Social Media Metrics vs. Social Media Analytics: Learn the Difference

Social Media Metrics vs. Social Media Analytics: Learn the Difference

The distinction can have a huge effect on the value of your reports and the success of your future efforts

The Mediabistro editorial team draws on 25 years of media industry expertise to cover jobs, careers, and trends shaping the industry.

5 min read • Originally published February 27, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

The Mediabistro editorial team draws on 25 years of media industry expertise to cover jobs, careers, and trends shaping the industry.

5 min read • Originally published February 27, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

These days you’d be hard pressed to find a job in media that doesn’t list “analytics” as a necessary skill. You may be in marketing, PR or content, yet you’re required to do way more than turn a creative phrase or craft a persuasive message. Now you’re expected to evaluate your efforts and prove that the things you spend your time on are contributing to the company’s success.

So each week you go into your social platforms and look at the reports. Maybe you export them and repackage them into a very professional-looking slide deck. Then you proudly present to your boss that your followers grew x% and you got y more clicks than the previous week and while video views were slightly down they’re still up over last month. Your boss, likely pleased with the positive numbers, tells you to keep up the good work.

This seems like a perfectly acceptable way to report on your social media performance, but it’s actually not useful at all. In order to produce social media analytics reports that will help you drive meaningful results (and really impress your boss), you need to understand the difference between social metrics and social analytics.

Here, we’re breaking it down so you can turn your social metrics into insights that will help you focus your efforts and improve your social marketing success.

What social metrics are … and aren’t

Metrics can be thought of as The What—What did this social post do for the business? How many people saw it or engaged with it?

There are a number of social analytics tools that can provide you with metrics. Each social platform has its own built-in analytics tool. The terminology used and metrics provided differs from channel to channel, but for the most part they can all fall into one of three categories:

Reach (impressions, # of people who saw your post, # of times your brand was mentioned, # of followers)
Engagement (likes, shares/retweets, comments/replies, clicks, video plays)
Conversions (downloads, sign ups, sales, new followers)

Not all of these metrics are native to social platforms, but there are third-party tools, like the web analytics system you use on your site, that can fill in the holes. Regardless of where you get your metrics, it’s important to understand that these numbers are just that, numbers. They are simply data points.

They are useful for letting you know what is happening and what is changing over a period of time. These numbers and trends are fairly easy to access and it’s also quite simple to put them into a clean report with a bunch of graphs and charts that make it all feel very official.

The built-in tools on the most popular platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, provide these reports out-of-the-box, which you can easily export. But, while these built-in tools are given names like “Insights” or “Analytics” they aren’t actually analytics reports or insightful at all. They are just social metrics reports. And the problem is that there isn’t much value in tracking or reporting on these numbers if you’re not going to analyze them or act on them.

From metrics to analytics

If metrics are The What, analytics is the So What? Knowing if a number is high or low, or if it went up or down since the last time you reported on it is easy. The real skill is being able to answer why. So what if more people clicked on your content than last month? So what if you got fewer likes on your tweets? Why did this happen?

The true value in collecting social media metrics is knowing what you can do with the numbers. It’s less about pulling the numbers together and more about making sense of those numbers. Figuring out how you can use them to make better decisions. This is social media analytics.

Finding the social data that matter

The first and most essential step to measuring social media success is to determine the goals of your social marketing strategy. Are you trying to drive traffic to your website? Increase brand exposure? Drive sales? If you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, it doesn’t make sense to measure anything.

Once you know what your objective is, you’ll know what metrics matter for your goals. This is important because some of the platforms, like Facebook, give you so many data points that you can waste a lot of time examining and reporting on numbers that have nothing to do with your goals.

It is a waste of time to report on metrics that don’t support your goals. The ones that do matter are called Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). If you know what you’re trying achieve, you’ll know what KPIs to pay attention to. For example, if you’re trying to drive more people to your website, reporting on your follower growth is pointless. Your number of followers may not translate to website visitors, so you’ll want to consider if this number is necessary to track.

If you can eliminate the noise and zero in on the metrics that matter, you’ll save time and find it much easier to analyze what’s going on.

The most helpful answers start with the right questions

Now that you know what KPIs to pay attention to, you can start to ask the questions that will help you make sense of (and take action on) the data in your social metrics reports. Here are a few questions you might want to ask (and answer) when reviewing each report:

Did my plan work?
If it worked, why?
If it didn’t work, why not?
What should I do differently?
What should I do more of?
How can I do better?

The answers to these questions are not in the numbers. The numbers can help lead you to the right answers. But you’re going to have to put a bit of thought into it.

If your numbers went up from the previous period you need to try to answer why this happened. Did you do something differently this period vs. last period? Is there a common thread amongst the posts that did well vs. the ones that didn’t?

There’s no guarantee that you’ll answer correctly, but the answer will lead you to a plan of action and that’s what you really want out of social media analytics. There’s no sense in tracking metrics, or reporting on them if you’re not going to try to influence them with future actions.

