As any marketer knows, social media is an undeniably powerful tool to reach new audiences and connect with existing customers.

In fact, as of 2021, social media is now the #1 channel used by marketers.

But with all that Tweeting, Liking, Posting, and scrolling, it can be difficult to know which platforms give you the most bang for your buck.

Sure, it’s important to ensure your brand interacts on whichever platforms are most popular with your audience, but it’s equally critical you take the time to determine which platforms provide the best ROI for your business. This information can help you determine where to invest in paid advertising, as well as which channels you should use for lead generation.

However, social media usage can shift overnight. The platforms that provided marketers with the highest ROI five years ago likely don’t deliver the same results anymore. That’s why we conducted research to find out where marketers saw the highest ROI in 2021.

Here, we’ll explore which channels provided marketers with the highest ROI in 2021. We also reached out to experts at Talkwalker, Socialinsider, Casted, Brandfolder, LiveChat, Sprout Social, MarketingLabs, and HubSpot to determine how marketers can leverage certain tactics within those channels to increase engagement and drive sales. Let’s dive in.

Which social media channels have the best ROI?

 According to HubSpot’s 2021 State of Marketing report, Facebook is the social media channel that provides marketers with the highest ROI.

Over 40% of marketers cited Facebook as the most effective channel for their businesses, followed by the roughly 30% who saw the highest ROI from Instagram, which is another Facebook-owned social platform.

By comparison, the other social channels in the list — including LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat — all ranked much lower, with less than 10% citing each platform as the best channel for ROI.

Let’s dive into each of these platforms to uncover why the top 3 social media sites perform better than others when it comes to ROI — and how you can leverage them.

1. Facebook

With roughly 2.8 billion monthly active users as of 2021, Facebook has an undeniably impressive reach. It also offers advertising opportunities to more than 200 million businesses, making it one of the most popular advertising platforms.

With Facebook, marketers can advertise on a user’s News Feed, via Messenger or video, and more. Marketers can also leverage Facebook Lead Ads to encourage Facebook users to fill out a lead generation form without leaving the social platform.

One of the major benefits of Facebook’s advertising tools is its segmentation abilities. You can target your ads towards certain audiences depending on interests, demographics, behaviors, or even connection to your business — like whether they’ve attended one of your events, or have friends who’ve liked your Business Page. These targeting capabilities can help your business reach users who are most likely to purchase your product or service.

Nicole Ondracek, HubSpot’s Paid Advertising Marketing Manager, agrees that Facebook is an incredibly viable channel. She told me, “At HubSpot, Facebook is a valuable channel for us in driving return on ad spend. A main reason why is that we can provide our content to a relevant audience using Facebook’s audience targeting features. For instance, Facebook’s lookalike audiences allow us to go after people who look like our current customers.”

“Facebook’s algorithm is great at finding similar audiences who are likely to convert, which is why we see a positive return on investment going after these types of audiences.”

Take a look at HubSpot’s How to Run Facebook Ads: A Step-by-Step Guide to Advertising on Facebook to learn how to set up your own Facebook ads.

2. Instagram

With over one billion Instagram users, it’s unsurprising that Instagram is second in this list when it comes to ROI. Instagram offers marketers the ability to increase reach, engagement, and sales through a variety of methods, including Instagram Shoppable ads, Stories, branded content, Reels, and more.

The platform has proven a viable strategy for businesses. In fact, 90% of users follow a business on Instagram, and 50% of users are more interested in a brand after seeing ads for it on Instagram.

So … why doesn’t it surpass Facebook for generating ROI?

Most likely, Instagram falls short of producing strong ROI due to its more intangible metrics — such as brand awareness, reputation, loyalty, and consumer engagement.

For instance, an Instagram user might never click on one of your business’ ads directly from the platform. Instead, perhaps the ad simply increases a user’s awareness of your brand. Down the road, perhaps they click on your website after seeing a Google ad. Certain metrics are difficult to attribute to Instagram, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea for your business.

3. LinkedIn

Despite only roughly 10% of marketers rating LinkedIn as their top channel for ROI, LinkedIn is an incredibly effective channel for lead generation and nurturing. Over 750 million professionals use LinkedIn for networking, career advancement, and more.

The platform offers a variety of tools designed to increase your business’ ROI, including Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Text or Video ads, and more.

To succeed on the platform, you’ll want to create valuable content that resonates with your LinkedIn audience. Conduct research to determine which types of content perform best on LinkedIn — and which content will perform best with your target audience — to ensure you’re hitting the mark here.

Additionally, try running experiments when you start using LinkedIn’s advertising tools. For instance, Cellular IoT Connectivity company Aeris set up an ad plan and tracker to determine which targeting combinations worked best for the brand, which failed, and which generated the highest-quality leads. As noted in this post, “It took rounds of testing and optimization to get to [the brand’s] 25% submission rates.”

