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Whether you’re commuting by car, bus, or train you may find yourself watching the world — and billboard advertising — go by.

Some billboards can be very entertaining. And according to 2023 research, 49% of adult consumers notice billboard ads more than they did just one year ago.

Billboard advertising isn’t your typical inbound marketing strategy. But it can be a powerful way to build brand awareness and attract customers. It can also work to strengthen other marketing efforts such as blogging, online lead offers, or SEO.

Keep reading to learn more, or jump ahead to the topic you’re looking for:

Billboards are typically placed in high-traffic areas, such as along highways and in cities. This helps make sure that they’re seen by the highest number of drivers and pedestrians.

And billboards fall under the category of out-of-home (OOH) advertising. Out-of-home ads can include billboards, bus shelters, wallscapes, and posters.

Billboard advertising is effective for building brand awareness. This is because it broadcasts your business (or product or campaign) to as many people as possible. Because they’re in such busy areas, billboards tend to have the highest number of views and impressions when compared to other marketing methods.

Does billboard advertising work?

Until 3D digital billboards started going viral, many people were thinking that billboard advertising was a dated strategy.

But while billboards are sometimes criticized for being disruptive, they’re also quite effective.

While billboard rental costs can be higher than digital advertising, there are many benefits to this type of marketing. In fact, the scale of the audience alone can create a big boost in brand awareness. How big a boost? Let’s go over some statistics.

Billboard Advertising Statistics

Almost 82% of viewers can recall a digital out-of-home ad they saw over a month ago.

2022 Statista data shows that 32% of respondents like billboards, and 9% like them a lot. In comparison, a different Statista survey shows that online ads annoy 41% of respondents.

And research from OOH Today says that out-of-home ads show much higher recall for consumers than:

Live and streaming television
Podcasts and radio
Print ads
Online ads

These incredible numbers may be why top brands are increasing their OOH advertising spending.

The Out of Home Advertising Association of America data says that 79% of the top 100 advertisers increased their spending in 2021. Of those, 32% doubled their spending. 27% of the top out-of-home advertisers are technology or D2C brands.

Another important area of billboard statistics is the increase in digital billboard advertising. Per 2021 Statista data, there are 350,000 billboards in the United States. Of those, 9,600 are digital billboards.

And consumers who see digital billboard advertising often take action. According to 2020 Statista research, 35% of respondents visit a website or search online after seeing a digital billboard. And 20% recommend that product or brand.

Plus a 2023 Azoth Analytics report says that the global digital billboards market was worth over $18.5 billion in 2021. The report expects this figure to grow by 7% in the next five years, an increase of more than $1.2 billion.

Billboard Advertising Cost

The cost of billboard advertising depends on many factors. These include:

Billboard location
Total traffic in the area
Estimated numbers of how many people will see your advertisement

Billboard advertising costs are typically charged monthly. They can range anywhere from $250 on a rural highway to upwards of $50,000 in Times Square. The average cost runs around $850 for four weeks.

Digital billboard costs start at a slightly higher price point. While some can charge as little as $10 per day, the average cost of a four-week campaign is $2,100.

As mentioned above, billboard advertising is out-of-home (OOH) advertising. This is any advertising that reaches consumers when they’re outside their homes.

Each OOH advertising opportunity gets an OOH rating. This rating ultimately determines its value and cost to advertisers.

Geopath is a nonprofit organization that gives OOH ratings. To do this, it uses technology and media research to estimate the weekly impressions of every billboard in the country.

Then, OOH advertising companies, like the companies that own the billboard spaces, pay Geopath for this data. Then they share this data with potential advertisers.

According to Geopath, there are up to 10 determining factors that make up an OOH rating and, therefore, the cost of each billboard advertising opportunity.

Here are the three main factors:

Circulation

This is the total number of people who pass by the billboard each week. Local transportation authorities collect and share this information.

Demographics

This refers to the age, gender, income level, and other characteristics of the traffic that passes the billboard. Geopath collects this information from travel surveys and local transportation authorities.

Impressions

This is the number of people who see the billboard. This information is calculated based on many factors including:

The billboard’s circulation
Billboard size
How close it is to the road
Billboard visibility
Traffic speed beside the billboard

But the cost of billboard advertising doesn’t stop with “renting” ad space. You must also consider the cost of designing the billboard as well as printing and construction. Depending on what kind of billboard you want to create, this could cost anywhere from $2,000 to $100,000.

