Think about the last time you were at an event and someone gave you a business card—where did you put it? For most people, they end up taking a picture of it and either throwing the card away or placing it in a desk drawer never to be seen again. 

And yet, paper business cards have inexplicably stuck around despite their limitations in a digital-first world. 

Popl, a leader in in-person lead capture and digital business cards, is on a mission to modernize how people exchange information and make networking more effective and easier.

''At Popl, we're all about connecting companies with their future customers,'' says Jason Alvarez-Cohen, CEO and co-founder. ''Paper business cards just don't cut it anymore in a digital-first world.''

But as Popl grew, they needed to ensure their innovative solutions could scale while maintaining the seamless experience their customers had come to expect. They needed a way to bridge disjointed systems, streamline processes, and keep up with growing demand—all without overloading their team. They turned to automation and AI to make it happen.

​​About Popl:

• Company size: 51-200 employees

• Industry: Technology

• Location: New York, New York

Streamlining operations for scale

Popl's journey with Zapier began with a simple Shopify automation to send email notifications for customers. ''What started as a simple integration has gone beyond that. We now have over 100 Zapier automations, handling everything from lead routing to customer engagement,'' he shares. 

But it wasn't just about automating for efficiency—Popl needed to scale operations without adding complexity.

Take their sales process, for example. Popl's sales team manages hundreds of leads daily through HubSpot and Salesforce. Automating these workflows with Zapier removed bottlenecks and ensured every lead received timely attention.

''Zapier has been a game-changer for us,'' Jason explains. ''Whether it's routing demo bookings or managing billing contacts, we rely on Zapier to keep our operations smooth and scalable.''

Unlocking advanced workflows

Popl uses Zapier to connect multiple apps and automate complex workflows that save time and reduce errors. One standout example is their HubSpot demo booking system:

• Trigger: A HubSpot form submission starts the process.

• Google Sheets: Zapier checks a mini-database for lead details.

• Slack notification: Zapier sends an alert to the sales team.

• Round-robin routing: Routes leads to team members based on pre-defined logic, such as company size.

This workflow eliminates manual work while ensuring prospects are quickly and accurately assigned to the right sales rep.

''It's not just about doing more,'' Jason says. ''It's about doing it better, faster, and with fewer resources.''

Scaling with AI-powered insights

Popl has also integrated OpenAI into their Zapier workflows, unlocking new possibilities for email filtering and data enrichment. One key innovation: an AI-driven tool that categorizes inbound emails, saving team members hours of manual sorting every week.

Popl's AI-driven workflows include:

• Email classification: Uses OpenAI to identify spam, sales inquiries, and cold outreach, automatically sorting them into Gmail folders.

• Lead data enrichment: Combines Zapier and OpenAI to extract company details from email domains, streamlining the lead qualification process.

''With AI, we've eliminated repetitive tasks,'' Jason explains. ''Zapier makes it simple to integrate these capabilities without needing a separate tech stack.''

The impact: Scaling without limits

By automating its operations with Zapier, Popl has achieved scalable growth while keeping costs in check. For instance, they replaced a costly HubSpot-to-Salesforce integration with a Zapier workflow, saving over $20,000 annually.

Popl's results with Zapier include:

• 100+ automated workflows

• ~$20,000 annual savings on custom integration fees

• Scalable systems that support team growth without operational bottlenecks

''Zapier is our go-to tool for solving system gaps,'' Jason says. ''We've automated everything from demo bookings to lead ownership, which lets us focus on scaling our business instead of maintaining processes.'' 

Building the future of networking

With Zapier as the fuel, Popl can use its best resource—its people—to find clever solutions to some of its toughest challenges. By automating and optimizing their workflows, Popl's team is empowered to innovate, iterate, and grow with confidence.

Bookmark managers are helpful tools for saving and sorting valuable content for later. But they can quickly become an overwhelming mess if you're not organized. 

Instead of manually sorting through countless saved items, you can automatically sync bookmarks between apps, convert them into tasks, and even generate curated RSS feeds for your audience. With Zapier's automated workflows—called Zaps—you can simplify your bookmark management, making it easier to find, act on, and share the content that matters most. Here's how.

Table of contents

• Add RSS feed items to your bookmark manager

• Manage bookmarks across apps

• Add tasks from bookmarks

• Add RSS feed items from bookmarks

Add RSS feed items to your bookmark manager

RSS feeds are a powerful way to stay updated on the latest content from your favorite blogs and news sites. But RSS feeds need a place to send and store this content, so you can read and organize it effectively. 

With these Zaps, you can automatically collect new reading material then save it to your preferred bookmarking tool, like Pocket, Instapaper, or Pinboard. That way, you'll never miss valuable content from your favorite sources.

Manage bookmarks across apps

Each bookmark manager has its pros and cons when it comes to reading experience, organization, and aggregating data from different sources. If you need to use multiple bookmark managers for their different features, automating syncs between them can help you stay organized. 

For instance, if you tag a new item in Pocket, you can set up an automation to add that same item to Instapaper. This allows you to benefit from Instapaper's streamlined reading experience or speed reading features while keeping your saved articles categorized in Pocket.

Similarly, if you save an article for later in Feedly, you can automatically add it to Pocket or Instapaper. That way, your bookmarked content is accessible no matter which app you prefer at any given moment. 

These workflows not only reduce the effort of manually transferring bookmarks but also create a centralized and dynamic system for managing your reading materials. Whether you're a casual reader or a content curator, syncing bookmarks across apps can keep you organized without redundancy.

Add tasks from bookmarks

Bookmarks often contain actionable items, like articles to read, resources to explore, or projects to start. Automatically turning bookmarks into tasks can help you stay productive and on top of your commitments. 

Automation makes connecting your bookmark manager with your favorite task management tools easy. You can set up workflows to create a database item in Notion, add a row in Google Sheets, generate a new card in Trello whenever a new bookmark is saved, and more. Whether it's a research article, a helpful tutorial, or a resource for an ongoing project, these Zaps ensure you can act on your saved items without wading through a never-ending list.

Add RSS feed items from bookmarks

Bookmarks don't have to be the end of your content workflow—they can also be the start of a new one. By turning your saved bookmarks into RSS feed items, you can create new opportunities for sharing and repurposing content. 

For example, you can make a curated reading list by generating an RSS feed from your bookmarks. Share this feed with friends, colleagues, or readers, allowing them to follow your top recommendations.

These automations can also streamline newsletter creation. Content creators and bloggers can pull their bookmarked articles into an RSS feed that connects directly to email marketing platforms, simplifying compiling and distributing valuable resources. Or use this setup to build a dynamic "Recommended Reads" section on your website, where visitors can access a constantly updated list of articles and resources you've bookmarked.

Whether you're sharing knowledge, engaging an audience, or building an efficient content workflow, turning bookmarks into RSS feeds offers a flexible and powerful way to maximize the value of your saved items.

Supercharge your bookmark manager

Don't let your reading list get stale. With bookmark automation, you can keep your saved bookmarks organized, accessible, and actionable. Whether you're syncing RSS feed items, connecting bookmark tools, converting bookmarks into tasks, or creating shareable RSS feeds, these workflows simplify your life and maximize the value of your saved content. 

How will you automate your bookmark manager?

When you're raising a tween daughter, having conversations about puberty can be tricky. And all the "answers" from Dr. Google and r/girlmom just pile on to the overwhelm.

Thankfully, there's Girlology. An app created by doctors, it empowers moms and their daughters by answering life's most complicated questions about growing up. 

With more than 600 educational videos, Girlology needed a way to help moms quickly locate the content they needed. Enter Dave Bayless, an automation expert and Zapier superuser. Working with Jonathan Long, Chief of Strategy and Innovation at Girlology, Dave knew just the trick:

An all-on-Zapier chatbot. 

Challenge: Create a simple bot to answer tricky questions

That chatbot—now called Dr. Momfidence—could do more than just guide moms to the right videos. It could supply Girlology with a database of user questions for shaping future content.

But there were two key challenges to overcome.

To start, the Girlology team needed to help folks understand how to best use the chatbot. 

"People don't always use chatbots correctly," Dave said. "They enter keywords and key phrases like they do in a search engine."

Plus, although gathering tons of user questions would give Girlology valuable insights, they were unsure how to collect and analyze them efficiently.

Solution: Build complex functionality with ease

The team tackled these challenges systematically.

First up was designing an intuitive landing page for Dr. Momfidence. The chatbot answers questions through ChatGPT and uses various types of Girlology content as its knowledge base: a SmartSuite database of "Mom Tips" video content, a CSV of blog data, key pages from the Girlology website, and a Zapier Table containing a partner's PDF patient handout information.

"We wanted to make it easy for users to get an idea of how to start," Dave explained. So he made sure the landing page clearly displayed suggested prompts—plucked right from the knowledge base itself.

To solve the second problem, gathering responses, the team focused on their user data collection.

The chatbot captures leads through Mailchimp, but with a twist: When asking for key information right away, Dr. Momfidence makes it clear that sharing is optional. When certain keywords trigger the chatbot to recommend a resource like an eBook, then Dr. Momfidence asks for a name and email, allowing for specific engagement signals to strengthen their lead capture.

When conversations end, a Zap automatically logs conversation data (like the date of the interaction, the user messages, and the conversation ID) in a table and summarizes what was covered. After the transcripts are logged in the table, Zapier Central analyzes the various conversations and extracts key insights about how people interact with Dr. Momfidence. And with that info, they can create new content tailored to those topics.

Dave's innovative finishing touch? Using Python's pandas library—a powerful data analysis tool—to link the chat data with the lead data.

"It's astounding how the chatbot can even know to utilize pandas in a merged data table to allow the chatbot to do an analysis between two data sources," Dave said. 

Results: More meaningful relationships

Dr. Momfidence isn't just a tool for fielding questions.

"One of our goals […] is to build meaningful relationships with prospects," said Jonathan. "With this chatbot, we're able to provide high-quality conversations, which in turn create immediate value for prospects and qualified leads for our brand."

What's even more impressive is how quickly this value was created. "I built a similar chatbot for a friend and client that took me probably 60 hours to do," said Dave. "With Zapier, setting up this chatbot for Dr. Confidence initially only took 30 minutes." 

By using Zapier, Girlology can continuously improve the chatbot, using newly acquired insights to deliver smarter, faster, and more timely follow-ups. "The Central bot allows us to listen carefully, synthesize, and ultimately act," said Dave. "We don't have to guess what people are interested in. We know what they are interested in."

Closing the feedback loop ultimately drives the creation of new content for the chatbot's knowledge source. As they continue adding content to the knowledge base, Dr. Momfidence becomes exponentially more capable and useful to girl moms.

You probably use ActiveCampaign to manage your email marketing because you care about automation. The tool has a wealth of built-in AI-powered automations that help you personalize, target, and develop effective marketing campaigns. But those campaigns won't be effective if you don't have the right information in your email marketing tool to begin with.

By connecting ActiveCampaign to the rest of your tech stack, you can tap into the full power of automation to supercharge your marketing strategy. Here are some of the most popular ways to use Zapier's automated workflows (called Zaps) to set everything from lead nurturing to record-keeping on autopilot. That way, your team can focus on work only they can do—like building relationships with customers.

Table of contents

• Add leads to ActiveCampaign

• Follow up on purchases 

• Integrate ActiveCampaign with Google Sheets 

• Use webhooks with ActiveCampaign 

Add leads to ActiveCampaign

The best way to turn new leads into actual paying customers is to make sure you see them fast. And that means getting those leads into ActiveCampaign ASAP so you can start nurturing them. When you add automation to your toolkit, you can instantly send leads from a variety of sources to ActiveCampaign without creating bottlenecks for your team.

From bookings

In marketing, timing is everything. When a potential customer takes the time to book a meeting or schedule a service, it shows interest in your offer. Getting that lead into ActiveCampaign quickly lets you track other interactions and build stronger relationships. 

Use these Zaps to turn meetings into relationships. 

From ads and lead gen tools

Every minute you spend moving leads from various advertising platforms and lead gen tools to ActiveCampaign is time you could have spent A/B testing ads, writing ad copy, or just grabbing that second cup of coffee. These Zaps move leads from your favorite ad and conversion tools to ActiveCampaign automatically—no copy-pasting needed. 

From forms

Visitors who take the time to fill out a form are self-identifying as (at least a little) interested in what you offer. But the longer you wait to follow up on interest, the less effective you'll be. Maximize your chances of turning casual visitors into customers by instantly adding form respondents to ActiveCampaign with one of these Zaps.

Follow up on purchases  

The conversion process doesn't end when customers hit "buy now." In fact, it's just getting started. And because keeping customers is cheaper than acquiring new ones, that follow-up is crucial.

Connecting ActiveCampaign with your eCommerce platform lets you add new customers to your contact list or update contact information automatically—no more double-checking addresses or manually adding new customers. 

Integrate ActiveCampaign with Google Sheets 

Google Sheets lets you slice and dice your marketing data, create custom reports, and share those insights with the rest of your team. It's also a great spot to create an archive of customer data, so you never risk losing it.

But manually copying and pasting customer information can lead to human error and costly mistakes. It also doesn't scale well when you're dealing with a lot of customers. With these Zaps, you can automatically move data between Google Sheets and ActiveCampaign to instantly back up your customer data:

If you use Google Sheets to collect customer data from a variety of sources, you might also need a faster way to move that information from your spreadsheet to ActiveCampaign. These Zaps will get the job done.

Use webhooks with ActiveCampaign 

Although Zapier connects with thousands of apps, there may be a specific tool you use that doesn't yet have a Zapier integration.

Webhooks are a way for different platforms to "speak" to each other, even if they don't both have an integration. Use webhooks to send information to or from ActiveCampaign to another app, customizing your workflow to what works for you.

Supercharge ActiveCampaign

Ever wish you had more time in your day? Automating ActiveCampaign is the easiest way to make the most of your marketing efforts and have more time for fun stuff—like digging into your data or finding out whether emojis help drive open rates. Use these ActiveCampaign workflows to help update your contact lists, streamline follow-ups, and improve customer relationships. 

And this is just the start of what you can do with ActiveCampaign and Zapier. What will you automate first?

This article was originally published in February 2021. It was most recently updated in January 2025 by Nicole Replogle.

Let's set the stage: you and your colleagues just spent months on a lengthy, data-heavy project plan that no one in their right mind would read every word of, and now it's time to write an executive summary for it. The executive summary will be the first (and maybe only) thing people look at when they open your document: it's where you lay out the key takeaways, or golden nuggets, of whatever you've worked so hard on. 

But distilling complex information into a shorter format isn't simple. Here, I'll show you how to write an executive summary—either using a template or with our AI generator—and share some tips to help you get the most out of yours.

Table of contents:

• What is an executive summary?

• Executive summary template

• Executive summary generator

• How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

• Executive summary examples

• Tips to get the most out of your executive summary

• Automate projects and reports with Zapier

• Executive summary FAQ

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary recaps the most important information and takeaways of a document (e.g., a strategic plan, earnings report, or proposal). It lets people—coworkers, bosses, stakeholders, or clients—know what a document is all about without making them dig through pages of text, numbers, and charts with so many variables they make your head spin. 

Executive summaries typically appear at the beginning of a larger document, and they can be as short as a paragraph or as long as a few pages, depending on the length and complexity of what you're summarizing. But no matter how brief, executive summaries should include these key elements:

• Introduction: An executive summary should briefly introduce the plan or report it sums up. In other words, it should share the project’s purpose in a sentence or two.

• Problem statement: If your project aims to solve a certain problem or pain point, state exactly what that problem is and how it's impacting your business, clients, or team. 

• Solution: After introducing the problem, offer a solution. While your plan or report should cover this solution in detail, you can outline it in the summary and note the benefits of implementation.

• Conclusion and recommendations: At the end of an executive summary, briefly restate the main points of your project, then offer some recommendations for actionable next steps. 

You could include other elements in an executive summary, like a research methodology, some (brief) market analysis, a bulleted list of key takeaways, and financial projections. But you're summing up a document, not restating it point-by-point. So you'll have to leave the less-important details on the cutting room floor.

Executive summary template

Unless your idea of fun involves a whole lot of tedious formatting, you shouldn't start the executive summary process from a blank document. I've done all the outline-y bits for you and turned it into an executive summary template. Just fill it in using information from the project, report, or business plan you're summarizing.

Our template has each section in its own labeled column, but you may have seen other executive summaries presented as a seamless block of text. You can always turn our template into plain text by pasting and combining each section in a separate document. The choice is yours (and probably dependent on how long or short your summary is).

Executive summary generator

Template or no template, trying to condense a 57-page document into a brief summary can be a mammoth undertaking. This is one of those times AI can give you a massive head start on an otherwise daunting task. While any AI writing generator worth its salt can handle this for you, you'll save even more time if you use our chatbot (built with Zapier Chatbots) to generate an executive summary. Here's how to use it:

1. Copy and paste your document into the text box.

2. Click the Submit button or press the Enter/return key.

The bot will write you a summary that includes an introduction, problem statement, solutions, and conclusion. Of course, you'll want to review, fact check, and edit what gets generated to ensure it's good enough to go before the board.

How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

If you'd rather tackle your executive summary without leaning on AI, it'll help to have a guide to every part of the executive summary process. Here's how to get yours boardroom-ready in six steps.

1. Review the document you're summarizing 

Whatever you're writing an executive summary for—a document, a business or project plan, an annual report—you should know it like the back of your hand. Even if you've gone over it a half-dozen times before, reread it again, and this time, jot down the key info you'll include in your summary.

2. Create an outline 

If you're using our executive summary template, we've already done this step for you. For everyone else, you'll want to draw up a tidy outline with sections for an introduction, problem statement, solution, and conclusion. This is the bare minimum, but feel free to add other sections as needed.

3. Write the introduction

The introduction is where you briefly tell the audience what your project or document is all about. Try to answer two questions: what are you summarizing, and who is it for? You can also provide some background and context for how the document came about.

Depending on the length of what you're summarizing, your intro could be anywhere from a few sentences to a couple of paragraphs long. But shorter is usually better—you don't want your CEO's eyes to glaze over before you get to the meat of the summary.

4. State the problem

Next, share the problem your document will address. This tells the audience why they should care about what you're summarizing. This could be something like a decline in sales leading to reduced revenue and market share, an unsuccessful product launch that needs pivoting, or a drop in customer retention. 

However, not every problem statement has to address an issue or crisis. Your "problem" could also be an opportunity for growth and evolution or a new initiative. Either way, you'll want to be clear and concise. 

Also, include relevant data if you've got it: "sales are down 23%" is a lot more effective than "sales are down."

5. Propose solutions  

An executive summary should never raise a problem without offering one or more solutions to that problem. Of course, the solutions should be in the document or plan itself, but you still need to summarize them at the outset. 

Don't get lost in the details. Outline the critical, actionable steps needed to solve the problem at hand. You can even put them in a bulleted or numbered list to distinguish them from the rest of the text. And just like in the problem statement, it's worth sprinkling in some data (like a revenue projection) if it supports your proposed solutions.

6. Look ahead in your conclusion

In your conclusion, quickly restate the main points of your write-up and then move on to suggestions for what to do next. What actions do you want your audience to take after they flip (or scroll) through your document? 

Try to make your recommendations as actionable as possible. For example, if the project needs approval or you need another meeting scheduled, come right out and say that. If you're in a position to set deadlines, set them. Call out decision-makers and tell them what you want them to do with your document.

Executive summary examples

Not all executive summaries look alike, and half the time they might not even be labeled as executive summaries. Still, you're bound to find them at the beginning of most reports and other major business documents. Here are some examples from the real world to clue you in on what to look for.

Meta's annual human rights report

This executive summary from Meta is too long for me to reproduce here, but it can give you an idea of how they might be structured for larger documents (57 pages, in this case). 

It begins with a crystal clear overview of the report and Meta's commitment to human rights, then moves to discuss the risks associated with AI. After that, it covers the steps Meta is taking to mitigate these (and other) risks before closing with a look toward future initiatives. 

If you're keeping track, that's an introduction, problem, solution, and conclusion—all in three short pages.

Google's environmental report

Sometimes, an executive summary doubles as a statement by executives. Google's 2024 environmental report begins with an introduction co-written by their CSO and VP of Learning and Sustainability.  

Not only does it cover all the bases of an executive summary, but it also gets a major credibility boost since it's authored by members of Google's C-suite. But you don't have to be an exec to pen an effective summary.  

This one works because its solutions are data-backed and because it focuses clearly on one problem: the challenge of running a global business sustainability. 

Spotify's equity and impact report

This example from Spotify's equity and impact report shows how you can play with your summary's formatting. Instead of one big chunk of prose, they've opted for neatly labeled boxes highlighting key parts of the document. Because it's a PDF, you can even click the Read buttons to jump ahead to different sections.

The little text blurbs tell us what each section's focus will be. You'll notice they also introduce problems and solutions. Under "Climate Action," for instance, Spotify points out an issue (climate change) and quickly sums up what they're doing about it (aiming for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions). 

Tips to get the most out of your executive summary 

The point of an executive summary is to share it with people who may not even read the rest of the document it's attached to (like your boss, and their boss). On top of keeping your summary concise, engaging, and informative, here are some things you can do to help it make a splash.

• Prepare it for presentation: Instead of presenting your executive summary by reading it word for word, break it down into snappy, digestible bullet points. In other words, summarize the summary.

• Tailor it to your audience: You may need to tweak your write-up if you're presenting or sharing it with different audiences. Consider creating an internal summary for your team and an external summary for clients, stakeholders, or investors.

• Perform updates as needed: If your business plan changes, update the executive summary to account for new information, adjusted timelines, and expanded or reduced scope.

• Break it into a separate document: Because executive summaries usually come at the beginning of a large document, consider creating a separate, standalone version with a smaller file size. This will make it more shareable and allow you to easily send it to anyone who doesn't need the full version. 

Automate projects and reports with Zapier

Writing an executive summary shouldn't be a painful experience. Remember: you're summing up all the hard work that goes into a business plan or other document—stuff like market research, data collection, financial projections, and writing—not repeating it. 

Zapier can make that hard work easier by connecting all the apps you use and building fully automated systems for your projects. Whether you're crunching data for a report, drafting a project proposal, or even launching a startup, Zapier streamlines everything from simple tasks to complex workflows. Learn more about how to start automating today.

Executive summary FAQ

Looking for more info on executive summaries before you put your nose to the grindstone and write one? Here are some quick answers to commonly asked questions. 

How long should an executive summary be?

Executive summaries can range from one paragraph to multiple pages, depending on how much info you're summarizing. A good rule of thumb is that they shouldn't make up more than 10% of the document they're included in. 

What should an executive summary include?

An executive summary should state the purpose and key takeaways of a business's plan, project, or report. It should also cover solutions to any problems raised in the report and provide actionable recommendations for next steps.

What is the difference between an executive summary and a business plan?

An executive summary summarizes the content of a business plan, which is a detailed outline of a company's goals and the strategies they'll use to accomplish them. A business plan is just one example of a document that could include an executive summary. 

Related reading:

• 4 free strategic plan templates

• 9 free SOP templates

• How to create a goal-crushing project plan 

• The 5 sales forecasting spreadsheets you really need

When I started my email newsletter a few years ago, it was exciting. I felt a little late to the party but could still see the upside. Of course, the landscape has changed. It's now more expensive to acquire subscribers, the value isn't quite as high, and there's competition entering from every angle.