Topics:

Journalism Advice

How to Get Your First Magazine Feature Story Accepted

Break into the coveted "well" with these editor-approved strategies that go beyond killer ledes and stellar portfolios.

By Kristen Fischer

Kristen Fischer is a freelance writer, journalist, and copywriter with over 20 years of experience, currently serving as a health writer for AARP with previous staff roles at WebMD and WW. Her work has appeared in Prevention, Healthline, Woman's Day, Parade, and Writer's Digest, and she is the author of four books.

5 min read • Originally published March 8, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Kristen Fischer

5 min read • Originally published March 8, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Last updated: January 2026

Every magazine editor says the same thing: to land your first byline, pitch the FOB (front of the book) first. Editors at major publications consistently tell new writers to start with shorter pieces before attempting features.

“For features, we typically generate the ideas in-house, then assign them out to well-traveled, proven freelancers who have written extensively for our FOB departments and know our brand well,” explain editors at leading lifestyle magazines.

But what if you’re determined to write a feature story? Landing your first assignment in the coveted “well” of a magazine requires more than a compelling topic. Your timing must be perfect, and you need to convince editors that you’re the ideal writer for the assignment.

Here are six strategies that work, according to successful freelancers and magazine editors:

1. Include News and Numbers

Pitching a generic story about women and depression to major publications like Glamour will likely earn you a “we’ve already covered it” response. However, incorporating information from a new study gives your pitch a fresh angle that editors can’t ignore.

“Get an editor excited,” says Jon Finkel, a Florida-based sports writer. “A good statistic or recent study can give an old topic new life.”

Compelling data can also create urgency, pushing editors to publish sooner rather than later. Stay current with trending stories through:

EurekAlert for scientific studies
PR Newswire for corporate announcements
Google Trends for popular search topics
Regional publications for local stories with national appeal

Pro Tip: Your story doesn’t need to focus on the latest development, but that timely angle can be what secures the assignment.

2. Add an Anecdote

Numbers grab attention, but don’t forget your role as a storyteller. Medical exposes often open with personal stories because they help readers connect emotionally with the topic.

“You definitely want to make it look like you’ve made some outreach with a prospective source,” says Oregon-based writer Teri Cettina, whose work has appeared in major parenting publications. While she doesn’t always include anecdotes, doing so demonstrates commitment and shows you’ve invested time in the concept.

A strong anecdote in your pitch proves you can:

Connect with your audience
Find compelling sources
Tell stories that resonate

3. Package Your Pitch

From sidebar tips to infographics, thoughtful packaging can make your story stand out and show editors you understand magazine layout.

“It would be a big mistake if you felt like creating visual aids was the job of the editor,” says Cristina Goyanes, a writer who previously worked as an editor at Women’s Health. “They need to see you’ve thought about the complete package.”

Consider including:

Fact boxes with key statistics
Resource lists for readers
Sidebar suggestions
Photo or video opportunities

Keep packaging recommendations brief—just a few sentences. As Goyanes notes, “They don’t want the whole story until they’re intrigued by the bait.”

4. Nail the Headline

Sometimes a compelling headline alone can secure an assignment.

“If you’re still working on fleshing out the story details, but the headline is too good to pass up, it can save your butt,” Goyanes explains.

Effective headlines:

Match the publication’s style
Create urgency (“The Dangers of Missing Breakfast”)
Challenge assumptions (“Is Sleeping Making You Fat?”)
Use numbers when appropriate (“5 Ways to…”)

Even if your headline doesn’t make it to print, including one shows thoroughness and professionalism.

5. Go Beyond an Idea

Writing your pitch in the story’s actual tone helps editors envision the piece in their publication and evaluate your writing style.

Cettina says writing the first few paragraphs as if they were the actual article has helped her land major bylines. While this requires more upfront investment, it often pays off.

If you’re hesitant to write before getting approval, focus on demonstrating your research instead:

List confirmed interview sources
Show your research depth
Mention exclusive access opportunities

Remember: If one publication passes, you can tweak and pitch elsewhere—as long as the story remains unpublished. Just don’t submit simultaneous pitches for the same story.

6. Sell Yourself

A compelling story idea isn’t enough—editors need to know why you’re the perfect writer for the assignment.

Your unique qualifications might include:

Personal experience with the topic
Industry connections
Specialized knowledge
Geographic advantage
Social media following

“There are so many places where the goal isn’t just an awesome article but tons of clicks,” Finkel notes. Publications want writers who understand promotion and can help amplify their content.

Today’s pitch is also a business pitch. Show editors you’re thinking about:

How to promote the finished piece
Your social media reach
Your ability to drive traffic

Building Long-Term Success

Even the best pitches get rejected for reasons beyond your control. Timing, editorial calendars, and budget constraints all play a role.

“Persistence can be just as important as having great ideas,” Cettina emphasizes. She focused on a few target magazines and pitched them consistently before breaking into the industry.

Regular pitching builds name recognition. “The first time an editor sees my name, they might dismiss me,” Cettina explains. “If they see my name routinely coming across their email, they start to pay attention.”