This cost won’t apply to every billboard, but is something to consider if you want to get creative with your billboard.

If you outsource your billboard design, these fees start at $150 but will go up depending on the agency or designer you choose. The complexity of your desired design matters too. For example, if you plan to create a 30-second 3D animation for your digital billboard advertising, these costs could start as high as $1,000 per hour.

Billboard Advertising ROI

While digital billboard advertising is clearly a popular choice, it’s also expensive. But 2022 data shows that digital billboards deliver a 38% ROI. Traditional billboards also have good ROI, with a 40% return on investment.

Note: If you plan to run a digital billboard campaign to direct traffic to your website, this ROI calculator can help you figure out what to spend.

Billboard advertising ROI may be lower than other forms of content marketing. That said, one of the most powerful reasons to advertise with a billboard is brand recognition. If that’s your focus you may want to measure ROAS (return on ad spend) instead.

Whether you’re looking for a 3:1 or 5:1 return on your investment in billboard advertising, you’ll need to do your research before committing.

Then, make a plan to create and measure your billboard campaign for effectiveness. For example, adding a CTA with a unique URL to your billboard ad can help you track conversions.

The billboard design tips below can also help you create a billboard with strong ROI.

Billboard Design Tips and Examples

If you’re going to invest in billboard advertising for millions to see, you want it to do its job. Here are a handful of billboard design tips and examples that’ll make sure your billboard is effective and eye-catching.

Tell a (short) story.

Successful billboards take viewers on a journey. Most billboard designs tell this story with imagery and maybe some text. In fact, most drivers stop reading after a few words. Use your billboard to show the essence of an idea or campaign rather than describing it with text.

Apple’s iPhone challenges gather stunning images from iPhone users that highlight the photography features of the product. At the same time, they also add inspiration to public billboards.

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A story doesn’t have to be complex to be exciting. This 3D digital billboard example from BMW tells the story of their latest model heading out for a quick drive.

Make it bold and simple.

Drivers or passersby only have a few seconds to get a glimpse at your billboard advertisement. To reach the highest number of viewers (and potential customers), keep your billboard design simple. After all, some people may be blowing by your billboard at 70 mph. Use big, bold fonts against contrasting background colors and avoid narrow, script fonts.

Also, choose colors that stand out to viewers. If your billboard is in a rural area, avoid greens, blues, and browns.

The fun example below plays with the traditional billboard format to quickly draw attention and engagement.

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This billboard example is just text and color, but it makes a bold and clear statement. If your message is the most important part of your billboard, use design decisions like font, layout, and color to draw attention to it.

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Consider its location.

You may not have grown up in the neighborhood where you live, but you’ve probably lived there long enough to foster a certain sense of pride. So, when you wander by billboards that are authentic, you pay attention.

Well-designed billboards reflect their location. They take advantage of sports teams, nicknames, nuances, or inside jokes related to the area. This can make the billboard (and brand) much more impressionable to those who see it.

The popularity of the Shinjuku digital billboard in Tokyo, Japan makes it a hub for creative inventions like this example from Nike.

Mobile billboard advertising like the example below can be where your audience is at the times they need what you’re offering.

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Some billboard advertising is temporary, but the local billboard below is now one of the icons of the city of Portland, OR. This article talks about the history of the Portland stag billboard and its origins as a sportswear brand advertisement.

Make it interactive.

Depending on your billboard’s location, you may be able to design it so it interacts with its surrounding environment. This strategy makes your ad stick out among the noise. It grabs the attention of passersby.

The billboard from Intel and Genvid below is also an interactive game that viewers can play with their mobile devices.

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Make it memorable.

OOH advertising to stand out from the hustle and bustle of a regular commute (or the monotony of a long road trip). Your billboard shouldn’t be any different.

Every billboard advertisement needs to tell a story or share a call-to-action in a way that’s interesting and memorable. Whether you call on humor, anger, empathy, or cleverness, use emotional marketing tactics in your billboard design to help with recall. Take a look at these examples of eye-catching, creative billboards.