But that doesn't mean you should avoid newsletters—quite the opposite. It simply means you need to manage your expectations and adjust your tactics. I still believe newsletters are one of the best business models and customer acquisition strategies, but only when executed properly. 

Here, I'll share my top predictions for email newsletters in 2025.

Table of contents:

• The benefits of starting an email newsletter

• Creators will push their email newsletters before products

• Newsletters will switch to better-suited platforms

• Co-registration will become the most popular way to grow 

• More large companies will prioritize their newsletter—or start one

• Newsletters will struggle to monetize despite more subscribers

• Low-effort newsletters don't stand a chance

• Complex newsletters will publish books

• Newsletter publishers will focus on building a community

• What's next for newsletters?

The benefits of starting an email newsletter

But first, why are folks still so interested in email newsletters?

Email newsletters are great lifestyle businesses. They're easy to start, cheap to run, location-independent, mostly fun, and owned media. Not to mention, if you figure out a lucrative way to monetize, you could end up exiting for millions of dollars. 

Sam Parr and Shaan Puri run my favorite podcast: My First Million. Sam Parr sold The Hustle to HubSpot for ~$27M, and Shaan Puri sold Milk Road for an estimated eight figures in 10 months. It's not hard to find other stories like this. Even my own investing newsletter was acquired in less than a year.

8 email newsletter predictions to watch closely in 2025

1. Creators will push their email newsletters before products

I've noticed a lot more links to email newsletters from creators on X, Instagram, and YouTube. I think this year, creators will start pushing their newsletters before products.

There are four key reasons I think this will happen:

• Platform risk is real. Without a social media account, creators won't have a business, and we've seen how fragile platforms can be.

• The value of subscribers. In the long run, an email subscriber can be more valuable than a follower.

• You can sell more. Influencers will be able to sell higher-ticket items to an email list than they can on social media.

• It's defensible. A newsletter allows influencers to leverage their audience to build a long-term, defensible business.

You don't need to look hard to find examples. A simple scroll through my Instagram and YouTube resulted in finding six creators that push their newsletters:

• Eric Hinman (fitness influencer)

• Peter Attia (health and longevity influencer)

• Dr. Rhonda Patrick ( health influencer)

• Alex Costa (fashion influencer)

• Pat Walls (founder of Starter Story)

• Ali Abdaal (productivity YouTuber)

2. Newsletters will switch to better-suited platforms

New newsletters are hitting the market every single day, and they all face similar problems: hard to grow, harder to monetize. 

Typically, a newsletter operator would find advertisers on their own or rely on affiliate partnerships to drive revenue. Not only is this time-consuming and difficult, but it's also more competitive now.

Most newsletter platforms have recognized this, but only a few have built helpful solutions. beehiiv is one of the few that's quickly acquiring new customers by focusing on the newsletter segment. It helps newsletters grow through beehiiv Boosts and monetize through their native ad network. Kit (previously ConvertKit) also offers a native advertising network and a referral network, but the requirements seem more stringent. 

I think we'll see more newsletters switch from traditional email platforms to those with features designed specifically for newsletter operators.

3. Co-registration will become the most popular way to grow 

Co-registration (also called "co-reg") is when users sign up for one newsletter and are simultaneously offered the opportunity to subscribe to additional newsletters from partner sites. 

It's not a new growth strategy, but it's quickly becoming popular among newsletters—especially with many advertisers reporting the cost of ads increasing. Marketers need to find alternative sources of growth that are sustainable over the long run. 

This is where companies like SparkLoop, After Offers (that's what I use), and beehiiv Boosts come in. Newsletters can easily integrate and start getting paid for every new subscriber they refer to other newsletters. It's a great way to grow a newsletter without paid ads.

4. More large companies will prioritize their newsletter—or start one

Creators aren't the only ones who see the value of newsletters. I think we'll see more and more large companies prioritizing their newsletters. Here's why.

• It can reduce the customer acquisition cost (CAC).

• If ad costs skyrocket or traffic drops, companies still have an engaged list.

• If a company wants to exit, then an engaged, profitable newsletter will make it more attractive—it's an asset.

Some of my favorite B2B newsletters include Ahrefs' Digest, I'm Telling HR, and Litmus Weekly.  

Matt Paulson, the founder of MarketBeat, is leading the way when it comes to newsletters. He's not new to the game, but his commitment to growth shows how bullish he is.

P.S. Matt Paulson wrote a book called Email Marketing Demystified, which I think is incredible. If you're not sold on creating a newsletter, this book will change your mind.

5. Newsletters will struggle to monetize despite more subscribers 

beehiiv has over 400,000 publishers on their platform—impressive for a company that was founded in 2021. And Backlinko found that Substack has over 500,000 active paying subscribers to newsletters. 

With so many newsletters hitting the market, it's safe to say the supply of ad space has increased as well. Naturally, this means it'll be harder to monetize. If I were to launch an email newsletter again, I would map all the ways I could monetize before I started, instead of focusing only on paid ads.

The same applies to launching a newsletter as an acquisition channel for your business. You need to map out exactly who your audience is, the problems they have, and how you can convert them into paying customers from your newsletter.

6. Low-effort newsletters don't stand a chance

I wish I didn't need to say this explicitly, but after scouring the internet for newsletters, I realized it's not obvious. Newsletters are a way to make a lot of money, and that invites a lot of people to the game. There are folks who will spin up newsletters and try to automate every aspect of it without offering any value. All in the hope they can get some advertisers or a quick exit. 

If you're thinking about relying on AI to create and grow your email newsletter, don't. I'm not saying you can't use AI tools to help—that's exactly how you should use them—but if you outsource everything to AI, you won't win. Low-effort newsletters will have low engagement, which will mean you can't sell ad space or exit.

At Ticker Nerd, we spend a lot of time (and money) ensuring our newsletter is outstanding. Low-quality emails don't make it out, poor-performing emails are updated quickly, and our writers are thoroughly screened. We don't take any chances. Not with the level of competition we have.

7. Complex newsletters will publish books

I've noticed that newsletters on complex or niche topics—think: investing, health, self-help, and politics—have started collating their work into books. And it makes sense: they have the audience, trust, and a deep understanding of their topics.

Here are some of my favorite examples:

• What's Our Problem? by Tim Urban: Urban's Wait But Why newsletter (and blog) was super popular and led to a book being published in 2023.

• The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo: Zhuo's newsletter on management and product design contributed to her successful book launch.

• Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal: Abdaal is a YouTuber, but he promotes his book heavily in his newsletter, which has over 245,000 subscribers. 

• The No Book by Tim Ferris: Ferris announced his first book in seven years to 1.5 million people in his weekly newsletter called 5-Bullet Friday.

But once again, this will only work for incredibly high-quality newsletters with a built-in fan following. 

8. Newsletter publishers will focus on building a community

Communities are having a moment, and I think newsletter publishers will jump on the bandwagon and actively prioritize community-building in 2025. After all, engaged communities drive high subscriber retention and create powerful network effects. And, of course, a community can't be replicated by AI-generated content. 

The shift from one-way broadcasting to two-way conversations will help publishers differentiate and capture more value from their most engaged readers.

A couple examples to show you what I mean:

• Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story, has grown his newsletter to hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and he recently launched a free Slack community with over 2,500 dedicated fans.

• The Ultra Successful newsletter by Dr. Julie Gurner now has an engaged Reddit community.  

What's next for newsletters?

Even though newsletters are becoming more popular, the mechanics have stayed the same. Find a niche, figure out how to monetize, produce high-quality content, and enjoy the ride. 

And if you're looking for more inspiration when it comes to email newsletters, I suggest checking out Starter Story's list of successful newsletters. Each case study has a detailed analysis breaking down exactly how they came up with the idea, launched, grew, and monetized their newsletter. 

Still on the fence? Agora makes $1 billion per year from its portfolio of email newsletters. 

Related reading:

• The best email newsletter platforms

• How to build an email marketing list

• The best marketing newsletters

This article was originally published in January 2024. The most recent update was in January 2025.

This says a lot about my coolness level, but my favorite way to procrastinate is to tinker with a spreadsheet or database. I can easily spend all day building a complicated budget tracker or fine-tuning a graph in my time-tracking spreadsheet. But not everyone finds joy in these aggressively nerdy pursuits. If you use databases in MySQL, you might not have the time or inclination to manage them manually—especially as your business grows.

When you pair MySQL with automation, you can turn your database into a central source of truth that keeps your data streamlined and up to date across your organization—without spending your day trapped in a spreadsheet. Here are the most popular ways to use automated workflows (called Zaps) to build a custom information management system with MySQL.

Table of contents

• Add leads to MySQL

• Connect MySQL to your spreadsheet app

• Send notifications from MySQL

• Add form responses to MySQL

• Connect records across MySQL

• Use webhooks with MySQL

Add leads to MySQL

Your business probably finds leads from multiple places, like social media and paid ads. If you're using MySQL as your lead-tracking database or customer relationship management (CRM) tool, manually copying and pasting new lead information can quickly become a headache—not to mention unsustainable as your business grows. 

Instead, use one of these Zap templates to funnel all new prospects to your MySQL database. From there, you can qualify leads and reach out to prospective customers from a single reference point.

Connect MySQL to your spreadsheet app

Though they're often thought of as interchangeable, spreadsheets and databases aren't the same thing. There are plenty of reasons why your team might use a database like MySQL alongside a simpler spreadsheet app like Google Sheets. 

Whether you're migrating data from an old spreadsheet tool to MySQL or your team just likes to use multiple spreadsheet-based tools, manual information transfer is risky. Human error is always possible, and even if you avoid typos, your team's time could be spent on more high-value tasks.

Instead, send data to and from MySQL with automation. These Zaps let you create a new row in Google Sheets whenever you add a new row or custom query in MySQL. Or if Google Sheets is your central information hub, send new rows to MySQL with every new row in Sheets.

Send notifications from MySQL

No matter your project or department, one thing stays the same: you have to keep your team in the loop.

MySQL is an excellent central source of truth—but it doesn't do much good if the right people aren't informed about important updates. The app does let you create custom notifications, but they can be tricky to set up if you're not a coding expert. 

Instead, configure a custom automated workflow to notify your Slack channel anytime a new row is created in MySQL. 

Or if your team prefers to communicate over email, these Zaps send a new email automatically whenever a new row is added in MySQL. That way, you keep the right people informed of important database updates.

Add form responses to MySQL

Forms can be an incredibly useful way to collect information, no matter your use case. Perhaps you're running customer surveys, gathering employee feedback, or using intake forms for new feature requests or IT tickets.

But if all those form responses are simply sitting in your Typeform or Unbounce inbox, it's easy to let them build up. You can send them to a MySQL table for easier data management and prioritization. 

These Zaps collect form responses from the most popular form builders and send information directly to your MySQL table.

Connect records across MySQL

What happens when your records relate to each other? For instance, if you use MySQL as both a CRM and inventory tracker, both databases should be updated when an existing customer makes a purchase. The more dynamic your databases are, the richer and more reliable your data becomes—which makes it easier to spot trends and make important business decisions.

Whatever your reason for updating one part of MySQL when another record is added or updated, automation can keep your team's workflows running smoothly. Instead of having to remember to manually update rows for new activity in MySQL, use one of these Zaps to set your database management on autopilot.

Use webhooks with MySQL

One of the things that makes MySQL so useful is that it can be customized to suit a wide variety of business purposes. You might use it to manage your eCommerce product catalogs, organize your customer data, or develop web apps. 

So while Zapier lets you integrate MySQL with thousands of popular tools, it's quite possible that—given the diverse and often technical needs of MySQL users—your app of choice might not (yet!) be available. 

In that case, you can use a webhook to push information from your apps to MySQL based on specified triggers. Try this template to get started!

Boost your productivity with automation

MySQL is a powerful tool in its own right—but the best way to take advantage of your database's full potential is to automate it.

Using Zapier's automated workflows, you can position MySQL as your central source of truth. Easily and instantaneously send information to and from the other apps in your tech stack—whether they're advertising platforms, form builders, communication tools, or other spreadsheet apps.

This article was originally published in February 2023 and was most recently updated in January 2025.

Drills, pliers, safety glasses—these are all must-carry tools for contractors. But don't discount the importance of digital tools. Trade-based businesses increasingly rely on software like ServiceTitan to schedule jobs, track finances, and manage their customer base.

And when you link ServiceTitan to Zapier, admin work gets even easier. Zapier can connect the software to thousands of other apps, and then automate your to-dos into workflows called Zaps. Want to learn some of the most popular ServiceTitan workflows? Keep reading.

Table of contents

• Automatically add leads and bookings

• Use webhooks with ServiceTitan

• Connect ServiceTitan with spreadsheets

• Keep calendars connected with ServiceTitan

• Get notifications for new ServiceTitan activity

Automatically add leads and bookings to ServiceTitan

When it comes to the trades, keeping track of your clients and their scheduled appointments can make or break your reputation. If customers get in touch with you through online ads or a form on your website, you need to be prepared to move incoming leads and bookings into ServiceTitan.

To spend less time at the keyboard and more time out in the field, try automating that process. Use automation to connect your online form with ServiceTitan, so that any new responses instantly appear in the app as a new lead or booking. You can even create a similar workflow if you use email to collect leads.

Create custom ServiceTitan workflows with webhooks

What if your favorite app doesn't offer a Zapier integration? With Webhooks by Zapier, you can connect any app to ServiceTitan—as long as it has an API. 

Let's say you want to add customers to a specific mailing list when they book their first job, but your email platform doesn't integrate with Zapier. You can use Webhooks by Zapier to add the job information from ServiceTitan to your email app. Webhooks are incredibly flexible, so you can create custom workflows that meet your unique needs.

Connect ServiceTitan to your spreadsheet tool

Spreadsheets might seem like the domain of data scientists, but they're handy tools for tradespeople too. If your spreadsheets contain up-to-date information, you can use them to organize customer lists, analyze finances, and back up crucial data. But if you're dealing with a high volume of customers, appointments, and transactions, keeping your spreadsheets current can start to feel like a second job.

That's where automation can be an enormous help. With Zapier, you can connect ServiceTitan to your favorite spreadsheet tool and automatically make updates as data changes. For instance, you can create a Zap that creates a new Google Sheets row every time there's a new customer in ServiceTitan.

Keep calendars connected with ServiceTitan

Great customer service matters in every trade. That means letting customers know when to expect you—and then showing up on time. When you're a sole proprietor, managing your calendar is fairly easy, if a bit annoying. When you're working with a team, though, tracking calendar invites can get complicated fast. 

These Zaps will automatically add a calendar event for each new appointment in ServiceTitan. You can fully customize these events, too—and even include the customer as an invitee.

What if you use a tool like Calendly to let people directly book consultations? This Zap is a great way to manage your availability for non-service-related bookings:

Get notifications for new ServiceTitan activity

You want to respond quickly to lead inquiries, especially if someone is experiencing an emergency—say, a busted AC in the peak of summer. If you're working with a larger team, giving everyone visibility into new ServiceTitan jobs is a great way to encourage promptness and collaboration. Teammates can volunteer to take on appointments, discuss complex issues, and make sure no individual request falls through the cracks. 

Whether your team works primarily in Slack or via email, you can use Zapier to automatically share new jobs with your colleagues. For example, you can create an automated workflow that posts new jobs in a dedicated Slack channel—so everyone can see there's a new customer request.

Level up your trade business with ServiceTitan and Zapier

Automation can do so much for electricians, plumbers, and general contractors. When you transform how you find, manage, and schedule in-the-field jobs, your team can spend more of their time on customer-facing work. 

And these are just a few ways to increase ServiceTitan's impact. What task will you automate first?

Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Teams to the world almost 10 years ago. Since then, it's become the chat app of choice for Windows users—from private companies to government organizations. 

But you still need to switch between Teams and other apps to do things like answer emails and check on sales deals. Context switching is a known productivity killer, so this style of working is far from ideal.

With Zapier, you can build automated workflows (called Zaps) to connect all your frequently used tools. Want to send sales data to a Teams channel as a monthly report? You can automate that. And that's just one example. For more time-saving ideas, keep scrolling.

Skip ahead

• Connect Microsoft Teams to other chat apps

• Create custom Teams workflows with webhooks

• Turn form responses into Microsoft Teams messages

• Share deal updates in Teams channels

• Automatically send scheduled Microsoft Teams messages

• Get notifications for new emails

Connect Microsoft Teams to other chat apps

There are three big players in the chat app space: Teams, Slack, and Discord. Most workplaces use just one. But what if you, a Teams user, need to talk with a customer or cross-functional teammate who uses Slack?

Typing the same messages into two separate chat apps slows you down. With automation, you can connect those apps so messages in one also appear in the other. 

Imagine you're working on a long-term project for a customer, and you need your team and theirs to comment on a revision. Instead of copy-pasting your original Teams message into Slack, you can create a Zap that automatically "forwards" your message to the other chat platform.

Create custom Teams workflows with webhooks

Your organization is unique, and so is your tech stack. Zapier already supports thousands of apps, so it likely already connects with your most critical tools. But what if you use an app that doesn't have a Zapier integration? Or if your automated workflows need a custom trigger?

Use Webhooks by Zapier. It lets you connect Microsoft Teams to any app with an API. For example, you can create an automated workflow that "catches" a webhook from a custom source—like a niche or totally bespoke app—and turns it into a message in Teams. That way, your team can access crucial information, even if the app you use doesn't natively connect to Zapier. 

Turn form responses into Microsoft Teams messages

Forms are one of the best ways to collect leads, demo requests, and appointment bookings. But if you don't follow up promptly, you'll miss out on potential revenue from people ready to see a demo or make a purchase. 

Make it easier for your team to stay on top of new form submissions: Create a Zap that automatically sends new entries to a channel.

You can also send form entries to one person as a direct message. That's a great option if you have a rotating on-call schedule or don't need your whole team monitoring every incoming entry. 

Share deal updates in Teams channels

Automating form submissions helps you respond fast to fresh leads, but that's just the start of your sales process. As leads trickle down the pipeline, you'll want to keep everyone on your team informed without piling on more work.

Luckily, you can share important sales milestones right where your team collaborates. Each time a deal stage updates in your customer relationship management (CRM) tool, a Zap can post the details to a Teams channel—so everyone knows what's happening without having to constantly check the CRM.

Automatically send scheduled Microsoft Teams messages 

Sometimes, you need to share information with your team on a regular basis—like a roundup of that week's sales numbers or a reminder about how to close down the office at the end of the day. You could do this in a document or a calendar app, but then people would have to remember to check those places. 

Instead, you can automatically share that information in Microsoft Teams. With Schedule by Zapier, you can build an automated workflow that sends scheduled messages in a channel or via DM. And you can customize the Zap to run hourly, daily, or at an interval of your choice. 

Get notifications for new emails

Fifty years after the invention of email, managing your inbox hasn't gotten much easier. You still need to click out of whatever app you're using, open your inbox, triage your unread messages, and compose a reply. And if you're managing a couple of different inboxes—like your personal email and the support inbox for your company—you can easily miss critical new messages, creating a poor customer experience.

Here's where automation shines. Just connect your email inbox with Microsoft Teams, then get notified about new emails either in a channel or in a DM. If you're working with a team, a Zap like that can really help you share the load.

If you're low on time, or answering mail always drifts to the bottom of your to-do list, add a step that uses ChatGPT to compose a reply. The Zap can send you that reply in Teams to review.

Turn Microsoft Teams into a true work hub with Zapier

Teams can handle so much more than just internal messaging. By connecting the chat app to your entire tech stack, you can cross off business-critical tasks without shifting your attention between multiple windows throughout the day. 

These examples are just the start of what you can do with Teams and Zapier. What will you automate first?

This article was originally published in October 2020. It was most recently updated by Hannah Herman in January 2025.

With the pandemic behind us, many companies are inviting their employees back to the office. But for some employees, once you go remote, you never go back. If you're nodding your head, consider these 50+ companies that are fully remote—and plan on staying that way. Bookmark it for future reference—it'll come in handy in your next job hunt.

Before you apply: Learn how to find and get hired for a remote job.

Remote companies that let you work from anywhere—at a glance

Here's the full list of companies that let you work from anywhere. Keep reading for details on these teams, or scroll to the end for more companies that allow remote work, just with a little less flexibility.

1. Appcues

"We take pride in the skills we bring to the table and strive to deliver excellent experiences for our customers, but we also don't take ourselves too seriously."

Appcues helps companies build personalized product experiences and increase product adoption. They have over 100 employees in 11 countries (and counting!). Employee benefits include a home office budget, equity offerings, and a minimum of ten vacation days every year.

How does the Appcues team hire? Appcues doesn't share much about their recruitment process publicly. A non-negotiable trait is an alignment with their values.

See Appcues job openings.

2. Arkency

"We have a set of tools to make this kind of working possible. You won't miss anything important even if you're working in weird hours. In fact, some of us do."

Arkency is a consulting agency that builds business software, trains programmers, and produces books and webinars. They're always looking for talented coders who can thrive in a remote environment. Employee benefits aren't publicly available.

How does the Arkency team hire? The recruitment process isn't publicly available. But you have to align with three pillars of their culture—anarchy, async, and remote. Another huge advantage is running an active blog.

See Arkency job openings.

3. Automattic

"We're improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the tech industry."

Automattic is the company behind WordPress, Tumblr, Gravatar, Longreads, and more. They have around 2,000 employees from 90 countries. Employee benefits include a minimum of 25 days off per year, life insurance, and a professional developmental budget.

How does the Automattic team hire? After you submit an interest form or an application, an Automattic employee reviews it. If your qualifications meet the need, there's a Slack interview followed by a 30- to 60-minute Zoom interview. Engineers will also be given a code test. All positions include a paid trial project after this. After the trial project, there's an interview with an executive in the Automattic team. If all goes well, the HR team schedules a time to chat with you and extends an offer. This guide by Automattic goes into more detail about how they hire—along with tips to prepare.

See Automattic job openings.

4. Awesome Motive

"We're a global team with a single mission: help small businesses grow & compete with the big guys."

Awesome Motive is a software and media company helping websites improve their online businesses and workflow. The company has over 330 employees spread across 50 countries. Job benefits include flexible paid time off, life insurance, a perks program, and more.

How does the Awesome Motive team hire? Awesome Motive doesn't publicly share its hiring process. The best way to prepare is to understand the company's mission and values. Attention to detail and simplicity are essential traits for Awesome Motive.

See Awesome Motive job openings.

5. Buffer

"As a member of our team, you will be invited to work wherever you're happiest and most productive."

Buffer is a social media management software to help you store ideas, schedule social posts, and manage campaigns. They have teammates from over 15 countries and 11 time zones. Employee benefits include four-day workweeks, at least three weeks of PTO per year, and free books (along with a Kindle!).

How does the Buffer team hire? The hiring process varies from role to role, but each step is listed in the job description. Value alignment and resonating with Buffer's mission is crucial for the company. Buffer's big on transparency, and their Open blog shares a lot of details on how they work and what they look for in candidates.

See Buffer job openings.

6. Chili Piper

"First, our products reinvented how revenue teams grow and engage with customers. Now we're reinventing what it means to grow professionally for our Pipers."

Chili Piper is a platform for guiding customers through your pipeline with tools like scheduling, chat, and prospect routing. The team consists of more than 160 employees from 36 different countries. Employees get benefits like unlimited vacation time, a stipend to meet coworkers across the world, and help acquiring office equipment.