Ready to pitch? Browse current magazine job opportunities and freelance assignments at Mediabistro Jobs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I pitch feature stories to multiple magazines simultaneously?

No. Wait until you’re certain one publication has passed before querying another with the same story idea. However, you can pitch different angles of the same topic to different publications.

How long should my feature story pitch be?

Keep pitches concise—typically 3-4 paragraphs. Include your hook, why it’s timely, your approach, and why you’re qualified to write it.

Do I need to write the full article before pitching?

No, but writing the opening paragraphs can help editors visualize your story and writing style. At minimum, show you’ve done preliminary research and have sources lined up.

How do I find the right editor to pitch?

Check the magazine’s masthead for section editors, visit their website’s contributor guidelines, or use resources like MediaBistro’s database to find current contact information.

What if an editor doesn’t respond to my pitch?

Follow up once after 1-2 weeks, then move on. No response typically means no interest. Focus your energy on new pitches and publications.

Topics:

Go Freelance, Journalism Advice

How to Pitch

How to Pitch Mediabistro: A Freelancer’s Guide

This career resource for media pros wants stories that will help their readers land a job, develop expertise or inspire their careers

The Mediabistro editorial team draws on 25 years of media industry expertise to cover jobs, careers, and trends shaping the industry.

4 min read • Originally published April 18, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

The Mediabistro editorial team draws on 25 years of media industry expertise to cover jobs, careers, and trends shaping the industry.

4 min read • Originally published April 18, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Monthly Unique Visitors: 220K+

Updated: Bi-weekly

Background: Geared towards developing careers in media-focused roles, Mediabistro offers something for every stage of an individual’s professional journey. Whether just starting out or looking to find the next opportunity, visitors to mediabistro.com can find job listings, online courses for today’s most sought-after skills, articles helping digital media job-seekers find opportunities and grow their careers, and expert career services from resume evaluations and rewrites to interview prep and one-on-one coaching.

Founded in 1996 by Laurel Touby as “a gathering place for professionals in journalism, publishing and other media-related industries in New York City,” Mediabistro has grown into a valuable resource for media professionals across the US.

“Many people remember Mediabistro as the best place to find writing, publishing and freelance gigs, as well as being the go-to source for daily industry news, gossip and career moves. While we’re still the best place to find traditional media jobs, the digital world has certainly caused us to broaden the definition of ‘media’ to include marketing, PR, sales and visual content,” says Leah Paul, Mediabistro’s director of marketing.

“Being a ‘media professional’ today requires making sure you learn how to use every new tool and tactic that will help you get better at your job. So we chose to move away from the industry news content in order to focus on helping digital media professionals find work, improve their careers, gain skills and excel at their jobs.”

What to pitch: Editors at Mediabistro are looking for pitches that provide actionable, tangible value to readers. Before pitching, ask yourself, “In what ways will this information help a job-seeker get closer to landing a gig, or advance in their career?”

Pitches about resume and cover letter tips are great, but here, the challenge is making the content hyper-relevant for media and digital roles, as well as having a unique angle that hasn’t been covered ad nauseam in other publications. If your pitch includes how the story can be repurposed into shareable assets like infographics, slideshows or videos, it will certainly grab the editor’s attention.

The editors are also interested in stories about professional development and the skills needed to be a well-rounded, highly marketable media professional. In today’s world of hybrid roles and demand for T-shaped expertise, it’s more important than ever for writers to have marketing skills, marketers to have writing skills and everybody needs to understand SEO, social media and analytics.

Let’s not forget about the ability to use a variety of creative applications, web-based platforms or just general tech literacy. Pitching an explainer, how-to or case study that can teach a trending skill to the Mediabistro audience will certainly get noticed. Even better if it’s a topic that can be tied to a Mediabistro course.

Stories about teams or individuals who are finding success in their careers, or breaking new ground, are very popular with the Mediabistro audience. Everybody loves a good Q&A that provides advice or career inspiration.

Finally, the Recruit and Hire section features articles geared towards employers, recruiters and hiring managers. Mediabistro is always looking for pitches with an interesting perspective on recruiting, retaining and managing media roles and teams.

What publicists should pitch: Publicists are encouraged to pitch information about media professionals who can offer solid advice to Mediabistro’s audience. If the pitch covers finding a job or excelling in the field, the editors may be interested.

If you’re a publicist representing a magazine or digital publication that accepts freelance stories, Mediabistro is always looking for more publications to add to the How to Pitch section.

Etiquette: Email the editor listed below with a concise query and links to clips. Another way to boost your chances of hearing back are to list the skills or value the reader will take away from your article (“Shows readers how to craft a unique LinkedIn summary”).

