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​#METAbites: 100 Digital Marketing Tips

Updated: Feb 7, 2022


In 2021, we challenged ourselves to share 100 straightforward tips to help you level up your marketing game — for free! Below are those 100 "METAbite" tips, in one, nice round-up!


We'll continue to post more over time, so follow us on LinkedIn for new, free #METAbite tips.


Mass digital algorithms thwart serendipity. The best content sparks #curiosity. Create space for mystery and chance.

Almost all marketing should end with a good CTA (call-to-action). Tell people what you expect them to do next, or expect them to do nothing.

Resist the urge to refine content too often. Don't take a one- or two-day dip in performance as a definitive indicator. Run tests with alternate content. It takes time for algorithms to update.

1,000 impressions...

One full week...

A dozen survey respondents...

Small data can be enough to know how well something is performing, depending on the question.

If you're advertising and driving traffic to a website or landing page, use Google Tag Manager and not just Google Analytics. Think of it as a wallet for pixels. DM us for help.

Connect all your Google services: Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google My Business, Google Search Console, etc. When data flows freely, you'll get better insights.

Do you have a story to share? 🤫📚Emojis tell stories, and stories engage. And emojis are often less confusing and more concise than words. Connect more deeply 🤝 and emotionally 🥰 with your customers and audience.

Now that you've implemented GTM, get your pixels in! If you're advertising on Facebook, for example, use a tracking pixel to see which ads perform best!

Don’t start a new marketing channel unless you’ll keep it up.  One blog or social media post won’t help – you or your customers. You don't have to post every day but HAVE A CONTENT PLAN. Participate.

As a follow-up to our emoji post, iconography is another important digital tool. Pictures speak louder 📣 than words. Personalize your brand. Whether it is a logo or a button or a framing device for content, iconography represents you.

Always proofread everything. A typo can really undermine your message.

Keep it simple. Avoid compound messages that are long and confusing. Commas have a place, but be careful of:

• Comma Splice

• Introductory Clauses

• Coordinate Adjectives

If you're doing a one-way conversation 🗣 you're doing it wrong. Direct engagement can help build 🤝 relationships. Remember, social media is not asynchronous communication, it is a participatory sport!

Influencers, like shoes, need to fit right. Relevance is 🔑. Choose carefully, according to identity, aesthetic, and #values. Building from mutual affinity, you can gain access to followers and drive engagement 🤩.

Mistakes happen. It's OK! No one is born with perfect grammar. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. Learn and move on. 👍

Trouble finding ways to engage on Twitter? Polls create a conversation without many words 📝. In an interactive way, polls build intrigue, boost engagement, and showcase opinions.

Don’t mess with success. When looking for things to improve, leave your best-performing tactics and content alone — whether it’s a page, video, ad, etc. Improve the things that could use attention, not the ones which are high performers already.

BECAUSE YOU. NEVER. KNOW. WHEN...

Have your elevator pitch ready. All it takes is 6-8 seconds to spark someone's imagination💡. Be ready to talk about your passion at any time and any place. 

Audience research matters. It's easier to find an audience than to build one from scratch. Learn where your tribe already lives online, their interests, and behaviors, and address them.

Don’t drive subscribers away. Too many emails 📧 can overwhelm, while too few can make people forget you. Use your past performance #data to inform the present. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.

You wouldn't buy the same thing twice, would you? Don’t waste your budget on different campaigns for the same #advertising. Instead, refine segmentation and targeting 🎯 to reduce overlap.

Get organized! Keeping important to-do lists in your head is risky, and it's easy to get overwhelmed. It's hard to work with others when it's in your head. Use a #projectmanagement tool. Some are free. DM for help.

... and responsive! If someone sends you a message, reply quickly. People expect a quick response in social media, chat, and email. Your timeliness can be a turn-on or a turn-off.

AKA, relevance. Make sure your content is keyword optimized and on point, but avoid "keyword stuffing." Google will ding you for that!

2a: Ratings make a difference. Ask your customers for reviews.

2b: Referrals give your website better domain authority, another type of preference.