How does the Chili Piper team hire? If the hiring team approves your application, you’ll go through an initial culture interview. Then, you'll take an assessment to show how you think. From there, you'll have a few interviews with potential teammates and a final executive interview.

See Chili Piper job openings.

7. Constructor

"We are passionate about helping ecommerce and media site owners give their customers a better way to find products more quickly, more easily, and more intuitively."

Constructor is an AI product discovery platform for eCommerce retailers. Their employees are spread across 38 countries at the time of writing. Job benefits include health coverage, unlimited PTO with a minimum of three weeks off per year, and stock options for everyone.

How does the Constructor team hire? The recruitment process isn't publicly available. Constructor values taking initiative and finding the right answer empathetically.

See Constructor job openings.

8. Contra

"We believe in building your career around your lifestyle, not the other way around."

Contra is a freelance marketplace to help connect hiring managers with independent contractors. Employee benefits include medical benefits, no meetings on Wednesdays, and generous time off.

How does the Contra team hire? The interview process is laid out for every role in the job description. Typically, you can expect a 15-20-minute introductory call, followed by a test assignment if your position requires it. If all goes well, there's an hour-long interview with the hiring manager for the role you're applying to. Lastly, there's one last hour-long interview.

See Contra job openings. 

9. Doist

"Doist has been async- and remote-first since day one (back in 2010). We're living proof that this way of working is the future, not a fad."

Doist is the company behind productivity tools like Todoist and Twist. They've been pioneers of async and remote work since 2010. Job benefits include an educational budget, and 40 days of PTO per year.

How does the Doist team hire? If your application passes the internal review, you get your first interview. There's also a test assignment related to your role to assess your skills. There are two more interviews if your test project qualifies for it. The Doist team encourages you to read their blog to understand their values and products—the one about landing a remote job might be particularly useful.

See Doist job openings.

10. DuckDuckGo

"We're on a mission to show the world that protecting privacy can be simple."

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-first internet company. They have a private search engine, a tracker-blocking browser and extension, email protection, and app tracking protection for Android. Currently, DuckDuckGo employs more than 290 people across 15 countries. Job benefits include a $1,250/year professional development budget, location-independent salaries, and office setup reimbursement.

How does the DuckDuckGo team hire? If the application qualifies you as a good match, there's a brief call with the talent manager. There are two paid test projects, and there will be interviews in between these projects and a final chat after. DuckDuckGo has excellent documentation on how they hire and evaluate candidates.

See DuckDuckGo job openings.

11. Float

"We believe that smart time management empowers us to do the best work of our life, while still having a life."

Float is a resource management software for capacity planning. They're a company with more than 50 employees in 20 countries across the globe. Employee benefits include generous paid time off, a home office expense budget, and a health and wellness monthly allowance.

How does the Float team hire? If your application qualifies, there's an introductory call. Post that, there's a technical interview and a call with the hiring manager. In the next round, you speak with the founder. Lastly, the Float team has a brief call with your past employer—and you can do the same by speaking to a Float employee via Slack.

See Float job openings.

12. Ghost

"Everything we do is online. As long as you have wifi, you're all set."

Ghost is a blogging platform—a full-stack web application for running independent publications and newsletters. They're committed to staying small—never growing more than 50 people. Employee benefits include four-day work weeks, unlimited paid time off, and only one to two Zoom calls a week.

How does the Ghost team hire? If your application qualifies, there's an informal call with someone from the Ghost team. The next stage is an interview with the hiring manager, followed by a paid trial project. The last step is a final interview to discuss the trial project.

See Ghost job openings.

13. GitLab

"We strive to create a transparent environment where all team members around the world feel that their voices are heard and welcomed."

GitLab is an AI-powered code collaboration platform. They've been remote since day one. Employee benefits include flexible PTO up to 25 days at a time, a growth and development budget, and parental leaves.

How does the GitLab team hire? The hiring process varies from role to role, but GitLab has a comprehensive handbook, detailing everything you need to know about getting hired and working in the company.

See GitLab job openings.

14. Groove

"From the beaches to the mountains to the desert, our autonomous company culture allows for us to thrive."

Groove is a helpdesk software—a shared inbox for small businesses looking for an alternative to traditional email. The company has been remote for over a decade, with employees from over 30 countries. Employee benefits include paid time off and flexible hours.

How does the Groove team hire? The exact hiring process isn't publicly available, but Groove has a transparent and open blog read by more than 250,000 people on how they hire and run the company—this one about hiring remote employees from the CEO of Groove might be useful.

See Groove job openings (LinkedIn).

15. Kinsta

"Imagine a car enthusiast building their dream ride. That's us with hosting."

Kinsta is a cloud hosting company helping companies and dev teams ship and manage their web projects faster and more efficiently. Employee benefits include a remote working budget, paid time off, and a training budget.

How does the Kinsta team hire? After filling out the application, you may be asked to send a video or complete an assignment. If you get selected in this round, you have an HR interview. After this, there are a couple more interviews with your hiring manager and future teammates. A background check is mandatory if you accept the offer at Kinsta.

See Kinsta job openings.

16. Levity

"We founded this company on the belief that AI should not be the privilege of tech companies that hire and build data science teams."

Levity is an AI platform that builds tools to automate recurring tasks in any workflow. They're fully remote, and employee benefits include unlimited paid time off and effective training.

How does the Levity team hire? The hiring process isn't publicly available. Something that might help: Levity values simplicity in their products and in the way they work.

See Levity job openings.

17. Lightdash

"We're enabling everyone to answer their own data questions."

Lightdash is an open source business intelligence platform for analysts. They're currently a small team of 13—100% remote and plan to remain that way. Employee benefits include equity, a minimum of 28 vacation days, and a personal development budget.

How does the Lightdash team hire? Lightdash doesn't have a publicly available hiring process. Read their jobs page for more information.

See Lightdash job openings.

18. Literal Humans

"We help brands build a content marketing strategy that's future-proof and speaks to customers the way they do – like real people with real voices."

Literal Humans provides content and social media marketing services to companies of all kinds. The agency was started in 2020 with the aim to remain values-driven and results-focused. Job benefits include a four-day workweek, paid vacation (along with company vacation the last two weeks of December), learning resources, and a co-working pass.

How does the Literal Humans team hire? Fill out a short application. If your qualifications match the role requirements, you'll be moved to a 30-minute interview with leadership related to your role. Next, there'd be a paid assignment. If that checks out, you may also have a final interview round of 45 minutes.

See Literal Humans job openings.

19. Liveblocks

"We believe that the best companies invest early and intentionally in a strong, people-centric cultural foundation that is aligned to business goals."

Liveblocks is a real-time collaboration infrastructure for developers. They're a distributed company with employees across ten time zones. Job benefits include flexible paid time off, equity grants, and a physical wellness stipend.

How does the Liveblocks team hire? Liveblocks doesn't have a publicly available hiring process, but their jobs page stresses values like community success, pragmatism, and dedication to your craft.

See Liveblocks job openings.

20. Loomly

"We are in this for the long haul, and we are looking for individuals who share our ambition for creating a sustainable company."

Loomly is a social media planning and scheduling software with creative, collaborative, and analytical tools. They have a small but mighty team of more than 15 employees from six different countries. Employees get benefits like inclusive and flexible paid parental leave, 401K retirement, and healthcare benefits.

How does the Loomly team hire? Loomly doesn't make their hiring process publicly available. According to their careers page, they value employees who take ownership of their work, stay agile, and communicate with intention.

See Loomly job openings.

21. Mailbird

"Our ultimate measure of success is the value we create for our users and team members alike."

Mailbird is an email marketing software for Windows. The company has been fully remote for the last 11 years and has employees from more than 20 nationalities working in over 15 countries. Employee benefits include 40 days of PTO and additional time off for life events like marriage and parenthood.

How does the Mailbird team hire? For some positions, there might be an aptitude test along with the application. If you qualify, there's a 30-minute interview with the recruiter. The next round is a technical assessment—either through multiple interviews or a written test (depending on your role). The final interviews are with the team members and the hiring manager. You can learn more about how Mailbird hires here.

See Mailbird job openings.

22. MailerLite

"Everything we do at MailerLite is designed to provide intuitive solutions for complicated tasks."

MailerLite is an email marketing software company with a remote-first culture. They have 150 people working across more than 40 countries. Employee benefits include an international healthcare payout, 31 vacation days per year, and a $1,000 joy budget to buy whatever sparks joy (after one year).

How does the MailerLite team hire? MailerLite won't ask for your CV. They have a Q&A application you have to fill out to get to the next stage. This consists of job-specific and cultural questions for the MailerLite team to understand you better. The next steps and interview rounds are role-specific.

See MailerLite job openings.  

23. MeetEdgar

"As a global, remote-first company, SureSwift hires people around the world."

MeetEdgar is a social media management tool to create, schedule, and share content. Employee benefits aren't publicly available.

How does the MeetEdgar team hire? The hiring process isn't shared online, but aligning with the company's mission is crucial. The company does background checks for all final candidates.

See MeetEdgar job openings.

24. Modash

"You'll work with people who have done everything from build solar cars to hanging out with Metallica and Bon Jovi."

Modash is an influencer marketing software to help businesses discover, analyze, and track creators and their posts. Their mission is to help every creator earn a living. Employee benefits include unlimited paid time off, personal development budget, and flexible hours.

How does the Modash team hire? The hiring process differs from role to role. In general, you should be fluent in English and willing to work in Europe, Africa, or Middle East time zones.

See Modash job openings.

(If you have the time, don't forget to check out Modash's furry friends on the Careers page. 🐶)

25. Namecheap

"There are unlimited ways you can explore with Namecheap—whether it's the world you're after, or new ground in your career."

Namecheap is a place to buy your domain (and everything else you need). They have over 2,000 employees spread across 22 countries. Some of their roles require you to be in-office or work remotely from a certain location, but most job openings support remote working. Job benefits include a flexible schedule with no time tracking, 25 days of PTO (along with five sick days per month), and a generous parental leave program.

How does the Namecheap team hire? The hiring process differs significantly for each role, but Namecheap places a strong emphasis on understanding and embodying its 21 cultural ideals.

See Namecheap job openings.

26. Omniscient Digital

"We're an organic growth agency that helps marketing leaders at B2B software companies turn content & SEO into growth channels."

Omniscient Digital is a marketing agency for B2B SaaS companies. They're a team of 100% remote content marketing experts who want to play long-term games with long-term people. Learn more about the team's principles here. Job benefits include an annual education stipend, profit sharing (after one year), unlimited time off, and a free books program.

How does the Omniscient Digital team hire? If your application looks interesting, you'll have a short screening call. Next, there'd be three to five interviews with your future colleagues. The third step is an assignment—which can be async or a live project, depending on the role. If all goes well, you'll have a final interview.

See Omniscient Digital job openings.

27. Pitch

"We're on a mission to enable every team's best thinking."

Pitch is a presentation software company enabling people to create beautiful and impactful decks. The company was started by eight co-founders who built and sold Wunderlist to Microsoft. Currently, Pitch has more than 30 employees distributed across the globe. Job benefits include flat hierarchies, an educational stipend, and health programs.

How does the Pitch team hire? If your application passes the first stage, you'll have an introductory call with a member of the Talent Acquisition team. The next stage will be one or two rounds of interviews with your future team members. If all goes well, you'll get a take-home practical assignment followed by a debrief and Q&A on the same. The last interview will be with a senior leader of your future team.

See Pitch job openings.

28. Plus

"We're a team of builders inspired by the ways technology can change how we work."

Plus is an AI-powered Google Slides and PowerPoint add-on to create custom, beautiful presentations in minutes. You can be located anywhere, but you need to work in North American time zones. Employee benefits include insurance and a monthly remote working budget.

How does the Plus team hire? It differs from role to role, but typically, there's an introductory call, followed by a domain-specific interview to assess your skills. Next, there's a project review to work on with the Plus team. In the end, there's a behavior interview. Learn more about how Plus recruits on their blog.

See Plus job openings.

29. Podia

"Help make it possible for everyone to earn a living from their passion."

Podia helps creators sell courses, memberships, coaching programs, and more. Their mission is to enable creators to earn a living from their passion. Employee benefits include unlimited therapy, three weeks of paid vacation, and a paid sabbatical (for a month after every three years).

How does the Podia team hire? After an initial application, candidates are moved to a test project—which is a paid assignment. Selected candidates go through three to four rounds of interviews with the hiring manager, leadership team, the CEO, and future teammates. Final candidates are asked for professional references from a past co-worker and a manager.

See Podia job openings (LinkedIn).

30. Remote

"If you're looking for a feel-good career that allows you to work and make an impact from anywhere in the world, you've come to the right place."

Remote is an HR software to hire, manage, and pay international employees globally. True to its name, Remote has hundreds of employees across more than 75 nationalities. Job benefits include a minimum of four weeks of personal time off and company stock options.

How does the Remote team hire? Each application has the entire process laid down in Remote's job description. In general, there's an interview with the recruiter, followed by an interview with your future manager. If all goes well, there are either more interviews and/or an assignment. The last step is a prior employment verification check. Remote has a public interview guide to help you prepare and stand out in interviews.

See Remote job openings. 

31. SafetyWing

"Join us in building a country on the internet."

SafetyWing provides insurance for digital nomads and remote teams. Their goal is to build a global safety net. SafetyWing has over 100 employees spread across more than 60 countries. Job benefits include a minimum of four weeks paid time off, global health insurance, and $1,000 to $2,500/year of personal developmental budget.

How does the SafetyWing team hire? The hiring process differs from role to role. SafetyWing emphasizes they look for someone who can think for themselves, is eager to try new things, has strong integrity, and aims to contribute to their mission.

See job openings at SafetyWing.

32. ScaleMath

"It is absolutely essential to us that everyone always feels safe to speak their mind."

ScaleMath is a content agency that works with brands to help them improve customer acquisition and experience. Job benefits include 20 paid holidays annually.

How does the ScaleMath team hire? ScaleMath's interviews involve conversations with your potential future colleagues. Final candidates need to complete at-home written exercises.

See ScaleMath job openings.

33. Shogun

"Shogun is a place where you are in the driver's seat of your career."

Shogun is a landing page builder for eCommerce founders, compatible with Shopify and BigCommerce. They've been remote from the beginning and currently have more than 40 employees across the globe. Job benefits include quarterly wellness reimbursement, a home office stipend, and company-sponsored healthcare.

How does the Shogun team hire? The hiring process varies by role, but Shogun offers interview guidelines to help you prepare better. The questions are largely attribute-based—think the "tell me about a time when [situation]" types.

See Shogun job openings.

34. SimpleTexting

"If you can show why you'll make a fantastic addition to our growing team, we'll hire you no matter where you are in the world and support you to become the best at what you do."

SimpleTexting is a text messaging service—enabling two-way SMS marketing for businesses to communicate with their customers. They're fully remote and operate as an international team. Job benefits include a generous PTO policy, birthdays off, and paid parental leave.

How does the SimpleTexting team hire? After the application, if you qualify, there's an introductory video call with the recruiter. You might also be asked to complete a short test if the role requires it. The next rounds consist of interviews with your future team members and hiring manager. SimpleTexting also asks for references and speaks to them to understand your employment history.

See SimpleTexting job openings.

35. Smile

"We're helping small businesses around the world grow sustainably so they can lead more passionate lives."

Smile is a loyalty app, helping businesses convert their first-time customers to forever buyers. Smile employees are all over the world. Employee benefits include a minimum of three weeks of PTO, remote work reimbursement, and stock options.

How does the Smile team hire? Smile doesn't have a publicly available recruitment process. They place a strong emphasis on aligning with their three values. You can also learn more on their Instagram employee page.

See Smile job openings.

36. Sporty Group

"Our mission is to be an everyday entertainment platform for everyone."

Sporty Group is a consumer internet and technology business. Their sites consistently stay on Alexa's list of top websites for the countries they operate in. Job benefits include 28 paid vacation days and quarterly bonuses. Many of their roles require you to work remotely from certain locations (like India Remote or Europe Remote), but they have tons of openings for globally remote roles too.

How does the Sporty Group team hire? The hiring process differs from role to role. In general, there are interviews and/or assignments to assess your technical abilities for the role followed by HR discussions.

See Sporty Group job openings.

37. Springworks

"We are bringing together technology, intelligence and human emotion. We are changing the way we work. We are Springworks."

Springworks is an HR tool to streamline recruitment, onboarding, and employee engagement. Currently, they have over 200 remote employees. Job benefits include work from home setup, health insurance, 30 annual vacation days, and a learning budget.

How does the Springworks team hire? You'll send a completed task and a video pitch in the first step of the recruitment process. After that, there's a call with the recruitment team. If all goes well, there are two interview rounds—first to assess your technical abilities for the role and the second to discuss departmental goals. The last step is an HR round to gauge culture fit and talk through salary expectations.

See Springworks job openings.

38. Storylane

"Join us in revolutionizing product demos, one interactive experience at a time."

Storylane is an interactive product demo software that lets users walk their customers through their product right on their web pages. The Storylane team includes about 40 people located throughout the world. According to Storylane, new employees enjoy benefits like equity and good compensation.

How does the Storylane team hire? Storylane doesn't share much about the hiring process on their website, but they value people who prioritize speed and efficiency and take action. Keep those values in mind as you tailor your application.

See Storylane job openings.

39. TestGorilla

"We envision a world where everyone has their dream job."

TestGorilla is an HR tech startup that replaces CVs with their assessment tests. Started in 2020, they're growing fast and already have over 150 employees in all corners of the globe. Employee benefits include a remote working budget, a learning stipend, and paid time off.

How does the TestGorilla team hire? The hiring process isn't publicly available, but TestGorilla values alignment with its mission and values. They also use their own platform to ensure their recruitment decisions are bias-free.

See TestGorilla job openings.

40. The Shelf

"Our varied experiences & paths towards this company is what gives us our edge…because no matter which client we partner up with, there's always someone who's an expert!"

The Shelf is an influencer marketing agency with its own proprietary software. They went fully remote due to the pandemic and aren't re-opening their offices. Job benefits include reasonable working hours and PTO.

How does The Shelf team hire?  Each job application for The Shelf includes questions related to your qualifications for the role. There's not much publicly available information on what happens after you submit that form, so ask the team what to expect moving forward if you get an interview.

See The Shelf job openings.

(The Shelf has an extensive page about its team and company history. Read it before sending your application to personalize as much as possible!)

41. tl;dv

"If you could catch up on entire meeting recordings in minutes, which meetings will you still attend live?!"

tl;dv is an AI-powered meeting transcription service—that also transcribes your meetings and shares valuable notes. Their vision is to end meeting fatigue. Employee benefits include stock ownership, fun team retreats, and professional growth.

How does the tl;dv team hire? The tl;dv team will get back to you after you send them an email including information about you, why you're interested in joining the team, and what role you want to apply for. They appreciate folks who show their personality (and weirdness) in their application.

See tl;dv job openings.

(If you have the time, tl;dv's Instagram is one of my favorite brand accounts.)

42. Toggl

"We're united by our shared commitment to autonomy and high-quality work."

Toggl is time tracking, project planning, and hiring software. They have employees from over 43 countries in 16 time zones. Employee benefits include paid sabbatical, flexible paid time off, and a home office setup budget.

How does the Toggl team hire? Toggl does a skill test of each candidate through their own software, Toggl Hire. If you qualify, the next stage is a cultural interview with the Talent Acquisition team. The next stage is a technical interview, depending on the role you're applying for. After that, you'll be "hired" for the next week for about three to five days to get a sense of actually working at Toggl (this week is paid for). If all goes well, you get an offer.

See Toggl job openings.

43. Tortuga

"We believe that sharing a mission is more important than sharing an office."

Tortuga is a travel company selling travel backpacks, laptop backpacks, and other travel accessories. The company has been working remotely for over a decade. Job benefits include medical insurance, unlimited vacation, and free travel gear.

How does the Tortuga team hire? Tortuga's recruitment stages differ from role to role. An interview of Tortuga's CEO lays down the general process: a phone screening of qualified applicants, followed by a role-based and a value-based interview.

See Tortuga job openings. 

44. Whereby

"Come and join our team on a mission to build a world in which anywhere works."

Whereby is a way to connect over video—whether that's via meetings or integrating videos into your website, app, or product. They're fully remote, although most of the team is based out of Europe. Job benefits include healthcare benefits, uncapped annual leaves, and a $3,000/year remote working budget.

How does the Whereby team hire? If your application qualifies, there's a brief and informal 30-minute introductory call. The next stages are three to four hour-long interviews with members of the Whereby team. Then there's a paid working task, often with an hour of discussing your project. There might be coffee meets in between with your future colleagues, and the last step is a 30-60-minute interview with an executive. Whereby has a detailed Notion directory of how they work and hire. The one sharing the interview process (with examples!) might be particularly helpful.

See Whereby job openings.

45. YNAB (You Need A Budget)

"We are intentional about creating an environment where everyone gets to do important work they love."

YNAB is a finance management app. They have their team spread all over the work—U.S. and U.K. employees register as employees, everyone else as independent contractors. Employee benefits include a four-day workweek, a minimum of three weeks vacation per year, and profit sharing.

How does the YNAB team hire? If your application qualifies, you go through a culture questionnaire (called CQ). The next stage is a couple of rounds of interviews with your future manager and questionnaires. YNAB shared more about how to get a job in their company in one of their podcasts.

See YNAB job openings.

46. Zapier

"We're humans who think computers should do more work."

Zapier helps you automate your business-critical workflows by connecting your favorite web apps. With Zapier-powered app integrations, you can move info between your apps automatically, so you can focus on your best work.

Zapier has always been remote (here's why) and currently has about 800 employees across 38 countries. Job benefits include flexible time off, one annual company retreat to an awesome place, and retirement plans with employer match. Learn more about the total rewards program at Zapier.

How does the Zapier team hire? You're asked to answer a few questions online to match your qualifications for the role. After the hiring team reviews your applications based on a job-specific rubric, they'll invite you to an interview with a recruiter. From there, you'll have interviews with the hiring team and a skills assessment. The best part? Zapier strives to never let more than seven days go by without letting you know the status of your application. Goodbye, job ghosting.

See Zapier job openings.

Note: Due to regulatory risks, U.S. trade embargoes, financial sanctions, and security reasons, Zapier doesn't make full-time hires from these countries.

47. Zyte

"We eat data for breakfast. You can eat your breakfast anywhere and work for Zyte."

Zyte is a web scraping service that also created Scrapy Cloud—a cloud-based web crawling platform that helps developers gather data from billions of web pages. They have over 250 employees working from more than 28 countries. Job benefits include a learning and development budget, paid time off, and covered wellness expenses.

How does the Zyte team hire? Zyte doesn't have a publicly available hiring process. Read the company's about and jobs pages to get familiar with its values to prepare for the hiring process.

See Zyte job openings.

Bonus: 44 more remote companies that hire from specific locations or time zones

The companies above are fully remote—they hire globally from around the world, with no restrictions. But many other companies living the fully remote lifestyle hire from specific locations or require you to work from a certain time zone. Here are 44 of them.

1. 10up: Certain positions require you to be from a specific location. Fully remote roles are also available.

2. 15Five: Fully remote, but only in the U.S.

3. Aha!: Each role hires candidates from certain locations—North America, South America, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and South Africa.

