact moment they’re considering buying, making it more likely they’ll choose my product.

6. Use giveaways and contests.

Something I’ve noticed when creating my social media campaigns is that Facebook contests don’t always need to focus on sales. Instead, I offer high-value prizes to increase brand awareness, which will pay off in the long run by bringing new leads into my conversion funnel.

Kelly Sullivan, the owner of Kokomo Botanical Resort, shares the impressive results he got when he offered customers a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii for sharing a Facebook ad about their travel company.

According to Sullivan, “The contest spread like wildfire, increasing our Facebook page likes by over 50% and reducing our CPC (cost-per-click) by 40% within a month.”

Besides high-value prizes, I also find that partnering with brands that have similar audience personas to mine can be effective.

Amelia Munday, social media marketing specialist at Custom Neon, agrees and notes that “By partnering with other brands and posting in a ‘collaboration style’ post with other accounts, the giveaway is mutually beneficial to both brands because it allows you to garner exposure to each other’s audience and therefore increase your following and impressions!”

Note: Before creating any contests or giveaways on Facebook, review Meta’s policies to make sure you aren’t violating any of their rules.

7. Use Facebook mobile ads.

When I think about Facebook ads, one of the first things that comes to mind is the immense potential of mobile ads. Most people on social media prefer using their smartphones to desktops.

Our statistics show that 62% of Millennials and 80% of Gen Z primarily use their phones to search for what they want.

That means your ads, landing pages, and checkout flows need to load quickly, look great on a small screen, and be thumb-friendly from top to bottom.

Here’s what I recommend:

• Use vertical or square video and images — they take up more screen real estate.
• Keep headlines and copy tight and scannable.
• Test your landing pages on mobile before you run any traffic.

An otherwise “perfect” ad can flop if the mobile experience on the other side is clunky or slow. When every second counts, you’ve got to make sure everything is working right.

8. Use AI strategically to create your Facebook ads.

AI is here to stay, so this is your chance to use it to your advantage for your Facebook ad strategy.

Our Social Media Trends report shows that 48% of social media marketers use AI tools to generate text for their copy, while another 41% use AI assistants like Microsoft Copilot to automate repetitive tasks and improve productivity.

Chris Stones, strategic and operations director at Mitchell & Stones, says AI helps him serve ads in multiple languages and gives him a more accurate translation than Google Translate.

As a content curator, AI helps me save at least three hours on every piece of ad copy I create. Personally, I use HubSpot’s AI-powered content tools to:

• Turn a single blog post into multiple content formats.
• Write engaging copy for my social media posts.
• Create consistent on-brand content.

That said, AI is still far from perfect. Use it to complement your creative efforts rather than relying on it entirely.

9. Keep optimizing your ads.

Morton offers a word of caution. “Facebook ads are rarely a ‘set-and-forget’ tactic. They require ongoing monitoring, budget adjustments, fresh creative, and audience updates.”

To keep your campaigns effective, you need to keep testing, learning, and refining.

“Everything is testable,” says Murray.

Our 2025 survey of marketers shows that this is one of the biggest ways the marketing industry is changing —18% agree that actively testing new marketing channels and formats became more important over the last year.

That means it’s important to play around with new ideas and pay attention to content trends. In doing so, you’re not just reacting when something underperforms; you’re proactively looking for ways to stay ahead.

Wilson sees this in action, too. Instead of turning on an ad and hoping for the best, she advises clients to “Test different versions and scale up what performs best.”

10. Build a system that works.

Your system isn’t limited to building out an ecosystem that moves your audience smoothly through the customer journey, although this is extremely important.

Wilson explains, “Follow up with leads quickly. The businesses that respond within minutes are the ones that close the most deals.”

When I asked Murray something he wished every business knew about creating a Facebook ads strategy, he was quick to respond. “I wish more people understood just how much effort goes into making Facebook ads work. The real question shouldn’t be ‘Do we have the budget to spend on Facebook?’ — it should be ‘Do we have the capacity to create, iterate, and test consistently?’ Winning on Facebook isn’t about a single perfect ad. It’s about building a system that helps you find that ad through experimentation.”

With that in mind, you also need processes that help you:

• Test creative regularly.
• Track and compare results.
• Adjust targeting based on behavior.
• Iterate without starting from scratch every time.

11. Obsess over your creative.

At the end of the day, targeting only gets you so far. It’s your creative — the message, the hook, the visual, the vibe — that grabs attention and moves people to act.

“As ad platforms mature — just like TV and radio before them — the only lever that continues to matter is the creative itself,” Murray says. “Your job is to make something that’s worth watching, and ideally, worth sharing.”

That’s why creative fatigue is real. Even great ads lose steam over time. You need a steady stream of fresh, scroll-stopping content that aligns with your audience’s mindset and the moment they’re in.

Morton echoes this as well. “We start with a data-driven approach. Experiment with different ad creatives, messaging, and audience segments to dial in your campaign. Then use that data to iterate and refine your strategy.”

If you’re not putting as much energy into your ad creative as your budget, you’re missing the lever that matters most.

Create Effective Facebook Ads Today

If you take one thing away from this article, I hope it’s that Facebook ads can still work incredibly well as long as you don’t expect them to work on autopilot or in a vacuum.

My experience creating Facebook ad strategies has taught me that nothing will work if I don’t know who my message is meant for.

With that in mind, you need a Facebook ads strategy that factors in how you meet your audience’s needs and your systems for creating, testing, and refining those ads, as well as following up with them.

If you’re ready to dive in, be sure to consider the questions and strategies I’ve shared here to drive higher engagement and boost your conversion rates.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

When I first started my small business, advertising seemed daunting. With a limited budget, I couldn’t fathom spending thousands on TV commercials or ad campaigns.

But over the years, I‘ve discovered that free advertising can be just as effective as paid. In fact, some of the most impactful strategies I’ve used were completely free.