Be hyper-local. People search for things in their backyard. Get a Google My Business profile. (Shop local, too! Helping your local economy helps you.)

Dealing with cart 🛒 abandonment? Create a sense of urgency 🤯. Last-minute, big offers can mitigate cart abandonment in a powerful way. Offer a discount or access to something limited. Scarcity can motivate.

First impressions are everything. Catch your visitors' interest 🧐 -- whether on your website or social media -- take the time to make this page visually appealing, with useful content, and reel 🎣 those viewers in.

Avoid stock photos📸, if you can.

1. Hire a professional

2. DIY: you've got real power in your pocket with that phone!

3. Ask your customers to take pics

Look in the mirror. How would you describe yourself? Now do the same for your customer. Not always the same. Find your customer's persona 🎭. Know your audience. Know your brand. Find the intersection for the right content strategy.

Behind so many successful businesses are crazy ideas that others thought foolish. Don't waste your creativity on a 1-day prank. Instead, be brave and celebrate April Fool-ish Day by starting your biz! Maybe that crazy business idea isn’t so crazy. (This post was delivered on April Fools Day)

Your brand messaging should be a little aspirational but must deliver on your promises.

Curate your image and create your color story. Color sparks ⚡️ emotion so choosing the color palette for your brand deserves forethought! Connect with people through color and enhance your brand-experience.

Creativity in advertising is king. Most people don’t even see ads anymore. In general, the public has developed a sort of ad blindness.

When soliciting business via #email, don't use "<>" in your subject line. It literally means "not equal" and says "we don't belong together." 


Instead, use an emoji:

"Meeting request: {mybiz} 💞 {yourcompany}"


Try one: ❤️️👍🤩👋🖖🤜🤛🤝

Tactics are not pasta...

• Advertising generates leads

• Organic content, like social media and blogging, is best for engagement

• Email is best for retention and repeat customers

EVERY. SECOND. ⏰ COUNTS. Use modern short attention spans to your advantage and make the first glimpse of your marketing video clear and worthwhile. People remember what strikes ⚡️ them.

All websites and landing pages should be optimized for mobile phones. Google indexes pages for mobile, first. So, if your site isn't mobile-friendly, you're gonna get dinged.

Everyone is on their own 🗺 journey. This includes your audience. Each stage is valuable, so try matching your content strategy to your buyer’s journey. Showcase what your brand has to offer!

SCREAM AND SHOUT! Ok, not really but voice search 🗣 is the new normal. Did you know, mobile users are three times more likely to use voice search?


Optimize your content to this medium by using FAQ’s and schemas to answer questions. You’ll have more traffic on your website and fewer unanswered ❓’s.

Make sure your website is secured through SSL. 🔒

It’s a must for SEO and builds user trust, even when there's no e-commerce.

Geofencing is sonar for your biz. 👏 Good for events, conferences, etc., use it to hit your target audience.


It's not just for SMS; geography is a ++ parameter to refine your segmentation and maximize budget.

Google gives charities free ad money. If you work for a charity, you can get up to $10K/mo in grants from Google to spend on Google Search Ads.

Got one? Don't set your max CPC below $2. Unlike other Google Ads, it won’t work with that low threshold. (And, Google will auto-optimize and make it as low as possible).

How does the mind work? 🤔 Understand the process: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action (AIDA) and improve your conversion.

Be the 🐢. It’s a long game, so don’t overpromise and underdeliver. Tomorrow's success is built on what you can do at THIS moment. Use your #digital tools to run a steady race.

Have you chosen an influencer to stand by your brand? Use their words for positive 👍 results. Influencer marketing is poised to become a $5-10 billion dollar industry. Get an opinion and #quote it. (Influencer ≠ Celebrity, btw)

"Coming soon" is disappointing, not helpful. If you don't content, don't publish a placeholder. If you don't have a product, unless you accept special orders, don't list it.