4. Articulate: Fully remote, but only in the U.S. 

5. Atticus: Any position can be remote, but only in the U.S.

6. BOLD: Fully remote for employees in the U.S.

7. Chameleon: Fully remote, but each role has a location restriction of either the U.S., Canada,  Brazil, or the Americas.

8. Deel: Has time-zone restrictions to either EMEA or LATAM. Few positions also require you to be in-office.

9. Descript: Plenty of remote positions available, but all employees must be local to the San Francisco area.

10. Dock: Fully remote, but some positions require you to work remotely from SF.

11. DoubleCloud: Fully remote, but location restrictions and a hybrid model.

12. Dribbble: Fully remote, but only hire from the U.S. and Canada.

13. ezCater: Remote-first with hybrid work options for people in the Boston and Denver areas.

14. Firstbase: Remote roles are restricted to the U.S., U.K., or E.U. Few locations also require you to come in-office.

15. Fleetio: Remote-friendly and has employees from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Might have a location preference for the U.S.

16. Gametime: Remote-first with offices in SF and Portland. Few locations require you to work remotely from specific locations.

17. GRIN: Fully remote, but some roles have location requirements.

18. Grow Therapy: Few roles require you to be in the NY office. Most roles hire remotely from the U.S. only.

19. Help Scout: Remote-first, but hires from only the United States, Canada, Australia, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, and Norway.

20. Hims: Fully remote, but only in the U.S.

21. Hoop: Fully remote, but only in the U.S.

22. Hubstaff: Fully remote, but certain roles require you to be from a specific location or work in a certain time zone.

23. Joy: Fully remote, but certain roles might require you to be in-office.

24. Kit: Fully remote, but only in the U.S. or U.K.

25. Knack: Fully remote, but almost all roles have a location restriction from where you can/can't work remotely.

26. Kona: Fully remote, but it's uncertain if they hire from across the globe.

27. Lumos: Fully remote, but you must live within four hours of Pacific Time.

28. Notably: Remote-first, but employees must either be based out of Europe or live in the Eastern time zone in the U.S.

29. Oliva: You need to be based in the E.U. or U.K. to apply here. Few roles also might require you to be in-office.

30. OnTheGoSystems: Fully remote, but you need to be available in Europe, Middle East, or Africa working hours.

31. Pixyle.ai: Remote working is available, but it's uncertain whether it's across the globe, or only in the E.U.,U.K., and the U.S.

32. Planhat: Remote-first, but some roles have location or time zone restrictions.

33. Real Chemistry: Members of regional teams work fully remote with quarterly meetups.

34. Shopify: Some roles may require you to work remotely only from the Americas or a specific country. Few positions are also in-office.

35. Sketch: Fully remote, but only for people in the U.S. or E.U.

36. Slite: Fully remote, but you need to be located in the -5h UTC or UTC +2 time zone.

37. SnapDocs: Fully remote, but only in the U.S.

38. Tettra: Fully remote, but only in the U.S.

39. Tidio: 100% remote work available, but only for people in the E.U. or U.S.

40. Toptal: Fully remote, but some roles require you to be based out of the U.S.

41. Upwork: Remote working available for 21 states in the U.S. Few roles require you to be in-office.

42. Uscreen: Remote-first, but you must live within four to eight hours of the Eastern time zone in the U.S., depending on the role. A few roles require you to be on-site.

43. VEED: Fully remote, but you must be in the U.K., the Netherlands, the U (sales team), or the Philippines (support team).

44. Vidyard: All remote roles require you to be either in the U.S. or Canada.

There are too many other companies to mention here that support remote work, so for further help finding a company that will let you work from home or anywhere else, see:

• This list of over 900 startups that hire remotely via Remotive

• This list of 1,000+ companies actively hiring remote jobs via Remote Work Academy

• 100+ remote work resources for finding a remote job via Tamilore Oladipo

Related reading:

• The ultimate guide to remote work

• The best resume builder

• How to use ChatGPT to write a cover letter (with prompts)

This article was originally published in May 2017 by Melanie Pinola and has also had contributions from Melissa King. The most recent update was in January 2025.

Reddit is everyone's favorite place to learn and chat about niche subjects—and Reddit karma demonstrates your ability to add value to those Reddit interactions. Redditors put a lot of weight behind users' ability to be genuine—especially if they represent a business—so while a high karma score doesn't automatically lead to trust, it'll help you become a legitimate member of the Reddit community.

To get more karma on Reddit, you have to play by Reddit's rules. Here's how.

What is Reddit karma?

Reddit karma is a user score that represents how much you've contributed to the Reddit community. Whenever you get an upvote on a comment or post, you earn karma. Meanwhile, getting a downvote decreases your karma.

How do you get Reddit karma?

Redditors give each other upvotes and downvotes using the arrows under a post or comment, as you can see in these screenshots from r/blackcats.

How is Reddit karma calculated?

Karma falls into two categories: post karma and comment karma. Reddit lists both of these numbers on your profile.

Here's what they look like on Chef J. Kenji López-Alt's profile.

What does Reddit karma do?

Mostly, Reddit karma is about building trust on Reddit. Whether you're an individual or a business, it shows just what kind of redditor you are.

It's also worth noting that some communities have karma minimums for posting, meaning that you'll need to earn karma to make content in some parts of Reddit.

How to get karma on Reddit

With that, here are nine ways to get karma on Reddit.

1. Identify subreddits to focus on

Reddit consists of communities called subreddits covering topics from frugality to television shows to Star Wars prequel memes. If you're an individual, follow whatever niche topics interest you. If you're a creator or a business, start your Reddit journey by following subreddits related to the following:

• Your industry. While the most popular subreddits tend to be consumer-focused, there are also plenty of industry-specific communities like r/marketing. You can also look for consumer-centric subreddits related to your industry, such as a home gardening subreddit if you're in the gardening industry.

• Your product. Keep an eye out for subreddits that relate to your product, too. If you sell embroidery floss at your craft store, for example, you could join r/Embroidery.

• Your location. If your business has a local element to it, there are plenty of regional subreddits out there, like Richmond, Virginia's r/rva.

As you follow and visit different subreddits across the site, your feed will recommend relevant communities, helping you find even more to join. You can also use a tool like Anvaka to discover potential subreddits.

Pay careful attention to each subreddit's rules as you post and comment in them—especially any rules related to promotion. You can see how a micro-bakery owner was able to raise awareness about their business on r/baking by sharing their feature on the news without any promotional information. The community usually doesn't allow self-promotion, but the moderators didn't mind this case because it "doesn't seem too self-promote-y."

2. But don't be afraid to participate in larger subreddits

Besides the niche-centric subreddits, there are also much larger communities on Reddit that cover broad topics like humor or wholesomeness. Large and popular subreddits like r/funny or r/todayilearned can also be good sources of karma because they expose your content to so many people. Pay attention to what redditors typically post and comment in these communities, and follow their lead.

You can use Zapier to find relevant posts in larger subreddits to comment on. Here are some pre-built workflows to help you keep up on Reddit content.

3. Have genuine interactions

Once you find subreddits to post on, post and comment with genuine interaction as your top priority. If you're representing a business, it can be tempting to show off your product in every piece of your Reddit content, but redditors are very wary of promotional content. Instead, think of Reddit as a place to build trust and connections—you'll drive many more people your brand's way.

For example, J. Kenji López-Alt spreads awareness of his career as a chef by sharing his opinions and expertise in cooking-related subreddits. You can hardly tell he's a creator in the first place without looking at his username. Here he is, offering advice related to one of his own recipes without being directly asked.

4. Post at the right time for your subreddits

Like any other form of social media, Reddit has optimal times for posting. But instead of being platform-wide, these best times vary by subreddit. Check the ideal posting time for your subreddits using Later for Reddit's Top Post Analysis tool.

Enter the subreddit's name, and this tool will break down the posting days and times of its top posts. 

5. Comment on new and rising posts

One of the biggest obstacles to getting karma is visibility. You could have the best comment or post, but if it gets buried under other content, no one will even see it. That's why, if you're karma-hunting, it's best to stick with posts that are brand new or rising. If you know how to smell a winner early, you can get maximum visibility with minimum competition.

Zapier can let you know right away if there's a new hot post in the top 10 of a subreddit. That'll let you jump on it more quickly to earn karma.

6. Always respond to keep the conversation going

If someone comments on your post, give them a reply, even if just to say thanks. This makes the commenter more appreciative, increasing the likelihood of upvotes in the future. Plus, it shows others that you're willing to respond, increasing your comments overall.

As you grow your presence on Reddit, you'll also get comments mentioning your username from people who want to show you a post or recommend you for something. These comments are especially important to respond to because they involve someone who wants to hear from you. You can automatically keep track of them with these Zaps.

7. Post good content

At the end of the day, the best way to get upvotes is to post good content. Social media skills can go a long way on Reddit: if you post the kind of content your audience wants, you'll have no problem earning karma.

Some basics in social media posting:

• Improve the quality of your titles. Reddit users respond well to upfront, easy-to-understand titles with a personal angle. For example, if you're sharing the results of your content marketing report on r/marketing, you could use the title "Here's what my team discovered about small business content marketing workflows."

• Use high-quality visuals. Upgrading the quality of your photos, videos, and GIFs makes your post more appealing. Reddit doesn't have an ideal image size or ratio because it presents each image in its original ratio. As you upload, keep in mind that your image should be under 20MB in size if it's a static image and under 100MB if it's a GIF.

• Aim for emotional connections. Particularly when having conversations in the comments, don't be afraid to show your human side.

8. Repurpose helpful and meaningful content

Reddit does work as a repurposing channel for social media, but like with any other aspect of Reddit posting, you need to play by the community's rules.

Social media marketer Jaskaran Singh gained more than 500 upvotes across multiple subreddits on an r/socialmedia post he repurposed from a blog post about the Instagram algorithm. He chalks his success up to the fact that he curated information from his post in a Reddit-friendly format.

"The key to successfully repurposing your content on Reddit is understanding how the community discusses those topics. I tracked that and I deleted the elements that would not interest them. [I tried] to keep the post to the point," Jaskaran says. If you plan on repurposing a blog post, he also suggests using a Reddit post title that hints at a backstory instead of using the original article's title as-is.

9. Tread carefully with promoted posts

Reddit offers the option to pay for promoted posts that appear on users' home feeds. Since these posts can also earn karma, they may seem like an easy way to earn those reputation points. But the opposite is often true: redditors judge these paid posts much more harshly than regular posts because of their promotional nature. For example, they rallied against a Pete Davidson ad from Taco Bell in 2022 because it was all over the platform.

Pay careful attention to the principles of Reddit marketing if you decide to make a promoted post. Keeping things personal and down-to-earth is key here. One of my favorite promoted posts got thousands of karma points because the author was transparent, communicative, and understood the tone and voice of a typical Reddit post.

Community first, promotion second

Reddit is a community-first platform, so create content with the goal of building your community over selling your product. Stay transparent and down-to-earth, and you'll build trust with your fellow redditors. You'll do best as an individual who happens to have a business rather than a business with an individual behind it.

Related reading:

• How to keep up with Reddit with automation

• Find Out When Your Website is Linked to on Reddit

• The Journalist's Guide to Keeping Track of Local Subreddits 

This article was originally published by Matt Ellis in May 2019. The most recent update was in January 2025.

When you're running a high-volume YouTube channel, time is of the essence. You need to get content live fast, but you also need to manage your files properly so you're not left with a huge mess on your hands later. But when you have limited time or a small team, you might think you need to sacrifice organization for speed.

With automation, you don't! If you connect Google Drive to YouTube with Zaps—Zapier's automated workflows—a video uploaded to Google Drive can be live on your YouTube page in seconds, complete with title, description, and the right settings. Here's how.

How to upload new videos in Google Drive to YouTube

Zapier lets you create automated workflows called Zaps, which send your information from one app to another. You can create your own Zap from scratch without any coding knowledge, but we also offer quick templates to get you started. 

If you'd like to start with a template, click on it below, and you'll be taken to the Zap editor. You'll need to create a Zapier account if you don't already have one. Then, follow the directions below to set up your Zap.

Don't use Google Drive? No problem! You can follow these same basic steps to upload YouTube videos from the other apps you use. Here are some templates to get you started:

Before you begin

There are two things you need to know before setting up your Zap. First, the title of your video in Google Drive will become the title of the YouTube video when it's uploaded with this Zap, so make sure any videos you want to upload to YouTube are appropriately titled when you add them to your drive.

Second, each video needs a description before it's uploaded. Fortunately, files in Google Drive also support descriptions (up to 25,000 characters), which the Zap will turn into the YouTube description automatically. 

To add a description to your Google Drive file, right-click the video file in Google Drive and go to File Information > Details. Scroll down and add the text in the Description field.

Set up your Google Drive trigger

First, set up your trigger step—the event that starts your Zap. Search for and select Google Drive for your trigger app and New File in Folder for your trigger event. If you're using the Zap template, these will be selected for you. Next, sign in with your Google Drive account, if you haven't already, then click Continue.

It's now time to select the Google Drive folder where you store your YouTube videos. In the Drive field, select the drive where you'll store your video files. In the Folder field, select the appropriate folder. 

Now, it's time to test your trigger step. If you haven't already, make sure you have at least one video in the folder you selected to properly test your step. Zapier will use this info to set up the rest of your Zap.

Click Test trigger. Then select a record from the list, and click Continue with selected record. 

Once the test runs successfully, you're ready to set up the action step.

Set up your YouTube action

Next, we'll customize the action step. An action is an event a Zap performs after it's triggered. Select YouTube for your action app and Upload Video as your action event, which will be selected for you if you're using the Zap template. Then, connect your YouTube account, if you haven't already, and click Continue.

Now it's time to customize your action step. If you're using the Zap template, the Title, Description, and Video fields will already be filled in with data mapped from your previous Google Drive step. You can customize the content of these fields by clicking on the + sign in each field and selecting different data from the modal. You can also type in static text that will show up the same way every time the Zap runs.

By default, Zapier will upload the video in Private mode. If you want, you can select Public in the Privacy Status field to make the video live as soon as it's uploaded.

Optionally, you can also set the date and time for uploading the video. This feature is only available for YouTube Partner accounts, and it will only work if you set the Privacy Status to Private. 

You can also select a Category for the video and add Tags so YouTube can start processing your video instantly (only add these if you plan to use the same tags for all your videos). 

You can also choose if the video is Made for Kids. Lastly, choose if you want to notify your subscribers about the new video from the Notify Subscribers menu. Once you're happy with the setup, click Continue.

Next, test your action step by clicking Test step. Note that unlike with your action step, which showed test data from your own Google Drive, this test will run using a sample video from Zapier's YouTube account. This is done in accordance with YouTube's upload rules and to deter spammers. 

Once the test runs successfully, you're ready to use your Zap. Once the Zap is live, it will run using your own data and accounts rather than the Zapier YouTube account.

Once the Zap is live, it will successfully upload a new video to YouTube each time you add a new file to your Google Drive folder. Here's what ours looks like:

Now, going forward, any video that you upload to the Google Drive folder will automatically show up in your YouTube account. 

This article was originally published in October 2023 and was most recently updated in January 2025.

If you've experimented at all with AI, you'll know it's a handy assistant when it comes to certain tasks, like writing code or qualifying leads. But when you pair AI with automation—that's when you'll start seeing the full benefits across your entire operations.

Picture this: You attend a call with a potential prospect who shows interest in your product. After you hang up, AI sifts through the conversation, pulling out key details like pain points and specific needs. The information is then automatically logged in your CRM, and a personalized outreach email is drafted based on the lead's preferences and behavior. Finally, your sales team in Slack receives a notification, so the right team member can trigger the outreach. 

These aren't the efforts of a hyper-organized, overly caffeinated employee, but AI and automation combined.   

Connecting your AI tools to the rest of your tech stack (be that with chatbots, AI-powered agents, or workflows) is a game-changer. It doesn't just knock out the tasks that eat into your day (and soul). It's the smartest way to scale your impact and bring your business true value. Here's how.

Table of contents

• It keeps you (and your apps) from working in a silo

• It helps bring your automation ideas to life

• It helps you scale your business and impact—faster

• It helps you focus on the work that matters 

It keeps you (and your apps) from working in a silo

Every app you use at work serves its purpose. (They wouldn't be part of your core tech stack if they didn't.) 

But the problem is that every tool is its own task for us to manage. Especially when the apps in your stack don't automatically "talk" (or integrate) with one another. All the data stored in one app, for example, doesn't make it into another without a manual transfer.

That may not be a big deal at first. But as your tech stack grows, keeping track of the tools your team is using—and syncing the data between them (without error)—is no easy feat. Downloading a .CSV file and then uploading it to another platform can quickly become how you spend most of your day. 

The same goes for the processes that involve your AI tools. 

As an example, I've been using AI tools like ChatGPT to create blog article outlines, write product descriptions, and come up with blog ideas. 

But I don't actually spend time within ChatGPT's interface conversing with the bot. I let Zapier (and my other apps) do the talking for me.  

By connecting my favorite apps to ChatGPT, I can create simple workflows that let those apps talk with one another and carry out actions. Zapier can collect a blog topic from a brief in Asana, for example, then prompt ChatGPT to create an article outline, and finally paste those results into a Google Doc—no human intervention necessary. 

When your AI tools and the rest of your tech stack work together, you can build better processes that automatically move information from one app to another—eliminating the time you spend hopping between tools. 

It helps bring your automation ideas to life

By bringing AI to the workflows you use every day (involving apps like Slack, Notion, or HubSpot), you can build smarter workflows that solve your unique business problems. That's a given. 

But what if you struggle to bring your automation ideas to life or you're not sure which business processes you should be automating in the first place?

The magic of AI is that it can suggest the right workflows for the job—then have it build those solutions for you. (Tools like Zapier Canvas and Copilot have got this locked down.) That means even if you have virtually zero automation experience, you can use AI to help you finesse and visualize your business-critical processes, and get recommendations and assistance through every step of the way.  

This makes automation so much more actionable, because you can describe a workflow or problem in the simplest of terms, and chat with AI to come up with—then build—the solution, including the right apps for the job. 

That makes automation actionable to everyone, regardless of their technical background. By letting AI do the heavy lifting, you'll be moving your business forward in ways that were never possible before. 

It helps you scale your business and impact—faster

Automation doesn't just streamline your AI processes. It also speeds them up. 

We all know that, as your business grows, the volume of data you handle will increase. Trying to make sense of growing information—and then learning from it—could take your team weeks, months, maybe forever. 

Using AI and automation together means creating mission-critical systems that collect data automatically, identify certain patterns, and then offer up insights in an expedited way. And, on the flipside, because you can train AI on your own knowledge sources, it can follow tailored instructions to summarize, categorize, and relay information at scale—all without compromising your team's personal productivity.

And this doesn't just apply to your business's overall strategy. AI can help you improve your customer, marketing, and sales experiences, while automation can help you scale them. 

By leveraging tools like Zapier Chatbots or Zapier Agents, you can create bots and agents that access your live knowledge sources and work across 7,000+ apps. That way, they can answer support questions and resolve tickets (even when your team is away). 

For example, you can train these digital agents to write personalized sales emails and send them out at scale. Instead of firing off hurried emails whenever a new lead lands in your pipeline, your AI-powered teammates can take care of it so you're automatically reaching out to 100 times more folks as soon as they show interest. 

In business, where speed to lead can make all the difference between a purchase and a missed opportunity, that's a game-changer. 

From handling more customer queries to creating marketing campaigns that reach a larger audience, you can give your business scale-up superpowers—even if you have limited resources.

It helps you focus on the work that matters 

Let's be clear: AI and automation shouldn't replace every single aspect of your job.  

What it should do is change how you work. 

As a writer, combining AI and automation has helped me knock a lot of admin off my plate, freeing me up to focus on more creative, strategic work like writing long-form articles and defining content strategy. 

Not only am I doing more of what I enjoy, but it also has the happy side-effect of increasing my productivity, as I'm not fighting email fatigue or getting side-tracked. 

By entrusting AI and automation to deal with time-consuming, monotonous tasks (like combing through data or sorting through your email inbox), you'll be able to pursue higher-value tasks that require higher-level thinking—and the more complex problems that arise in your business.

Ultimately, by using AI and automation in tandem, you can address business problems, ultimately driving greater efficiency and creating room for innovative solutions.

Power your business with AI and automation 

Eager to start using AI and automation together to streamline and supercharge your work processes? Discover some of the best ways you can leverage AI and automation with our AI tools:

• Visualize, plan, and automate business-critical processes with Zapier Canvas.

• Teach AI agents to work across your favorite apps with Zapier Agents.

• Create custom AI chatbots to engage customers and take action with Zapier Chatbots.

• Discover which AI tools to use and when with Zapier.

This article was originally published in September 2023. It was most recently updated in January 2025.

Bluesky and Threads are two of the apps vying to be Twitter's successor. While X is technically still the same social network, the vibe has changed, and plenty of users have left since Elon Musk bought it. This has left the door open for apps like Bluesky and Meta's Threads to try to recapture the spirit, user base, and cultural significance of Twitter. So how do they stack up?

I'm here to help you decide if Bluesky or Threads is the right social network for you. 

Table of contents:

• Bluesky vs. Threads at a glance

• Bluesky and Threads are both trying to be the new Twitter

• Threads is built on top of Instagram

• Bluesky is building a more open social web, so it has its own quirks

• Threads is (kind of) open too

• Neither has any monetization features (yet)

• Threads vs. Bluesky: Which should you choose?

Bluesky vs. Threads at a glance

Bluesky and Threads are both trying to do the same thing—become a Twitter alternative—but in slightly different ways. Before diving into the weeds, here's a quick summary of the major features of both. 

Bluesky and Threads are both trying to be the new Twitter

Both Bluesky and Threads are trying very hard to be the new Twitter. While they both have some interesting ideas, at the most basic level, they're very similar social networks. Here's what I mean:

• Everyone has a profile—and most are public. You follow other people, and they can follow you. 

• There are lots of short text posts with character limits. Bluesky caps you at 300 characters, Threads at 500 characters. You can also attach links, images, videos, and the like. 

• Reposting, hashtags, likes, @mentions, and all the other social network bits that Twitter pioneered are all there.

• There's a Discover feed of suggested content and a Following feed of all the people you follow. You can also create feeds of users and topics to follow (though Bluesky gives you more options here).

If you've used Twitter, the basics of using each social network will feel super familiar. 

With that said, Bluesky is a standalone social network, while Threads is an extension of Instagram in many ways—so let's dig into that aspect.

Threads is built on top of Instagram

Threads is built on top of Instagram, which makes it work strangely in a few different ways. 

• If you don't have Instagram, you can't use Threads. The only way to sign up for a Threads account is using an Instagram account. The good news is you get the same handle. (If you're in the EU, you can browse Threads without a profile, but it's not the same thing at all.) 

• Threads doesn't have direct messages. If you want to message someone, you have to follow a link to their Instagram profile and message them there. 

• A lot of settings are shared with Instagram and can only be managed through Instagram. 

There is some separation, though. For example, while anyone you follow on Instagram will be suggested to you on Threads, you don't have to automatically follow them. Threads also has its own content filters, so you can hide posts that contain specific words or phrases without affecting Instagram. 

Still, for the most part, it's best to think of Threads as an extension of Instagram rather than a standalone social network.

Of course, this also comes with benefits. Because of its connection with Instagram, there are likely a lot more people you know on Threads. Plus, if you're in the habit of following politicians or brands, there's a very good chance they've got a Threads account. The same can't yet be said about Bluesky, where things are a bit more offbeat—like the early days of Twitter.