It can be frustrating when your budget dictates how many potential customers you can reach. But with the right approach, you can create an effective free advertising plan.

Table of Contents

• How to Advertise Your Business for Free
• Free Local Business Advertising Ideas
• How to Advertise on Google for Free

1. Write guest posts for other blogs.

Guest-writing for a well-established blog is one of my favorite free advertising methods. It can connect you to that blog’s audience and establish you as an industry thought leader.

You’ll get access to an established audience and high domain authority, which can sometimes be more beneficial than posting to your own blog.

Plus, you can link back to your website from your article, giving you an inbound link that boosts your domain authority and can increase your own website’s ranking in search engines.

I’ve found that guest posting not only drives traffic to my site but also helps build valuable relationships within my industry. One guest post I wrote led to a partnership that doubled my client base in just six months.

Pro tip: Before you reach out, think about the perspective or data that differentiates you from the crowd. When you pitch other blogs, position your expertise as something their audiences can’t get anywhere else.

2. Answer Quora questions.

Writing content for Quora can expose your business to a large audience: in 2024, Quora reported a worldwide audience of 400 million monthly visitors.

Besides the large built-in audience, your business can answer direct questions from prospective customers. This lets you interact with high-quality potential leads and establish yourself as an expert in the subjects that matter most in your industry.

Here’s an example:

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3. Stay active in industry-specific discussions and forums.

Want to get free advertising and position yourself as an expert in the field? If so, industry-specific forums and threads could be for you.

Many industry organizations will have online forums or blogs that allow you to answer questions or offer advice.

One example is real estate investing organization Bigger Pockets, which has its own forum where industry professionals and newbies can share ideas.

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If you‘re not sure where to start, try browsing topics on Reddit to see if there’s an existing discussion or topic related to your area of expertise. Just be sure to offer genuine, valuable feedback so you don’t come off as too salesy.

4. Publish content on LinkedIn.

According to Statista, 44% of B2B marketers said that LinkedIn was the most important social platform. The next most important one was Facebook, lagging behind at 33%.

In other words, if you’re a B2B marketer, don’t sleep on LinkedIn!

LinkedIn’s blogging platform lets you demonstrate your expertise within your industry. Every time connections and other LinkedIn members engage with and share your posts, you’re getting free promotion.

You can even use LinkedIn’s native newsletter tool, like Andrew McCaskill has done. He publishes the monthly LinkedIn newsletter “The Black Guy in Marketing” and has over 15k subscribers:

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5. Offer to do interviews on business podcasts.

To figure out which platforms your team should prioritize, it’s important to diversify your promotion platforms to discover where your audience is already consuming content.

Some of your audience might prefer listening to podcasts over reading articles. To reach those people, contact a few businesses with podcasts and pitch interview ideas.

6. Promote your website in your email signature.

With all the emails you send every day, it’s a shame if you aren’t taking advantage of the promotional potential of your email signature. Here’s one I made for a fictional pet-sitting business using our free email signature generator:

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Your email signature can also be an unexpected property to promote a sale, contest, event, or even a new blog post.

You should also add a link to your business’ website on your Facebook, X, and Instagram profiles.

7. Send email newsletters.

An email newsletter can be a useful vehicle for promoting content, sharing business-related news, and building deeper relationships with potential and existing customers. There are plenty of free tools out there — like our very own free newsletter builder — that assist you in designing, sending, and optimizing your newsletter.

With the right time investment, an email newsletter can be the perfect place to share quality content with leads and potential consumers, establishing your brand as helpful and informative.

If you’re new to newsletters, give our data-backed guide to newsletter strategy a read.

8. Create YouTube videos.

According to a Wyzowl study, 87% of people have been persuaded to buy a product or service after watching a video. And 83% want to see more videos from brands in 2025. So what are you waiting for?

Creating engaging, informative, and shareable YouTube videos is one of the most efficient ways to sell your brand. If done right, your YouTube videos will entertain viewers enough to share your content and seek out your website.

Pro tip: Optimize your YouTube video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords to improve discoverability in both YouTube and Google searches.

9. Encourage happy customers to give online reviews.

Word-of-mouth is still one of the best ways to market your product. Consumers trust the opinions of other consumers, especially when there are many great testimonials.

If you have happy customers, encourage them to write a review about their experience on popular review platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp.

Kate Harding, who owns Jarvis Square Books in Chicago, suggests a frictionless approach: She keeps a QR code by the register that sends customers straight to her Google reviews page, where she’s racking up the five-star reviews. If you don’t have a brick-and-mortar store, you can still place a QR code or link near the end of your buyers’ journey to take advantage of happy customers.

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If you want great reviews on Facebook, be sure to create a Facebook Business page.

10. Leverage existing customers for referrals.

As mentioned above, word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool. Tap into the value of your existing customers by asking them for referrals.

As an incentive, you can offer a discount or other reward to encourage them to get the word out.

11. Take advantage of your partnerships.

Partnerships are an opportunity to offer supplementary services that you don’t provide.

For example, a web design company and a copywriting agency might partner, so when a client requires written content for her web pages, the web design company can offer copywriting services from its partner.

This increases consumer satisfaction and provides exceptional advertising opportunities. When your partner’s consumers need your services, your partner will point them in your direction.

12. Post on social media.

Nowadays, social media is crucial to most marketing strategies. Luckily, most types of social media platforms and posts are free — even to businesses.

Pick the platforms that best suit your audience. Then, post links, photos, videos, or text posts about your company, product launches, or any other occurrence that you’d like to promote.

Facebook, X, and LinkedIn are suitable places to start for most businesses.

They all offer a way to share video, text, photos, and link-based posts and have large user bases. To learn more about other forms of social media, check out this post.

Pro tip: Use a social media management tool to schedule posts in advance. This allows you to maintain a consistent presence without spending hours each day on social platforms.

