Put up your hand if you enjoy making critical business decisions based solely on a hunch or a guess. Ah yes — intuition is a powerful force, so you’re thinking about raising your arm. Amirite?

Now answer the same question, only imagine your boss is right beside you watching how you answer.

GUESS!?!? We’d never do that, now would we? 😬

Thankfully, for those of us looking for insight in order to make decisions in the midst of a global pandemic there is some help. And we owe it to our friends over in SEO.

“I’m constantly utilizing keyword search volume data to help make more informed decisions…” writes Sebastian Compagnucci. “But the reality is, this data has way more use cases than anyone gives it credit for.”

Writing for Marketing Land, Compagnucci provides an in-depth how-to on gathering, understanding, and forecasting using search data. And before you say SEO tools aren’t relevant to your role, consider the following points:

• Trend data can inform when ramping up on ad spend is needed
• Seasonal variances can guide planning of content marketing efforts
• Search data can show how interest in products is shifting over time

The list goes on, but key to Compagnucci’s argument is that Google shares a ton of value that can help leaders challenge their own assumptions, determine if products are still in demand and seek opportunities for expansion and growth.

Want to know how to do it? Read the article here.

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With TikTok facing a potential ban in the United States, droves of brands and social media enthusiasts have been left wondering if they should be packing their bags and looking for a new home.

And of COURSE, Facebook has the answer. They simply copied TikTok.

First launched in India after TikTok was banned there, Instagram’s new Reels feature is Facebook’s second attempt at a TikTok clone (the first one called Lasso didn’t catch on). With Reels, Facebook (who owns Instagram) hopes to have more success leveraging its existing audience rather than trying to convince users to download a new app.

Want to learn more about Reels, here’s a primer from AdAge.

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We’ve shared a lot of the last few months. In case any of it has been lost in the inbox avalanche, we’re re-surfacing some of our how-tos:

• Here’s how you can juice your LinkedIn performance
• Here’s how you can leverage content to get more out of a virtual event
• Here’s a refresher on the difference between an audience and a database
• Here’s how a producer mindset can take the suck out of virtual events 

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This content originally appeared in our weekly newsletter called TARGET:AUDIENCE where we explore ways to find, understand, grow, engage and inspire digital audiences — so you don’t have to. Want this in your inbox? Signup below