Lead time: Varies depending on the type of story being proposed and whether it has a time-sensitive element.
Pay rate: From $75-$150 per post
Payment schedule: Invoice upon editor’s acceptance of completed draft
Kill fee: None

Contact Info:
Mediabistro Holdings, LLC
825 8th Avenue, 29th Floor
New York, NY 10019
mediabistro.com
Twitter handle: @Mediabistro | Facebook

Direct pitches to:
EDITORS AT MEDIABISTRO.COM

Topics:

How to Pitch

Increase Your Brand Profile With Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Get an intro to driving more and better qualified traffic to your website from search engines

By Mai Alowaish

4 min read • Originally published May 1, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Mai Alowaish

4 min read • Originally published May 1, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Be sure to check back in for Part II of this series – an introduction to implementing your own campaign.

When consumers decide they’re in need of, or curious about, a product or service they intuitively head to a search engine. Trillions of Google searches happen every year.

Those queries represent opportunities to attract potential customers to your site.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can help increase the ranking of your site without spending money, but search engines often enhance and alter their ranking criteria, making it difficult to maintain your rankings.

So how else can you promote your brand, drive new visitors to your site and increase site traffic? With search engine marketing (SEM).

It’s the yin to SEO’s yang. While not free, it is a great low cost solution to help you enhance your brand’s profile and connect with customers at the right moment. And it’s something anybody can do on their own.

Search Engine Marketing

SEM is the practice of marketing through paid advertisements that appear on relevant search engine results pages and websites. These ads can have different formats and are paid for through a bidding process.

Think of it this way, before the internet, popcorn ads weren’t everywhere. People saw physical ads for the snack in the movie theater, when they were hungry and thinking about getting something to eat.

The ads were provided where people were, when they wanted food, and where they had access to buy popcorn. SEM does this on the internet.

Your ads won’t be just anywhere, they’ll be placed in front of people who are considering your type of product or service, who live near your company and who want to buy what you sell.

You can even choose which search engines to use and where/when you want your ads displayed so that you can best reach your audience using your style of advertising.

Search Advertising

Let’s start with an example. Say your potential customer needs some writing done. When they search, Google will display results and ads from businesses that are relevant to the query phrase.

Professional writers advertising their services, are able to extend the reach of their online brand and appear right in front of the eyes of people searching for their services.

This is something that isn’t as easily achievable with simply implementing a SEO strategy.

Display advertising

Display ads aren’t found in search results, instead they can be seen on websites and mobile apps and can feature interactive formats of images, videos or even animations to engage the user.

You can choose to be strategic too, putting your message only in front of the people who are most likely to be your potential customers.

This is done by customizing your ad placements to a specific geographic location or when someone is watching a related video on YouTube, or browsing the web in a specific language.

There are many display advertising platforms that you can use, with Google Display Network being the largest one; Google claims that their display network sites reach over 90% of Internet users worldwide.

How much does SEM cost?

This depends on your budget and how you want to use SEM to work for you. You can mix and match different SEM strategies to make the best out of your advertising budget.

If the goal is awareness and you may just be interested in people seeing your ad, then you want to focus on cost per impression (CPM).

If you’re priority is website traffic, cost per click (CPC) could be the best metric.

If your goal is to increase lead calls or transactions, then you can use cost per acquisition (CPA) to optimize the campaign based on actual conversions.

CPC is the most popular metric used for SEM bidding. The average CPC in Google AdWords is between $1 to $2 on the search network. The average CPC on the Display Network is under $1.

Who can use SEM?

Anyone. Access to SEM tools is usually free and search engines provide tools to easily setup and manage ads right from your computer.

Google has AdWords, Bing has AdCenter, and Yahoo! has its Yahoo! Advertising too. Third party platforms can also be used to manage ads in more than one publisher.

You simply pay for the viewed and clicked advertisements, based on how you setup the process (which this industry calls a “campaign”).

Topics:

7 KPIs of an Effective Website (And How to Measure)

Learn some of the most important key performance indicators (KPIs) of websites that convert

By Alex Jasin

Alex Jasin is an entrepreneur, songwriter, speaker, and CEO of Metapress and X3 Digital. Connect with Alex directly on Twitter, Medium and LinkedIn. Read more of Jasin’s writing on Business Insider, Entrepreneur, The Huffington Post, Internet Retailer, The Next Web and other major publications.

6 min read • Originally published May 8, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Alex Jasin

6 min read • Originally published May 8, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Are you looking to generate more phone call leads? Or drive more email sign-ups? Maybe you want to test new content on your website?

Well, you simply can’t measure what you don’t track.

The fundamentals of any successful digital marketing campaign begin with setting goals and key performance indicators (KPIs).

KPIs allow you to determine what metrics define success for your business. This way, you can track all of your website’s data to understand your company’s performance over time.

By definition, a KPI is a quantifiable measure that gauges a company’s achievements based on pre-set goals and objectives.

Before you start measuring, you have to first set “SMART” goals based on your business objectives.

This will help you get a clearer and more definite picture of what you want to achieve and when you achieve it.

Below are seven of the most important KPIs of effective websites with tips on how to start tracking them so you’ll know how to tweak your website moving forward.