13. Engage with followers on social platforms.

It‘s not enough to post. For your social media efforts to be successful, you’ll want two-way communication.

When customers comment on your posts, respond to and Like their comments. Not only does it keep the banter and engagement up on your content, but it also humanizes your brand.

14. Leverage user-generated content.

Since we’re talking about engaging with followers, using user-generated content (UGC) for your advertising can get the word out even on a tight budget.

Encourage your customers to create and share content related to your brand. This can be in the form of testimonials, reviews, or even user-created videos. It helps build social proof and can reach a wider audience.

Pro tip: Create a branded hashtag for your business and encourage customers to use it when sharing content related to your products or services. Using a branded hashtag makes it easier to find and share user-generated content.

15. Create highly shareable content.

Additionally, you’ll want to create enticing content that your audience will be motivated to share. Start by building a strong online presence.

Optimize your website and social media profiles to ensure they are user-friendly, visually appealing, and provide relevant information. Update your platforms with fresh content regularly and continue to engage with your audience through comments and messages.

If you don’t know where to start, check out HubSpot’s free Campaign Assistant, which can help you build every aspect of a great marketing campaign.

16. Make sure you’re listed in online directories.

Google My Business isn’t the only game in town. List your business in the local Yellow Pages, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Angi, local professional organizations, or another relevant directory.

This increases your chances of being discovered by potential customers who search for businesses like yours.

If your industry has a directory, you should be on it. Your local chamber of commerce is also a great place to start.

17. Offer valuable content like an ebook or tool.

One of the simplest ways to attract new customers and retain new ones is to provide value. This could be in the form of solving a common issue in your field or making a mundane or difficult task easier by providing a tool.

In the real estate industry, housing search sites often provide free mortgage calculators. Similarly, Smart Asset offers an array of handy tax and paycheck calculators that help visitors figure out roughly how much their income would change moving from one state to another.

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If there are common obstacles or pain points in your industry that can be remedied by offering a tool, ebook, or helpful video content, offer those resources on your site. It will help establish your brand as a trusted industry export.

18. Don’t forget about SEO.

One of the key factors in free advertising is to make sure potential customers can actually find your business.

You can have the greatest products or services, but your growth will be stunted if you don’t show up in search engines.

Along with Google My Business, taking advantage of free SEO strategies can also help your website rise higher in search results. These tactics can be simple and easy to work into blogging, web design, or other processes.

19. Offer a free trial or consultation.

One obstacle that can prevent potential customers from making a purchase is trust. Offering a free trial of your product or service or a free consultation can help break the ice and eliminate that barrier.

It‘s also a good way to get the word out. If a visitor uses your product with a free trial and enjoys the experience, they’re likely to tell others. As we’ve mentioned previously, word of mouth is a powerful advertising method.

20. Experiment with photo and video platforms.

While Facebook, X, and LinkedIn could be great platforms to start on, expanding to platforms like Instagram or Pinterest will give you more opportunities to show product shots or embrace the heavily visual strategy of influencer marketing.

Aside from spreading awareness with free images of your product or service, most social platforms, including Facebook, offer live video and story features that allow you to create video promotions related to your products.

For example, you might use Instagram Stories or TikTok as an outlet to publish tutorials on how to use your products.

Because these videos and photos are on social, you can boost their shareability by hashtagging them, creating interesting captions, and encouraging fans to react with Likes or comments.

21. Write useful press releases.

A press release is not advertising just by itself. To garner interest from media outlets and journalists, what you’re announcing needs to be newsworthy.

Making a press release that sounds too promotional can get it rejected by media outlets. Like your customers, you‘ll need to offer media outlets something of value. Did you run a survey or study that yielded some interesting insights that would be of interest to your industry?

That’s what you should include in a press release, and it increases the odds of the information being picked up by outlets. This could be about emerging industry trends or interesting statistics you found.

Once you have newsworthy information to share, submit your press release to industry publications, media outlets, and online press release distribution sites.

This will help build a buzz around your brand.

1. Use Google My Business to optimize for local search.

One of the most powerful free local business advertising methods is Google My Business, which enables companies to manage their presence on Google Search and Google Maps. The tool can bolster your rankings in local search results.

Plus, if you rank high in local search, more consumers will choose your business over a competitor’s. In today’s fast-paced world, convenience is key.

Google is the most popular site used to evaluate local businesses, according to consumers who participated in a 2023 Statista survey — 87% of respondents used Google, compared to just 48% who preferred Yelp.

Pro tip: Regularly update your Google My Business profile with fresh content, such as new photos or posts about special offers. This activity signals to Google that your business is active and relevant, potentially boosting your local search rankings.

To truly leverage the power of local search and track your performance, consider using a robust marketing analytics tool like HubSpot’s Marketing Analytics.

It can help you measure the impact of your Google My Business efforts and other local SEO strategies on your overall marketing performance.

2. Attend networking events and mixers.

Connecting with fellow professionals at industry networking events is a great opportunity to meet potential consumers in a place where they are eager to discuss your business.

The niche topics of networking events ensure you’re meeting high-qualified leads.

For example, an event for best tech startups will primarily attract participants who are interested in — you guessed it — technology and startups.

Particularly for small businesses looking to make their first connections, networking is a chance to get your name out there, meet potential partners, and find growth opportunities. Plus, it’ll keep you up-to-date on trends in your industry.

3. Speak at an association or industry event.

Speaking at an event about a topic related to your industry is another way to exhibit your expertise.

Giving a thought-provoking and powerful speech will draw attention to you and, by association, your business, which can increase brand awareness and prove your business is qualified to tackle consumer challenges.

To start, brainstorm different topics and volunteer at various upcoming networking events and trade association conventions.

If you’re afraid of public speaking (don’t worry, many of us are), you could enroll in a local Toastmasters chapter to improve your game.