Bluesky is building a more open social web, so it has its own quirks

Don't worry: Bluesky is also weird. Its developers are attempting to build a more open social web, so they've created a federated protocol called the Authenticated Transfer Protocol (AT Proto). So far, Bluesky is the only major user of the protocol, but in theory, anyone could build an interoperable social network. 

This all rears its head in a few places. While signing up through the official Bluesky apps is pretty simple, you'll notice that usernames also include a domain name. For example, on Bluesky, my handle is @harryguinness.bsky.social—but anyone with the technical chops can set up a host with a different domain. Similarly, there are already a handful of third-party Bluesky clients, meaning you have your pick of apps. 

More critically, the same open philosophy dictates a lot of how the app works—at least in theory. On Bluesky, you can:

• Subscribe to different feeds with different underlying algorithms, like a Mutuals feed that includes posts from people who follow you back or a Science feed that includes content from approved curators. There are more than 45,000 of them listed on Goodfeeds. You can also create your own feeds, though, again, it requires some technical skills. 

• Use third-party moderation services to flag or hide content you don't want to see.

• Employ powerful mute and block tools, including block lists and content filters.

Because it has an open API, you can also automate Bluesky with Zapier, to do things like automatically creating Bluesky posts based on activity in other apps, or sending Bluesky posts to your other apps. Here are a couple of examples:

Unfortunately, some of this still feels like a work in progress. The block tools work great, but both the different feeds and the third-party moderation services are less cohesive than the by-the-book algorithmic feeds and content moderation available on Threads. 

If you're prepared to play around with it, you might be able to craft exactly the experience you want on Bluesky, but Threads is definitely the simpler option.

Threads is (kind of) open too

While Bluesky uses AT Proto, Meta is working on connecting Threads to the Fediverse, the other attempt at an open social network. It relies on ActivityPub and theoretically allows you to connect to other Fediverse networks like Mastodon and Flipboard.

These features are still in beta, and I can't even test them because I'm in the EU. Regardless, they're currently opt-in, so you have to go out of your way to connect your Threads account to the Fediverse, and you can't yet follow accounts on other federated networks. While I'm a big fan of the idea, it's not quite there yet.

Threads also has an API, so it works with tools like Hootsuite that also support Instagram. It's not quite as permissive as Bluesky, but you can at least use other tools to post to Threads or view analytics about how your posts are performing. 

Neither has any monetization (yet)

Right now, neither Bluesky nor Threads is making money. While good in the short term, it raises serious questions about their longevity. After all, Twitter died in part because it wasn't doing very well financially, so Musk was able to buy it. 

With that said, both Bluesky and Threads plan to make money in the future. Threads is pursuing Meta's go-to advertising model—ads should roll out early this year. Bluesky has committed to an ad-free service and is planning a premium subscription called Bluesky+ that should also launch this year. 

Threads vs. Bluesky: Which should you choose?

First, the bad news. Neither Bluesky nor Threads is finished enough or popular enough to be the only social network you use, especially if you're trying to market yourself or your business. While both are trying to take Twitter's place in pop culture, neither has managed it yet.

But the good news: both social networks are free, and it's not as if you're locked into one forever. It's very easy to give both a try and see which vibe suits you better.

Check back in 2026, and we'll see if either app manages to take Twitter's place as the go-to text-based social network.

Related reading:

• The best social media management tools

• How to create a social media post with AI for free

• How to download your social media data and information

Remember when Apple launched the App Store and the early novelty of app discovery? Oh, how naive we were. Now we're juggling too many apps that don't talk to each other and slow us down. 

Zapier is an AI automation platform that lets you connect your favorite apps and automate work without any code. We have thousands of app integrations, but what if your app isn't available?

Don't worry, you still have some alternative ways to integrate your favorite app with Zapier. We rounded up some of our favorite solutions, in order from least to most technical.

See what you're working with

Before you investigate other ways to connect your app to Zapier, make sure you've searched our App Directory first to see if your app has an existing integration. Or, who knows, you might even find a better alternative that you might not have considered. (I highly recommend checking out our handy guide to all the things you can do with our App Directory.)

If your search comes up empty, now you can explore alternative options: 

1. Does your app use RSS feeds? You can connect to Zapier through our built-in tool. 

2. Does your app have an email integration? You can use existing email integrations in our App Directory.

3. Missing an action from existing app integrations? Create your own with AI-powered Custom Actions and API Requests.

4. Does Apple's Shortcuts app support your app? You can use a webhook to connect a Shortcut with Zapier.

5. Can your app use webhooks? You can connect to Zapier with our built-in webhooks tool. 

6. None of the above apply? Build your own integration with the Zapier Platform. 

Share data with RSS

RSS feeds are the unsung heroes of the internet. They may sound like a relic today, but they still secretly power everything from your favorite podcasts and YouTube channels to blogs and websites. 

You can also use RSS feeds as a real-time bridge for your apps. First, check to see if an RSS feed is available for your app. You may be pleasantly surprised.

If a feed exists, create a Zap—what we call our automated workflows—and use our built-in RSS by Zapier tool. It lets you send RSS feed content to your favorite tools. You can even create your own custom RSS feed with your favorite sources. 

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Monitor notifications and statuses

Some notifications or statuses are a top priority for your team, so why not filter out what you don't care about? For example, you can create a custom feed with only high priority alerts, such as outages from your favorite apps. 

Curate your own news feed

There are so many places to check for content—and not enough time to keep up. You can create your own newsletter by sending your favorite media—such as that Patreon podcast you pay for—to a custom RSS feed. 

You don't have to receive your newsletter by email either. You can add your custom feed URL to an RSS reader or thousands of other apps. 

Build a bridge with email

Your email inbox is likely clogged with notifications from businesses and apps you use regularly. But there's a bright side: emails are an easy way to connect those apps with Zapier in an unexpected way. 

Extract information from emails

There's essential information buried in your inbox, such as invoices, appointment confirmations, and bank statements. You can use Zapier to send those messages to the right place. 

For example, you can save email attachments to your favorite cloud storage app.

Or if you only need specific information from emails, our built-in Email Parser tool is another backdoor you can use. Email parsers can recognize patterns within your messages and extract the critical stuff based on your instructions. 

Get started with these automated workflows:

Send emails to your apps

Before smartphones, the main way to send information to apps remotely was to send an email to an app's address. While it's not as exciting or flashy as an app integration, many apps still have built-in email integrations.

For example, you can email documents to app-specific email addresses on Kindle devices and note-taking apps like Goodnotes. Many blogging platforms also have an email-to-draft function. If your app has a built-in email integration like this, you can use Zapier's email integrations or our Email by Zapier tool to send automatic emails to your apps.

Get a jumpstart with the Zaps below:

Add missing actions with Custom Actions and API Requests

What if there is a Zapier integration for your app, but it doesn't support the action you need? With AI-powered Custom Actions, you can create new actions within existing app integrations that support it. 

Just describe what you'd like your action to do, and Zapier's AI-powered Copilot will find the right API endpoints, generate the code, and build the action for you. You can chat with the AI builder to refine it even further. 

Once you've published your custom action, you can reuse it across Zaps and share it with your whole team, saving everyone time. 

You don't need webhook or API knowledge to use Custom Actions, but if you prefer getting hands-on with the API endpoints, there's another option: API Request actions. 

Available on supported app integrations, API Request actions allow you to make those API calls in Zaps. The best part: API Request actions use your existing app connections in Zapier, so you don't have to wrestle with authentication. 

If you can read API docs, you can use API Request actions. In your Zap, just fill out the required fields specified by the API endpoint and test it to make sure it works.   

Use webhooks to connect any app to Zapier

Your app doesn't use RSS, lacks an email integration, and won't work with Custom Actions or API Request actions. Now what? Another option is webhooks. 

In short, webhooks are one way that apps can send automated messages or info—known as a payload—to other apps. Check your app's settings and help docs and see if it provides or accepts webhooks. If it does, you can connect it to Zapier through our built-in webhooks tool—available on paid plans.

You don't need to know how to code to use webhooks, but it helps to understand how HTTP requests are structured to automate them successfully.

But what can you do with webhooks?

Connect apps that accept webhooks

Your app's help documentation mentions webhooks, but you're unsure what to do next. If your app provides a URL, you can use it in your webhook trigger or action.

For example, some customer relationship managers (CRM) and marketing automation tools have workflow features that generate webhook URLs. You can create a Zap that routes leads directly into your pre-existing automation.

These Zaps will also get you started:

If your app doesn't provide a URL for you to use, don't worry. Zapier can create one for you with Webhooks' Catch Hook trigger. 

These beginner-friendly resources can get you started with webhooks and Zapier:

• Zapier for Alfred: Run Zaps from your Mac keyboard

• How to send an email from a webhook

• 7 ways to use webhooks to automate anything

Connect apps that accept scripts

Let's say you have a favorite app that lets you use scripting for automation—but you don't know how to code. Webhooks to the rescue again!

For example, one of my favorite distraction-blocking apps lets you use Bash scripts to automate certain actions. Do I know how to use shell scripts? Not really. Could I switch to another app? Sure, but I'd rather not.

Instead, I can generate a URL with Webhooks' Catch Hook trigger. Then, within my app's interface, I can use that webhook URL in a command like this:

WEBHOOK_URL="https://your-zapier-webhook.com/12345"

curl -X POST $WEBHOOK_URL -F "keyName=$VARIABLE_VALUE" -F "anotherKey=$ANOTHER_VARIABLE_VALUE"

If you're new to shell scripts and your app can use them, you can try out these examples in RequestBin, which will show you how to structure your shell script to send data. Then, set up the rest of your webhook Zap. 

Try these automated workflows:

Connect your Apple-exclusive apps through Shortcuts

There are some great apps that only exist within the Apple ecosystem. If it offers automation, it will likely use Automator or Apple's Shortcuts app. 

If you need more automation options than Automator or Shortcuts, you can still use those apps to connect to Zapier. 

Here's how it works: 

1. Use Webhooks' Catch Hook for your trigger—the event that starts a Zap—to generate a webhook URL you can use in a Shortcut or in a script within Automator. 

2. Set up your Shortcut or Automator workflow to send information from your app to your Zapier-generated webhook.

3. Test your Shortcut or Automator workflow. 

4. Test your webhook trigger. You should see the results from your previous test. 

5. Set up the rest of your Zap and make sure it's ready to use.

Build your own Zapier integration

If none of the above options suit your needs or you want a more robust solution, you could also create the robot yourself. The Zapier Platform lets you build a Zapier integration—with or without code. 

There are a few benefits to building a custom integration on the Zapier Platform: 

1. You can keep app account information secure: For example, API keys associated with your login or your username and password. You can also share your app integration with your team, so they can automate using their own credentials.. 

2. You can use webhooks that don't send messages. Some webhooks send an empty payload, but Webhooks by Zapier need usable data to pass on to the next Zap step. The Zapier Platform gives you more flexibility with "no-payload" webhooks. 

3. You need to make advanced adjustments to your app's output every time. Formatter and Code by Zapier can help you transform app data into the format you need, but if your app's API returns a messy output, you can use the command line within the Zapier Platform to fix it. 

You can create an integration for an app you don't own—it will just be private for you and your team to use. Or, if you're an app developer, you can create a public integration for your app and let your users automate away. 

Non-coders will need to understand APIs and how to read API documentation, but our beginner's guide to APIs will help get you up to speed.

Automate without (app) limits

You don't have to miss out on the magic of automation. Explore these creative workarounds to connect your apps to Zapier and expand your automation powers. And don't forget—you can request to add your app to Zapier. It doesn't hurt to ask!

This article was originally published November 2014, written by Matt Guay. It was most recently updated in January 2025 by Krystina Martinez.

Twitter is dead. Sure, Elon Musk has rebranded the app it used to be as X, but the vibe has totally changed. Instead of being weird in a good way, X now feels weird in kind of a bad way. While there were always different communities using Twitter, the boundaries between them have been torn down. Unless you're into politics, tech startups, culture wars, and bad memes, X probably isn't the community you're looking for anymore. 

Which is where Bluesky comes in.

Bluesky is the closest thing to old Twitter going. It's not a one-to-one replica, but it's attempting to recreate the same eclectic feeling. To many people, it seems like it's succeeding.

So, let's dig in and look at what Bluesky is, how it's different from X, and whether it has a future.

Table of contents:

• What is Bluesky social?

• What makes Bluesky different?

• Bluesky vs. Twitter

• How to sign up for Bluesky

• Is Bluesky the future of social media?

• Automate Bluesky

• Bluesky FAQ

What is Bluesky social?

Bluesky is an open and decentralized social network. It's essentially modeled on Twitter, which means:

• Everyone gets a profile and a username/handle. 

• You can follow other users, and other users can follow you.

• Anyone can create a post. It can be text, an image, a meme, a video, a GIF, a link to something, or any other normal kind of social media post. Posts have a maximum of 300 characters.

• You can reply to most posts, repost them, or repost them with a comment. 

• You can send direct messages to other users.

• There are hashtags and likes and all those other social network bits. 

In short, Bluesky is really, really similar to Twitter and every other Twitter alternative, including Mastodon, Threads, and X. For all that, though, there are still some things it does differently.

What makes Bluesky different?

Bluesky is attempting to build "an open foundation for the social internet." In practice, this means that the tech underlying Bluesky is open for anyone to build on top of, and users get a lot more control over what they see in their feeds. Let's take these one by one. 

Bluesky's tech is open 

Bluesky has developed the Authenticated Transfer Protocol (AT Proto). It's a federated protocol, so other developers can operate alternative servers that can interoperate with Bluesky. (This is similar to how Mastodon/Threads use ActivityPub, but they aren't interoperable.)

The first place you'll encounter this is when you sign up to Bluesky. Account handles include both a username and a domain name. For example, my Bluesky account is @harryguinness.bsky.social. The vast majority of people are also on bsky.social, but you'll occasionally see users with a different host. If you have the technical chops, you can also set one up yourself. 

This also extends to things like client apps. While there's an official Bluesky app, there are also third-party apps that offer a different experience. 

The one caveat to all this is that Bluesky is very much in its infancy. While other developers can build on top of Bluesky, there aren't yet loads of alternative hosts and apps that offer their own take on a Twitter-like social network. 

Bluesky gives users control over their experience

The other area where Bluesky sets itself apart is with how much control you get over the content you see.

Like other social networks, Bluesky is based around feeds. The difference is that you can subscribe to different kinds of feeds on Bluesky, or even create your own. If you don't like what the amorphous algorithm is serving, you don't have to accept it.

By default, Bluesky gives you two feeds: an algorithmic Discover feed and a chronological Following feed. But it also suggests new feeds for you to check out. To give you an idea of the kinds of feeds available, here are some that I've liked:

• Popular With Friends: A feed of content that the people you follow have liked or engaged with. 

• Science: A curated feed of science content. Approved scientists and science communicators can share posts with a test tube emoji, and they appear in this feed. (Some other feeds work the same way.)

• Mutuals: Posts from people who follow you back. 

• Pinned: A feed of posts I've replied to with the thumbtack emoji.

You can find more than 45,000 feeds to subscribe to on Goodfeeds or, if you've got the programming knowledge, build your own. 

On top of all this, Bluesky has strong block and mute tools. You can subscribe to public block and mute lists, mute or block individual users, and mute or block specific phrases or words.

And Bluesky also allows for third-party moderation services that automatically label or hide content. For example, there's a service that labels users who share a lot of AI-generated content as well as Bluesky's official moderation service. (It's worth noting that while this is a great idea, it doesn't seem to be as widely implemented or easy to use as it needs to be to make it effective.)

Combined, all these features mean that Bluesky gives you a lot of control over what you're going to see in the app. Not everything works quite as well as I'd like, nor is Bluesky anywhere near as popular as Twitter was at its height. But if it continues to take off, these features allow for an exciting and vibrant public square.

Bluesky vs. Twitter

On the surface, Bluesky is very similar to Twitter (now called X). They're both (mostly) public social networks that are based around one-to-many communication. But there are a handful of key distinctions that make them very different social networks. 

• Bluesky strives to be open and distributed; X is controlled by a single company. 

• Bluesky doesn't allow ads (though it has a premium subscription in the works).

• Bluesky allows you to use third-party apps and services.

• Bluesky gives you a lot more control over what content you see.

• Bluesky has a significantly smaller number of users; a lot of the people you can follow on X just aren't there yet. 

• Bluesky has an open API, so it's significantly easier to automate with Zapier and other tools. 

If all this sounds good, then Bluesky is probably worth checking out. 

How to sign up for Bluesky

Bluesky is really easy to sign up for:

1. Head to the Bluesky web app or download the iOS or Android app (or grab a third-party app). 

2. Sign up for an account.

3. Follow the onboarding to get started. 

Unfortunately, there's no reliable way to automatically import the people you follow on X or even find your phone contacts. Unless you do things manually, starting on Bluesky means starting from scratch. 

Is Bluesky the future of social media?

Bluesky is having a major moment. It's reminding a lot of people of what Twitter used to be like in the early days. Of course, Bluesky has a long way to go. It has a fraction of X's users, and the platform, while making big promises, is still under development. There are also multiple other social networks, including X, Mastodon, and Threads, that are all vying to be Twitter's successor in cultural relevance. 

Automate Bluesky

One of the reasons you might choose Bluesky over X is that its open API means you can connect it to Zapier to automate your workflows. Automatically create new posts on Bluesky based on activity in your other apps, or send Bluesky posts to the other apps you use most. Get started with one of these pre-made templates.

Bluesky FAQ

Bluesky is still a baby app, so you might still have some questions. Here are some answers.

Who owns Bluesky?

Not Elon Musk. Bluesky is owned by CEO Jay Graber (the biggest shareholder) and other employees, though it was originally founded by former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey.

How many users does Bluesky have?

The Bluesky user count currently stands at more than 20 million. Seems like a lot, but X has more than 300 million, so Bluesky is still playing a lot of catch up.

Is Bluesky free?

Yep. And currently, there aren't even ads to support it. There is a premium subscription in the works, though.

Related reading:

• The best social media management tools

• A Notion social media planner to plan and track your content

• How to monetize LinkedIn with brand partnerships

Over the past year or two, ChatGPT has become one of my most used tools. If I need a quick answer to a complex question, help with a puzzle, a synonym for a word I've used too much, a few lines of better code than I can write myself, an Instagram post translated, or a long document summarized, it's the first app I reach for. At $20/month for ChatGPT Plus, this all feels like a bit of a bargain. It's replaced a handful of apps I used to use, made basic coding tasks a lot easier (because I'm terrible at it), and generally sped up some workflow stuff. 

Is it possible that ChatGPT Pro, OpenAI's new $200/month ChatGPT subscription, is 10 times better? 

Spoiler: no. But that doesn't mean ChatGPT Pro isn't a fit for some people. It might not be you or me, but it can still be worth it. Let me explain. 

Table of contents:

• What is ChatGPT Pro?

• ChatGPT Plus vs. Pro at a glance

• How to sign up for ChatGPT Pro

• Is ChatGPT Pro worth it for you?

• Automate ChatGPT

What is ChatGPT Pro?

ChatGPT Pro is the $200/month ChatGPT plan aimed at power users who frequently run up against the limits of ChatGPT Plus. (And yes, that's a two with two zeros.) 

If you're not sure if you need this plan, you probably don't. Unless you're trying to solve incredibly complicated math and coding problems or regularly hitting rate limits, it's probably not a fit for you. But here's what you'll get with ChatGPT Pro that might tip the scales.

No limits with GPT-4o, o1, and o1-mini

While the limits are subject to change and can depend on demand, ChatGPT Plus limits you based on the AI model you're using.

• GPT-4o: 80 messages every three hours

• o1: 50 messages every week

• o1-mini: 50 messages every day

There are also unspecified limits with advanced voice mode and live video.

With ChatGPT Pro, you have unlimited access to GPT-4o, o1, o1-mini, and advanced voice mode. (Presumably there is some limit, but it's unreachable with any kind of reasonable use.)

Check out the video below to see advanced voice mode in action.

Access to o1 pro mode

OpenAI o1 takes time to reason through multi-step problems. The more time it's given to work through problems, the more compute it uses and the better its results. The tradeoff is that compute costs money, so getting o1 to run for extended periods of time makes it more expensive. o1-mini uses less compute than o1, which is why it's less powerful and has a higher rate limit. 

ChatGPT Pro introduces o1 pro mode, which gives o1 more time to solve harder problems. At the moment, ChatGPT Pro users are limited to 50 messages per week. 

A larger context window with all models

The context window is the number of tokens an AI model can process at once—basically, how much information it can remember at a time. It includes the input, output, resources, and any system instructions. The larger the context window, the longer the documents you can upload and the larger the problems you can solve can be. It's particularly relevant if you're working on complex coding projects or using ChatGPT to analyze large text documents.

With ChatGPT Plus, you're limited to a context window of 32K tokens across every model. With ChatGPT Pro, that's expanded to 128K tokens. 

The ability to create longer videos with Sora

Sora is OpenAI's text-to-video model. ChatGPT Plus subscribers can create a limited number of watermarked videos up to 720p and five seconds in length. ChatGPT Pro users, on the other hand, can generate an unlimited number of unwatermarked videos, and they can be up to 1080p and 20 seconds in length. 

While Sora is nowhere near as popular as ChatGPT, this is perhaps the biggest difference between ChatGPT Plus and Pro. If you're experimenting with Sora, ChatGPT Pro provides a lot more options.

Future promises

While these might seem like relatively small benefits now, OpenAI plans to release more powerful models like o3 in 2025. It seems obvious that any new models, especially the more powerful ones, will be available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers before anyone else. 

Personally, I think OpenAI has released ChatGPT Pro now in preparation for these more powerful models that have the compute demands to justify the higher price tag.

ChatGPT Plus vs. Pro at a glance

How to sign up for ChatGPT Pro

Assuming you're already a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, here's how to upgrade to ChatGPT Pro.

1. Go to chat.com. 

2. At the very bottom of the side panel, click View plans. 

3. Click Get Pro.

4. Complete the subscription process.

Is ChatGPT Pro worth it for you?

ChatGPT Pro probably isn't worth it for most people, but that doesn't mean it's not worth it for anyone. 

If you rely on ChatGPT professionally and regularly run into rate limits, ChatGPT Pro may be a solid investment. Similarly, if you're pushing the edge of what ChatGPT can do, either by exceeding context windows or needing o1 for a lot of your work, then ChatGPT Pro might be the solution you need. But $200/month ($2,400/year!) is a lot—so be sure you need it before you dive in.

For most of us, ChatGPT Plus is the best balance. It's a big step up from the free version of ChatGPT but still a relatively affordable $20/month. 

Automate ChatGPT

If you're using ChatGPT so much that you might be willing to pay thousands of dollars a year for it, you should also be automating it. Zapier's ChatGPT integration lets you write and execute code, analyze data on CSVs, and even get questions answered based on your documents—straight from the apps you use most.

Learn more about how to automate ChatGPT with Zapier, or try one of these templates.

Related reading:

• How does ChatGPT work?

• The best ChatGPT alternatives

• How to create a custom GPT

Silos are great for grain (and sport climbing)—but they spell doom for businesses. If your GTM organization is just three separate sales, marketing, and support teams wrapped in a trench coat, the inefficiency and communications breakdown will become unsustainable fast. 