It’s easy for anyone to put up a billboard, and businesses aren’t the only ones looking to advertise. Proud moms congratulating recent graduates, singles looking for a date, and fans trying to save streaming shows are competing for billboard attention too.

While some of these efforts may not be right for your brand, they bring smiles and news attention, and many of these local efforts end up going viral.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these edible billboard examples.

Out of Home Advertising: The Marketing You Never Knew You Needed

Billboard advertising might not be your typical marketing strategy. But it’s a highly effective way to promote your products and boost your brand.

So, make the most of the tips and examples above to create an unforgettable billboard for your brand. And, who knows? Someone may look out the window during their next commute and see your billboard — and become a new customer.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

What does Pokémon GO, Google Street View, and Snapchat filters have in common? They are all examples of augmented reality (AR).

Of course, AR can do much more than transform your face or point you in the right direction. Its ability to create unique, immersive experiences makes it a valuable tool for marketers.

The first step in any successful project is drawing up a game plan with a clear objective. It’s one of the reasons marketers love creative briefs.

A creative brief acts as a roadmap that takes a project from ideation to completion. It ensures the scope, timeline, key stakeholders, and purpose of the project are communicated clearly. The creative brief is the single source of truth for everyone working on a project. If questions come up or tasks become unclear, the creative brief will steer things in the right direction.

The Purpose of a Creative Brief

Whether you’re a consultant pitching a creative brief to a client, or a project manager presenting a brief to your team, start by speaking with the project stakeholders. These discussions will help you understand the company’s mission, project goals, and challenges your team faces. Then, you’ll have enough information to write a compelling brief that focuses on what’s really important to your company or client.

The idea of a creative brief sounds simple, but it can be hard to wrap a lot of important details into just a few pages. Therefore, a creative brief is typically comprised of eight sections that can fit on one to two pages.

How a Creative Brief Works

Creative briefs are pretty standard documents within just about every marketing, advertising, or design team. For smaller projects that live in-house (like designs, templates, marketing assets, etc.) the brief is owned by the team who will be executing on the information in the brief. This is usually the creative team, but this team can fall within the brand department or even live within marketing.

For more advanced, long-term projects that involve an agency, the creative brief is owned by the creative team or agency who will be executing the work. This is because they’ll work closely with the stakeholders on the project to understand what is needed, plus they’ll bring their own expertise and competitive research to the brief that the internal team may not have access to.

These types of creative briefs aren’t rare, but they are created infrequently due to the nature of the projects they support. So for this post, we’ll focus mostly on the day-to-day creative briefs that you’re likely to use often. Here’s how they work.

Step 1. The teams who need assistance from the creative team will retrieve the creative brief template from a repository like OneDrive, Google Drive, or an online form.

Step 2. The team that is requesting the project will complete the brief according to their team’s needs and goals. The completion of the creative brief starts with the team requesting the project so that they can explain their vision and goals clearly to the creative team.

Step 3. From there, the brief is sent back to the creative team to review. They’ll be looking for timelines, resources, and budget requirements.

Step 4. If they have any questions, they’ll go back to the team who wrote the brief and finalize the details.

Step 5. After that, the project is kicked off, sometimes with the help of a project manager, who will check-in with stakeholders on the project and keep everything on schedule, within scope, and within budget.

Step 6. Once the project is complete, both teams will review the deliverables against the creative brief to ensure everything is completed correctly.

The format of every company’s creative brief might vary slightly to suit the needs of the project or client. Below is a simple outline that will be the foundation of your creative brief. It includes the most important steps in the creative process and information that’ll be relevant to stakeholders involved in the project.

Once you’re fully informed and ready to write, use the following steps to draft yours. To make it even easier, I’ve included a fill-in-the-blank template in the last step.

1. Decide on a name for the project.

The first step in developing a creative brief is deciding on a project name. This might sound simple, but it’s one of the most critical components of a creative brief. If you’re building a campaign around a brand new product or service, the campaign name will be the first time many members of your team will be introduced to it. Referring to the campaign (and therefore product or service) by the correct name prevents the game of telephone from happening. Without a specific and clear campaign name, people will make up their own terminology which can alter the intent of the campaign.