Now that we’ve explored a few of 2021’s most popular social channels, let’s explore the strategies and best practices you can implement to increase your ROI across platforms, according to experts.

Which social media tactics or strategies have the best ROI? 

1. Conducting extensive research to understand your audience.

First and foremost, it’s vital you understand your audience before creating any social media campaign. If you don’t do your research, you risk spending time, money, and resources on the wrong channels — and missing out on more profitable connections elsewhere.

As Dan Seavers, Content Marketing Manager at Talkwalker, told me, “No matter the social media channel, the best way to increase your ROI is by improving your consumer intelligence. Get to know your customers better than your family, and understand what they’re saying about your products, and where they’re discussing them.”

“That way, when you launch a campaign, you’ll be hyper-relevant. Not a jarring ad that interrupts a customer’s life, but a well-timed, well-targeted experience that people will engage with instantly.”

2. Creating more video content — and testing out vertical videos.

People love videos – and yet, it seems most brands rely on images when advertising their products or services, and that’s a mistake.

Adina Jipa, co-founder of Socialinsider, told me, “The most underused social media post is video content, which boosts engagement across all social media platforms.”

“Facebook wants to become a video-first platform and favors pages with video content, but for most brands, it is [primarily] a photo-sharing platform.”

Jipa adds, “A recent study about Facebook video strategy shows that only roughly 15% of the content [on Facebook] is video, while photos represent 38.58%.”

To stand out and increase ROI, consider how you might incorporate video into your social media efforts.

Additionally, consider testing out different types of video formats across your channels. For instance, Facebook offers brands the opportunity to create vertical video ads for the mobile-friendly user.

As Jipa points out, “you can use vertical videos on ads to get more clicks. According to this poll, almost 69% of marketers say video ads outperform image and plain text ads on Facebook. 81% of Facebook users only access the platform via mobile devices, so using the vertical video format allows you to get more visibility and increase the chances of getting more clicks. Facebook videos ads can increase the CTR by 2-3X.”

3. Re-using content across channels.

Most social teams create content in silos. Perhaps they tell one message via an Instagram post, and then create entirely different materials for a YouTube video or Tweet.

This undoubtedly requires a lot of time, effort, and resources — which can become frustrating when you don’t see the ROI you need from these channels.

“Far too often, content is created for one-and-done campaigns or promotions,” Casted’s CEO and Co-founder Lindsay Tjepkema says. “This means marketers are working harder and harder to constantly produce more and more, yet ROI and ROE (return on effort) results are disappointing — and social is no exception.”

She continues, “To change this, we must stop creating content for content’s sake and start focusing instead on creating content that educates, entertains, and delights and can be broken down and amplified across all other channels — like social — not just once, but many times over. When you focus on creating engaging content that can be used in multiple ways across channels, you’ll see improved ROI and ROE (return on effort) across your campaigns — including your social activation.”

To repurpose your content across channels, perhaps you post snippets of a full YouTube video on Facebook or Instagram. Alternatively, maybe you take text from a blog post and re-post on your channels to add value from your existing content, repurpose user-generated content across channels.

There are countless ways to refresh and re-use content to appeal to new audiences in unique ways without exhausting your social team.

4. Setting clear goals and devising a social strategy that works for your brand.

It’s difficult to achieve results on social without taking the time to set clear goals for your team, and ensuring you’ve all discussed an appropriate strategy to get you there.

As Brandfolder’s Senior Digital Marketing Manager Amanda Turcotte told me, “In order to achieve a return on your social media investment, you must have clear goals set before any tactical planning takes place. Various social media tactics can be applied differently to each of the platforms, meaning they’ll produce different outcomes. So your goals need to be determined up front to ensure they’re aligned with your social strategy.”

Once you’ve determined your social goals, you’ll want to create a consistent posting strategy so your audience knows when, and how often, they can expect content from your brand. To make this easier, try using a social posting tool like HubSpot’s Social Inbox Tool or Later.

Turcotte told me, “In order to move your team from strategy to action and keep everyone on the same page, it’s crucial to develop a regular posting plan that documents your approach across each channel, located where all team members have access. “

Agnieszka Jaśkiewicz, Head of Social Media & Community at LiveChat, agrees that creating a strategy and using tools to support your team’s goals is critical for finding success on social channels.

As she puts it, “The greatest area of ‘untapped potential’ for most brands comes in the form of streamlining creative workflows to support the volume needed for quality social activity. Digital workspaces that allow creatives and marketers to collaborate from a central location to stage, revise, and produce content limits back-and-forth communication and unnecessary steps in production.”

Additionally, Jaśkiewicz says, “Digital templates for creative assets — set to the specifications of the organization’s core social media platforms — can also add agility to social media managers’ ability to publish, allowing teams to be more timely and quickly act on new opportunities.”

5. Allow your users to purchase your products or services on social media platforms.  

Over the past few years we’ve seen rise to a new trend: social commerce.