Note: You’ll notice that Google Analytics appears as the tool of measurement for most of the KPIs. I decided to use it as the primary tool. It’s loaded with features, it’s popular and it’s absolutely free. Also, chances are, it’s what you use on your website. If it’s not, use the KPIs to tell if your analytics tool matches up to Google Analytics.

MARKETING KPIs

These KPIs help you achieve your website goals based on marketing goals, such as generating more qualified leads, improving the subscriber rate and increasing awareness and trust.

1. Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is probably the most common KPI. Everyone wants to know how many people become buyers on their site. I use “buyers” very loosely here.

This is because conversion doesn’t have to be just about sales. Conversion could be getting visitors to sign up to your newsletter, download an e-book or contribute to a cause.

As much as you want to reach a certain conversion rate, you’ll also want to analyze why a large percentage of visitors don’t convert.

2. Number of Qualified Leads

Some website owners are easily excited about the wrong things like a high number of website visitors. These are what are commonly referred to as vanity metrics.

You want to know how many of the visitors might actually buy from you. These are the qualified leads because they meet the qualification criteria you’ve set.

Traditionally, you’d track the URL on the “Thank You” page after the visitor fills out a form. This would be your overall conversion rate as discussed above. However, with this method you can’t track qualified leads, only the total number of leads. To get to the number of qualified leads, you’ll want to use customer relation management (CRM) software.

When a user fills out a lead generation form and clicks “submit”, Google Analytics transmits that data to your CRM platform. You can then score and rank the different leads to determine which are “qualified.”

3. Awareness Level

When you feel like you’re really pushing your brand out there, you’ll want to know exactly how effective your efforts are. There are several factors that indicate more people are getting familiar with your brand.

To help you with this, Google Analytics breaks down site traffic based on the source. If you look at these results (over time), you’ll get a sense of the percentage of your website visitors who already knew your brand by the time they made it there.

After you’ve started to track your current stats, you can begin working towards increasing your website’s traffic based on your results.

SALES KPIs

These KPIs indicate if your website is doing enough to help you achieve sales goals like boosting your revenue.

4. Sales Conversion Rate

If you’re focused on the number of sales you make on your website, sales conversion rate is a metric to watch. Even though this is focused on sales, in Google Analytics, it’s measured like the aforementioned conversion rate.

Google Analytics has a built in E-commerce report, so if your sales are happening on your website, you can easily get to a variety of data about your sales conversion rate, including the total revenue, number of transactions and quantity of items purchased.

You can take this data further by looking at your most valuable sources of traffic in terms of where your biggest spenders come from or where your highest converting audience comes from. This sort of data can help inform your marketing plans.

5. Time Before Purchase

This is one of the least considered metrics. Most businesses just look at conversion, without caring to ask about how long it took a customer to convert.

If it takes multiple visits to your site before a customer buys from you, this doesn’t immediately mean trouble. They could just be taking time to get more familiar with your company, reading your site’s blog (you should have one), or a number of other acceptable reasons.

The problem comes if people don’t buy because your marketing message isn’t fined-tuned enough. You want to be closing deals as quickly as possible.

Most analytics tools offer this metric and Google Analytics shows this under E-commerce as “Visits to Purchase” and “Days to Purchase.” You should use it even if you’re not an online store. Setting up your analytics account to track the other kinds of non-purchase conversions (like those we discussed earlier) as part of the E-commerce reporting, does require some technical expertise, but it is possible.

6. Average Order Value

If you’re selling one product, it’s easy to understand that each conversion results in an amount equal to the product price. However, if you have several products, you want to know the average value of each order.

This tells you truly how much your efforts are paying off in converting customers. On its own, it’s not very valuable. But when coupled with context, you get a clear picture. In Google Analytics, it also appears under E-commerce.

UX KPIs

Last, but certainly not least, you need to consider your customer experience. Nothing will matter if the customer isn’t satisfied.

You want to make sure that whether on desktop or mobile, visitors get the best experience. The key metric here is customer satisfaction.

All other factors like navigation, page load time, mobile responsiveness, etc. boil down to improving customer satisfaction. They are factors you should test and tweak on your end based on the customer satisfaction.

7. Customer Satisfaction

To most people, customer satisfaction is highly subjective. This makes it a really hard metric to track—but it’s possible.

You need more than Google Analytics for this, though. One of the most qualitative ways you can measure customer satisfaction is through surveys.

Using a tool like SurveyMonkey, you can send out surveys to your customers to get a better understanding of what they think of your website. Qualaroo allows you to track more quantitative data according to user ratings. Temper lets you graph customer satisfaction trends.

You may also be able to get an idea from cart abandonment and bounce rate. Through these metrics, you can see where you started losing your customers.

You can also review and track your Net Promoter Score (NPS). This tells you, on a scale of 1 – 10, the likelihood of a customer buying from you based on their experience.

Measuring is the Surest Way to Grow

Successful digital marketing comprises much more than just a solid content marketing strategy, high search engine results page (SERP) rankings and spending money on social media ads.

It hinges on what is probably the most basic element of them all: your website. All the digital marketing effort is pointless if you didn’t make a website that’s effective for reaching your goals.