That's why RevOps teams are so crucial, coordinating revenue-related activities across departments to keep a business running smoothly. And it's why RevOps folks value tools that work well across departments.

HubSpot is one of those tools: it's a multifaceted suite of CRM, marketing, customer service, and operations tools. But many RevOps teams barely scratch the surface of what the platform can do. 

We asked nine RevOps experts how they use HubSpot to unlock the tool's full potential and turn their organization into a well-oiled, silo-free machine. Here's what they said.

Table of contents

• Get in-depth insights with custom reporting

• Build quality backlinks with attribution reporting

• Make smarter decisions with custom behavioral events

• Clean up your data with data quality automation

• Prioritize high-quality leads with lead scoring

• Transform sales with HubSpot playbooks

• Track unique data with custom properties

• Maximize efficiency with HubSpot workflows

• Enhance automation with workflow extensions

Get in-depth insights with custom reporting

The reporting feature in HubSpot may seem basic at first glance—until you leverage its custom reporting capabilities. Take it from Alex Vasylenko, founder of development and design agency The Frontend Company: "Most teams are used to simple pipeline or sales reports, but the real magic happens in combining data from multiple HubSpot objects, like deals, tickets, and custom properties, to build out bespoke reports that answer a specific operational question."

Alex provides a helpful example: "You can create a report to track leads from initial contact to closed deal, broken down by the effectiveness of specific marketing campaigns or sales sequences."

For your RevOps team to get the most out of this reporting feature, Alex recommends starting by "identifying key performance indicators and aligning them with HubSpot's custom properties." After that, he says, "The next step is to explore segmentation options: filtering reports on deal stages, team performance, or regional trends. A powerful insight could be drawn by the RevOps teams in finding out when and how follow-ups are associated with clogs in the funnel. Accordingly, teams can move toward proactive processes instead of simply reacting to problems, therefore driving more revenue growth and operational efficiency."

Build quality backlinks with attribution reporting

Attribution reporting helps you understand exactly how your marketing efforts work on leads. By seeing things like ad clicks, form submissions, registrations, and page views, you can get a clearer picture of what is and isn't working. 

Most RevOps teams use HubSpot's attribution reporting feature for standard lead tracking, but Authority Builders, a link-building outreach company, uses it in an unconventional way. Matt Harrison, the Vice President of Global Operations, says their team also adapted it to "measure the quality of link-building placements against client conversions."

Matt elaborates: "We built custom attribution models that track how different types of backlinks influence the sales cycle. When a prospect interacts with our guest posts on high-authority sites, the system attributes their journey through our pipeline. This insight revealed that leads from educational guest posts convert faster than those from purely promotional content. Our sales team now prioritizes leads based on their interaction with specific types of placed content."

His tip? "Create custom attribution models that track your unique business metrics—forget generic templates and build reports that measure what actually drives your revenue growth."

Make smarter decisions with custom behavioral events 

If you know specific behaviors are a good signifier that a lead is moving closer to converting, you can use HubSpot's custom events feature to dig even deeper than standard attribution reporting.

"The feature that often flies under the radar but can be transformative for RevOps teams is custom behavioral events," says Aljay Ambos, the lead SEO and marketing consultant with Twixify, an AI-driven SaaS platform. "It's not as flashy as some other features, but it's a big help for tracking user behavior in a way that drives smarter decisions. Instead of relying on standard metrics like page views or email opens, you can define and track specific actions that matter most to your business."

Aljay explains how they've used the tool effectively: "For example, in one campaign, we tracked when prospects interacted with a product comparison tool on our website. This gave us a clear signal that they were seriously evaluating our offering, and we could prioritize them for follow-up or even send a personalized email addressing their interests."

Better yet, according to Aljay, setting it up is fairly simple. "Identify the behaviors that signal a user is moving closer to conversion. This can include users spending time on your pricing page, clicking on a demo request button, or engaging with an interactive tool. Use HubSpot's tracking code to capture those actions and feed them into your workflows. Once set up, you can trigger notifications to your sales team or automate personalized outreach, so your leads feel seen and understood."

Clean up your data with data quality automation

Data is king for RevOps—but your data is only as good as it is consistent and organized. HubSpot has a powerful data quality automation feature that can help you clean up your customer records. 

JJ Maxwell, CEO of investment platform Double Finance, explains, "This tool allows RevOps teams to proactively identify and fix data inconsistencies within HubSpot, ensuring data integrity across all connected systems. It goes beyond simple field validation and uses automation to detect issues like inconsistent formatting, duplicate records, and missing required information. For RevOps, this translates to cleaner data for reporting, more effective segmentation for marketing campaigns, and improved lead routing for sales."

Digging into exactly how this feature can take your RevOps efforts to the next level, JJ says, "Data quality automation lets you create custom rules to identify data issues specific to your business. For example, you can set up a rule to flag contacts with missing phone numbers or those with incorrect email formats. Once an issue is detected, you can automatically correct it using predefined actions or trigger workflows to notify the appropriate team members for manual review. This proactive approach to data quality management saves countless hours that would otherwise be spent manually cleaning data."

JJ also offers advice on how to best use the tool. "To get started, RevOps teams should first audit their existing data to identify the most common data quality issues. Then, using the data quality automation tool, create rules that address these specific issues. Begin with a small set of rules and gradually expand as needed. Regularly monitor the tool's dashboard to track progress and identify any new data quality trends. By implementing data quality automation, RevOps teams can ensure data accuracy, improve operational efficiency, and ultimately drive better business outcomes.

Prioritize high-quality leads with lead scoring 

No matter how big your sales team is, you still have a finite amount of time to nurture leads—which means it's crucial to focus on leads that are most likely to convert. That's why, if your CMS offers built-in lead scoring (as HubSpot does), you should take advantage of it.

"One HubSpot feature every RevOps team should be using is lead scoring," shares Ally Moisse, a PR specialist at lead generation agency Pearl Lemon. "It allows you to assign scores based on specific behaviors, attributes, or engagement levels. For example, if a lead downloads a whitepaper, visits your pricing page, or attends a webinar, their score increases. Conversely, inactivity over time or irrelevant actions can lower their score. By customizing these metrics, RevOps teams can identify the hottest leads for the sales team to focus on while nurturing colder prospects with targeted campaigns."

To adopt this feature effectively, Ally recommends starting by "collaborating with sales and marketing teams to define scoring criteria that align with your business goals. Use historical data to identify patterns that indicate a lead is likely to convert. Once set up, integrate these scores into your pipeline stages to ensure sales reps are working with the most actionable opportunities."

Transform sales with HubSpot playbooks

Playbooks is another HubSpot feature that can level up your RevOps efforts by systematizing sales. Michael Maximoff, the co-founder and managing partner of B2B appointment setting agency Belkins, shares, "Playbooks provide structured guidance for sales reps during calls or interactions, and they remove any ambiguity and 'magic' from the sales process. It's like the invention of gunpowder for the sales world—it completely transforms how customer conversations are handled. While other platforms may offer similar tools, HubSpot's playbooks are unique because they integrate directly with CRM data. RevOps teams get precise, real-time, context-rich insights for every interaction."

Michael elaborates, "This feature is essential because it helps avoid common mistakes that can ruin potential sales. For example, a sales rep might fail to address a lead's critical pain point, which could result in losing the deal to a competitor. Playbooks are valuable because they help standardize and digitize the sales process. This makes it easier to evaluate performance without bias and apply statistical methods to improve results."

Track unique data with custom properties

Sometimes, you need to track unconventional kinds of information that aren't accounted for in traditional CRM setups. HubSpot offers a custom properties option to let you tailor your CRM to meet your business's needs. "It's super flexible and allows you to track data points unique to your business, like churn risk, contract renewal dates, or lead scoring criteria," says Vishal Shah, a Senior Technical Consultant at eCommerce and web development company WPWeb Infotech.

"For example, you can create a property like 'Contract Expiry Date' and set up workflows to alert your team 30 days before a renewal," Vishal explains. "This ensures you stay proactive with upselling or retention efforts. You can also analyze custom properties in HubSpot reporting to identify trends, like how 'High Churn Risk' deals perform compared to others. It's a simple yet powerful way to align your sales, marketing, and customer success teams with data that reflects your actual revenue drivers."

Maximize efficiency with HubSpot workflows

According to Justin Schulze, the owner of digital marketing agency Schulze Creative, "If you're not using workflows on HubSpot, you're missing out on a huge productivity hack."

So what are workflows? Justin explains, "Workflows automate repetitive tasks, but the real magic lies in conditional logic, which lets you create 'if/then' scenarios for smarter processes. You can automatically route leads to the right salesperson based on location or deal size, remind account managers to follow up on expiring contracts, or even trigger alerts for upsell opportunities when customers hit key milestones. By handling repetitive tasks for you, workflows free up your time to focus on strategies that grow revenue."

Enhance automation with workflow extensions

HubSpot also offers an advanced workflow builder for developers called Workflow Extensions, which lets you connect HubSpot to third-party tools. "This feature allows you to seamlessly connect HubSpot workflows to external apps or systems, making automation much more effective and tailored to your business processes," says Carl Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of SaaS company Apicbase. "For example, we use it to trigger actions in tools like Slack, Trello, or even custom-built platforms whenever certain criteria are met in HubSpot."

Carl continues, "A great use case is automating deal handoffs between sales and customer success. When a deal moves to 'Closed-Won,' our workflow automatically creates a task in Trello for onboarding, sends a Slack notification to the onboarding team, and syncs relevant customer details to our project management software. It eliminates manual steps, reduces errors, and speeds up the process."

When building your automated sales ecosystem, Carl suggests starting small. "Pick a repetitive process, like lead follow-ups or task creation, and set up a workflow to integrate HubSpot with the tools your team already uses," suggests Jacobs. "Also, don't forget to track the impact. HubSpot allows you to measure workflow performance, so you can tweak and improve over time. This feature ensures your operations run like a well-oiled machine, keeping teams aligned and saving valuable time."

To make things even easier, you can use Zapier's HubSpot integration to automate across apps without writing any code. Because Zapier integrates with thousands of apps, you can build fully automated systems that use HubSpot as the source of truth. Learn more about automating HubSpot, or get started with one of these templates.

Dig into HubSpot's features yourself

The best way to keep your organization running smoothly is to collect and use the right kinds of data. Then, you'll need to send that information to the right places so the right people—across teams—can access it. And HubSpot offers seemingly endless reporting, scoring, and automation features to let you do just that. Which HubSpot feature will your team experiment with first? 

Related reading:

• How RevOps professionals use AI and automation 

• RevOps best practices: How Zapier created a centralized revenue operations team 

• The  best HubSpot certifications, according to experts 

• The best HubSpot alternatives

Drink more water. Hit 10,000 daily steps. End the week on inbox zero. Why is it so hard to hit these seemingly simple goals? Most often, it's our habits (or lack thereof) that let us down. 

A habit is something we do without much thought or effort. We can get up and brush our teeth without thinking about it—perhaps even switch off our brains when driving a manual car, even when changing gears required intense concentration while learning to drive. 

I'd argue that achieving your goals isn't about willpower or determination. It's the habits we do every day that accelerate progress. And that's why habit stacking can be such a powerful tool.

Table of contents:

• What is habit stacking?

• How to habit stack

• Habit stacking examples

• Does habit stacking work?

What is habit stacking? 

Habit stacking turns goals into habits by combining them with things you already do. For example, if your goal is to drink more water, you'd stack the new habit (drinking a glass of water) on top of something you already do every day (brushing your teeth). Every time you brush your teeth, you'd drink a glass of water. At first, you'll have to remind yourself, but eventually, the goal becomes a habit.

Habit stacking works because it appeals to the four laws of behavior change outlined in James Clear's book Atomic Habits:

1. Make it obvious

2. Make it attractive

3. Make it easy

4. Make it satisfying

Using the same example: the trigger to drink more water becomes obvious when your brain associates it with brushing your teeth. It's attractive because you know the goal, and easy because you're already at the sink. The satisfaction comes from achieving your goal before you've even gotten dressed for the day.

Habits are notoriously hard to build. Smart people estimate that it can take the better part of a year to form a new one. And it makes sense: the idea of doing something without thinking about it requires intense repetition. But the more you do two tasks together, the more you'll associate the two. The two habits become linked in your brain so that the new habit becomes second nature—something you do without having to think about it. 

How to habit stack

Ready to make headway on your goals by making the task second nature? Here's a practical guide to start habit stacking, based on my research and my personal experiences with habit stacking.

Observe your daily habits

Before you dive into creating new habits, look at those already cemented in your daily routine. These are things you do every day with little thought or consideration. For example: 

• Brushing your teeth

• Getting into/out of bed

• Making your morning coffee

• Dropping your kids at the bus

• Checking Instagram on your lunch break

• Walking your dog

• Eating dinner 

You could also think about the things that happen to you, rather than habits you have yourself. For example, do you get lots of text messages during the day? Are you up early enough to see the sunrise? These events make for great stacking triggers and can actually build a stronger routine that encourages you to do the task multiple times a day.

Use the habit stacking formula

The habit stacking formula is a fancy way of describing how you'll implement the new habit. As James Clear writes in Atomic Habits, the formula goes: 

After/before [current habit], I will [new habit]. 

For example: if your goal is to feel less stressed in the mornings and have a more productive evening, your formula could be: "After I brush my teeth in the evening, I'll lay out my clothes for the following day."

Start small—but be specific

Habits are easy to create when they're easy (one of the laws of behavior change). The more resistance that's in your way, the less enthusiastic you'll be to do it. Remember: repetition is what forms a solid habit. 

Be specific about when and where your new habit stack will happen. If your goal is to keep your inbox tidy, for example, your habit could be: "After I send my last email of the day, I'll spend 10 minutes organizing my emails into folders." Now you know exactly when you'll do it and how long it'll take—two common points of friction with new behaviors.

Use smart connections

The two habits you're tying together shouldn't just be things you do every day. 

Be smart about how you connect the two—particularly if the new habit isn't naturally fun (e.g., drinking more water). You could tie it to something you do enjoy doing to get the reward aspect of the habit formation loop. 

Similarly, if you have a fun new habit that you want to implement, tie it with an existing, boring one. In my case: I find washing the dishes mind numbingly boring, so I added my new fun habit (listening to an audiobook) to make it more enjoyable. Just like that, I look forward to finishing lunch.

Use a habit tracking app

Habits become second nature when they're repeated. Motivate yourself to not break the streak with a habit tracking app like Streaks or HabitNow. Either option is available on mobile so you can keep up with your habits on the go.

Pen and paper or a sticker chart can also do the trick, particularly if you're appealing to law #1 (make it obvious). Place the tracker where you'd do the new habit so you can't forget.

Give yourself a reward

Long-term habit formation includes four stages:

1. Cue (the trigger)

2. Craving (the motivator)

3. Response (the actual behavior)

4. Reward

The last one is important because rewards release dopamine, known as the "feel good" hormone. Our brain drives us to get more of the hormone, therefore solidifying the habit formation loop and encouraging us to cement the new task in our routine. 

Habit stacking examples

Here's some inspiration on what habit stacking could look like for both professional and personal goals:

• After I've made my morning coffee, I'll spend 15 minutes on Duolingo practicing Spanish.

• After I finish eating dinner, I'll put my plate into the dishwasher.

• After I've opened my laptop, I'll spend 15 minutes tidying my inbox.

• Before I drink my morning coffee, I'll drink a glass of water.

• After I send a client a new piece, I'll prepare the invoice.

• After I close my laptop for the day, I'll do a 10-minute declutter of my workspace.

• After I leave my car, I'll throw away any trash left in there.

• Before I get into bed, I'll lay out my clothes for the following morning.

• Before I fall asleep, I'll put my phone on Do Not Disturb.

Does habit stacking work?

I've been using the habit stacking technique to ultimately feel more productive, without having to think about it. It's helped me cement new habits, like drinking more water and keeping my workspace tidy, without feeling like either goal is too hard.

The best part about habit stacking: it's super easy to start. Use this simple formula to try it for yourself:

After ________ , I'll _________ .

That's it.

Related reading:

• How to build habits that will last all year

• Microproductivity: How to get mundane tasks done, finally

• How to ruthlessly prioritize tasks to get more done

• Automation is a habit—here's how to build it

No matter how much the online environment changes (and it's always changing), one thing stays constant: email is king. If you want to find and retain customers, you need a killer email marketing strategy. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is a popular creator marketing tool that helps brands automate email campaigns, personalize messages, and segment subscribers for an effective and targeted email strategy.

But manually fine-tuning your email list is a beast of its own—especially as your business scales. Automation helps simplify your lead generation and organization process so your email campaigns have maximum impact, no matter how many leads you capture per day.

With just a few Zaps (our word for automated workflows), you can connect Kit to the other apps you use every day. Here are some of the most popular ways to help you get started.

Table of contents

• Update Kit based on meetings and events

• Add leads to Kit

• Connect Kit to your eCommerce tool

• Connect Kit to your spreadsheet or database app

• Send custom emails

• Connect Kit to almost any app

Update Kit based on meetings and events

Once a lead has booked a meeting with you, you'll need to update their information in your email list to reflect their new place in the sales funnel. But there's an easier way to keep your notes up to date than relying on manual data entry.

With these Zaps, whenever someone schedules a new appointment with you using Calendly or Acuity Scheduling, a tag will be added automatically to their Kit subscriber profile. That way, you can keep tabs on the leads you've personally spoken to—without needing to make notes yourself.

Add leads to Kit

Whenever a new lead expresses interest, it's important to act fast while you're still on their mind. But if your follow-up process relies on manually copying and pasting new form submissions into your email marketing software, you can bet a few leads will fall through the cracks.

These Zaps help you optimize your subscriber list growth by adding each new form respondent to your Kit database. Choose whether to add new subscribers to Kit forms or add a specific tag to that subscriber.

You may also find leads on social media, where it's even more important to follow up quickly—since distractions appear constantly. These Zaps pull names and emails from Facebook Lead Ads into your Kit subscriber list. From there, you can follow up on interest right away, capitalizing on new customer opportunities.

Connect Kit to your eCommerce tool

If you sell products or memberships, it can be helpful to integrate your eCommerce tools with your communication software to maintain customer relationships. When a lead turns into a customer, you'll probably want to add them to a specific audience segment to encourage repeat purchases. 

But follow-up outreach is so much easier—and faster—when you don't rely on copying and pasting between platforms. Instead of risking human error in data entry or bogging down your team with routine data management tasks, automate that process so you can actually focus on nurturing leads.

These Zaps add tags to your Kit subscribers whenever they purchase a product in Kajabi or ThriveCart. Or, if you have a member community in Mighty Networks or Teachable, you can use one of these Zaps to add or update contact profiles in Kit to reflect important member activity. Your email list will stay organized no matter how many sales or enrollments come through. 

Connect Kit to your spreadsheet  

If you use a spreadsheet or database to store and organize customer information, you know how essential it is to keep it up to date. But there's nothing quite as soul-killing as having to do dual data entry in two separate apps.

If you have all your customer data saved in Google Sheets, automation lets you send that information to Kit automatically—which both reduces typos and makes it easier to add new customers at scale. These Zaps automatically add tags to subscribers or add subscribers to forms anytime a new spreadsheet row is added or updated in Google Sheets. That way, when you enter a new contact into your database, you can be confident that information is forwarded to your marketing tool for proper segmentation and targeted outreach.

Conversely, you can also update your spreadsheet whenever a new subscriber or tag is added in Kit. These Zaps take care of the mundane data entry so you can focus on engaging with your subscribers.

Send custom email follow-ups

Touching base with new leads right away adds professionalism while also keeping you in your customers' minds a little longer. Automation lets you send email confirmations or first follow-ups immediately after a lead submits a form. Or, you might want to send yourself and your team emails to stay on top of important activity in your email list. These Zaps let you do either (or both).

Pro tip: To avoid spamming your email inbox with notifications, use a filter step to limit emails to events you consider time-sensitive (like new subscribers with a "high-value" or "enterprise inquiry" tag). Or, add a digest step to send once-daily emails with a list of all new leads received that day.

Connect Kit to almost any app 

Webhooks are a great way to build custom workflows connecting Kit to apps that don't (yet) have a Zapier integration. A webhook is a simple way to send automated messages or data from one app to another based on a trigger event.

For example, maybe you want to import new leads to Kit automatically from your obscure form builder. Or, maybe you'd like to send a copy of new subscriber information to your bespoke database platform. These templates can help you get started.

Nurture your audience better by automating Kit 

Email marketing is an essential element of any business—but manually updating your CRM is unsustainable as your brand grows. 

Let automation streamline your lead management process by pulling in subscriber information from forms, events, purchases, and social media ad campaigns. You can also use Zapier to send custom emails or organize your back-end records by keeping a spreadsheet backup of your Kit subscriber list.

By automating tedious data entry, you save yourself time for the kinds of work that can't be done by a robot—like generating creative email campaigns and building relationships with your customers.

This is just the start of what you can do with Kit and Zapier. What will you automate first? 

This article was originally published in August 2023. It was most recently updated In January 2025.

If you're constantly juggling meetings and calls, you know how important it is to capture key details quickly without losing track of important follow-up tasks. 

Whether those meetings involve talking to leads or turning customer interviews into actionable insights, having a system in place to automatically capture and organize your recordings and transcripts is crucial. That's exactly where Otter.ai, an AI-powered transcription tool, comes in. With it, you can easily generate transcripts, automated summaries, and action items from your recordings. 

And when you pair Otter.ai with Zapier, you can go one step further by making sure your meeting information is available when and where you need it. With just a few Zaps—our word for automated workflows—you can automatically generate transcripts from video recordings, share updates with your team, and more. Take a look. 

Table of contents

• Create transcriptions from recordings

• Get notifications for recordings

• Save recordings as files

• Enrich your CRM data

Create transcriptions from recordings

Is your schedule constantly jam-packed? If you're in back-to-back calls all day, you probably don't have time to manually upload the recordings into Otter.ai to create the necessary transcripts after meetings wrap up. 

But if it's a sales call or customer interview, you'll want to quickly capture key details so your team can take next steps as fast as possible. With these Zaps, you can automatically upload recordings from apps like Zoom or JustCall the moment a call ends. That way, you're free to focus on more important tasks. 

Get notifications for new recordings

Once you end certain meetings (like sales calls or interviews), you might need to send updates to your other team members. That way, if any follow-up tasks need to be done—like creating summaries or messaging new leads—they can be handled promptly by the right team member. 

Of course, firing off quick Slack notifications or emails can help keep everybody in the loop. But manually drafting those messages can easily fall by the wayside if you're busy with other tasks. Automation can help fill those gaps. 

With these Zaps, you can automatically send messages whenever Otter.ai generates a new transcription from recordings. 

Save recordings as files

Need a better way to store your transcripts once they're finished? Whether you want to share them with the rest of your team or refer back to them later, you'll have to organize them in an accessible storage system. 

But manually downloading those files from Otter.ai and adding them to tools like Google Drive or Dropbox can get tedious fast—especially if you're managing multiple recordings at once. 

Instead, you can use one of these Zaps to automatically turn Otter.ai recordings into files in Google Drive, Dropbox, or Notion. That way, everybody can access what they need when they need it—without having to log into Otter.ai. 

Enrich your CRM data with recordings

Do you take a lot of sales calls or regularly collect feedback from your customers? Any information you collect—like whether or not customers require a follow up call—should be recorded and shared in your sales team's source of truth: your CRM. 