In essence, social commerce is the ability to purchase from a brand within a social platform without leaving the site. Examples include shoppable ads and chatbot checkout.

Rachael Samuels, Senior Manager of Social Media at Sprout Social, told me she sees social commerce as a great opportunity to increase ROI on social channels.

Samuels says, “Social media has quickly become a primary communication channel for brands and consumers alike. As a result, marketers must seek new ways to engage with audiences while keeping other goals, such as lead generation, top of mind.”

“One way we’re seeing this unfold is through offerings like social commerce, which not only provide more seamless buying experiences for customers, but equip marketers with the ability to show direct attribution and ROI as a result of their efforts.”

Samuels adds, “To maintain this momentum, marketers should ensure their tech stack enables them to integrate their CRM and social management tools so they can easily surface social insights with their broader sales and support teams.” 

6. Use UTM tags for tracking. 

One reason you might not be seeing the ROI you’re hoping for? Perhaps you’re just not tracking properly.

As Matt Janaway, CEO of MarketingLabs, told me: “Tracking is now more important than ever thanks to the complications of iOS privacy improvements, so to really yield the best ROI, you have to make sure you are using UTM tags on all links. This way, you can correctly track the performance of your campaigns in Analytics.”

Janaway adds, “This should give you the data you need to make decisions that can drive more engagement and ROI.”

7. Encouraging your employees to become brand ambassadors.

One area of major untapped potential? Your employees.

As Casted’s Tjepkema tells me, “Employee activation is a huge and mostly untapped resource for brands. As consumers, we’re far more driven to engage with user-generated content, yet so many brands spend too much time and money trying to only push content from their own brand instead of enabling their employees (and partners, brand fans, etc.) to amplify their content.”

“Rally your employees around the content you’re creating and encourage them to share it with captions that show their unique and personal perspectives. This is a great way to help each member of your team build their personal brand, while also amplifying your content to audiences in a more authentic way.”

LiveChat’s Jaśkiewicz agrees with this notion, saying, “[You should] give employee advocacy a bigger seat at the table in your social media strategy, especially when it comes to LinkedIn. It takes some time and effort to provide people with the knowledge and imply the ‘brand ambassadors’ mindset in the organization — however, employee engagement is a cost-effective way to increase your reach organically.”

HubSpot, for instance, created #HubSpotEmployeeTakeover on its HubSpot Life Instagram account. The campaign helps show audiences the faces behind the brand, and creates a sense of community and authenticity that you wouldn’t find with branded content alone.

Increasing ROI across your social channels won’t happen overnight — but by applying these strategies and remaining dedicated to iterating on your strategy as you collect audience insights over time, you’ll surely begin to see stronger results from your social efforts.

Happy posting!

Junk Removal – Why It Is Important to Approach a Professional

Junk Removal: Cleaning out your basement, organising your living space, or organising your office requires some effort. While cleaning is an unpleasant chore in and of itself, the next step is considerably more challenging. How are you going to get rid of all that junk? Rubbish Removal Companies can relieve you of the burden by removing the junk as needed.

As a homeowner, you may lack the necessary skills to dispose of garbage properly. Before classifying an item as garbage, it is critical to sort, process, arrange, donate, or recycle it. Numerous items and products that we sell are constructed from a range of materials. Certain materials are biodegradable and recyclable, whereas others cannot be recycled or degraded. Some materials are recyclable, whereas others are not. This knowledge is critical if you want to dispose of your garbage efficiently and effectively. Junk removal firms can assist you in efficiently disposing of your junk since they have the necessary expertise, information, and trained personnel.

How Do Professional Junk Removal Companies Operate?

Generally, junk removal services are provided on a demand basis. Once you contact them and reach out to them, they will schedule a convenient time for you. At the agreed-upon time, the firm will send a team or small group to collect the garbage. They frequently present two alternatives:

Truck hauling: Waste removal firms provide this service, which entails sending a team with a large truck equipped with a dumpster connected to the rear. They will gather and carry away all of your trash. It is a viable alternative for garbage removal following a move or post-renovation clean-up.
Dumpster rental: This method entails having a garbage removal firm bring a dumpster to your preferred site. You will fill the dumpster over several days as you clean. After you’re through, they’ll come and collect the dumpster. It’s an excellent alternative if you need to clear up a garbage space over a few days but don’t have adequate storage space.

Why should you use the services of a garbage removal company?

Additionally, there are several advantages to hiring rubbish removal firms, including their expertise in waste disposal.

It is time-efficient: Rubbish removal firms have a greater understanding of how to properly rid junk than you do, which means you can save a lot of time figuring out the system. Each of us has a hectic life. If we have any spare time, we prefer to spend it on recreational activities rather than work. Junk removal services might save you time.

We are generating market space for these services, which results in the development of jobs. Junk removal services assist in the killing of two birds with one stone. They protect the environment, support the economy, and promote a sense of community.