4. Offer locals-only promotions.

One way to build loyalty and camaraderie among your audience is to offer a discount to locals only. Exclusive offers create the impression that your audience is getting something tailor-made for them.

For example, my local coffee shop offers a small discount for customers who live in the neighborhood. It doesn’t have to be much, just a token of your appreciation for their continued support of your business.

This kind gesture will encourage them to return and bring you even more business.

5. Be active in your community.

Similar to the networking suggestion, stay on top of local events in your area, even non-industry-related ones.

From fundraisers and charity events to local sports and community meetings — it’s an opportunity to make real connections with those in your community and build rapport.

You never know where those connections will take you. Choose something that suits your interests to make it more fun. Being active in your community will make it easier for potential customers to put a face to your business.

6. Partner with complementary local businesses.

This strategy will require a bit of research and legwork, but familiarizing yourself with other local business owners and their specialties can be very valuable if you leverage your connections.

Let’s say you own a local yoga or fitness studio. You could partner with an athletic brand in your area — running a contest where completing a certain number of classes gets them free merch. In return, you could allow the brand space to sell its clothing in your studio.

Harding, the Chicago bookstore owner, joined forces with dozens of other local bookstore owners for the Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl, which promoted her own business and introduced her to peers across the city.

7. Put up brochures or flyers.

Putting up brochures or flyer templates in local libraries, coffee shops, and businesses is a unique way to market to offline locations where people spend a good deal of their time.

You can create free brochures and flyers on PowerPoint or Canva.

Depending on your industry, it might even help you reach an ideal clientele. If you’re a physical therapist, for example, perhaps you could hand out brochures to local gyms or nearby hospitals.

How to Advertise on Google for Free

As mentioned above, you can create a free page on Google My Business, which can help you rank higher or first in search results. Here’s how it works.

1. Create your Google My Business account.

First, you‘ll want to create a Gmail account for your business. Then, you’ll want to register for Google My Business with that account.

Google will first ask you to enter the name of your business. Then, you’ll be asked to select a “Delivery Area.” In this form, note the mileage and area where your target audience lives.

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2. Optimize your business page.

After your setup process is complete, you can fill out your profile. As you do this, you ideally want to include all the requested info for the best search optimization.

A few key things you’ll want to include will be:

• Your address.
• A phone number, email address, and other contact information.
• Your website.
• Hours of operation.
• Photos of your business and products.
• A detailed description of what your business offers.
• Pricing or menu information.
• The year your company opened.
• Other business attributes, such as “free Wi-Fi.”

The above items are things locals might search specifically for.

For example, if someone searches for a “cheap Mexican restaurant open after 8 p.m.,” Google will examine the details in a business profile and prioritize your restaurant if it seems like a great match.

Here’s an example of what it looks like when a Google business fills out all its information:

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3. Verify and monitor your business page.

Once you‘ve created your Google My Business profile, verify your listing so Google knows it’s a real, legitimate business. There are a few ways to do this, including email, postcard, and phone verification.

You can also download the GMB app to monitor how your business is doing from your phone.

You Don’t Have to Blow Your Budget to Get Results

My favorite free advertising method? It’s a tie between content marketing through guest posting and leveraging Google My Business. Both have provided consistent returns in terms of increased visibility and customer acquisition.

What started as a necessity due to budget constraints has become a core part of my marketing strategy. I’ve found that combining these free methods with strategic paid advertising yields the best results.

Effective advertising is about creativity and persistence more than it is about budget. With the right approach, even a small business can make a big impact.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

I love the Back to the Future series, especially Part II where we see “the future.” Of course, the most famous part of our promised 2015 was the Mattel Hoverboard. A decade later, and I’m still waiting to glide down the sidewalk on my hoverboard.

The pattern of excitement, overpromising, and then reality isn’t relegated to the movies. Because I’m a marketer, AI tools have flooded my working world with the promise of revolutionizing my department and company.

The latest push centers on agentic AI. I’ve found AI agents helpful in some capacities — saving me time, automating repetitive tasks, and assisting with research. But have they reached their full potential? Not yet.

Agentic AI offers impressive advances in technology. But many companies haven’t realized AI’s potential yet — and they’re still not fully ready to implement agentic AI for maximum benefit.

Let’s talk about where AI agents fit into marketing today, the real benefits they can deliver to your marketing team, and what the future could hold.

Table of Contents

• What are AI agents?
• Why are AI agents useful in marketing?
• Benefits of Marketing AI Agents
• Best AI Agents for Marketing
• Challenges of Using AI Agents in Marketing

Essentially, you give an agentic AI a goal and allow it to figure out what to do and then do it. An AI agent goes beyond basic automation by adapting and responding to tasks without human prompting. It’s an agent you put into the world to do things.

This is an early space, but demand is growing: The AI agent market is expected to grow to $47 billion by 2030. Expect to see more AI agents populating the marketing space soon.

Why are AI agents useful in marketing?

Marketing today demands two things above everything else: speed and personalization.

Audiences always expect better marketing — they want their marketing messages to feel timely, relevant, and real to their experience. But marketing teams are stretched thin, being asked to deliver that individualized experience at scale across more customer segments, channels, and product lines. And, of course, to do so with tighter marketing budgets and timelines.

Agentic AI fills that gap.

Most people hear “AI” and think of a generative AI tool like ChatGPT or DALL-E. And these AI tools have already influenced digital marketing by helping teams brainstorm ideas, draft content, and automate simple tasks. Agentic AI builds on that foundation — managing the workflows within the team and executing actions with much less human involvement.

Right now, AI agents for marketing show up in four key areas:

• Content creation
• Customer support
• Campaign optimization
• Data analysis

The common thread across these use cases is workflow automation. Agentic AI offers marketing teams freedom from draining, repetitive work tasks like drafting social copy, pulling reports, or triggering customer messages.