To create a project or campaign name for your creative brief, keep it creative and brief. A few words or a short sentence should work just fine. If you’re launching a product, identify what the call to action will be for the target audience, then center the name around that. Here are a few examples of fictional campaign names:

The Search for Adventure Campaign- A scavenger hunt-themed amusement park.
The Don’t Forget Your Memories Campaign – A photo frame company.
The “What’s hotter than Pepperco hot sauce?” Campaign – A hot sauce brand.

2. Write about the brand and summarize the project’s background.

Another simple, yet essential section is the company background. If you work in an agency setting, this is non-negotiable as your team is likely handling several client campaigns at once. However, if you’re developing a creative brief for an in-house project, you’ll still want to include this part. New hires on your team, freelancers, and vendors will appreciate the background that your internal team is already privy to.

The company background shouldn’t be a general history of the company or a copied and pasted paragraph from the about page. Instead, tailor this to the project at hand. Set the scene with one or two sentences that sum up the brand’s mission. Follow this with a few sentences that give background on the brand and what led to the development of the project.

While some creatives have put this information all together in a quick paragraph, others separate it with headers like “Brand Statement” and “Background.”

Here are some questions to consider when writing a company background for your creative brief:

Has the company launched a campaign like this before?
Why is the company choosing to launch this campaign right now?
What’s happening in the market and how will this campaign respond to it?

3. Highlight the project objective.

Here is where the creative brief gets more specific. The project objective should briefly explain the purpose of the project, the timeline, and the audience it’ll target. This can be done in a sentence or two, but you can get creative and stylize it in sections.

This part of the creative brief will be helpful in emphasizing why the project needs to happen. The goal aspects will help you and your team align on the project’s expectations. If the company or client hasn’t identified any major challenges, you can focus this section on goals and objectives. Explain what a successful project looks like and how it will benefit the company.

Pro Tip: Writing a project objective is very similar to writing a goal, so take a look at this blog post for more detail on goal and objective writing.

Here’s an example of a sample creative brief for PayPal that offers separate sections for “The Problem” and “The Goal”:

4. Describe the target audience.

Next, it’s time to define the target audience for the project. This is the segment of your market that will directly benefit from the product or service being launched. You can take audience segmentation a step further by identifying a primary and secondary audience. Doing so will give your team more freedom to explore creative ideas that might resonate with one group more than the other.

When crafting the target audience section, be sure to include the following:

Demographics – Simple demographic information gives your team insight into exactly who the audience is. This includes data points like age, income, education, ethnicity, and occupation.
Behaviors – Buying behaviors, trends, and other customer history make up the target audience behaviors. These provide important context to the creative brief because they explain where the customer is in their buyer journey.
Psychographics – This is how the audience thinks and feels about your brand and the product or service you sell, in general.
Geographics – Digital, physical, and hybrid campaigns will benefit from having geographics stated explicitly in the creative brief so that media buyers can price ad slots in each market.

Pro Tip: Your creative brief shouldn’t be too long, and this section can take up quite a bit of space. To make this section more digestible, consider using buyer personas.

Here’s how the sample brief for PayPal noted above thoughtfully explains a new product’s target audience:

5. Interpret the competitive landscape.

Knowing what your competitors are doing is advantageous for the whole team. You can use competitive data to come up with ideas that haven’t been tried yet, learn from their failed projects, or build a project that improves on a strategy they’ve used in the past.

Include a quick list of competitors with similar product or service offerings. Briefly list a few things your company has in common with them, how your brand has differentiated itself already, and a few areas where this project can help you get ahead.Get Your Free Templates

6. Prepare the key message.

The key message can be the most difficult part of the creative brief to develop because just about every stakeholder will have a different opinion of what it should be. To get buy-in faster, try this simple trick. Ask yourself “We’re launching this project, so what?” The “so what?” is your key message. It explains why your target audience should stop what they’re doing and pay attention to your campaign.

The key message includes the pain point, what the audience’s experience might be like without the pain point, and the benefit they’ll receive as a result of your company’s solution. This framework places the customer in the spotlight of the campaign. Instead of telling them what this product or service could do for them, it positions them as the main character in the journey from problem to solution.