Free space and assistance with decluttering: Junk removal firms provide additional space and assistance with decluttering. They inspire us to declutter our basements, living rooms, and offices to create more space. Numerous garbage removal businesses also provide catastrophe cleanup services. They can assist you in removing damaged flooring, drywall, and other building waste caused by a tragedy. They may also assist with seasonal clean-ups, such as leaf and branch removal.

Recycling as much rubbish as possible from each household: Junk removal firms are well-known for recycling as much junk as possible from each residence. All recyclable materials are recycled; non-biodegradable and unsalvageable materials are disposed of in incinerators or landfills.

Avoid injury and safety concerns by cleaning out unneeded clutter from your living rooms and corridors, such as unused furniture.

What are the steps taken by junk removal companies?

Frequently, garbage removal businesses accept more than simply junk. Each business maintains its own list of acceptable products.

The following are some of the most typical goods that all garbage removal businesses accept (this is not a complete list):

Couches, mattresses, box springs, chairs, tables, desks, bookcases, filing cabinets, televisions, computers, monitors, printers, and copy machines, hot tubs, refrigerators, freezers, stoves and ovens, microwaves, air conditioners, water heaters, washers, dryers, and dishwashers, trash compactors, construction waste, bagged garbage, lawnmowers, and yard waste, tyres, scrap metal, exercise equipment, and bicycles

What kind of waste do garbage removal businesses refuse to accept?

Junk removal businesses maintain a similar list of prohibited goods as they do of accepted items. They reject hazardous waste and industrial waste transportation. Additionally, they refuse to take objects that are too large or are placed in hazardous places.

They primarily refuse to accept the following things (a partial list is included):

Opened paint bottles/cans, pesticides, fuel, household cleaners, fluorescent light bulbs, medicines, ammunition, pyrotechnics, asbestos, pressurised containers, medical waste, chemicals and solvents, gasoline, and any other type of dangerous or hazardous waste.

These objects must be disposed of in accordance with local legislation. Your garbage removal business should avoid poisonous, flammable, and reactive items since toxic and hazardous rubbish cannot be disposed of in landfills. They must be handled, stored, and processed in a certain manner before disposal.

What is the cost of garbage removal?

The amount of space your garbage takes up in the back of the truck dictates the cost of junk removal. If there are fewer things to discard, the elimination will be more efficient. However, heavier goods will incur a higher removal cost. Depending on the size of your junk accumulation, you may either rent a dumpster or hire a truck hauler.

The cost of garbage removal varies according to your area, circumstances, and junk type. If you lack the room for a rental dumpster, truck hauling is the best alternative for waste disposal.

Before they pick up your truck, some junk removal firms send staff to check it. They will assess the amount of space that your trash will occupy and provide you with an estimate. On-site pricing is open and precise. They refer to pricing as “truckload”, referring to a quarter of a pickup truckload, half of a pickup truckload, or a full truckload.

The trucks used by rubbish removal firms are capable of transporting 16 short tonnes of junk. Prices range from $100 to $350, with a full truckload costing up to $800. Renting a dumpster costs between $300 and $550 a week. Another element that affects costs is your location. The cost of garbage removal services varies by location. A complete truckload can cost up to $800 in New York City, but only $500 in Oklahoma.

Where does the garbage go when the businesses have carted it away?

The bulk of household waste is recycled or donated to thrift stores for reuse or resale. They provide gifts to children, clothing to homeless shelters, sofas and furniture to army veterans, and musical instruments to those in need. When items cannot be recycled or given, they are disposed of in landfills. Numerous garbage removal businesses give or recycle more than others, which is why it is critical to conduct your study before selecting one.

Innovative rubbish removal firms also accept electronic garbage since they are specialists at repurposing and properly disposing of electronic waste. By properly disposing of electronic trash, they help minimise the amount of plastic in landfills, which helps slow landfill filling and aids the environment’s recovery from the plastics crisis.

How Do You Select the Most Reputable Junk Removal Company?

Things that may affect your choice of garbage removal company:

Accessibility: The United States has a plethora of garbage disposal firms. While some have branches or offices in additional states and places, some do not. It is critical to select the one that is nearest to you.
After you’ve whittled down your list of potential garbage removal firms, it’s important to consider their price. There are several pricing points available. The least expensive option should be picked.

You may also find out where they contribute and how much they recycle.

It is recommended that you compare the advantages and disadvantages of at least three to four garbage disposal businesses side by side based on cost, availability, and reviews before deciding on the best fit for you. You may discover more about their experience and their equipment’s honesty, integrity, and dependability by reading reviews. Additionally, you can inquire about any small services they do that are not included on their website.

A reliable garbage removal company should have a big team capable of handling small things such as refrigerators and couches, and massive houses. To prevent being in your home for an extended period of time, they should be able to remove the trash rapidly. Numerous firms will give you a discount if you keep your rubbish outside your home for convenient pickup.

