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Email marketing is one of the oldest and best tricks in the communication playbook, and newsletters are an excellent tool for brand awareness, audience engagement, and lead nurturing. But newsletter planning is challenging. Coming up with and delivering fresh ideas...
Mar 22, 2024
This session was part one of our “Decoding social media analytic masterclass”: a 5-part series where we cleared the fog away from social media analytics.
In this 1-hour session Dan delves into top-performing posts — how to create one, what they’re telling you, and what you need to do once you’ve got a top-performing post.
Dan, the co-founder of Knowlton, accidentally discovered a game-changing marketing strategy in 2017 called ‘Advertainment’ that has delivered millions in trackable sales for some of the world’s leading brands. Starting with humorous videos crafted in a spare room with his brother, now co-founder Lloyd, Knowlton has propelled brands like Wahl, BBC Storyworks, and Sunny D to new heights. Additionally, Dan shares his insights as the co-host of the Business Anchors podcast & on stages around the world.
Interviewer: Noa Lupu
Noa is an experienced Account and Project Manager turned Customer Success Lead at Planable, where she combines her background in social media management with firsthand knowledge as a former Planable customer. Now leading the Customer Success team, Noa focuses on ensuring client satisfaction, building strong relationships, and enhancing customer support processes to deliver an outstanding experience.
To identify top-performing content, you need to test new formats, ideas, and tones regularly. Dan emphasized that you should always be experimenting, even if most attempts don’t yield extraordinary results. This process of “test, test, test” is how you discover what sticks and what doesn’t. The failures along the way provide essential data that informs your future decisions and fine-tunes your content strategy.
Commit to testing consistently, making minor adjustments along the way. Even small changes in posting times, copy styles, or visuals can unlock valuable insights.
According to Dan, defining a “top-performing” post depends on your goals. For example:
This type of analysis isn’t just about raw numbers; it’s about connecting the content type with your desired outcomes.
Start with clear, measurable goals for each post and then use these as benchmarks to understand what top performance really means for you.
A key insight shared was that posts which evoke emotion or entertain tend to perform significantly better. For example, Dan described a campaign for a safety glove manufacturer that used an emotionally charged message around workplace safety to grab attention. This approach shifted the focus from product features to the real-world impact of the product, making the message more compelling.
Identify the emotions you want your audience to feel. Content that stirs up feelings of nostalgia, urgency, or humor often inspires more engagement than purely informational posts.
Every social platform has its unique quirks and norms, which impact what performs well. During the webinar, Dan discussed how content should be tailored for the specific social media platform it’s posted on. For example, interactive elements, such as polls or stickers, perform well on Instagram, while LinkedIn audiences may respond better to thoughtful, carousel-style posts.
Don’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach. Ensure each post is adapted to the platform’s best practices to increase your chances of it becoming a top performer.
Once you’ve identified a top-performing post, don’t assume that replicating it exactly will yield the same results. Instead, analyze what worked about that post—is it the format, timing, or tone? Then, try to emulate those elements in your next batch of content while continuing to innovate. Dan shared how he refined his approach over multiple attempts, sometimes experimenting with different media formats, even if it didn’t always yield success immediately.
Be persistent with what works, but always tweak and test new variables. Success isn’t guaranteed to repeat itself, but through careful analysis, you can keep improving.
By applying these insights, you can learn to decode the stories your best content is telling you about your audience and continuously create posts that align with what your audience truly values. Want to dive deeper? Access the full webinar recording to learn more about how to elevate your analytics strategy. Leave your email below, and we’ll send it straight to your inbox!
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