7. Choose the key consumer benefit.

If you’re launching a new product, there are likely several features and benefits that the target audience will experience when they decide to purchase it. However, it’s very difficult to structure a campaign around several different features. That’s why marketers and creatives use something called a key consumer benefit (KCB) in the creative brief to keep everyone aligned on the primary benefit being communicated. To choose the right KCB, you’ll want to get input from the project stakeholders and rely on consumer data to guide the decision.

Pro Tip: Your KCB won’t always be the fanciest feature of your product. The benefit that solves the biggest problem for your audience is a great choice for the KCB.

8. Select an attitude.

The tone and voice of your campaign create the overall attitude and that should be consistent throughout every creative element that’s being developed. Identifying a few adjectives that describe the attitude of the campaign can help copywriters draft copy that sends the correct message within the right context. Graphic designers can use colors and techniques to portray the tone and voice as well.

In this section of the brief, you should also note the appropriate voice for your audience. While some audiences, like those in the business world, prefer more formal language, others might engage more with a casual, relatable tone. To substantiate your decision to choose a particular brand voice and tone, you could write something like, “Our brand voice is a casual and carefree tone because it speaks to younger Gen-Z audiences.”

Pro tip: Use a thesaurus to find specific words that evoke nuanced emotions and attitudes for a hyper-targeted campaign.

9. Determine the best call to action.

Finally, your audience needs something to do once they see your campaign. The good thing about CTAs is that they don’t have to be physical actions. A CTA could have a goal to change thoughts and perceptions about your brand which doesn’t require the audience to do anything at all.

Your creative brief might include several different CTAs, especially if you have a primary and secondary target audience. But it’s a good idea to have one primary CTA that drives the project objective we talked about earlier.

10. Draft the distribution plan.

When the project is done, you’ll need to make sure your audience actually sees it. List a few channels or platforms on which you plan to announce the launch, as well as any promotional content you plan to create.

When drafting this section, think about your target audience. Don’t waste time on a promotional strategy that they won’t see. For example, if you’re promoting a project to Gen-Z, you’ll want to invest in social media rather than billboards or newspaper ads.

11. Share the creative brief with stakeholders.

Once you’ve drafted a creative brief, share it with the team you’ll be working with. You’ll also want to circulate it around the company via Slack, email, or presentations. If you’re a consultant working outside of a client’s company, encourage your clients to share the brief internally.

As you or your clients spread awareness, you should be open to answering questions or taking feedback from colleagues in case they have any great ideas. This strategy will improve team alignment, increase support of the project, and ensure that all of your colleagues are on the same page.

Follow Along with HubSpot’s Free Creative Brief Templates

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Creative Brief Template

Having trouble with the flow and organization of your brief? Here’s a simple template that could help. Copy and paste it into a document and fill in the blanks. You can also add to it or adjust it as needed for your project.

Download More Creative Brief Templates

COMPANY BACKGROUND:

For ___ years, ______ [Brand Name] has been serving customers in the ____________ [group/job field/geographical area] with ____________________

PROJECT OBJECTIVE:

With this project, the company aims to solve problems related to ____________________, while also expanding on ___________ and improving on _____________.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Our target audience is ____ [gender], in the age range of _ and _, and live areas like ____, _____, and ______. They enjoy _____, dislike ______, and might work in fields like _____, _____, and _____. They want more of ________ and their daily pain points include ________.

Their favorite products might include _______ and ______. They learn about these products through channels including ________, _________, and _______.

COMPETITORS:

Our three biggest competitors [are/will be] ________, ________, and _______. These competitors offer _____, ______, and ______. We are ahead of them in _____ and ______, but we are behind when it comes to product offerings like __________ and _________.

KEY MESSAGE:

The target audience is experiencing __________ [pain point], but with our newest project ___________, they’ll get to experience _________ [new experience without the pain point]. That’s what makes ______ [solution] an unrivaled solution within the market.

KEY CONSUMER BENEFIT:

________ [feature] is the best way for our target audience to experience _____ [benefit].

ATTITUDE:

CALL TO ACTION:

When the target audience sees our campaign, they will [feel/think/do] _________.

DISTRIBUTION:

We will promote the launch on platforms and channels that our demographic regularly engages with. These will include ________, ________, and _______.

We will also release content including _______, _______, and ________ to gain attention from our audience and inform them of the project.