If you’ve previously complied with their list of permitted goods, they shouldn’t be too particular about your garbage. A garbage removal firm should not be concerned with the shape, size, or form of junk things. The business should have the necessary equipment and trucks to complete the task efficiently. If you want the relocation of a huge piano, the business must possess the required equipment and personnel resources. Additionally, you should consider the crew members and other team members’ certification skills, as this will indicate their level of expertise and training in managing various sorts of garbage. Professional garbage removal firms also clean up the area where they gathered the junk, leaving it clean and ready for you to use once they go.

A reputable rubbish removal business should charge on a per-item basis and accept all garbage sizes and types.
You will be able to save time while remaining fiscally prudent.
Provide a no-obligation quote for garbage removal
Maintain a competent, well-trained staff that is informed, efficient, and courteous to customers.
Maintain current knowledge of industry advancements and eco-friendly waste disposal solutions.

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When you think of online shopping destinations, Twitter may not be the first place that comes to mind. However, with ecommerce sales continuing to rise due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, social platforms want in on the action.

On Instagram, business owners can add a “shop” feature to their profile, allowing users to make purchases directly from the profiles of their favorite brands. Similarly, TikTok teased an upcoming shop feature and integration with Shopify earlier this year. Now Twitter is testing new strategies to integrate online shopping experiences into the user experience.

The platform previously had a “Buy Now” button before retiring the feature in 2017 to focus on other avenues. Now Twitter appears to be circling back on this idea giving business account holders new tools for converting customers on the platform potentially turning Twitter into a space where buyers can discover new products while engaging in conversation with brands and communities.

Here’s what we know about Twitter’s commerce experiments so far.

Why Twitter Is Testing Ecommerce Features

In early 2021, Twitter executives announced their goal to double revenue to $7.5 billion and reach 315 million active users by the end of 2023.

Working towards such ambitious goals, Twitter is looking to introduce new revenue streams to help grow and monetize its user base – and one of those key streams is an ecommerce play designed to give businesses the tools they need to drive conversational sales.

During Twitter’s 2021 investor’s call Bruce Falck, Revenue Product Lead at Twitter said:

“We’re also starting to explore ways to better support commerce on Twitter. Our MAP (mobile application program) efforts help us understand how our users are transacting on the platform. Installing an app via an ad is in itself a form of commerce. We know people come to Twitter to interact with brands and discuss their favorite products.

In fact, you may have even noticed some businesses already developing creative ways to enable sales on our platform. This demand gives us confidence in the power of combining real-time conversation with an engaged and intentional audience.”

Essentially, the platform has aggressive business goals over the next two years and sees commerce as a viable way to increase engagement and revenue opportunities outside of traditional advertising.

Twitter’s Ecommerce Test

The Shop Module

In July 2021, Twitter rolled out a robust ecommerce test: The Shop Module.

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The Shop Module will allow brands to display products in a carousel format at the top of the profile. When a user visits a brand’s Twitter account, they will be able to scroll through a handful of products, have the ability to tap in to learn more about each product, and eventually purchase.

This initial test is designed to determine the shopability of Twitter profiles. Though consumers typically visit Twitter to connect directly with brands for questions and customer service inquiries, Twitter is looking to understand what in-app behavior can drive users to make a purchase. As more data is collected, it will be interesting to see if Twitter can see a clear link between conversation topics and sales of related products through the platform.

Twitter has rolled out this feature to a small number of brands across industries based in the United States, and Twitter users based in the U.S. who use the English app on iOS devices are currently able to see it live.

With the feature being deployed to business profiles offering vastly different products, Twitter is also testing which product verticals sell from the platform. See The Shop Module in action below.

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Shoppable Twitter Cards

In March 2021, Twitter also began testing commerce features for organic tweets. Essentially, tweets that feature a direct link to a shopping page or product can generate a new Twitter card with a “shop” button and auto-populated product details.

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When a user clicks the shop button, they would be taken directly to the product page of the account’s website. The shoppable Twitter card appears very similar to promoted tweets. With this feature, Twitter is testing the viability of commerce through organic shares.

At the time of publication, this feature is still an experiment and hasn’t been rolled out to all Twitter users. It has been reported the shoppable Twitter card has been seen by international users and on Android devices.

How Brands Could Leverage Social Commerce on Twitter

Even if your company profile hasn’t been granted access to these new features, now is the perfect time to put a strategy in place so you can be ready to use Twitter’s commerce tools to your advantage.

1. Create organic conversation around products and services.

Consumers engage with brands on Twitter to ask questions and surface customer service inquiries. Start organically aligning your content on Twitter with products and services you’d like to highlight in the space to prepare your audience for what’s ahead with these new commerce features.

For example, a skincare company could start a conversation with its audience on Twitter about creating the ideal skincare routine. The company’s profile could start a thread with educational tweets about each essential step of an effective skincare routine and why each step is beneficial.

