Today, your brand tone doesn't need to follow a strict set of rules. Companies are allowed to have fun with their messaging; precise targeting on social and paid channels means you don't need to appeal to everyone.

Plus, people expect more of a human feel from brands in the digital age. As HubSpot noted, the emotions an ad evokes in viewers can be more influential on purchase intent than the ad content. Some of the most successful advertisers excel at appealing to emotion, whether through humor, utility, beauty or inspirational messages.

Determining the right voice for your brand can be tricky, though, especially if you want to be funny or irreverent. There's a fine line between striking a relatable chord with your audience and alienating them with tone deafness.

Here are some steps that can help you hit the right note with your branding.

Thanks to Facebook and Instagram, you don't have to ask your friends about their vacations anymore. You probably know where they went and stayed, and maybe even what they ate for dinner.

The tie between vacations and the urge to post on social is so strong that, according to a WeSwap study, 29 percent of travelers wouldn't choose a destination if they weren't able to post on social during the trip. The tendency toward posting travel details online presents some interesting opportunities to travel marketers, as long as they can avoid a few pitfalls unique to social media travel marketing.

Pinterest is often overlooked as an advertising platform, but the virtual pinboard has 250 million active monthly users. It is hugely popular for people seeking inspiration for weddings, cooking, fashion, home renovation and more.

Given its widespread use in sparking creativity among users, Pinterest is perfect for promoting new brands, products and ideas.

Lifestyle brands not advertising on the platform are missing opportunities for customer acquisition.

Today we wrap up our Social Audience Targeting series looking at how to best create a social campaign within Pinterest.

Twitter has 328 million monthly active users with over 500 million tweets sent each day. It offers a plethora of targeting options that are similar to Facebook's ad platform, but also has the ability to do keyword, event, and TV targeting. In today's Audience Targeting Social series, we're looking at how to capitalize on the enormous activity to capture ROI.

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with 260 million monthly active members and 8 million business pages. This is where B2B companies can shine. The network is designed specifically for business networking and is a great place to advertise business solutions, higher education and recruitment. LinkedIn reports that four out of five of its members drive business decisions.

As we continue in our Social Audience Targeting series, we're sharing the building blocks for LinkedIn social campaigns that can deliver results for your business.

Facebook has more than two billion active users every month Instagram and Messenger each have more than one billion monthly active users. With so many active users across social platforms, it means there is something for everyone. Facebook owns Instagram and Messenger, so the targeting capabilities are very similar, and brands can run fairly seamlessly across both.

However, to truly get traction with your social marketing plan, you'll need to understand how to best leverage the targeting options and ad formats available.

Instagram has revolutionized the way the food and beverage industry does marketing and advertising — putting an emphasis not just on creating photo-worthy dishes and food trends, but also on building a following that translates to a loyal customer base.

No one said 'gramming is easy, but the platform and the food trends it inspires are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Why not take advantage? An engaged social media following keeps you top of mind for your audience, but that's not all. Your restaurant becomes visible to second- and even third-degree connections whenever someone likes or comments on a post, helping you reach an exponential number of people with each new follower.

The best benefit of all? Unless you want to run Insta ads, using the platform is totally free. If you're not taking advantage of available networks, you're leaving money on the table.

So, how do you achieve success on Instagram in the age of never-ending food trends? A few expert tips (and a little team effort) can go a long way. Read on, then prepare your camera for some activity.

For those thinking about local business marketing, social media and mobile optimization might not be the first strategies that come to mind, as they're often associated with large corporations.

But marketers who don't think about mobile-first connections may be missing out on an effective way to grow a customer base and build loyalty, according to recent research from Facebook.

When it comes to the world of advertising, the only constant is change. Wildly successful ads from the 1960s are often laughable by today's standards. But while we poke fun at the old campaigns' massive blocks of text and questionable art choices, modern trends are changing at breakneck speeds — especially when it comes to Facebook advertising.

Here are a few things you'll want to keep in mind to ensure your campaigns are relevant, engaging and drive enough return on ad spend (ROAS) to make your efforts worthwhile.

Given the rapid adoption of social video by organizations of all sizes, it's safe to say video marketing is no longer "a trend," but a powerful strategy that connects brands and audiences like never before. A staggering 97 percent of marketers reported video helped them increase understanding of their product or service, according to HubSpot.

But while you may have focused the majority of your social video efforts on Facebook and YouTube, it may be time to add a third platform to the mix. The brand-new Instagram TV (IGTV) launched in summer 2018 and gives brands the ability to upload full-screen videos 15 seconds to 60 minutes in length — a powerful way to engage with your audience in a place where they're already likely spending a lot of time.