It’s time for the Salesforce Ben team to reflect on the past year. As always in the Salesforce ecosystem, the past year has had its fair share of twists and turns – some positive, and others not so ideal.
We are always proud of what our contributors have shared via The DRIP, enabling others with key knowledge to advance their careers.
What were the most popular posts for marketers? We determined the top 10 rundown based on the amount of pageviews (with the stipulation that they had been published this year). The results are in – let’s check out the gems in the crown!
10. How to Attribute UTM Parameters to Salesforce Campaigns
When it comes to collating engagement information into Salesforce Campaigns (and Campaign Members), to get a handle on a granular level of channel attribution, organizations could end up creating many child Campaigns – even one per channel!
Salesforce Flow is here to save us! Carl showed us how to use Salesforce Flow to stamp UTM parameters on the Campaign Member. Get granular channel performance data, without creating separate campaigns or duplicating marketing assets per channel.
9. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Pricing – What’s Right for You?
Marketing Cloud pricing can be a challenge to understand, with many modules available according to your organization’s needs. Pricing is based on which modules you purchase, which can be confusing to match up what’s offered with what you need.
Salesforce kept Marketing Cloud pricing and packaging under wraps – until recently. Oana, a consultant who regularly advises clients, lifted the curtain to explain how Marketing Cloud pricing works:
8. Get Started with Datorama Reports for Marketing Cloud
Marketing Cloud Discover Reports were retired on April 1, 2022. So what’s next? Of course, Salesforce Marketing Cloud didn’t leave you in the lurch.
Ralph gave his perspective on Datorama Reports (Intelligence Reports for Engagement) and the Datorama (Marketing Cloud Intelligence) suite itself, finishing up with which option you should use going forward.
7. Marketing Cloud Social Studio to Be Retired
While the Marketing Cloud name changes received attention, there was no sign of Social Studio in the vision. Has it been ‘canned like tuna’?
Social Studio is a solution to create, schedule, and monitor your social media efforts – and is scheduled for retirement on Nov 18, 2024.
What’s next for Social Studio? Where should customers head? I discovered there’s a preferred – and highly promising – partner waiting ‘in the wings’.
6. Google Analytics + Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Step-by-Step Integration Guide
Have you ever wished there was an easy way to measure your Marketing Cloud campaign performance in Google Analytics or in Marketing Cloud with built-in dashboards? If the answer is ‘yes’, then you’re in luck.
Sabuhi, Senior Director of Marketing Automation at CloudKettle, covers how to connect to Google Analytics with Salesforce Marketing Cloud and enable data flow between the two platforms.
5. 10 Ways to Send an Email in Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Yes, can you believe there are ten ways to send an email? With the amount of ways reaching double digits, we’re grateful that Oana explains which method to use (and when).
From Email Studio’s send flow and multi-step journeys (Journey Builder), to the “send email activity” (Automation Studio) and more – there’s plenty to wrap your head around.
4. 5 Pardot Engagement Studio Examples – and How to Build Them
A classic thought, you have the gear, but need the idea(s), which is why tried-and-tested examples are popular to get your creative juices flowing. Engagement Studio offers you the flexibility to create email nurture campaigns that can be effective at every stage of the customer journey – all in a visual user interface that tells you which actions will happen, and when.
Timo provided practical, step-by-step instructions on how to set up typical Engagement Studio programs that are applicable for most B2B organizations.
3. Pardot vs. Marketing Cloud: Key Differences
Technically not a new guide, but one that has undergone consistent ‘facelifts’ as the Salesforce marketing landscape has shifted – not just in name, but also in technology, and considerations when evaluating.
We added a video, to boot. Check it out:
2. What is Salesforce Interaction Studio? (Marketing Cloud Personalization)
Interaction Studio is Salesforce’s real-time personalization and interaction management solution that’s part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Promote relevant products and services to your customers and prospects across channels like web, email, and mobile in real-time with offers specifically and uniquely for them.
Why has this ranked so highly on the list? For one, personalization delivers results for marketing. Secondly, in the face of an economic downturn, marketers are looking to get more mileage out of their data to differentiate their brand experiences from the crowd. Especially in sectors targeting consumers (retail, B2C Financial Services, Travel and Leisure), the fight for eyeballs is fierce.
1. Salesforce Renames 6 Marketing Cloud Products
Over years of innovation and acquisition, Marketing Cloud has become incredibly comprehensive – a quick count up gives 20 modules, give or take.
The name changes applied to:
- Messaging/Journeys/ → Marketing Cloud Engagement
- Interaction Studio → Marketing Cloud Personalization
- Datorama → Marketing Cloud Intelligence
- Salesforce CDP → Marketing Cloud Customer Data Platform
- Advertising Studio → Marketing Cloud Advertising
- Pardot → Marketing Cloud Account Engagement
These are significant changes that won’t happen overnight, especially when it comes to detangling product features and users adopting the terminology. The road ahead is long for Salesforce – let’s just leave it at that.
Bonus: Snowflake – The Hottest Data Lake for Salesforce
Coming in at #11, I couldn’t help but include Snowflake in the list.
You may have heard about Snowflake, especially following the breaking news from Dreamforce. Salesforce Genie was declared the greatest Salesforce innovation in the company’s history, paving the way for highly personalized customer experiences, delivered in real-time.
While Snowflake isn’t the only data lake out there, it’s the one that Salesforce chose to launch Genie with. MarTech professionals have raved about Snowflake for a long time, and for multiple reasons. It was great to see Snowflake brought into the limelight with their Genie partnership, but there are many more strengths this first-class vendor provides:
Summary
There you have it – all of The DRIP posts that got marketers talking this year. We can’t wait to bring you more exciting marketing content in 2023.
Let us know in the comments what your favorite post of the year was, or anything you’d like us to cover in the new year.