The audience would likely join the conversation sharing steps of their skincare routine and asking for product recommendations, creating space for the brand to share more information about its products to an engaged audience.

By continuing to prime the audience with these types of interactions, once the skincare brand gains access to Twitter’s commerce features, they can begin featuring the products discussed and measuring the audience’s response (through clicks and purchases).

2. Select a variety of products to feature on The Shop Module.

If your company profile is granted access to The Shop Module, use it as an opportunity to conduct research on what products best resonate with your Twitter audience. Try incorporating a variety of products at different price points, and regularly assess which products are getting the most click-throughs and purchases.

3. Take an experimental approach.

In the initial stages, don’t rely too heavily on using these new features to drive more sales. Instead, take a more experimental approach to gauge performance with your audience then refine your strategy when you have a more robust set of data.

When rolling out these new features, Twitter has clearly stated it is testing things out to better understand user behavior. Marketers should take the same approach to learn what resonates with their unique audiences.

With social media platforms giving brands more opportunities to sell through their platforms, marketers can find innovative ways to organically connect consumers to products and services they’ll love.

Earwax Build-up And Blockages – Some Common Issues

Earwax Blockages: Earwax melancholy is quite frequent. Age makes earwax harder and less moveable.

Excess earwax is more common in the elderly. It can cause symptoms, including hearing loss. It may also hinder a complete ear examination.

You may get earwax removal drops over the counter. They include acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, or sodium bicarbonate. Oils lubricate and soften earwax. One type is not preferable to another. The ear drops sometimes work on their own. A few squirts of water from an onion syringe will do. Use caution if you have a perforated eardrum. Water in the middle ear can cause serious illness.

If your kid has earwax or a clogged ear, see a paediatrician. During routine ear exams, your child’s doctor can identify and remove excess earwax. If your child is putting objects in their ears out of irritation, get their ears examined for wax.

Some people produce excessive earwax. Excess earwax may not necessarily cause ear blockage. The most common cause of earwax blockage is poor home cleaning. A blockage can also develop by forcing wax into the ear canal with cotton buds, hairpins, etc.

When washing the ears, use a mild soap and water solution on the auricles. Allow this rinse to penetrate the ear canal to remove wax from the walls. After use, earwax may be securely washed away.

Earwax is created when gland fluids mix with dead skin cells. Earwax follows the skin’s slow cell development. Earwax progressively spreads from the ear canal’s inner area to its entrance. Jaw motions help earwax flow through the canal.

Doctors handle earwax obstruction like the rest of us, but with the unique expertise and vision to do it remarkably. In addition, doctors are equipped with special curettes designed to fit into the narrow ear canal, making it easier to remove earwax by hand.

Ears would be very unhealthy without earwax. When removing earwax, it is best to avoid using things like tweezers, which might worsen the issue. When misused, cotton swabs can cause significant damage to the eardrum or ear canal.

How To Know If You Have Ear Wax Build Up

Chamomile tea’s antimicrobial properties assist in thoroughly cleaning the region. Also, the heat of this solution makes it easier to soften the accumulated earwax, which helps quicken its evacuation. Prepare the infusion and let it cool a bit (it must be lukewarm).

The doctor will use an otoscope to check your ear (pronounced OH-te-scope). The otoscope, which physicians use to examine the eardrum, a thin membrane that divides the outer and middle ears, may provide excellent views of the eardrum.

Serious injuries and sicknesses may all be problems for the ear. People might develop hearing loss, tinnitus, and balance problems such as dizziness due to ear disorders. However, damage to the brain and its nerves are another cause of many of these diseases.

Because several reasons can contribute to a lack of balance and dizziness, various causes could occur simultaneously; correct diagnosis is vital for successful treatment. For the diagnosis of BPPV, the Dix-Hallpike test is the most useful tool. You will be put in a challenging posture for the exam, and the likelihood of being dizzy is high. Your doctor will then look for signs of nystagmus, which is a symptom of BPPV. There are several ways to conduct the test to find out who is at fault.

You are more prone to earwax buildup if you have eczema or other conditions that might encourage earwax production. Also, if you often put anything in your ear, such as a hearing aid, you are more likely to have problems. Also vulnerable are the elderly and people with cognitive problems.

Wax Blockage Of The Ear Canal

Doctors will almost certainly prescribe treatment for earwax congestion symptoms. It is unlikely that your doctor will suggest treatment if you have no symptoms and don’t have a specific cause to get your ears checked. Many times, earwax will be eliminated by itself over time. Removing earwax is dangerous in some instances. Kids who cannot adequately describe their symptoms may be candidates for surgery.

Some variables hinder this natural phenomenon. Any ear canal blockage might be an issue. Additionally, there is the possibility of excessive earwax accumulation. Because of this, it builds up in the ear canal. It is not necessary for earwax to block the ear canal. Over 90% of people have small amounts of earwax that doesn’t cause any discomfort.