Start implementing these 7 key performance indicators on your site, and begin to track and review your progress over time. This is a surefire way to understand exactly where you stand right now, and plan for a stronger business in the future.

Alex Jasin can be found on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Topics:

Best Influencer Marketing Campaigns of 2017 So Far

From cosmetics to clothing, these brands generated the best in influencer marketing content

By Amirah Bey

Amirah Bey is a digital marketing strategist with over 10 years of experience across global brands including Amazon Web Services, Procore Technologies, and Mediabistro. A Howard University graduate and Army National Guard veteran, she specializes in lifecycle marketing, analytics-driven strategy, and digital experience optimization.

4 min read • Originally published May 22, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

By Amirah Bey

4 min read • Originally published May 22, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Weight-loss tea anyone? Hair-growth pills? What about at-home teeth whitening kits?

If you’re an active Instagram user, you’ve probably scrolled down your Instagram timeline and caught one of your favorite social media celebrities casually mentioning their love for one of the aforementioned products.

You know this is called influencer marketing, and while you can’t argue with its impact on brand awareness, some brands do it better than others.

Influencer marketing has become such a buzzword in the marketing industry, it’s being used to describe any celebrity’s (D-list or otherwise) involvement in a marketing campaign.

But I think there’s a line between celebrity endorsements and real influencer marketing. The distinction is really about content creation. The best influencer campaigns are those where influencers create their own content in support of the brand’s goals.

From fitness to travel and cosmetics, here’s a look at the brands who’ve generated some of the best influencer marketing content so far this year.

Tarte Cosmetics
In late January, Tarte cosmetics flew a gang of makeup and fitness gurus to Hayman Island, a private island off the coast of Australia, for a few days of sun, fun and beach. They followed this trip up with a jaunt to the Florida Keys and most recently the Maldives. Each time they had a gaggle of influencers in tow.

These trips have been branded #TrippinWithTarte and the social media influencers participate in Snapchat-worthy excursions every day like morning yoga, lunch by the pool, dinner on the beach, hikes and massages.

The influencers all possess huge followings. For example, fitness and makeup guru Tammy Hembrow, who attended Tarte’s Hayman island trip, has more than 6.5 million Instagram followers, more than 700K YouTube subscribers, 34K plus Twitter followers and a successful blog.

In just the last month the #TrippinWithTarte hashtag was mentioned more than 680 times according to social analytics platform Keyhole.

Axe
With most influencer marketing targeting women, it was interesting to see Axe Hair enlist 30 top male influencers to promote their styling products.

One influencer tapped by the brand was actor Josh Peck who has more than 4 million Instagram followers. Peck along with the other 29 influencers are referred to by the brand as the AXE Hair Creators. Their goal is to show everyday guys how styling has impacted their success.

Another popular influencer marketing tactic is for influencers to host events sponsored by the brand. At these events the Axe Hair Creators are tasked with showcasing not just why they style everyday but how they achieve their looks. The collective wants to inspire men who want to do more with their hair, but just don’t know where to start.

Fashion Nova
Fashion Nova is a brand that has become successful largely due to it’s ongoing and aggressive influencer marketing efforts.

“We work with 3,000 to 5,000 influencers,” said Fashion Nova’s founder and CEO, Richard Saghian, via a phone interview published by Vice.

Fashion Nova views itself as a “viral store.” The digital storefront relies on the popularity of celebrity and model influencers to spread word-of-mouth advertising to their eager followers.

They count among their influencer ranks it-girl Kylie Jenner, whose sole Instagram post about the brand’s jeans received tons of engagement: 2.7 million likes and 558K comments.

Jenner, to date, has 93.8 million Instagram followers and lands in eighth place for most number of Instagram followers in the world, but Fashion Nova also takes special care to engage micro influencers as well.

Many in the industry categorize micro-influencers as creators with under 100K followers or subscribers, like YouTube beauty vlogger BlissfulBrii who has 93K subscribers. Since the start of the year, BlissfulBrii has posted two videos featuring Fashion Nova clothing. The vlogs reached a combined total of 200K views, 4,300 like and almost 200 comments.

Glossier
Glossier is a relatively new brand (founded in 2014) that has skyrocketed quickly thanks to strong influencer marketing. The brand doesn’t focus on follower count but prioritizes the engagement rates of potential partners.

For instance they’ve worked with Instagram user Cecilia Gorgon who possesses about 8,500 followers. Gorgon isn’t a content creator or celebrity, in fact she described herself as a student at the University of Michigan living in Ann Arbor and majoring in Fine Arts, in an Into the Gloss article published late last year.

She posted a photo of the brand’s Priming Moisturizer Rich encouraging her followers to purchase it because she’d “been testing it out the past few days and it’s so moisturizing.” Gorgon added that face cream made her “skin feel like a baby’s booty.”

Another example of Glossier’s micro-influencer strategy is their Glossier reps program. Glossier recently flew 13 of their reps to NYC for 48 hours.