Below are a few messages we will use:

_________________________________________________.
_________________________________________________.
_________________________________________________.

Types of Creative Briefs

Creative briefs serve several purposes in the communications field. Marketers, designers, and advertisers use them differently. Depending on your role, your team, and the project you’re working on, one might be more effective than the other. Below are some of the most common types of creative briefs used across industries today plus examples of what they might look like.

1. Marketing Creative Briefs

A marketing creative brief is most commonly used to bring campaigns to market. This type of creative brief can be used for both new and existing campaigns. Broad business goals and strategies to accomplish them are usually included in this type of creative brief. It’s also not uncommon to see revenue goals and a budget included in a marketing creative brief.

Simple Marketing Creative Brief Example

2. Product Design Creative Briefs

Product design creative briefs outline the go-to-market strategy for a new product or feature launch. Product marketers are responsible for developing this type of brief. Developed in conjunction with the product manager, the product design creative brief will describe the features and benefits of the product and how the audience will benefit from them. Unique features of this type of creative brief include product documentation and product descriptions.

Product Design Creative Brief Example

3. Advertising Agency Creative Briefs

Advertising agencies develop creative briefs often for the various clients they serve. These briefs are concise and include the client’s brand guidelines as well as the specific project guidelines. A budget may also be included in the brief so that all teams can make wise decisions about the tactics they recommend for the client. An account manager or supervisor develops the creative brief and shares it with client stakeholders before the agency begins working on the project.

Advertising Agency Creative Brief Example

Creative Brief Examples

1. Creative Request Template

For the day-to-day management of creative projects, using a creative request template in Asana acts as a dynamic take on a traditionally static creative brief. With a few tweaks to suit your business’s needs, this template flows through each stage of the project while specifying tasks, deliverables, and key points that need to be included in the project. Moreover, Asana provides several types of views that make this template easy to look at from a calendar view, list view, board view, and timeline view so you’ll always know the progress of your project in relation to the creative brief.

When to Use This Creative Brief:

This creative brief example is great for marketing, brand, creative, and design teams who handle a large backlog of projects with stakeholders on many different teams. Use this brief for both ad-hoc and regularly occurring projects.

2. Creative Brief Presentation Template

This creative brief example was designed by TemplateForest. It’s a visual-forward example of a brief that works well for long-term projects like building a business or refreshing a brand. This longer brief includes a variety of information from internal brand insights to an external competitive analysis.

When to Use This Creative Brief:

Use this creative brief when you’re partnering with a creative agency on bigger projects. They can use this layout to inspire a creative brief that fits the needs of your business.

Streamline Projects with a Creative Brief

Scope creep happens to the best of us. Projects get bigger, stakeholders are added, and the objective of the project seems to morph as time goes on. Streamline your next product launch or marketing and advertising campaign with a creative brief. As a result, you’ll find that your team is more aligned with the project’s goals. We’ve even provided free creative brief templates to get you started — download them below.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Creating and managing content is more challenging than ever. With so many channels, keeping track of all of your posts can be cumbersome. Enter social media aggregators.

These tools can help you oversee your digital presence and distribute information to your audience.

In this post, you’ll learn about the different types of social media aggregators and what they can do for your team. From there, we’ll share the top tools already on the market.

What is a social media aggregator?
The Benefits of Social Media Aggregators
Types of Social Media Aggregators
Social Media Aggregation Tools

Like other content aggregators, social media aggregators pull posts from your platforms and display them as a collection. You can embed the collection on your website to highlight posts about your brand, including user-generated content.

Aside from your website, there are several places to feature these collections, including email marketing and digital screens at live events.

The Benefits of Social Media Aggregators

Social media is vital for engaging with your target audience and keeping a pulse on how people feel about your brand. However, you’re missing out on opportunities if you stop there.

Social media can also deliver social proof of your status by sharing satisfied customers on your website.

Highlighting positive, user-generated posts on your site creates shout-outs to your followers, which makes them feel valued. Plus, when other people see real customers touting your brand, it reinforces your status.

Of course, you could do these things yourself by combing through hashtags and mentions to create a collection. But do you have time for that?

One of the primary benefits of using a social media aggregator is that it saves you time through automation. The best social media aggregator tools can even weed out inappropriate or negative posts to keep things clean and upbeat.