Do you judge a 📖 by its cover? Your customers will. Think of Google Reviews as a customer's first glimpse into your business. Use these three tips:

1. Just ask: hand out a card with a QR code and ask on the spot.

2. Offer an incentive: discounts are great!

3. Create a process: at the end of each project, make the ask.

Data points are good for advertising too. Don't just list your "proof points" on your website. Try non-alphabet characters (i.e., # ? ! $) as eyes are drawn to any text that isn’t a letter.

Busy logos are confusing. Keep it simple! A good logo can be drawn in the sand with a stick. Make it:

• Recognizable

• Memorable

• Clear

Don’t pay for ads and then never check performance. Campaigns need optimization. Check on performance at the very least once per week while you are running them.

Don’t let all of your happy customers slip through the cracks! Provide a template for product reviews and ask them before they're out of reach. Make it simple, and solicit from Amazon, Google or other platforms.

Broad marketing seldom works best. Build ad sets with creative that targets a specific customer and their interests and emotions.

Is work stifling your motivation? Turn tasks into games! Gamification boosts motivation and productivity, and tricks our brains into working harder.

To rank highly in #search results for a specific term, use that term in the:

Title of the page

• First paragraph

• Title and alt-tag of an image

• Subheading

• Meta title and meta description


Then, write more than 300 words that are readable by an 11-year-old and your page will be optimized for search.

Wondering how to incorporate #gamification into your workplace?

Think: 1. Story/Narrative 📖 2. Quests ⚔️ 3. Competition/Points 🎯 4. Feedback/Rewards 🏆

Gamification plays to our desire to be a kid again. Be both amusing and amused (and competitive).

Gamification is the spoonful of sugar that makes hard takes a little easier. The first step of gamifying anything is to figure out how to make the task more fun. So, rule #1 of 7 in our series: don't forget the fun!

Keep video ads short. Longer than 30 seconds is too long! No one will give you the time. And, some channels have limits anyway. Tell your story in 7-15 seconds for wider distribution — and for keeping viewers' interest.

Establish business strategy, with these essential questions...

a. What are your goals?

b. What are the obstacles?

c. What will success look like?

Platforms without players have no value. Describe yours. What motivates your audience? 🏆 What is their relationship to your business? 🤝Learn how they think, to anticipate how they'll play. Is there more than one type of player?

People like visual stimulation. Social media posts with images work better than those without

Use #content publishing software to schedule posts into the future across all of your #social media channels. Plan a few months out, which then frees you up to be in the moment, too — repost good content and join conversations.

What story do you want to tell? How do players learn and play the game? Remember that player actions should promote business objectives but their reward should matter to them.

Be sure to describe the activity; define requirements; remember the fun 👾

Keep it simple; teach what's required for success

How does it support the overall narrative?

Can each mission's success set up the next? 🚀

What can be managed:

Brand, Experience, Marketing, Communications

What can be influenced:

Word of Mouth, Media Coverage

Build feedback cycles into the campaign — for your players and for you. More than a leaderboard or badges (though they can help, too), providing feedback can incentivize further engagement, motivate, and inspire competition.

Shopping local is important to you. And to your small biz! Your target audience could be just beyond your backyard. Sponsor a local event, implement a mail campaign, target ads in your zip code - think hyperlocal!

While you might build or license infrastructure, it's not always necessary. Plan for how to manage players, results, and getting the most marketing value from your game.

KISS isn't just a business principle. It's good for every aspect of small biz marketing:

✅ Messaging: say one thing well

✅ Imagery: don't use complex metaphors

✅ Website design: have one call-to-action per page.

What else?

Embrace the uniqueness ✨ of your team. We all have our strengths. Delegate not only by strengths but according to ambitions. That goes for your vendors and partners, too!

Connect creatively with QR codes and short-URLs! You can localize your content, create ads that convert, reduce barriers to engagement, offer incentives, or simply share your story.

Buying search ads? Look at Google Trends. Cross-check your website's most prominent keywords to see interest as well as related keywords. Now optimize. Go!

Embrace artificial intelligence and machine learning. It's not as scary to get started as you might think and you're likely already using it. It's a big part of modern digital marketing. Ex., use Google's recommendations in search ads. Use your head, though: it's not perfect and something makes wrongful recos.

