INBOX INSIGHTS: Process Documentation, Analytics Amnesty, Instagram Brand Content (1/26) :: View in browser
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Documenting Your Processes
Over the past week, my laptop has been stuck in a 4-hour reboot cycle, I've lost the ability to use my keyboard, and my audio automatically mutes on calls.
Needless to say, technology has not been on my side this week.
My tasks have fallen behind and I've had to reach out to my team to help me get things done.
Thankfully, we've taken the time to create repeatable processes and documentation for a lot of what we do at Trust Insights. I was able to ask for help and point to a standard operating procedure for how to do the task. But it got me thinking, is that normal?
So here is the "so what?" this week – when was the last time you documented your processes?
If the answer is "never" you might be in trouble.
I hear you. I've been there, feeling like there is no consistency to what I do so I cannot possibly document it. Or I'm so busy that I cannot take the time to write down what I do.
I'm sure you already know where this is going. You have to make time for documentation and you have to find the repeatability. Why? It will allow you to do a couple of things:
Automate
By finding the repeatability in the tasks that you perform you can find opportunities to automate some of what you do. Automation is your friend. I promise. Automating your tasks does not automate you out of a job. What it does is give you back time to do deeper thinking, build relationships, discover insights, and make plans.
Scale
Repeatability and documentation allow you to scale. We just talked about how automation is your friend. It is not only your friend to help you get out of the trenches of doing the same thing over and over, but you can also think about scaling what you're doing. Automation of repetitive tasks will allow you to let the machines produce more. The consistency and the documentation are the instructions, the machines just need to follow the blueprint. Machines aside, it will help you significantly and save you time when you're onboarding new team members. Proper documentation of how you do things will allow a new team member to train up quickly and be productive, faster.
Delegate
I don't know about you, but I love delegating. I especially love delegating things that I don't enjoy. Before you can delegate, you need to have instructions on how to do the task. Do you see a pattern here? Repeatability and documentation will allow you to teach someone else how to do your tasks the way that you were doing them. Doesn't that sound great?
I know that I'm probably in the minority of people who enjoy thorough documentation (or maybe I'm not – let's be friends). However, writing down the steps of what you do will save you time and aggravation when you need help from someone else. Had I not had some documentation on how tasks are complete I wouldn't have been able to ask for help when my technology failed. Well, I could ask for help but the time it would take to explain the tasks would not have helped move them forward any faster.
Do you love documentation? Do you have questions about how to find repeatability in your tasks?
Come find me in our Free Slack Group, Analytics for Marketers »
– Katie Robbert, CEO
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In this week's episode, Katie and Chris examine the concept of analytics amnesty as part of change management. When you know things are wrong or broken, and you're committed to making a change for the better, you may need to declare amnesty – a reboot that removes any and all blame for the way things used to be. Learn more about analytics amnesty and what obstacles you might encounter as part of your change management efforts.
Watch/listen to this episode of In-Ear Insights here »
Last week on So What? The Marketing Analytics and Insights Live show, we looked at social media marketing and some current strategies. Catch the replay here »
This Thursday at 1 PM Eastern, we'll be looking at business process re-engineering. What the heck is it, besides an expensive consulting word?
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Need a reminder?
Here's some of our content from recent days that you might have missed. If you read something and enjoy it, please share it with a friend or colleague!
- 12 Days of Data eBook Now Available
- Marketing Analytics, Data Science & Leadership – January 24, 2022
- So What? Social Media Marketing
- INBOX INSIGHTS, January 19, 2022: Two Types of People, Solving Wordle Puzzles
- {PODCAST} In-Ear Insights: Affiliate Marketing Overview
Get skilled up with an assortment of our free, on-demand classes.
- What, Why, How: Foundations of B2B Marketing Analytics (new!)
- How to Think About Google Analytics 4 (new!)
- Fundamentals of Marketing Analytics (new!)
- How to Deliver Reports and Prove the ROI of your Agency
- Powering Up Your LinkedIn Profile (For Job Hunters)
- Competitive Social Media Analytics Strategy
In this week's Data Diaries, it's a new year, new you, right? Let's see what the new year holds for marketers on Facebook's Instagram platform for unpaid content.
First, let's take a look at unpaid brand performance for the last two months:
What we see is the usual slowdown during the holidays – brand performance always seems to suffer, in part because individual people share more content during the holidays, drowning out unpaid brand content, and because brands (especially B2C) focus their efforts on advertising.
As of right now, unpaid brand content hovers around an average of 0.2% engagement per post; in other words, 1 in 500 followers engages with a piece of content.
When we break this out by content type, we see a bit more nuance:
We see that for brands, video content is what drags down the overall performance. Albums (carousels) still perform the best in aggregate for brands to garner engagement of content.
So what? In terms of Instagram performance for unpaid content, brands may want to consider alternate avenues for reaching their followers, such as advertising or influencer marketing. At the very least, make albums/carousels your preferred format for posting, to increase the chances of audiences engaging with your content.
Methodology: Trust Insights extracted 448,349 unique Instagram posts from 7,291 brands on Instagram using Meta's Crowdtangle software. The timeframe of the data is December 1, 2021 – January 25, 2022. The date of study is January 26, 2022. Trust Insights is the sole sponsor of the study and neither gave nor received compensation for data used, beyond applicable service fees to software vendors, and declares no competing interests.
- Case Study: Google Analytics Audit and Attribution
- Case Study: Natural Language Processing
- Case Study: SEO Audit and Competitive Strategy
This is a roundup of the best content you and others have written and shared in the last week.
SEO, Google, and Paid Media
- 7 SEO Insights Search Analysts Need To Succeed & How To Find Them
- How to Use Google Search Console Insights for SEO Strategy via MarketingProfs
- Regex For SEO: A Guide To Regular Expressions (With Use Cases)
Social Media Marketing
- How the Pandemic Changed Social Media: 6 Quarantine Trends Here to Stay
- TikTok is changing small brands lives: How a startup drink brand is using the social platform, after going viral on it via Digiday
- How to Effectively Plan Your Social Media Campaigns via Sprout Social
Content Marketing
- You Ask, I Answer: Most Effective Content Modalities?
- You Ask, I Answer: Does Gated Content Work?
- The Ultimate Quality and Content Performance Checklist
Data Science and AI
- How AI can automate SEO tasks at scale
- Giggle App Uses AI to Exclude Trans Women, CEO Says
- Google Analytics 4 Transition Checklist via Practical Ecommerce
Are you a member of our free Slack group, Analytics for Marketers? Join 1900+ like-minded marketers who care about data and measuring their success. Membership is free – join today. Members also receive sneak peeks of upcoming data, credible third-party studies we find and like, and much more. Join today!
- Are you happy with the answers you're getting out of Google Analytics today?
- Are you confident in the decisions you're making from Google Analytics?
- Are you secure in the knowledge that you're set up properly to benefit from Google Analytics 4?
If you answered no to any of the questions above, let's take some time to get your analytics in shape. Google Analytics 4 is the analytics software of the future. Google has made no bones about the fact that anything new they develop will be in GA4 only. To take advantage of the new features, you need to get your house in order now.
So we're offering you a Google Analytics 4 bootcamp. We'll help you:
- Get your existing Google Analytics account in shape with proper goals, tracking cleanup, and best practices
- Identify key issues that will block your ability to use Google Analytics 4 and help resolve them
- Help set an analytics strategy for this that focuses on answers, decisions, and growth rather than pouring more data in your inbox
- Build a migration plan for Google Analytics 4, including Google Tag Manager and Google Data Studio
Click here to order a Google Analytics bootcamp »
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