Types of Social Media Aggregators

There are three primary types of social media aggregators, two pull from your social media feed, while the other focuses on a specific platform.

Hashtag Aggregation

Hashtag aggregators can pull content from social media networks based on a custom or popular hashtag.

For example, if you operated an event, you could create and share a custom hashtag with attendees. Then, the aggregator would pull content based on that hashtag.

You could even share during the event so people can see their feedback and experience in real-time.

Profile Aggregation

Profile or channel aggregation focuses more on branded content you create and share across social media platforms. You could let individuals take over for a day, follow influencers, or highlight a business partner’s social media accounts.

Platform Aggregation

The final type focuses on a specific social network, like Instagram or Twitter, and curates based on your selected settings. You could set a feed based on a keyword or hashtag and use different keywords for each platform.

Social Media Aggregation Tools

You have plenty of social media aggregator tools to choose from, but it helps to have a starting point. So we compiled a list of our favorite options to get you started.

Taggbox

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Taggbox is a widget that draws user-generated content from over 20 platforms. Use the collections for everything from email campaigns to your website.

This tool is beginner-friendly, so you don’t need extensive tech knowledge to make it work. Taggbox’s customer service is also stellar.

What we like: Taggbox draws from multiple social media platforms so you can see what users say about your brand all in one place.

Tagembed

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This widget works with the most popular social networks and offers plugins specifically made for WordPress and Shopify.

Tagembed offers options for stories and albums, plus you can also choose different themes and layouts on your website.With Tagembed, you can alter color schemes to match your brand. You even get access to engagement analytics.

What we like: Tagembed offers a free forever plan and three different pricing tiers, so you can pick what works for you.

EmbedSocial

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EmbedSocial might be one of the more established social media aggregation platforms, with quite a client base to show for it. Users can try it for free with Instagram and then pay to upgrade for additional sources.

EmbedSocial is a better option for larger, established businesses with a budget to accommodate the upgrades and the ability to use all the features.

What we like: Users can access a massive selection of mobile-friendly templates, with new ones added monthly.

Flockler

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Flockler allows you to gather hashtag feeds from eight sources that you can display on your site, in your email, or more. You can arrange your brand’s posts and user-generated content within a diverse array of layouts.

Plus, there are no ads.

Flockler is a solid option for those who can afford it. You can try it for free for 14 days, but then you have to pay a monthly fee. The base package might be pricey, but this tool is comprehensive compared to the others.

You’ll also have access to top-notch customer service.

What we like: The aggregator updates content every five to fifteen minutes, making it helpful during events.

Curator

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Curator uses JavaScript, which makes it SEO-friendly and easy to use. It also uses minimal code and translates well to mobile devices. Users seeking a simple interface with basic aggregator tools might start here.

What we like: Curator offers a wide range of pricing plans, including one of the most inclusive free tiers available.

The Wallrus

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Aside from the fun name, this platform is fun and helpful for those who thrive on Instagram and Twitter. The Wallrus doesn’t serve as many social networks, but it does two exceptionally well and is free.

Though it’s only in beta mode, the platform is working on using analytics to help you improve your feed parameters.

What we like: You can add your logo to any of the themes in the library for subtle branding.

Hootsuite

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Many people know Hootsuite as a social media scheduling tool, but the platform offers much more.

For example, you can create specific streams using different parameters, monitor the content, and engage with your audience. However, Hootsuite can get expensive as you add extras to make it more functional.

What we like: Hootsuite offers more than just social media aggregation, making it a versatile tool.

Juicer

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This platform works with 15 social networks and allows you to upgrade as you grow and need more tools. You can cancel anytime because there are no contracts, and you get moderation tools with the first tier.

Users can create custom designs that match their brand.

What we like: Juicer features one of the best moderation tools in the market so that you know posts stay safe and positive.

Using Social Media Aggregators

The best social media aggregators allow you to automate a process that could set you apart from your competition.

However, you might need to experiment to find the right one with the features you desire most, like moderation tools and customization options.

These tools have user-friendly interfaces and excellent customer support to make setup easy.

Showcasing relevant posts, especially from your audience, is priceless. Reinforce your brand identity, build trust, and let your followers testify about why they love you.