With Zapier, you can automatically add any call transcripts directly to your CRM so whenever someone is looking up a customer, they'll have access to the most up-to-date insights from your conversations. When your sales team has all the relevant details at their fingertips, follow-ups are faster, progress is easier to track, and keep the sales process moves more smoothly.

Transform meetings with Otter.ai and Zapier

By integrating Otter.ai with Zapier, you can transform how your team manages and acts on your meetings. Whether you're uploading recordings to storage apps, notifying your team, or enriching your CRM with extra information, these automated workflows will help streamline your process and ensure no valuable information is lost in the shuffle.

And this is just the start of what you can do with Otter.ai and Zapier. What will you automate first?

Switching to renewable energy can moderate some of the worst effects of climate change. But with so much misinformation and "greenwashing" out there, it's hard enough trying to reduce waste as a consumer.

That's why egg is on a mission to make it easier for people to switch to renewable energy. They offer clean energy solutions like solar panels, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, and battery storage for homes and businesses across the United Kingdom.

Though the renewable energy market is growing, it's still confusing for the average consumer to navigate. So egg's sales teams rely on deep prospect and competitor research to offer the right solutions and ultimately close that sale. 

"They're looking at energy usage, finding [the home or business] on Google Maps, maybe reading some of the news to build that context," says Usman Mahomed, Head of Product at egg. 

But the team was spending hours researching each prospect—which really hurt their sales efficiency. If they were going to advance the shift to cleaner energy, they'd need to maximize their time.

How egg cracked the sales efficiency conundrum

Like many companies, egg is navigating two competing viewpoints on AI use.

"The non-technical population in our company is like, 'Let it loose on everything,'" says Usman. "In the technical population of our company, we're a lot more apprehensive about letting an LLM [large language model] speak to customers."

Usman was already using Zapier for automated workflows but hadn't delved further. One day, he stumbled upon a video of Zapier Agents doing the exact task his sales teams were spending hours on.

"I looked at that video and I said, 'Hmm, I think Agents can do that in like a minute.'"

Usman saw a golden opportunity to solve his team's sales challenges, bridge his company's AI divide, and help people switch to renewable energy. 

Jump ahead:

• Pull up-to-date research on prospects and competitors

• Plug the gaps in existing customer data

• Scale outreach and prospect insights

Pull up-to-date research on prospects and competitors

Usman dove right into Agents and started tinkering. He soon discovered all the ingredients he needed to create a personal sales research assistant.

"The best thing about [Zapier Agents] is it's an [AI] agent, not a fixed LLM," Usman says. "Because it can do those Google searches, we're actually able to find live information we can rely on, which is just incredible." 

Usman rolled out his AI assistant to egg's entire business-to-business (B2B) sales team, and when the technical sales team heard about it, they too wanted in.  

"Everyone's using it," he says. "It's taking them less than five minutes [to do] what used to take them three hours." 

That original agent started hatching other ideas around the company. 

Egg's Head of Technical Sales approached Usman with his own request: an AI assistant that could find EV chargers in the market that met a set number of requirements. 

Usman quickly spun up another agent: When the Head of Technical Sales provides the use case or product requirements, the agent returns a formatted table with a list of chargers, relevant information, and product links. 

"And then I went crazy with [Agents]," Usman laughs. 

Plug the gaps in existing customer data 

Customer data is the backbone of any sales or marketing strategy, but egg was missing critical industry information necessary to maintain a steady flow of new leads. 

"We were literally paying someone on contract to look up this information for all of our customers," says Usman. 

Since Agents can also complete tasks in the background, he easily whipped up another AI assistant to fill in the data holes. 

Here's how he set it up: 

• Create a customer list as a data source: Agents can use live data sources like Google Sheets to complete tasks. Instead of creating the spreadsheet from scratch, Usman used HubSpot's built-in Google Sheet integration to automatically populate his data source. 

• Add the data source to Agents: Once Usman added his customer list, Zapier syncs it regularly, so his AI assistant is working with the latest info.

• Tell the custom agent what to do: Usman created a behavior, instructing the assistant to find customers with missing industry details, search for the info, and then update the Google Sheet with the new details. 

Now, Agents does the work in just five minutes—and egg no longer needs to pay a contractor. 

Scale outreach and prospect insights

With Agents providing the additional prospect insights, egg had all the ingredients necessary to send personalized outreach emails to new leads. 

But internally, the diverging perspectives on AI came to roost. 

"Our non-technical population wants to just throw it to ChatGPT, off it goes. We're not so keen," says Usman. 

Instead of trusting AI entirely with email writing, the team combined Zaps with Zapier Tables to automate the process and minimize risk with a human review step. 

Here are a few of the workflows they created:

• Build a list of outreach-ready leads: "When we upload a lead, it pulls in all that context from Agents and populates a Zapier table," Usman says.  

• Draft outreach emails with just a button click: Referencing the record data in that same table, this Zap uses ChatGPT to write an email. Then, it creates a draft email in Microsoft Outlook. That way, the team can review the drafted email and make any changes before sending.

• Analyze replies to email outreach: "When the email comes back, ChatGPT does a sentiment analysis," says Usman. "If it's a negative [sentiment], it populates a Zapier table and creates a Slack notification. If it's positive, it goes into HubSpot." 

With this approach, egg can scale outreach to more people, finesse its sales and marketing, and ultimately help more people switch to cleaner energy sources. 

Sparking a sustainable future with AI

Democratizing clean energy is an ambitious undertaking—but by rolling out smarter sales processes with Zapier and AI, egg can charge ahead to bring clean energy to homes and businesses across the U.K. 

I feel uniquely qualified to referee the Google Ads vs. Facebook ads debate. Not just because I'm a marketer, but also because I'm susceptible to a well-placed "final hours" banner—making me both the hunter and the hunted.

I've managed millions in ad spend across both platforms, and I've turned into an impulsive gremlin with a credit card at the sight of a fake scarcity pitch for something I didn't need.

This dual perspective has given me a front-row seat to the strengths, quirks, and manipulative power of Google Ads and Facebook ads. In this article, we'll go over how both channels operate, how they differ, and how to make them work for your goals.

Table of contents:

• What is Google Ads?

• What is Facebook ads?

• Key differences between Google Ads and Facebook ads

• Google Ads vs. Facebook ads: Which should you choose?

• Use both for a full-funnel approach

• Automate your Facebook and Google Ads campaigns

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform where businesses bid on keywords to display their ads across Google's sprawling network. Having worked with the platform since its Adwords days, I've watched it mutate from simple text ads to a sophisticated advertising ecosystem that spans search results, display networks (websites partnered with Google), YouTube, and Gmail.

When you advertise on Google Ads, you're essentially buying the opportunity to appear in front of people actively searching for products or services like yours. It's like buying a fast pass at Disney World, except instead of cutting the line for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, you're jumping to the top of search results.

Google Search and Shopping ads appear in search results based on the keywords your potential customers enter. These ads reach users actively searching for products or services like yours, giving you a shot at landing high-intent buyers. (That's marketing speak for "people who are ready to throw money at a problem.")

You can also reach potential customers through image-based campaigns on Google's Display Network—a collection of more than two million websites. These ads get plastered across the internet, tailored by keywords, demographics, website content, or retargeting users who've browsed your site before using Customer Match. Think about that cat hammock you ogled yesterday popping up next to a lasagna recipe today—a subtle, persistent nudge reminding users of your existence.

Advantages of Google Ads

Google Ads has been around since October 2000, and it's become a primary channel for many advertisers. Here are some benefits that make Google Ads so attractive:

• Immense audience reach: The scope of Google's user base is mind-bogglingly massive. I mean, the brand is so ubiquitous that it's literally both a noun and a verb. Google processes billions of searches daily. For you, that means a colossal potential audience. If you can't find your audience here, you probably shouldn't be in business.

• High intent targeting: When someone searches "24/7 plumber near me," they're not casually browsing—they're standing in ankle-deep water with a broken pipe. These people are actively looking for solutions right now, not mindlessly scrolling past photos of their ex-coworker's ugly baby.

• Level playing field: The beauty (or cruel irony) of the Google Ads auction system is that it's not just about who has the fattest wallet. It prioritizes ad quality, keyword relevance, and user experience over sheer budget size. The Quality Score system means that better ads can achieve higher positions at lower costs.

• Diverse ad formats: The platform offers an impressive variety of ad formats to suit different goals and audiences, including:

  • Text ads in search results

  • Shopping ads with product images and prices

  • Display ads across millions of websites

  • Video ads on YouTube

  • Local service ads

What is Facebook ads?

I still reflexively say "Facebook ads," but it's officially part of the Meta Ads platform these days, which also includes Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and the wider Audience Network (similar to Google's Display Network). 

Having once unraveled a friend's fragile grip on reality through weeks of psychological warfare (read: extremely targeted Facebook ads), I can tell you from experience that it's one of the most sophisticated targeting systems available to advertisers.

The platform uses Meta's expansive collection of highly detailed consumer data to help advertisers reach specific audiences based on demographics, interests, connections, and that one time they liked a post about courtroom stenography in 2021.

Facebook's strong and diverse on-platform targeting makes it a great option for a full-funnel ad strategy. Here's a real-life example:

This company had been targeting me with ads for weeks. Out of morbid curiosity, I finally clicked, saw the price, and laughed my way out of there. Today, they've sweetened the deal with a discount.

Facebook ads create demand where none previously existed—unlike Google, where you're capturing existing demand. This generates sales that never would have happened otherwise because they weren't looking for you yet. It's a ​​disturbingly effective tool.

My overpriced sweater arrives in five to seven business days.

Advantages of Facebook ads

While Google Ads might be the heavyweight champion of PPC, Facebook is no pushover. In fact, for many businesses, it can be the perfect place to connect with potential customers. Here's why:

• Granular audience targeting: The level of targeting precision on Facebook is both amazing and terrifying. It knows more about your target audience than their own mothers do, and it'll let you use that information for a price. You can narrow down your audience based on:

  • Demographics (age, location, income level)

  • Interests (hobbies, favorite brands, entertainment preferences)

  • Behaviors (purchase history, device usage, travel patterns)

  • Life events (recently moved, got engaged, started a new job)

  • Connections (people who like your page, their friends)

  • Custom audiences (your existing customers)

  • Lookalike audiences (people similar to your best customers)

• Visually driven platform: Unlike Google's text-based search ads, which have all the visual appeal of a long-form tax return, Facebook ads let you flex your creative muscles. I've seen carousel ads that tell better stories than some Hallmark original movies.

• Affordable costs: I can't promise that Facebook is always cheaper than Google, but generally speaking, you can start a Facebook ads campaign with a lower daily budget and still see results. And because you can target extremely specific pockets of people, you can potentially waste less money on uninterested eyeballs. Of course, like a "free" lunch that ends with a timeshare presentation, costs can balloon if you're not careful. But the initial barrier to entry is refreshingly low.

• User-friendly: Meta Business Manager, Facebook's platform to manage ads, is more intuitive than Google Ads. The visual interface and step-by-step campaign creation process make it easier for beginners to get started without extensive technical knowledge.

Key differences between Google Ads and Facebook ads

Trying to understand the difference between these platforms reminds me of explaining to my grandma why her iPad and Kindle aren't the same thing—they might look similar on the surface, but they serve very different purposes.

• Primary difference

• User intent

• Targeting

• Ad formats

• Reach

• Cost

Primary difference

At the highest level, the main difference boils down to intent vs. discovery:

• Google Ads helps users find businesses.

• Facebook ads helps businesses find users.

Google Ads functions similarly to how I approach grocery shopping: efficient, laser-focused on a specific need, with no deviations. Meanwhile, Facebook ads resembles my wife's leisurely stroll up and down every aisle, wide-eyed and enchanted by each shiny object that lures her in. Maybe she'll buy something, maybe she won't (she will), but she's in no hurry because, for her, it's about the journey, not the destination.

User intent

• Google Ads convert better for immediate needs, like "emergency locksmith" or "pizza near me" or "emergency pizza near me."

• Facebook ads excel at creating demand for things people didn't know they needed.

If you've been in marketing for more than five minutes, you know that capturing people at the right time is half the battle. And that's where Google Ads absolutely crushes it.

Meanwhile, Facebook users are generally in discovery mode. They're passively doomscrolling (or picking fights in the comment section) when your $400 Japanese chef knife ad appears like a prophetic vision.

Targeting

• Google Ads targets users contextually based on keywords and search intent. You can also refine by location, device type, browsing patterns, and other settings, but the keyword remains central.

• Facebook serves ads based on detailed user data like demographics, interests, and online behaviors.

One isn't superior to the other—they just have different roles in your marketing ecosystem. If you're a new artisanal mustard brand and literally nobody is searching for "hand-crafted everything bagel mustard with real sesame seeds and secret poppy spice blend," you may find it tough to do well on Google.

On Facebook, you could place your product in front of 100,000 bagel enthusiasts and self-professed "foodies," thereby cultivating a market that didn't exist five seconds ago.

Ad formats

• Google Ads are mostly text-based, although you can run visual ads on the Display Network, Google Shopping, and YouTube.

• Facebook ads are highly visual. Ads typically feature images, videos, carousel posts, Stories, Reels, or whatever fever dream Meta's cooked up this week.

While certain types of Google Ads can include images and videos, its bread and butter remains the text-based search ad. Facebook ads are paid social posts. They rely heavily on images, videos, and interactive formats to disrupt the user's feed. You often see vibrant visuals, attention-grabbing copy, short vertical videos, and calls to action embedded in the creative.

If you're selling something that needs demonstration or has high aesthetic appeal, it's often easier to pitch it on Facebook. If your product is more of an "I need it now" or "I'm searching for it explicitly" solution, Google is your best bet.

Reach

• Google's reach is intent-based—you're reaching people when they're actively looking for something.

• Facebook's reach is interest-based—you're reaching people based on who they are and what they like.

You're not going to be starved for eyeballs on either platform. Google processes over 8 billion searches per day, which is roughly the number of times I've Googled "how to force quit on Mac" (option + command + escape). Facebook has about 3 billion monthly active users, which is approximately the number of notifications I have waiting for me the next time I open Facebook.

Cost

Costs on these platforms can vary widely by industry, product type, competition, and more. But here are the broad strokes:

• Google Ads often carry a higher average cost-per-click (CPC) because you're capturing high-intent searches.

• Facebook ads usually have a lower CPC but may require more impressions to move a passive scroller to convert.

Regardless of platform, the return on ad spend is what counts. Many businesses find that Google Ads yields a high conversion rate because of the strong purchase intent, while Facebook ads can be great for fueling brand awareness and eventually leading to conversions via a nurturing sequence. You'll want to figure out your cost-per-acquisition target, factor in your margins, and then decide which platform yields the best ROI for you.

Google Ads vs. Facebook ads: Which should you choose?

By now, you may be thinking: do I pick one? Both? Which do I test first? The best approach depends on your product type, marketing objectives, funnel stage, and budget. Let's break down when each platform shines brightest.

When to use Google Ads

Google Ads is typically the better choice when:

• You want to capture bottom-funnel leads who are ready to buy.

• Your customers actively search for what you offer (like "tax preparation services" or "organic cat food").

• You're selling something that solves an immediate need.

• You want to target specific keywords or search terms.

• You offer competitive pricing.

• Your business relies on local visibility.

I've found Google Ads particularly effective for:

• Local businesses

• Professional services

• B2B businesses

• eCommerce shops

When to use Facebook ads

Choose Facebook ads when:

• Your primary goal is to build brand awareness or reach new audiences.

• Your product looks great in photos or videos.

• You want to build a community around your brand.

• You want to target specific demographics, interests, or behaviors.

• You have a unique value proposition.

• You want to nurture leads through content.

Facebook ads often work wonders for:

• B2C products with broad appeal

• Food brands and restaurants

• Subscription services

• Fashion and lifestyle brands

• Event promotions

Combining Google Ads and Facebook ads for a full-funnel approach

Just like you would be nuts to settle for just a hard taco or a soft taco when Cheesy Gordita Crunches exist, using both platforms can be the best strategy rather than forcing an either/or choice.

Here's how to stack them to create a full-funnel experience that guides prospects through the entire customer journey.

Stage 1: Discovery 

Objective: Introduce your brand to new customers.

In this early stage, people might have only a general idea of what they want—or they might not even realize they need you yet.

You can use Google and Facebook ads in the following ways:

• Capture intent with Google Search and Shopping ads. 

• Use YouTube video ads (including ultra-short and non-skippable bumper ads) to begin building brand awareness.

• Run Facebook ads using a lookalike audience of your high-value existing audiences, which will put you in front of users similar to existing customers. 

• Run video ads on Facebook so you can retarget users who watched at least 50% of the video with future ads. 

Your ads should be designed to elicit an initial action—a view of a video, a click to a site, or a completed form. This will allow you to retarget users in the next stage.

Stage 2: Consideration 

Objective: Make a persuasive case for folks actively evaluating options.

Your potential customers are now aware you exist (congratulations!), and they're thinking about whether they want to get involved with you. They're often researching different options and may be deciding whether to make a purchase at all.

At this stage, you might want to do the following:

• Test new ads for users in your target audience who didn't interact with you the last time around. Running a variety of ads or using Facebook's carousel ads, which display multiple images, increases the likelihood they'll see something they like.

• Use Facebook and the Google Display Network to heavily retarget users who clicked on your link or took any other action on your site, like subscribing to an email list.

• Use testimonials and user-generated content ads to build trust and grow intent. People trust random strangers with iPhone videos more than they trust the brand itself.

• Keep those Google Search and Shopping ads running strong—people are still researching, and you don't want them to find competitors.

By letting prospects see your ads in multiple contexts (on Facebook, news sites, their favorite blogs), you're reinforcing brand recall. The more they see you offering something relevant, the easier the final purchase decision becomes.

Stage 3: Purchase 

Objective: Encourage immediate conversion.

Now it's time to go hard for the purchase. Here's how:

• Retarget audiences on Google's Display Network and Facebook. Focus on people who have abandoned carts or have visited a product page multiple times.

• Offer a high-value incentive, such as a free trial or discount code. Show them an offer they can't refuse, preferably without the horse head in the bed.

Don't be shy about going for the jugular at this stage. People are close to buying—give them the nudge they need to seal the deal.

Stage 4: Engagement and retention 

Objective: Increase customer lifetime value (LTV) and encourage repeat purchases.

Congratulations, you've made a sale! But if you think you're done, you probably also think "Star Wars" ended with "Return of the Jedi."

Here are a few retention marketing strategies using Google and Facebook ads:

• Use Facebook's custom audiences and Google's Customer Match to cross-sell related products. Bought a shovel and duct tape? Here's some plastic sheeting or bleach you might like.

• Set up automated campaigns that remind customers when it's time to reorder.

• Create Google Ads campaigns targeting brand-related searches from existing customers. They're already fans—make them superfans.

• Target last year's seasonal customers with this year's new products or upcoming seasonal sales.

One often overlooked advantage of advertising to existing customers is how cost-effective it can be. These people already trust you. A gentle nudge might be all they need to keep your brand top of mind.

Automate your Facebook and Google Ads campaigns

When you're operating a multi-platform ad strategy, you're basically a plate spinner, juggling countless leads, ad sets, budgets, and analytics—all while the Benny Hill theme plays on loop. One slip-up—like forgetting to pause an underperforming campaign or failing to follow up with new prospects—can send everything (especially your budget) crashing to the floor. Automation keeps your plates spinning and streamlines your ad campaigns.

With Zapier, you can connect Facebook and Google Ads with thousands of other apps without writing a single line of code, creating a marketing pipeline that basically runs itself.

For example, you can do things like automatically sync lead data between platforms and your CRM, send a Slack notification every time a new Google Ads lead form is filled out, or create Facebook custom audiences from your email list. Learn more about how to automate Facebook and Google Ads, or get started with one of these premade workflows.

Related reading:

• Google Ads tips to get the most out of your advertising campaigns

• AI in advertising: Examples, tools, and what to expect next

• Small business advertising ideas for your business

• How to get started with Facebook lead ads

This article was originally published in January 2022 by Ana Gotter. The most recent update was in January 2025.

After two years of posting consistently on LinkedIn, I noticed something interesting: brands were starting to reach out about potential collaborations. 

My first reaction was mild panic. I had no idea how to price these opportunities or structure these partnerships. And more importantly, I worried about maintaining trust with my audience while monetizing my presence. 

So I contacted LinkedIn creators who'd mastered brand partnerships and studied their approach. Here's what I learned about turning the right opportunities into sustainable income.

Table of contents:

• What do brand partnerships look like on LinkedIn?

• Step 1: Build a foundation for brand partnerships

• Step 2: Understand what brands value

• Step 3: Prepare your outreach strategy

• Step 4: Build a sustainable plan for your business

• Double down on what works for your audience

What do brand partnerships look like on LinkedIn?

Brand partnerships on LinkedIn are different from those on other social media platforms because they tend to focus on professional growth. Here are the three main kinds of LinkedIn brand partnerships I've seen:

• Sponsored posts that teach while promoting. Take Sara Stella Lattanzio's partnership with Semrush. Instead of saying "use this tool," she highlights common paid ad mistakes and shows how Semrush solves them. And her carousel shares tips on messaging and competitor analysis before even mentioning the product.

• Creative campaign collaborations. Notion's recent Faces campaign is a great example. They partnered with creators like Melissa Grabiner, who shared how she uses Notion to manage multiple businesses and family responsibilities, making the partnership feel natural.

• Affiliate partnerships. These are the easiest entry point for LinkedIn creators: you promote products you use and earn a commission on sales. I've done this myself with courses and tools I've taken and vouch for. In the post below, I was transparent about the affiliate relationship and disclosed when I got a commission.

The common thread between all these partnership types? They work best when they align with your existing content and expertise. Audiences quickly recognize inauthentic promotions, and successful LinkedIn partnerships align naturally with the creator's existing content.

Once you've found a good match, here's how to get started with your partnerships.

Step 1: Build a foundation for brand partnerships

You need to establish yourself as a trusted voice in your field. Brands won't invest in content that lacks focus or targets an unengaged audience.

Choose a niche

Creating content on everything that interests you spreads your focus too thin and limits opportunities. B2B influencer Lloyd George says it best:

"Picking a niche is the best thing you can do to stand out as a creator. In competitive spaces like fashion, it's tough to break through. But there are fewer creators in less saturated niches like SaaS tools or construction equipment, so brands notice you more easily."

Brands prefer creators who speak directly to their target audience. Focusing on a niche builds expertise and attracts a targeted following, making you valuable to brands—even with a smaller audience.

Create value-first content

My breakthrough came when I stopped copying other people and shared my genuine experiences as a freelance content strategist.

Jayde Powell, B2B creator, agrees: "Post the content you want to create—not the content you think brands want. Authenticity will always put you in front of the brands most aligned with your story, vision, and aspirations."

This means:

• Share unique insights from your professional experience.

• Document your wins, failures, and lessons learned.

• Create educational content that solves specific problems.

• Test different content formats (carousels, text posts, videos).

• Develop a consistent content style that reflects your expertise.

You can also organically feature tools and brands you already use in your work. Lloyd says: "Don't wait for a brand deal to talk about a brand. Make it a natural habit of talking about brands, reviewing products, and sharing your thoughts. Position yourself as a place filled with opinions. That's what attracts brands to want to work with you, beyond just having a following."