One of those reps is YouTube vlogger Amy Serrano. She has a strong following of 47K YouTube subscribers. The beauty vlogger documented the whole excursion and just 2 days after posting, the video boasted more than 5K views, 350 likes and 57 comments.

Serrano also dedicated 4 of her Instagram posts to the trip for a combined total of of more than 2,900 likes and almost 50 comments. With a dozen other reps documenting their trips the reach and engagement was sure to be significant.

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Advice From the Pros

UX and Usability: What’s the Difference?

It’s key to user experience, but it is not debatable

Ayana Young is a communications and PR strategist with 15+ years of experience spanning media relations, lifestyle brands, professional sports, and publishing.

3 min read • Originally published June 7, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Ayana Young is a communications and PR strategist with 15+ years of experience spanning media relations, lifestyle brands, professional sports, and publishing.

3 min read • Originally published June 7, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

User experience (UX) is a hot topic these days. As our lives grow ever more digital, every company is focused on improving UX, and even non-technical teams need to be involved.

But a big problem for those of us who aren’t part of the tech or product teams is that there’s a lot of confusion around what exactly UX is.

A frequent misconception is that UX is all about usability; people often use the terms interchangeably. Without a doubt, usability is important to UX, but it’s only one of many factors that influence UX.

One reason this is such a common misunderstanding is probably because usability is one of the easiest aspects of UX to measure. It’s critical to understand the difference between usability and UX while also recognizing the importance of usability—what it means, what your usability goals are and how usability testing can measure it.

Difference Between Usability and User Experience

While usability has an important impact on UX, usability is about how the structure of the site affects functionality. In other words, how easy it is for a user to successfully perform tasks according to your usability goals. Usability goals can vary, but they are typically speed, accuracy, satisfaction and overall success.

For example, a usability goal that you might have for an e-commerce site would be to reduce the amount of time it takes a user to checkout once they have finished adding items to their cart. Another usability goal might be to reduce the number of errors a user will encounter when filling out a form.

It’s easy to assume how a long, slow checkout process (or repeatedly encountering errors when trying to submit a form) will impact the user’s experience, but it will not tell you everything about the user experience. That’s because user experience is about how the user feels when using your site or product.

While user experience is subjective, usability is not; it is not an arguable factor. Usability can be objectively measured by employing specific methods of usability testing. However, if you don’t know what makes something usable, it’s kind of hard to conduct or evaluate any tests.

Usability Testing Across Five Dimensions

In order for a site to be usable, it must be designed to achieve five core functions. It’s these core functions, or dimensions of usability, that need to be evaluated in usability tests.

Learnability: A site must be easy to learn so that you can quickly start accomplishing tasks. The more time you spend using the site, the easier the tasks should be and eventually, you’ll go from being a novice to an expert user.
Efficiency: How quickly can you accomplish a task? This is ultimately impacted by learnability, but once a user has learned your site, a high degree of productivity should be possible.
Memorability: Your site needs to be easy to remember so that a casual user who has not visited in a while doesn’t have to relearn it.
Error Free: This one is probably the most obvious factor of usability. Users shouldn’t be prone to making the wrong moves. It should be obvious what the right moves are without encountering error messages.
Satisfaction: The site should be pleasant to use so that users are subjectively satisfied while using it. Although satisfaction is subjective in nature, there are objective ways to measure it relative to the site’s purpose and the needs of your users.

The last dimension is the one that is most closely tied to UX. Remember, UX is about how your users feel when they are using your site, and what is satisfaction if not a feeling?

Now that you know the difference between usability and UX, you can start to think about UX in a broader context.

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Advice From the Pros

Skills-Based Training: Why Upskilling Is Essential for Media Professionals

Identifying ways to enhance the professional skills needed to advance your career

Ayana Young is a communications and PR strategist with 15+ years of experience spanning media relations, lifestyle brands, professional sports, and publishing.

3 min read • Originally published June 26, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Ayana Young is a communications and PR strategist with 15+ years of experience spanning media relations, lifestyle brands, professional sports, and publishing.

3 min read • Originally published June 26, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Your job is changing. If it’s not changing now, it will change in the very near future.

Almost all companies rely on a digital way of branding and commerce, even if they are not inherently digital products.

Journalists are not only responsible for writing, but they’re also expected to know the data and optimization behind their content. Marketers too are evaluated by their analytical skills and social media savvy. A brand marketer who has climbed the ranks as an expert could suddenly find herself face to face with the brand’s fledgling Facebook community and tasked with developing the strategy to save it.

Much of professional learning is on the job—we get thrown into scenarios, and we are asked to spin gold from thin air—but there is a way to learn before your feet are in the fire.

Enter online skills-based learning—short courses that teach working professionals new trends and new information within their job function. Professional skills training is becoming a popular option for learning and a new access point to acquire targeted skills. It’s a down-and-dirty way to learn what you need, right when you need it.

The choices are plentiful and range from free, 5-minute videos on YouTube to multi-week intensives that can cost as much as $10,000. What you choose can depend on how deep you want to go or how much time and money you are comfortable investing. While there is plenty of free information out there, much of it can be generic, untargeted or produced by non-reputable sources.