Unlike their chat-based or bot counterparts, AI agents can run with greater autonomy within their pre-designed boxes. Once set up, they can listen for triggers, take action, and adjust outputs based on real-time data — all (mostly) on their own.

Mind you: AI agents don’t replace strategy or creativity. Instead, they give marketers more time and energy to focus on those things.

That said, part of agentic AI’s challenge today is separating its specific use cases from “AI” as a general concept. Many companies are still discovering what AI is, let alone how to plug it into their operations and grant it more decision-making authority.

The data reflects this challenge: McKinsey found that, while 55% of organizations use generative AI in some capacity, over 80% haven’t seen measurable impacts on enterprise-level earnings. If AI broadly hasn’t driven bottom-line benefits yet, it’s understandable that leaders might hesitate to invest more — even if agentic AI offers something more advanced.

Gartner projects that 33% of enterprise software will include true agentic AI by 2028 — up from less than 1% today. The potential is clear, as is the utility. But for most marketing teams, agentic AI’s actual power lies just over the horizon.

Benefits of Marketing AI Agents

Even though AI agents haven’t reached their full potential, they offer interesting (if mostly incremental) benefits for any marketing team. The common ones you’ll find are faster content creation, personalized customer experiences, and increased team efficiency.

That said, I asked a few marketing experts about benefits beyond the basics. Here’s what they shared.

Parallelizing Variant Work

Who’s ready to redesign their landing page again? Every marketer who’s undergone that process knows the linear steps you take to pick a target audience, build a campaign, test, and repeat.

Ross Simmonds, founder of Foundation Marketing and Distribution AI, sees agentic AI’s power in adding another dimension to the grind of this build-and-test process.

“One surprising way AI agents are reshaping marketing workflows is by parallelizing variant work,” said Simmonds. “Historically, marketers tackled tasks like writing landing pages or emails in a linear process: one industry, one page, one campaign at a time.”

“But with AI agents, you can now create 5-10 variations of the same asset — tailored by industry, persona, or geography — simultaneously. What once took days or weeks can now be completed in hours.”

Part of that benefit comes from what Simmonds calls “autonomous quality assurance” — an important trust-building piece of AI as a teammate.

“Trained AI agents can review documents for brand voice, grammar, tone, and formatting errors at scale,” he said. “Instead of manual checks, these agents can flag inconsistencies across hundreds of assets in minutes, freeing up marketers for more strategic tasks.”

Adaptive Decision-Making

You’ll find plenty of chatter about using agentic AI to handle repetitive marketing tasks. But Sergey Ermakovich, CMO at HasData, pushes marketers to widen their thinking on using AI’s data-crunching capabilities for decision-making.

“An aspect [marketers] don’t think about is its adaptive decision-making,” said Ermakovich. “AI scans through first-party data at scale. Then, change customer segmentation depending on behavioral triggers. It can shift a customer to a high-intent audience segment after they abandon their cart. The adjustment happens in real-time and at a frequency and precision that a human team cannot match.”

This process removes many of the barriers that those repetitive tasks create.

“It creates a personalized customer journey that optimizes conversion from each moment and interaction,” said Ermakovich. “The optimization isn’t dependent on scheduled campaigns or A/B tests.”

Real-Time Micro-Segmentation

Customer segmentation has long been a focus of marketing research and tools — how do you more effectively reach the right people? Anastasia Parokha, head of marketing at Creative Fabrica, sees an opportunity to get incredibly tactical by using AI for real-time micro-segmentation. And she thinks it’s a gap in many teams’ marketing strategies.

“Modern AI models are trained to analyze user behavior in real time and even adjust your content. Now, you can create specific micro-groups of audiences that help you personalize content,” she said.

She also notes many marketers still doubt this approach because they worry about uniqueness or authenticity.

My advice is to take a hybrid approach, such as using AI for lower-risk tasks,” said Parokha. “This could be A/B testing or copywriting for emails. After that, you can expand the role of AI in marketing because you will be the one to train it. The key is to collaborate and continuously improve the artificial intelligence models you use in your work.”

Best AI Agents for Marketing

In my list of the best AI agents for marketing, you’ll notice a theme: workflow automation and assistance. That’s really where the wall is now — we’re waiting to cross the autonomy threshold. But, in the meantime, these are solid tools to help your marketing team save time, enhance personalization, and optimize campaigns with far less manual work.

Breeze AI by HubSpot

I’ve found the more specialized the agent’s purpose, the better the results. Such an idea seems straightforward in theory, but it’s much trickier to implement in practice.

That’s why I like HubSpot’s Breeze AI agents. You can deploy agents focused entirely on content generation, customer inquiries, prospecting, social media, or knowledge base development.

For instance, I’ve been on a landing page split testing kick lately, and retargeting landing page content is a perfect use case for an AI agent.

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Plus, if you use HubSpot’s platform, your internal data can inform more tailored answers for customers and better results for your team. No confusing integration points or additional tools required.

Pricing: Some parts of Breeze AI, like Copilot, are available for free with a HubSpot plan. These advanced agents need a Professional plan (starting at $800/month) or Enterprise plan (starting at $3,600/month).

ZBrain AI Agents

ZBrain AI agents are great options for AI power users and enterprise-level buyers. Integrating AI agents is one of the largest hurdles facing enterprises, and ZBrain can help solve that problem.

I really like ZBrain’s “Agent Store,” with a gigantic selection of pre-built and curated agents. Technical proficiency needs can slow down many enthusiastic AI adopters within the enterprise setting, so having it laid out so “plug-n-play” style is fantastic.

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ZBrain a “low-code” option, but even with the Agent Store I’d recommend at least intermediate levels of AI know-how before investing. It’s a powerful work suite and comes with a heftier price tag to boot. But, when you’re ready to scale agentic work, lean on ZBrain.

Pricing: ZBrain starts at $999/month, with custom enterprise quoting available.