I've actually done this myself: here's a carousel post I made highlighting Spark's features, even without a partnership.

Experiment with different formats

Great content matters, but format impacts reach. In my LinkedIn 30-day challenge, carousel posts drove the most engagement, but I overlooked testing video. Meanwhile, AJ Eckstein, Founder of Creator Match, a platform that matches B2B brands with LinkedIn creators (including with a Chrome extension), highlights video's growing importance:

"Video drives 5x more interactions, boosts brand awareness by 50%, and is shared 30% more often. We're seeing this first hand at Creator Match and even recently partnered with a brand on a six-figure video campaign for LinkedIn creators."

If you're unsure where to start with video, use free tools like the Creator Match LinkedIn Chrome Extension to discover top-performing content. And remember that your video doesn't need to be fancy—personal brand influencer Erica Rankin created a simple one for HeyGen. 

The bottom line? Study what works in your niche, but adapt it to your style and expertise.

Step 2: Understand what brands value

What makes brands actually want to work with you? In my experience, there are two aspects to focus on: metrics and community.

Key metrics

I've noticed that follower count isn't the leading factor brands consider for partnerships. AJ agrees: "While follower count is often emphasized, it's not the most critical metric for landing brand deals. While 10,000 followers is a good baseline, brands prioritize other performance indicators." Instead, here's what to focus on:

• Average impressions per post: "Avoid sending total impressions over 365 days," AJ advises. "Show brands your average impressions per post instead."

• Engagement rate: Engagement rate shows audience activity and is a stronger metric than follower count.

• Median likes per post: Median likes highlight consistent performance over one-off viral posts.

• Results from sponsored posts: Past partnership data (clicks, conversions, ROI) strengthens your case with brands.

An engaged community

Quality engagement from a smaller audience outweighs a large, passive following. Jayde explains:

"If you're creating for anyone besides yourself, it should be your community. Invest in your community by providing value—they're your champions. The more they engage and root for you, the more you'll be put in front of the right audience (the brands you want to work with)."

One way to do this is by encouraging real discussions in your comments. AJ explains that brands notice these interactions: "Brands assess the quality of your comments. Are you sparking real conversations or just getting generic responses like 'great post'? Interactive threads show an engaged audience."

I've seen this play out in my own content. My best posts are those where my audience shares experiences, asks questions, and builds on my ideas. These discussions show brands your community trusts and engages with your perspective.

Step 3: Prepare your outreach strategy

Brand collaborations start well before the first exchange with the partner. You'll need a partnership deck to showcase your work, clear pricing guidelines, and a strategic plan for finding and approaching the right people at each company. Here's how to put it all together.

Create a partnership deck

A partnership deck (or media kit) showcases your best work, audience metrics, and past collaboration results to potential brand partners. When you're ready to start approaching brands, Lloyd suggests adding three pieces of your best content to showcase your expertise. "Create three videos for your portfolio," he advises. "Brands won't watch seven, but they'll view three." This focused approach makes it easy for brands to evaluate your work quickly.

What else should you prioritize?

Through his conversations with influencer managers, Lloyd discovered a clear hierarchy: "The most important thing that all the influencer managers said they care about was testimonials. The second is your work [...] and then the third is your metrics."

If you're unsure whether your deck is ready for brands, Lloyd suggests getting public feedback.

"I spent a year refining my media kit. I would post each version asking how to improve it and get 60 to 70 comments each time. I made all those updates, and posted again, asking for more feedback. I did this for about six months. Now, when I send my media kit, 90% of the time, you're going to close and work with me because it's so well optimized."

Your partnership deck evolves with feedback. Start with strong testimonials, showcase your top three content pieces, and include metrics that prove your impact.

P.S. Lloyd offers his media kit as a template, which you can grab for free.

Develop a rate card

For early brand deals, focus on building a strong portfolio over high pay. Lloyd, who now commands premium rates for his content, shares this perspective:

"Your first five deals aren't about money—they're about building a foundation for the next five. Create three strong portfolio videos, even if unpaid, to invest in future opportunities."

Once you have those foundation pieces, Lloyd suggests starting at $200 to $250 per post and gradually increasing based on demand. He even shares how he sometimes reinvests his earnings: "I'll get a $1,000 brand deal and spend the entire amount on production—hiring videographers, booking studios—because I know this high-quality video will help me land the next ten deals."

Jayde offers a different perspective: "I encourage creators to charge no less than $1,500, regardless of the content type. Though some brands' budgets might only allow for $500." She suggests these higher rates taking into consideration all aspects of content creation:

• Time spent creating and revising

• Usage rights requested by the brand

• Additional costs, like props or location rentals

• Your creative energy and expertise

Pricing isn't one-size-fits-all. Factor in your experience, value, and scope of work. Your rates will grow as your portfolio and reputation expand.

Identify the right points of contact

Knowing the right contact ensures your pitch reaches the right inbox. While aiming for the CMO or CEO is tempting, these aren't usually the people who manage creator partnerships. Jayde explains: 

"The people behind the brands you'll likely be working with are typically social media professionals—they are the gatekeepers. Every brand structures its marketing teams differently, but your point of contact will usually be the brand's social media team, influencer marketing team, or creator partnerships team. "

I've found that LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help you find professionals with these titles.

Create your first pitch

A strong pitch opens doors, so be genuine, concise, and well-prepared. Jayde shares her proven approach:

"I introduce myself, explain why I'm reaching out, and share how I've used the brand's products or services. I mention past brand partnerships to establish credibility, then link my partnerships deck."

But cold pitching isn't the only way in. Lloyd suggests a multi-channel approach:

• Attend industry conferences where you can meet decision-makers face-to-face.

• Build relationships on LinkedIn by engaging with potential partners' content before pitching.

• Connect authentically through comments and conversations first; pitch second.

Whatever approach you choose, end with a clear call to action. Jayde says: "I end my outreach by asking the person to set up a time to chat. I find connecting face-to-face strengthens the relationship and fosters a communicative environment for collaboration."

Step 4: Build a sustainable plan for your business

Even once you've secured a partnership, the question is whether you can turn a one-time collab into a long-term gig. Here are three tips on how to deliver on your first partnership and build a reputation that keeps you top of mind for future deals.

Own your partnership vision

When a brand reaches out, it's tempting to say yes—especially if it's one you admire. But accepting every opportunity or letting brands dictate terms can make your content feel forced. Jayde emphasizes this point: 

"Think about the kind of partnership you want with the brand. Creators often have an idealized list of brands they want to work with, and they get so excited about the thought of a partnership that they don't consider how they want to partner with these brands."

While brands will typically approach you with a creative brief, you shouldn't feel bound by their initial vision. Instead, be proactive in shaping partnerships that align with your brand and serve your audience's needs.

Build case studies

Your first brand partnership is a chance to build a foundation for future opportunities. Treat it as an investment in your portfolio, not a one-off deal. AJ advises: "When handling your first brand partnership, focus on building a strong case study that demonstrates your ability to deliver results." He emphasizes the importance of "underpromising and overdelivering—set realistic expectations but exceed them by creating exceptional content and providing a seamless experience."

Go beyond the basics: track metrics, document your process, gather feedback, and capture your content's impact. Approaching early partnerships this way creates proof points for future collaborations.

Pursue sustainable partnerships over one-off deals

While landing a one-off $10,000 deal might seem exciting, sustainable success comes from turning those into $50,000/year relationships. Lloyd emphasizes this approach:

"The goal isn't landing one really big deal—it's creating a sustainable amount of money over a long period. You're not trying to get one huge brand deal on LinkedIn this month. You're trying to figure out how to get five consistent brand deals every month with the same people wanting to work with you."

Position yourself as a long-term partner, not a one-off creator. Pitch package deals that highlight the value of ongoing collaboration—brands value creators who understand their product and showcase it authentically over time, not just in a single post.

Double down on what works for your audience

Landing brand partnerships is exciting, but staying true to your content strategy is just as critical. Stick to the 80/20 rule: share 80% insights and experiences from your work, and reserve 20% for brand collaborations. This balance keeps your audience's trust intact—they followed you for your expertise, not for ads.

Delivering value-first content—even after landing partnerships—lays the groundwork for a lasting personal brand and future opportunities.

Related reading: 

• Your guide to LinkedIn automation

• The ultimate guide to building a LinkedIn presence

• How to build a LinkedIn marketing strategy from scratch

• What is Bluesky—and how does it compare to Twitter?

This past year was a rollercoaster for content marketing. Blogs saw traffic tank with Google algorithm updates, social media platforms are under scrutiny, and AI-generated content is flooding the internet. 

I'm hoping 2025 will be a little less exhausting, but who am I kidding? We need to be prepared for whatever comes our way. To put my money where my mouth is, I spent time talking to other content marketers and clients—and sifting through retrospectives and other musings—to figure out what we might expect for content marketing in 2025.

Here's what I found.

Table of contents:

• Less reliance on review sites

• More AI in more ways

• Slowing down to scale up

• In-house content creators

• Communities for idea generation

• Rethinking LinkedIn

• Proprietary research that can be repurposed

• Rebrands (and refreshes)

• Brands getting "a little weird"

• Email newsletters

• What should your content marketing do in 2025?

1. Less reliance on review sites and more on real customer interactions

Over the past few years, my clients have made a big push to get visibility on sites like G2, TrustRadius, or Trustpilot, even giving away gift cards or prizes in exchange for a review. 

I think that movement is rooted in the new wave of buyers that are entering the market—Millennials are more likely to do more research on their own before talking to sales. They speak with peers and colleagues, dive deep into comparison landing pages, case studies, and "best of" roundups, and scan review sites for additional perspectives (just like they might if they were trying a new restaurant or looking for a new auto mechanic).

The problem my clients are running into now is that all marketers understand this buyer behavior. What this means is a lot of fluff and a lot of cherrypicking on review sites. And prospects can sniff out BS like that from a mile away.

So one trend I expect to see is a move away from review sites. Some marketers are choosing to avoid them altogether, instead focusing on other forms of testimonials that feel more authentic. Jim Holben, CMO of Defendify, decided to test the weight customers placed on reviews to see if renewing with those sites was worth it.

He found that their audience "placed almost no value on badges and scores. What they DID care about were video testimonials, written testimonials with names and titles, and on-demand product demos," all things he's planning to publish in 2025.

In addition to the tactics Jim is after, you could also consider turning actual customer instances into templates, or inviting customers to guest post about their specific use cases on your blog. Showing that folks want to evangelize your product is a concrete way to demonstrate that customers gain value from what you're selling.

2. More AI—but not necessarily in the ways you think

No one's surprised to see AI on a list of content marketing trends. By now, we've all experimented with it, and hopefully you're finding helpful ways for it to make content strategy and creation faster and better. Instead of vague "make AI work for you" suggestions, though, I found a lot of really valuable, specific tips.

Optimize for AI overviews

Getting into Google's AI overviews—and other AI search functionalities, like ChatGPT Search—is still kind of a mystery. But I thought Bani Kaur, a fractional content strategist, had a great suggestion: "Instead of chasing random keywords," she says, "Think about the full journey someone goes through when researching your product or problem space. Your content needs to anticipate their next three clicks."

Write for voice search

Smart assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are also providing AI overviews to your customers. Peter O'Callaghan, Head of Marketing at ScrapingBee, is ensuring all of his team's content is structured to be read aloud by these devices: "In 2025, our SEO strategy will center entirely on voice search optimization. This means focusing on creating conversational, question-and-answer formatted content that aligns with how people speak when using voice search." It's a bold strategy, for sure, and I'll be curious to see how it pans out.

Use AI for sales enablement content

Marketers spend a lot of time spinning up content for sales that sometimes doesn't even get used—that sales enablement content is a great use case for AI, giving content marketers time back to concentrate on more strategic GTM efforts.

Nathan Thompson, Head of Content Strategy at Copy.ai, puts it this way: "AI should help sales enable themselves, generate and structure more data to inform what campaigns will move the needle, and free up time for marketers to execute against those campaigns at a deeper level than they would've previously been able to."

Create synthetic data and audiences

AI-generated audiences can help you identify and close brand awareness gaps much faster. Steve Lamar, a web analytics consultant, commented on Amanda Natividad's call for AI use cases, describing how he asked an AI tool what the best marketing calendars were. He immediately noticed his client's company wasn't listed, and AI gave him some ideas to fix it:

"While I don't disagree, the other tools listed were project management tools that have marketing calendar capabilities. So, I am working on reworking my positioning and how it differs from other tools. Even considering a rebrand since the name is too niched down."

In Fortune's Term Sheet, Lauri Moore, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, took her prediction on synthetic data a step further, linking it to AI agents: "With agentic applications on the rise, the competition for data will heat up, driven by synthetic data generation, crowdsourced content, and content studio partnerships."

Write about your use of AI

People are eager to learn about AI, so if you—or anyone at your company—is using it in an interesting way, you should write about it. Another commenter on Amanda's post, Rebekah May, said she "got a ton of Perplexity traffic to a blog post I wrote about optimizing for Perplexity." The Zapier content marketing team has seen similar results, engaging their audience with articles about how Zapier employees use AI.

3. Slowing down to scale up

Focusing on the craft of content was a core theme I noticed as I read through people's 2024 roundups of content marketing. Here's what that means.

Focus on quality

With AI everywhere, there needs to be more of an emphasis on quality. Does your piece answer (or better yet anticipate) people's real questions? Does it leave them feeling empowered or inspired afterward? Is it actionable for your readers?

In her first Contentment newsletter of 2025, Tracey Wallace shared a poignant take on this:

"I'm sentimental this time of year, but it reminds me of my all-time favorite quote by Rebecca Solnit, 'The stars we are given, the constellations we make.' AI can give us the suggestions, the strategy, the headlines, the angles (if you feed it the right information first!), but it is us who bring it to life. It is us who name the constellations, give them stories, and meaning, and seer them into lore. Less assembly line. More art."

Tailor content to the platform

You should definitely be promoting your content across channels, but each distribution channel needs its own take. "Social copywriting is something I've learned is a special art," notes Madeline Cruikshank, Marketing Manager at Wilcox Communities. "Copy needs to vary based on platform, purpose, and audience. I've had many roles where they cross-post the copy and content for convenience, but it doesn't bring in the results."

Spend time exploring new tools

Software exploration can feel like a low-impact task in content marketing, but if you can find the right tools, they can help you create better content, faster. Here are a few things you might take time to do this year:

• Expand your tech stack. Per Melissa Cooper, Copywriter at Pompa Program, "Learning new tools has been a constant theme, especially in my adoption coordinator role, where I recently dived into the Shelterluv platform. I'm looking into any tools that integrate well with content planning software to make storytelling even more streamlined, meaningful, and effective."

• Learn to use AI well. Zac Harris, CEO and founder of Rankd, explains: "If you're lazy with AI, you're just going to scale your own laziness. It's not a substitute for doing the actual work. You need to treat AI like a junior team member who still needs lots of guidance and oversight."

• Give video a try. I've seen folks call 2025 "the year of video" over and over again. But brainstorming, producing, and editing video content is a lot of work—even with the help of AI. That means you may have to spend more time working on it.

4. In-house content creators

Jack Appleby, founder of Future Social, predicts that in-house content creators will become a standard job: "I saw an ad agency LinkedIn job post for 'Senior Content Creator' the other day. Brands are gonna get better results hiring people who specialize in social video than re-training traditional creative directors or social media managers." Freelancers will always be a great way to scale, but in-house content folks fill a gap that freelancers just can't.

And it's not just about dedicated content roles: you should also be working with non-content folks in your company to help you create content. The Zapier team does this a lot, having team members from product marketing, engineering, people ops, and beyond contribute to their blog and social media marketing.

You should even have senior-level managers—including your CEO—join in on the content creation. Dave Gerhardt, Founder of Exit Five, wrote on LinkedIn: 

"Having the founder/CEO write on LinkedIn isn't about the ego and the drive to be famous. It's about understanding how information spreads today and how people buy. Social media is marketing. And it has become the number one source of information, news, and knowledge for most industries. Use it to share knowledge, to share information."

Mary Keough, Director of Product and Content Marketing at CoLab Software, still handles all of the company's organic social content. She says: "Before I was hired, our CMO did it. It's that important."

If you have an internal content creator engine going, consider tapping into your customer base next. Start by asking, "Who on our customer advisory board is great at social?" or "How can I make the most of my advisor network?"

5. Communities for idea generation

When I'm writing about something I'm not a super-expert on, Reddit is a great source. I don't have the lived experience of being an engineer, for example, but the people posting on r/WebDev or r/ExperiencedDevs (presumably) do.

Their posts give me inspiration, particularly for hooks. Real things that happened to real people draw readers in.

I've found that "Top 1% commenter," "Top 1% poster," and "Super Contributor" Achievements are a good sign of knowledge and experience, and I go look at people's previous posts to determine whether they're legit.

Reddit is a great example, but joining Discord or Slack communities is another great way to access subject matter experts. And while you're there, you can organically build a Rolodex of SMEs that can be used in other types of content. This is especially helpful for startups that don't have a huge network—not only to put out more journalistic content but eventually to dip their toes into influencer marketing.

6. Rethinking LinkedIn

Since I launched my content business, I've felt a lot of pressure to show up on LinkedIn. And for good reason: many of my fellow freelancers do and report that they've gotten lots of leads from doing so. I see agencies showing up all over the platform, too, and I can only imagine that they're getting solid pipeline from it; otherwise, they wouldn't be doing it.

But, as I'm sure you've noticed, LinkedIn is a lot of sameness. All the posts are either boring, ranting, or raving. It gets old. On the final Content, Briefly episode of 2024, Jimmy Daly, Founder of Superpath, said:

"In Twitter's absence, LinkedIn's become kind of the only B2B social network. You find cool conversations, but I would say that's maybe 10 to 15 percent of the time. And the rest of it is just so much bloviating, you know? People are going to fatigue from that. This happens with all social media. You optimize it for the algorithm, and you degrade the product for the reader."

That's not to say that you should abandon LinkedIn. But you might think a bit more deeply about what you're posting there and why. Increase the standards for what you post, and explore other ways to engage with buyers, like at conferences or local meetups.

7. Proprietary research that can be repurposed

Running your own large-scale survey or study can be expensive, but if you use the data well, it can absolutely be worth it. Here are just a few of the benefits:

• Being the stat everyone wants to include in their hot take social posts, blog intros, and long-form guide callout boxes is pretty great PR.

• You can chunk it up into bite-sized nuggets that can be used in all sorts of formats: email sequences, onboarding, interactive demos, talk tracks for conferences or podcasts—you name it. This also helps you reach people in all the formats they like.

• One or two surprising results could act as one entire pillar of content, making it easier (and faster) to flesh out your content strategy.

• It could help you show up in research-oriented AI search engines.

Last year, I helped one of my clients tailor the same research to each of their top verticals. Each of those playbooks served as inspiration for webinars with experts from each industry (and that was used to create additional content); was featured in LinkedIn ads, drawing in more of their ICP; was linked to from other content; and acted as CTAs on their website and in outbound campaigns.

In a world where unoriginal AI content is everywhere, having proprietary data will absolutely help you stand out.

You can apply this concept (launch one big thing, whip it up into a million content pieces) to events as well. I just saw a post from UserEvidence about how setting up a podcast studio as a sponsor for a cybersecurity conference gave them "6+ months' worth of content."

8. Rebrands (or refreshes)

Something I've noticed coming up a lot with my client base—which stretches across diverse industries within B2B SaaS—is the idea of a rebrand, or at least a website refresh.

For starters, optimizing for AI search overviews is a real thing, and it's not just for your blog—it's for your whole website. If your brand name is too generic, you might get left behind.

But it's also about how things look. Websites are getting prettier and prettier, and people absolutely judge books by their covers. Having a beautiful and user-friendly website makes a good first impression and gives you an edge over the competition. Ashley Lewin, Sr. Director of Demand Generation at Refine Labs, emphasizes in a recent LinkedIn post:

"Your website is your top salesperson and your storefront. We all know this. Yet ownership often gets fuzzy. Too many restrictions and processes stall action, and key pages sit untouched for months (or longer)."

Natalie Marcotullio, Head of Growth and Ops at Navattic, agrees, saying: "I think with less marketing budget, one of the cheapest ways to increase marketing return is a website update."

9. Brands getting "a little weird"

With AI on the scene, marketers are getting more and more fed up with rote, jargon-y content. Freelance content writer and strategist, Jasmine-Jade O., said it best in an Animalz LinkedIn post comment: 

"I'd like to see a bit more personality-infused content that doesn't sacrifice value. I'm tired of the corporate speak that a lot of content marketers (myself included) feel they have to adopt for their brands, products, or services [to] be taken seriously."

Jess Cook, Head of Content and Comms at Island, who also commented on the same Animalz post, said: "I'd LOVE to see some B2B brands get a little weird. And I think we'll start to see some very different podcast formats. The whole host + guest expert has been done to death. I think people want something new."

I came across a bunch of companies finding ways to stand out earlier this year:

• Omnisend, a marketing automation platform, put a twist on traditional swag, sending T-shirts with a huge can of Spam on them to customers who hate spam emails.

• Air, a creative ops platform got a little weird with their CEO's end-of-year recap (among lots of other things). Instead of a dry, bulleted post, their creative team fed an AI actor a script noting the company's accomplishments with some tasteful swearing, crummy stock photos, and Green Day background music mixed in.

• Zapier, an all-in-one automation platform (whose content marketing you're reading right now), did a brand campaign called ZAP: AI in a can, where they "sold" an AI energy drink.

10. Email newsletters

In a world where Google, LinkedIn, and all the algorithms keep evolving, your email list is one thing you have at least a little more control over. That's why I saw a lot of people suggesting that 2025 is a good year to start a newsletter.

As Lee Densmer, owner and content strategist of Globia Content Marketing, puts it: "If you don't do a newsletter, start. This is one of the best ways to reach a captive audience." But, she warns, don't make it "throwaway marketing." It has to offer something valuable and interesting.

One way to make sure there's a human touch in all of your emails is to incorporate user-generated content. Edward White, Head of Growth at beehiiv, for instance, is encouraging readers to submit their own stories, insights, or case studies to their newsletter. "Turning them into active contributors not only boosts engagement but creates a network effect; contributors are naturally inclined to share content they've been part of."

What should your content marketing do in 2025?

Not to get too woo-woo, but my advice is to move in the direction that calls you and your brand. What immediately caught your attention while reading—or, let's be real, skimming—this article? What catches your attention when you see other content marketers doing it?

For me, it was a podcast episode that made me stop and think: "Whisper" on Jay Acunzo's How Stories Happen. In it, he points out how much noise there is—on social media, on blogs, everywhere. To cut through it, he argues, you shouldn't just scream louder. Instead, you should be more contemplative and introspective. You should develop your argument and story more. And you should deliver it more quietly, to make people stop and lean in to hear you.

"Volume and power are very different things. Attention and influence are not actually as closely linked as we like to think. They may be closely correlated, but one doesn't cause the other. Scrambling for attention does not guarantee trust. I think more than ever, ideas like followers, traffic, and reach are massively different than trust, influence, and fans."

Plus, his argument is all wrapped up in a story about the iconic movie "The Snowman"—when he played the first few notes of the music, I was catapulted back to my childhood.

Related reading:

• Content marketing AI: How artificial intelligence is changing the game

• The art and science of the content creation workflow: 4-step guide

• How to create and write a content marketing strategy (with template)