Today is Halloween. It’s a time for creative costumes, scary movies, and of course CANDY!

The most controversial Halloween candy might be candy corn. Some people love it, others despise it.

According to a poll taken in 2020, the popularity of candy corn is split at nearly 50/50 among all generations (Gen X likes it the most at 58%).

As one candy corn lover says “Candy corn is objectively kind of gross, but that’s what makes it good.”

Despite the controversy around it, people buy A LOT of candy corn - especially in October. Last year there was an estimated $88.5 million in candy corn sales.

A 113-year-old company called Brach dominates this market. Around 90% of candy corn sales were generated by them.

Different shapes of candy corn are pretty much all that Brach sells. It’s a great example of a business that created a product people love and just focuses on selling more of it.

Here’s the rundown for today…

• 2024 Social Media Predictions - What To Expect

• Google Makes AI Play - Big Investment In ChatGPT Competitor

• Elon Announces Paid Plans - New Features At A High Cost

• Instagram Marketing Secrets - How To Get Started

• Get More From Email Marketing - 4 Types Of Emails

Lurn Bytes: Your Daily News Download

34 Social Media Marketing Predictions In 2024 - This article reveals the key changes and updates that will keep reshaping how people interact online. This can help digital marketers prepare for the next year…

Google Invests In ChatGPT Competitor - Google has agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Anthropic. This new investment is part of a bigger race among tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft to get an edge in the AI arms race…

X Announces New Paid Plans - Elon Musk's company X has introduced two new subscription plans for its X Premium service to attract more paying users. The "Premium+" plan costs $16 per month for an ad-free experience, while the "Premium Basic" plan will cost $3 per month...

How To Use Instagram To Generate Leads & Sales

Instagram is one of the most powerful social media platforms out there. It’s a GREAT OPPORTUNITY for digital marketers.

That’s because an estimated 11% of people shop on Instagram. It’s how many people are exposed to new brands.

If you want to generate leads and sales for your business, then it’s an important platform to consider using.

TLDR - The Beginner’s Guide to Instagram Marketing

The article talks about A LOT of stuff, but we wanted to highlight some of the most important tips it gives.

Create your Instagram content strategy

Think about what your followers like. Do they like funny posts? Or maybe how-to videos? Try a mix of different things, like quotes and product photos, to keep it fresh. If you have a small business, it's okay to show behind-the-scenes looks, even if it's not super polished.

Publish Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are like mini-videos that stay up for 24 hours. You can use them to show new products, announce sales, or just share a fun moment. They're a quick way to engage with your audience.

Turn Instagram Stories into highlights

If you have a Story that's really good, you can save it as a Highlight on your profile. This way, people can watch it anytime they want. It's like saving your best Stories in a special folder that everyone can see.

Set up an Instagram shop

If you're selling products, you can set up a shop right on Instagram. That makes it super easy for people to buy stuff without even leaving the app.

Run an Instagram contest

Contests can be really fun and get you a lot of attention. Just make sure to follow Instagram's rules, and use special hashtags so people can easily find your contest.

Use Instagram Reels

Instagram is heavily promoting Reels to compete with TikTok. The best Reels are short, fun videos. People really like them, and they can help you show off your products or share tips in an entertaining way.

Hashtag Best Practices

Make your own hashtag and put it on your Instagram profile. This way, people know it's tied to your brand. Don't use too many hashtags in a post. Around 8 to 11 is good. And make sure to use different hashtags each time so Instagram doesn't think you're spamming.

Publish Instagram Stories

Share pictures or videos that your audience makes. This will get people excited about your brand. Use fun stickers and ask questions to get feedback. Remember, being real and fun is key to getting people to like your Stories.

Turn Instagram Stories into Highlights

Don't let your Stories disappear after 24 hours. Save them as Highlights on your profile. You can sort them into categories like "About Us" or "Events". This helps new people learn about your brand easily.

Set Up an Instagram Shop

You can sell stuff directly from Instagram. You'll need to set up a shop, but once you do, people can buy items without leaving the app. This makes it easy for them to buy, which is good for you!

Use Instagram Automation

Instagram Automation helps you manage all the messages and interactions you get on Instagram. Tools like ManyChat let you answer people's questions and send them info without you having to do it manually. For example, if someone tags your business in a story, you can automatically send them a thank you message.