Even courses that cost money can be questionable; many providers of online training videos aren’t involved in the development of course content and allow anyone to create and post a course for sale.

So what’s the middle ground for someone who wants quality content but doesn’t want to invest in a comprehensive program? The answer: on demand, self-paced courses taught by pros whose day jobs are in the topic areas which they teach.

On-demand courses enable working professionals—whose resumes already have some heft—to elevate themselves in their current role or pivot to an entirely new one, without the time and money of a long program.

Before you enroll, ask yourself a few questions:

Will this course give me the information and tactical skills that I need in my work? (hint: check the syllabus or course description carefully)
How much money am I comfortable spending on a single course? (pro-tip: signup for newsletters to get discounts)
Who is leading the course? (Read instructor bios to learn about their experience)
How much time am I willing to devote to this? (1 hour, 3 hours? 2 weeks?)
What name would I trust to provide me with relevant, accurate information?

Mediabistro offers on-demand training for the top skills needed in digital media. All courses are developed and led by professionals with current working expertise. Mediabistro thoroughly evaluates the credentials of our instructors and works closely with them to develop the content and structure of the course.

Ultimately, opting for additional training in your field gives you an edge—it’s a smart, strategic approach to managing your career. On-demand courses are designed for busy professionals that already have the experience and simply want to add a layer of expertise to move up.

Check out Mediabistro’s on demand course library, available for as low as $49 per course. New courses are added monthly to keep up with the rapid pace of change in digital media.

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Beyond Grammar: The Solid Writing Skills Employers Actually Want

Learn these six kinds of writing, and employers/clients will be knocking down your door

Ayana Young is a communications and PR strategist with 15+ years of experience spanning media relations, lifestyle brands, professional sports, and publishing.

3 min read • Originally published June 28, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Ayana Young is a communications and PR strategist with 15+ years of experience spanning media relations, lifestyle brands, professional sports, and publishing.

3 min read • Originally published June 28, 2017 / Updated March 19, 2026

Think you know how to write?

Think again.

Nearly 75% of employers want employees with strong writing skills. Yet, almost half of employers say young job applicants can’t write well enough.

These days, writing is so much more than basic grammar, correct spelling and proper punctuation. You need to be able to communicate complex messages in dozens of different ways, for wildly different audiences.

Here are six kinds of writing everyone needs to master—no matter what industry you’re in.

1. Video

Literally every brand has jumped on the video content wagon, and scriptwriting is an art form unto itself. It requires a special kind of creativity to tell a story using both audio and visuals.

Scriptwriters also need to know specific formatting practices that are standard in the industry. For example, you may need to write a video script in screenplay format or two-column advertising format.

If you can quickly turn around a well-written and professionally formatted script, you have an undeniable advantage over the competition.

2. Audio

Listen. Do you hear that? It’s the sound of podcasts and radio shows taking over the planet!

There’s more audio content being generated than ever before, and you never know when you might be called on to write a podcast script, radio commercial, podiobook or audio blog.

Writing audio content is completely different than writing content that’s meant to be read (like a blog post) or seen (like a video).

3. Social Media

Sure, you might have a killer social media following for yourself, but do you know how to write social content for brands? It’s a whole different ballgame.

Writers need to understand the stylistic nuances of each platform, while at the same time being true to the brand. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube… it’s a lot for a writer to learn.

And don’t forget social media advertising. Promoted tweets, YouTube pre-roll videos and Facebook ads are all created by writers.

4. B2C Copywriting

As technology continues to evolve at a rapid-fire pace, B2C (business-to-consumer) copywriting is becoming more multi-faceted. Writers must keep on top of these industry changes to stay employable.

But if we go back to basics, every successful B2C writer has to master these three skills:

Writing for highly targeted niche audiences
Writing across drastically different platforms (websites, email, print ads, digital ads, email, social media, etc.)
Coming up with an endless stream of new strategies and ideas to present well-worn ideas in a fresh new light.

5. Sponsored Content

One of the fastest-growing areas of B2C is sponsored content, also known as advertorial, native advertising or promoted stories.

To create effective sponsored content, a writer has to marry a brand’s content and message with a publication’s style and tone. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk, and it’s why sponsored content writers are in such high demand.

6. B2B Copywriting

Writing B2B (business-to-business) is 10x harder than writing B2C.

Why?

It’s easy to put yourself in an individual consumer’s shoes because you’re an individual consumer yourself. It’s much harder to write compelling copy aimed at a business.

What does a business want? How can you convince them of your unique value proposition? How do you handle all the different channels of B2B marketing: trade publications, blog content, email newsletters, case studies, white papers and press releases?

We recommend that all writers take the time to learn B2B writing skills forwards, backward and upside-down.

Go Forth and Write!

Remember, 75% of employers want you to walk in the door with strong writing skills under your belt. Become a fantastic writer, and you’ll have great companies knocking down your door.

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