Chatsonic

For a tactical marketing AI assistant, Chatsonic by Writesonic does some fine work. It’s built for content creation but extends across the entire process, from generating ideas your audiences like to analyzing performance automatically.

I like Chatsonic’s multimodal approach — it combines multiple models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini in the content creation process. I’ve found each model to be more adept at certain kinds of writing and other creation tasks, so it’s nice to have it all under one digital umbrella.

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Pricing: Start for free with Chatsonic or upgrade starting at $16/month/user.

Agentforce

Salesforce has recently thrown a lot of its weight behind agentic AI integrated into its suite. Agentforce provides agentic assistance for automating customer service, sales, and marketing operations.

If you keep your Salesforce databases updated, you have tons of data at your disposal for conversational AI tools and predictive analytics to anticipate your customers’ needs.

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Like any company-specific offering, I’d advise you to think carefully about integration requirements.

Pricing: Agentforce’s pricing rolls into your Salesforce contract. You can get a dose of Agentforce for free with Salesforce Foundations — after that, expect a consumption-based pricing model of $2/conversation.

Relevance AI Agents

Relevance AI isn’t totally no-code, but its platform makes creating and launching AI agents much easier than coding them on your own.

For marketing, the company highlights its “AI Lifecycle Marketing Agent,” focused on customer research and outreach management. That’s a useful need, especially for smaller teams.

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Pricing: Relevance AI will give you 100 credits per day on its free plan. The Team Plan will run you $199/month with 100,000 credits for some real agentic horsepower.

SmythOS

If coding isn’t your jam, SmythOS offers a solid no-code platform to help your team build and deploy AI agents. You assemble your agent using a drag-and-drop interface, making it a more visually appealing process (and less complex). I like SmythOS’s pre-built modules and templates for common tasks, so you don’t get caught in a building loop of your own.

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It’s a good place to handle workflows and repetitive tasks — where agentic AI is most useful now.

Pricing: You can use SmythOS on a limited free plan or jump into a paid plan starting at $39/month. It also scales from startup to enterprise sizes, depending on your needs.

Challenges of Using AI Agents in Marketing

I asked several marketing experts to share their experiences and challenges with AI today. Here’s what they told me.

Agentic AI Integration

Even with powerful tools and low/no-code options available, operational integration remains a massive hurdle to clear. As companies grow their staff count and tech stack, the number of integration points expands faster than some people expect.

When it comes time to integrate a new resource like agentic AI, marketing leaders can hit some difficult walls. Jose Fuente, marketing lead at SYMVOLT, shares more.

“AI tools often struggle to mesh seamlessly with legacy systems, creating data silos that hinder performance,” Fuente said. “Add to this the technical expertise required for implementation, and it’s clear why adoption rates can lag behind expectations.”

However, integration challenges shouldn’t halt progress forever. Fuente shares her solution for pushing past these barriers.

“We [marketers] can overcome this by focusing on solutions with dynamic API integrations and partnering with AI specialists for smoother implementation,” she said.

“Pilot programs are also invaluable as they allow teams to test and refine processes before scaling up. The broader trend here is about shifting mindsets. AI isn‘t just a shiny new tool; it’s a co-worker that thrives on collaboration.”

Data Hygiene and Management

It’s 10PM — do you know where your data is? Proper data management was hard enough before AI tools clamored for access. Without clear structures and guidelines for data collection, management, and use, agentic AI can stall out before it hits velocity.

Sean Clancy, managing director at SEO Gold Coast, shares why specificity of data shared with AI matters.

“The hard part is training it on what’s actually important. Marketers throw everything at these tools without showing what a ‘bad’ campaign looks like in context,” he said.

“I’ve seen better results when teams feed in a few messy past campaigns first. Let the agent learn from those before giving it new material. This makes the checks more relevant and the alerts more useful.”

Clancy continues by noting that’s when marketing teams actually accomplish things with agentic AI.

“You stop wasting time on things that don‘t move the needle, and your team doesn’t need to babysit live campaigns hour by hour,” he said. “It’s a quiet shift, but it changes how teams catch problems before they become expensive.”

Staff Resistance

You might build it, but they might not come. I believe employee distrust of AI is your biggest barrier to adoption. If people don’t understand, care, or want to use these tools, they’ll flop.

It’s a challenge that Vrutika Patel, CMO of Cambay Tiger, met head-on when using AI to run hyper-local campaigns.

“Our team worried about job security and learning curves. We overcame this by starting small — training staff on one AI tool at a time and celebrating early wins,” she said.

“Begin with a clear problem to solve. For us, it was proving our freshness claims to specific neighborhoods. We matched delivery speed data with customer locations to create tailored messages that resonated with local buyers. This story-driven approach works because customers connect with authentic, relevant messaging.”

Understanding AI as a Partner

I’ve seen marketers be encouraged to “just try AI for a bit” and become incredibly frustrated when AI doesn’t behave as expected. But if the marketer doesn’t understand what they’re asking in the first place? AI can’t magically fill the gap; it’s a partner, not a replacement.

And agentic AI does even more processing away from the human operator, which can give it a black-box feel if you’re not careful with implementation.

Tim Hanson, CMO at Penfriend, calls this the “understanding gap.”

“I‘ve witnessed countless marketing teams throw vague prompts at AI and then complain that ‘AI doesn’t work’ when the output isn’t what they imagined,” said Hanson.

“The AI never did it wrong; they just didn‘t know the process well enough themselves to explain it properly. The uncomfortable truth is that AI exposes our knowledge gaps. If you can’t clearly articulate every step of how you‘d create something manually, you can’t effectively delegate it to AI.”

Hanson continues with an answer to this marketing conundrum.

“The solution is counterintuitive — to use AI effectively, you need to first get better at doing things manually,” he said.