Work with Instagram Influencers

Influencers are people who have a lot of followers and can help promote your brand. Find influencers who fit with what you're selling and reach out to them. They can post about your products, which can get you more sales and followers.

Use Instagram Ads

Ads can directly show your products to people who might want to buy them. You can make different types of ads like photo ads, video ads, or story ads. Instagram makes it easy to set up these ads, and you can choose how much you want to spend.

Track Your Performance with Analytics

Instagram gives you tools to see how well your posts are doing. You can check things like how many people visited your profile, clicked on your website, or saw your posts. This can help you understand what's working and what you need to change.

Learn from Instagram's Professional Dashboard

Instagram's Professional Dashboard is like a one-stop shop for businesses. You can see how you're doing, find tools to help you sell things, and even get tips on how to improve.

This summary is just the beginning. The full article goes into MUCH more detail. Check it out!

Daily Hack - 4 Types Of Emails

Email marketing is a powerful way to build an audience and generate sales for your business.

Think about it. Not everyone uses social media. Not everyone watches YouTube videos. Not everyone clicks on ads.

But just about everyone checks their email every day, and they actually read their emails!

More important, every email is treated the same. There isn’t an algorithm promoting one email over another.

That’s why email marketing is something that most digital marketers should be doing.

To make email marketing work though, you need to send a lot of emails. The question is, what kinds of emails should you send?

We’re going to talk about the 4 types of emails that we like to send to our subscribers:

1. Content

2. Story

3. Promotion

4. Hybrid

Each of these has their own uses and strengths, so it’s important to learn all of them and when to use each one. The best marketers use all of them.

Email #1: Content Emails

The purpose of content emails is twofold:

1. Bring credibility by delivering value

2. Establish trust by giving upfront

Content emails can be dense, like the email you’re currently reading. Or they can be shorter, focused on giving away a specific tip or strategy that can help your subscribers.

Another way to use content emails is to SHARE content. This is great if you have a blog, YouTube channel or social media. Instead of your emails giving the content, they can pre-sell the content you’ve created and link to it.

Content emails are the bread and butter of your email marketing. It’s where your subscribers get most of their value, so make sure you’re delivering!

Email #2: Story Emails

The purpose of story emails is to build relationships with the people on your email list. You tell stories to empathize with your subscribers and have your subscribers empathize more with you.

The more connected your subscribers are with you, the more they’ll trust and respect you. That makes them more likely to PAY ATTENTION to what you’re saying.

There are many ways to tell effective stories, but here’s a good starting framework.

• Setup and build the environment

• Express your emotion

• Leading a series of events

• Main point

• So what? Why is the main point a big deal?

• Relate back - What does the story mean to you and them?

Email #3: Promotional Emails

Emails are one of the most effective ways to sell, so it makes sense that some of your emails should be dedicated to promotions.

Many marketers make the mistake of trying to make the sale in the email itself. The email itself is not the right place to sell your offer - that’s the role of the sales page that you link to in the email.

Instead, there are 3 things you want to accomplish in the email:

• Edify the brand

• Create excitement

• Get the click

If you do those 3 things then your subscriber will be in a buying state of mind when they click on the link.

Email #4: Hybrid Emails

Your emails don’t have to be one of the rigid categories we’ve talked about so far. Some of the most effective emails you can write will be a hybrid of multiple types.

For example, one of the best ways to deliver content is to tell stories. You can tell a story about something that happened recently and use it to teach a strategy that’ll help your subscribers.

Likewise content is a part of most great pitches. You can teach your subscribers something useful that naturally leads to a promotion for a new offer.

Like with everything marketing-related, do your own experiments. Pay attention to what your subscribers respond to and use it to write better and better emails over time.

ICYMI - The Biggest Stories You May Have Missed

Instagram Upgrades Reminder Ads - Now, these ads will not only appear in your feed, but also in Stories, and you can create them directly in Ads Manager. The Reminder Ads will send you three alerts for upcoming events to help boost engagement and awareness…

X Reports Strong User Data - X, formerly known as Twitter, is apparently doing well. According to new information released by CEO Linda Yaccarino, the X platform has over half a billion monthly users who spend an average of more than 32 minutes per day on the platform. This is higher than other estimates reporting far fewer sign-ups and engagement…

Meanwhile, Threads Approaches 100 Million Users - While X may or may not be growing, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, said that their Twitter-like app, Threads, is doing well with just under 100 million monthly active users and plans to grow it further…

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