Nevertheless, a sizable segment of the population considers earwax to be superfluous. Earaches, infections, and other problems are possible consequences of earwax accumulation in the ear canal. If it is in the wrong place, Earwax can lead to coughing by engaging the vagus nerve branch that runs from the ear to the nose. And as expected, people with too much earwax will eventually suffer hearing loss.

Wax Accumulation

Pharmacy-purchased ear drops are sufficient to treat earwax. It is believed that they make the earwax simpler to remove. Other common over-the-counter methods of removing earwax include the use of sodium bicarbonate or sodium chloride.

Earwax Impeded by the Impact

This is especially true for the fact that it takes a long time to get started. After my ear was injected with 10 drops, I spent almost 45 minutes in bed with my ear to the pillow. Of course, having more people in the room is great, but ear wax may become messy if too much of it.

You may also use earwax removal by rinsing. Avoid flushing your ear if you have an ear injury or if you just had ear surgery. A ruptured eardrum could be irrigated, and hearing loss or infection might occur as a result.

Earache and earwax

Different removal methods entail different levels of the danger of these issues. The seriousness of your other medical conditions has a direct impact on your risk. People with diabetes are more prone to contracting swimmer’s ear. Contact your doctor to discuss the risks that are most pressing to you.

If ear drops fail, use an ear syringe to cleanse your ear. These may be purchased at your local pharmacy or online. Pay close attention to the details of all instructions. If you’re unclear how to use the ear syringe, see your doctor.

Earwax is produced by the ear to maintain it sanitary and free of infection. Ear canals have exterior portions where glands generate wax. These ducts are covered with wax and tiny hairs that capture dust and other foreign objects, potentially injure the eardrum.

Though other things might cause ringing in the ears, such as ear infections, hearing loss, or a stressful event, they are still one of the most common causes. However, it is important to understand how to stop the ringing if you feel it is caused by excessive or blocked earwax. While other therapies for tinnitus may be more difficult or convoluted, this approach is simpler and should be examined.

People, in general, don’t need regular medical treatment to get earwax removed. The Cleveland Clinic has also indicated that a simple cleaning per year is adequate to prevent the disease from worsening.

This product helps sterilise the region and prepare the obstruction for extraction. Use a pipette or syringe to apply a few drops of hydrogen peroxide to the ear canal, then tilt your head back to the substance that may be absorbed completely. The process will take three minutes, after which you can flip the head to the opposite side to have the earwax come out.

How to Identify Ear Wax

Earwax is harmless in itself. However, long-term accumulation of earwax can lead to compactness and hardness, increasing the likelihood of a blockage. There are several potential consequences of earwax blockages, including infections, earaches, and hearing loss.

You can also perform this task by yourself. Removing earwax with a cotton swab may deposit wax back into the ear. Avoid the previous procedure and instead moist cotton balls in the water to drip three drops of either basic saline, hydrogen peroxide, or pure water into the ear canal, keeping your head upright to allow gravity to do its job. Keep your head tilted like this for a minute to allow gravity to pull the liquid down through the earwax. Allow the fluid and wax to drain with the head turned the opposite way. You can further use a syringe to flush the ear.

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Today, most marketing teams are focused on driving traffic toward websites in hopes that this traffic then converts into qualified leads for sale reps to close. But that’s only half the battle.

Getting more out of existing traffic and leads (versus entirely new traffic) can propel companies toward long-term, sustainable growth. That’s where conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes in. In this guide, you’ll learn about the power of CRO, why your business should focus on improving your conversion rate, and how to get get started.

What is a conversion rate?

A conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, like completing a web form, signing up for a service, or purchasing a product.

A high conversion rate means your website is well-designed, formatted effectively, and appealing to your target audience. A low conversion rate could be the result of a variety of factors related to either website performance or design. Slow load times, a broken form, or copy that doesn’t convey the value of the offer are common reasons for a poor conversion rate. 

What is a good conversion rate?

A “good” conversion rate depends on your industry, niche, goals, traffic channel, and audience demographics, among other factors. For example, the average conversion rate of ecommerce sites globally was 2.17% in the third quarter of 2020, which was down from 2.37% the previous year. The ecommerce conversion rate in the US was higher, however, at 2.57%.

The average not only differs by year and by country — it also differs by niche. For example, the average conversion rate of ecommerce sites in the food and beverage sector is 5.5% whereas the average in the haircare sector is 3.5%. 

If your conversion rate is lower than you’d like — maybe it’s below average in your industry, or lower than your top competitors, or simply underperforming against your own goals — then it’s time to optimize. 

What is CRO?

Conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is the process of enhancing your website and content to boost conversions. 

The process of optimizing for conversions allows you to boost your number of highly-qualified leads, increase revenue, lower acquisition costs, obtain greater value from your current leads and customers, and, simply, grow better.