Most marketing websites will fail with complexity. Are you Wikipedia? No.

⏱️ Can you make your pitch in 20 secs? You must.

🎯 Can you simplify your website to less than 5 pages? You can!

If you're a small biz, don't blow your budget on custom web tech. Consider a hosted CMS and spend your $$ on a professional #content strategy and design that differentiates. Get the most out of your marketing 💵.

Consider how you solve your customers' problems — or fuel their ambitions. Now, refine your messaging. Go!

For example, underline links on your website. (You wanted to click the image, right?!) Users are so well trained that it's second-nature to click an obvious link. You might play with style, but it'll be at the expense of performance.

Are you spamming with emails? Ask yourself, is your content:

• Helpful

• Educational

• Relevant


Before you hit "send," check to see if your business email is something you'd actually like to receive. Same goes for social media. Have something valuable to post, or wait.

Two things ALWAYS work in advertising:

1. Bring the fun

2. Teach something


Demonstrating better value or quality might work, but couple that with entertainment or education FTW!

Trust means everything. You don't want to trick customers. When having trouble with acquisition, clickbait is NOT the answer.

Don’t let your hard work go to waste! Repurpose content. Use round-up posts, infographics, etc. to revisit or recast older content that's still relevant.

Content plans reduce the burden of thinking up new content:

1. Start with customers' needs

2. Define strategy(s) + frequency

3. Design "buckets"


A framework will help you develop content that's on-point.

Bring buzz to your business by hosting a takeover! Give guests a chance in the spotlight 🔦 on your brand’s social media. Getting trusted customers to talk about their experience and your brand can help both parties.

Be about community. Think about how your business attracts, supports, and grows your tribe. Try this device for framing messages...


"If you're the type who ________,

We're the ______ who will _______."

Your audience wants to hear your voice 🎤

Create a blog, podcast, video series. Or, appear on an established podcast or online show and show your business, personality, and mission.

We all want to feel involved, so include your audience. Interactive content such as polls, augmented reality, and 360-degree cameras create experiences instead of passing glances.

Everyone loves a good deal, including your customers! And, not all incentives need to be monetary. Let people know that you want their business by offering incentives before they buy and then blow them away with your product/service.


Not sure what to offer? Get a free hour of consulting. Really! Schedule it now and see how we can help your business. (see what we did there?!)

Active Voice = Active Reader 

Passive voice separates your reader from the action (and is generally wordier). And, it will help to make the "call to action" clear.

Use quantitative data to reinforce your point with your viewer. Prove the value of your product by providing statistics and facts.

Use testimonials from existing customers as a way to reinforce your product/service with new customers. To that end, be sure to solicit online reviews from your customers!

Don’t assume your audiences know what you know: 

Can you simplify your product or service down to one sentence? How about 5 words or less? 

"We'll" is a strong word: 

You may think contractions are unprofessional but they're more conversational and can help you sound less robotic. Your company will seem more relatable while still retaining your message. 

Be Crystal Clear: 

Make sure your message is clear and correct. It improves credibility. Bad grammar can cause confusion, can change meanings, and can lose business. 

Cut Through the Jargon (Don’t Leave Your Customers in a Land of Confusion):

Build a strong connection with a common language that everyone understands. Impress customers with your reliability. Learn more ...

It’s easy to use metrics to evaluate performance. And, it’s important to interpret data correctly. Have someone review your conclusions before you make data-driven decisions and avoid future mistakes. 

See your content through your customers' eyes. Is your message clear enough? Is it "audience-focused" and relatable? Are you able to understand the meaning and what to do next? Edit for your audience and for action. 

The first draft is not always the best. Multiple drafts allow you to refine and optimize. Keep your revisions and build the best content and features into the final version.

It’s easier to find an audience than build one. Follow accounts that interest you and follow others like that. Use the “suggested” algorithms in each social media channel to your advantage.

"Rome wasn't built in a day."

Have realistic expectations. There's no such thing as a silver bullet in marketing. Building a successful brand and marketing ecosystem takes commitment and budget. Have a plan and a trusted marketing partner and make the effort, year over year.


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