“I had this exact experience when I started with AI. I was getting mediocre results until I realized I needed to map out processes I knew intimately first. Once I started with processes I could explain step by step (like competitive content analysis), suddenly I was getting exceptional results.”

“Start with a process you know cold, map out every decision point, and use that as your foundation for AI integration. Only then expand to more complex workflows.”

Prepared marketing teams will benefit the most from AI agents.

While I wait for my hoverboard, I hang onto the excitement and enthusiasm for new ideas that have driven my marketing career — especially with AI.

Like any new marketing idea or technology, agentic AI follows the same pattern. Tools improve and promises grow. But the real marketing work stays the same: Build good systems, craft strong strategies, and solve for your customer.

AI agents aren’t science fiction anymore, but we’re not quite at the hoverboard either. In this in-between state, agentic AI can help marketing teams, and they’re getting smarter. The potential to change how we work is real.

But what I learned most from researching AI agents is that the future of marketing won’t belong to teams chasing shiny new tools. The teams that’ll win with agentic AI will build readiness: organized data, clear processes, well-mapped workflows, and a culture that embraces testing and learning.

Three years ago, if you’d asked Kasey Brown, founder and CEO of Different Breed Media, she’d tell you scheduling one post to identically populate across the gamut of social media platforms was a smart, time-saving strategy.

But in 2025, that won’t fly.

“These platforms are becoming more sophisticated in their own ways,” says Brown. That means understanding each one’s unique features, strengths, and weaknesses — and tailoring your strategy accordingly — is more important than ever.

In our Social Media Marketing Trends report, we asked 1,100+ social media professionals about the social media platforms they use most in 2025. We also tapped experts to weigh in on the ones that are losing steam, and the trends determining how marketers can optimally reach their audiences and customers across this digital ecosystem.

Table of Contents

• 2025 Social Media Trends
• Social Media Platforms Marketers Should Watch in 2025
• New Social Media Platforms
• What Platforms May Be Losing Steam?
• How To Determine Which Social Media Platforms Are Worth the Investment

2025 Social Media Trends

1. Short-form is dominating.

In 2025, it’s no secret that quick videos are dominating — I recently wrote about this short-is-king surge among social media entrepreneurs.

Turns out, short-form video is the top format among social media marketers more largely, who’ve determined it has the highest ROI.

It’s also the area in which they plan to increase the most investment in 2025 — when compared to other focuses like images, UGC, and live streaming — with 75% planning to keep their current investment level and 17% planning to increase theirs.

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2. AI is being leveraged for content creation.

The number one way marketers are using AI is for content creation — specifically for assistance with tasks like writing copy, creating images, and generating ideas from scratch. According to HubSpot findings, about 56% of marketers are using AI to create short-form videos, while 53% are using it to generate images, and 42% are creating long-form videos.

I’ve found that ChatGPT is a helpful tool to generate thought-starters — just be sure to spend enough time training it to understand your brand’s unique tone of voice. I’ve found it particularly useful in instances involving collaborations: Maybe you’re partnering with another brand and need guidance for how to merge the two styles for a collaborative campaign or event.

“I think AI gives us much more leverage,” says Aymber Young, a social media growth expert. “The biggest change that I‘m seeing is the ability to integrate AI to where you don’t have to do as much of the legwork when it comes to content creation.”

“You can go to ChatGPT and say, ‘Hey, I create content on health and wellness, and I want people to focus on eating plant-based foods. Can you give me a content calendar for the month, for LinkedIn? For YouTube?”

3. Live video and audio are building community.

I’m a big fan of how-the-sausage-is-made videos. In other words, brands who take viewers behind the scenes in a way that feels more raw and personal than edited content does.

According to Brown, this strategy works really well for building trust.

“Lives should be staples in any sort of strategy that involves building relationships with an audience,” she says. This is especially true in what she calls an ongoing “trust recession,” wherein people are using a lot more discernment when determining where to spend their dollars.

4. Content must entertain audiences.

People want to be entertained, even while they’re being sold a product or taught something new. Bonus points if you can make them laugh: Turns out, 91% of consumers want brands to be funny.

“I work with a lot of clients to help them ‘edutain’ a lot more,” says Brown. “Some of the best content that’s working mixes education with entertainment and really good personal storytelling.”

To help you stay on the cutting edge of social media, I’ve compiled a list of key platforms and features you should have on your radar this year.

Social Media Platforms Marketers Should Watch in 2025

1. Instagram

Instagram is one of the leading platforms social media marketers expect to invest in most in 2025. Recent data shows Instagram is the top-performing platform when it comes to driving site traffic, engagement, and audience growth, with 58% of marketers using it to establish their communities.

I’m particularly drawn to the interactivity fostered by Instagram Stories, where elements like cross-collaborating and link sharing are effective for community-building and engagement.

2. TikTok

As mentioned, short-form video is one of the most popular, top-performing, and highest ROI trends. Given this, it’s no surprise that TikTok users sit at 1.5 billion as it caters to short-form videos.

TikTok is also a great platform for reaching Gen Z, as our consumer trends survey found that 62% of the generation uses TikTok — and it’s also the platform it spends the most time on.

That said, people — myself included — may be wary of TikTok (given the recent U.S. ban) but Young believes TikTok’s value isn’t going anywhere. It still sets the short-form standard.

“It’s still the platform with high virality,” says Young. “You have the [highest] chance of going viral just with organic content on TikTok.”

3. Facebook

Despite increasing competition, the old-standing Facebook should still be on the radar of marketers in 2025 due to its massive reach — bringing in 3.06 billion active users every month.

It’s also still a hotspot for ads: In 2024, Facebook’s total ad revenue amounted to $164.5 billion, up from $134 billion the previous year.

4. YouTube

Based on HubSpot’s findings, YouTube is the platform seeing the most increased investment from marketers in 2025.

While the platform’s done a lot of evolving over the years, integrating features like YouTube Shorts and live streams, Brown says she’s bullish about its future for a different reason: long-form.

Yes, short-form content may be dominating, but she believes YouTube’s long-form content will never lose steam for its strong retention value. It all goes back to trust — and the more time consumers spend with a brand, the more inclined they are to trust them.

5. LinkedIn

Data shows most marketers might not agree, but Young believes LinkedIn should be the platform that’s top of mind in 2025. “It’s really shifting to be a leading community-based platform,” she says.

I’m in Young’s camp. LinkedIn’s been an unmatched source for organic networking, thought leadership, and overall narrative-driven branding. It’s more of a long-game platform, but the results can be worth it.

With a now wider array of content types — text posts, carousels, long-form blogs, lives, and more recently, a vertical video feed, LinkedIn is also trying to step up its game to compete with platforms like Instagram.

New Social Media Platforms

In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, new platforms are continuously emerging, bringing fresh ideas and opportunities — but also question marks in terms of new strategies to consider and overall sustainability.

Here are some up-and-coming platforms to keep an eye on.

Threads

Launched by Meta in July 2023, Threads is one of the newest social media platforms on this list. Its arrival is timely due to the technical and cultural changes Twitter (now X) has faced since Elon Musk’s takeover in 2022. “I do think Threads has a lot of potential given it does operate a little bit similar to X,” says Young. “It feels a lot more buttoned up.”

Thanks to its integration with Instagram, Threads grew rapidly, reaching 100 million active users within 10 days of its launch.

Users can seamlessly transfer their Instagram profile information and followers to Threads, simplifying app adoption. Additionally, users can embed Thread posts into their Instagram Stories and profile bios, generating more interest in the app.

Lemon8

Lemon8 is a new social media platform owned by ByteDance (aka TikTok’s parent company). Though it was initially launched in Japan in 2020, it became accessible in the U.S. and U.K. in February 2023.

Lemon8 is often described as a combination of Pinterest and Instagram, since it’s a photo-sharing app where users can share and discover curated lifestyle content. Popular categories on the platform include fashion, beauty, and health and wellness.

Young is unsure about its longevity. “Lemon8 had a moment especially during the TikTok ban scare back in January but its long-term potential feels uncertain to me,” says Young. “I personally jumped on it and noticed how visually similar it is to Pinterest, which was interesting at first. But I haven’t seen the same stickiness or creator excitement that drives growth.”

Substack

Substack is an online platform that enables writers, journalists, and content creators to publish and monetize their work through subscription-based newsletters. It provides an easy-to-use interface for writers to create and distribute their content directly to subscribers.

Substack also offers tools for managing subscriptions, collecting payments, and engaging with readers. The platform has gained popularity as a way for independent writers (like myself) to generate income and build a loyal audience without relying on traditional media outlets or advertising.

My Substack, Stella, is home to exclusive interviews from Black women in media and an engaged audience that can opt into a free subscription or a paid one for additional content behind a paywall.

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Twitch

Twitch is a live streaming platform primarily used for streaming video games, eSports events, and other creative content. It allows users to watch live broadcasts of games being played by other players, as well as interact with the streamers and other viewers through chat.

“I’ve been particularly intrigued by Twitch,” says Young. “I’ve noticed more creators and influencers leveraging the platform for real-time engagement and some are generating significant income through subscriptions, donations, and partnerships.”

“I think there’s untapped potential here for major brands to get creative: partnering with streamers for organic product placements, having spokespersons do live demos or Q&As, or even hosting hybrid conferences with a Twitch livestream component,” Young concluded.

What platforms may be losing steam?

BeReal emerged in 2020 wanting to be the more real alternative to other apps like Instagram promoting the use of filters and editing. But it may not be sticking quite the way its creators initially planned: In 2023, worldwide downloads were at about 31.5 million, which decreased 60% year-over-year to 12.7 million in 2024.

That’s likely because data shows Gen Z’s media consumption habits are defining social media trends — and Gen Zers aren’t enthused by an app that offers very minimal opportunities to curate.

“I don’t think younger audiences are adapting to it as much,” says Brown. “It feels just a little too impulsive for Gen Z.”

How To Determine Which Social Media Platforms Are Worth the Investment

To determine which social media platforms are worth investing in, marketers consider a variety of factors:

• Audience reach
• Sales conversions
• Driving traffic to websites

When it comes to figuring what works best for your brand, consider a low-stakes approach to start. Brown is a big fan of using dummy accounts to tap into new platforms, understand their value, and assess if it’s worth a larger investment.

“When you start up a fresh account, it feeds you everything, because it‘s trying to gauge what you’re interested in. And this fresh content generally is super viral and has a ton of engagement, right? So the first kind of few days on that new account is just showing some of the best content out there.”

From there, you can determine what might (and might not) be a fit for your brand.

You also don’t have to explore all that’s out there all at once. “Start with mastering three,” says Young. “And then as you grow your team, and you grow the ability to manage all these different platforms, incorporate more. It can be overwhelming trying to keep up with every single platform.”

Should you follow the social media trends of 2025?

Consumer behavior changes quickly in the digital space, and businesses that are willing to adapt to social media trends are probably the ones that are going to see the most success.

For staying on top of the latest social media trends, I seek insight from active leaders in the social media marketing space, like Rachel Karten. Her Substack newsletter, Link in Bio, has more than 92K subscribers and breaks down social media trends, news, and strategies on a weekly basis.

Young also advises searching the archives of free platforms like YouTube University, where you’ll likely find the answer to any questions you might have around social media marketing.

Whatever your strategy, Brown emphasizes one important factor: “What‘s working best is content that’s super authentic,” she says. “But also leaning more into what I like to call ‘unselfish content.’ Ask yourself, ‘How can I always have the viewer in mind?’”

Not every trend will work to achieve your goals, but keeping the customer as your north star will ensure you stay on track.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.