Conversions can happen all over your website: on your homepage, pricing page, blog, landing pages, and more. To maximize the potential of converting website visitors into paying customers, you should optimize each location. 

Before we take a look at the benefits of CRO, let’s walk through how to calculate your site’s conversion rate. That way, you’ll have a better understanding of how much time and resources to invest in a CRO strategy. 

How to Calculate Conversion Rate 

Conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the number of visitors and multiplying that number by 100 to get a percentage.

As long as you know how you’re defining a conversion, then calculating your conversion rate is easy. You just plug in two values and multiply by 100. 

Let’s say you’re defining a conversion as a newsletter opt-in, and you have an opt-in form on every single page of your website. In that case, you’d divide the total number of newsletter form submissions by the total number of website visitors and multiply it by 100. So if you had 500 submissions and 20,000 visitors last quarter, then your conversion rate would be 2.5%. 

You can repeat this process for every conversion opportunity on your site. Just make sure to only count the number of visitors on the webpages where the offer is listed. For example, if you want to calculate the conversion rate of your ebook offer, then you’d divide the total number of downloads by the number of people who visited webpages where the ebook offer is listed. 

Alternatively, you can calculate your website’s overall conversion rate by dividing the total number of conversions for every conversion opportunity on your site by the total number of visitors on your site.

How Websites Benefit From CRO

Here are four areas of your website that have the potential to largely benefit from conversion rate optimization.

1. Homepage

Homepages are prime candidates for CRO. In addition to making a first impression on visitors, the homepage is also an opportunity to retain those visitors and guide them further into your website.

You can do this by emphasizing links to product information, offering a free signup button, or even incorporating a chatbot that solicits questions from visitors at any point during their browsing experience.

2. Pricing Page

A website’s pricing page can be the make-or-break point for many website visitors. CRO can help a pricing page convert visitors into customers by modifying the pricing intervals (e.g. price-per-year vs. price-per-month), describing the product features associated with each price, including a phone number for visitors to call for a price quote, or adding a simple pop-up form. 

Hotjar, for example, added a simple email opt-in popup form on its pricing page and got over 400 new leads in just three weeks.

3. Blog

A blog is a massive conversion opportunity for a website. In addition to publishing thoughtful and helpful content about your industry, a blog can use CRO to convert readers into leads.

This process often includes adding calls-to-action (CTA) throughout an article or inviting readers to learn more about a topic by submitting their email address in exchange for an ebook or industry report.

4. Landing Pages

Since landing pages are inherently designed for people to take an action, it makes sense that they have the highest average conversion rate of all signup forms at 24%. An event landing page, for example, can be optimized with a video of last year’s event to encourage visitors to register this year. A landing page that’s offering a free resource can be optimized with preview content from that resource to encourage visitors to download it.

Now that you know where you can optimize for conversions, you may be wondering how you know when your business is ready to start the process.

When is CRO right for your business?

The short answer: CRO is important for any business online. That’s because, no matter how established or large your company is, you want to convert your website visitors into qualified leads, customers, and brand advocates — and you want to do so in the most effective, impactful, and reliable way.

With conversion rate optimization, you’ll get more out of your existing website traffic while ensuring you’re targeting qualified leads.

Although this is a straightforward concept, setting a conversion goal isn’t as easy as saying, “This page converted 50 people this month, so we want to convert 100 people next month.”

You don’t just want 50 more conversions from a webpage. Instead, you want 50 more conversions for every X amount of people who visit it. (This is your conversion rate — the percentage of people who convert on your website based on how many people have touched it).

To provide a better understanding of where you stand at any point in time in regards to conversion rate, here are three commonly-used formulas your business can use to understand, analyze, and improve.

CRO Calculation 1: Conversion Rate

As we mentioned earlier, to calculate conversion rate, you must divide your number of conversions (or leads generated) by your number of visitors (or web traffic), and then multiply that number by 100 to get the percentage.

Leads Generated ÷ Website Traffic x 100 = Conversion Rate %

CRO Calculation 2: Number of Net New Customers

To calculate your number of net new customers, you’ll want to divide your net revenue goal by your average sales price.

New Revenue Goal ÷ Average Sales Price = Number of New Customers

CRO Calculation 3: Lead Goal

And lastly, to calculate your lead goal, take your number of new customers and divide it by your lead-to-customer close rate (which is your total number of leads divided by total number of customers) percentage.

Number of New Customers ÷ Lead-to-Customer Close Rate % = Lead Goal

Here’s an example of these formulas in action:

If your website has 10,000 visitors per month that generate 100 leads — and subsequently, 10 customers each month — the website visitor-to-lead conversion rate would be 1%.

What if you wanted to generate 20 customers each month?

You could try to get 20,000 visitors to your website and hope that the quality of your traffic doesn’t decrease — although, that’s a risk you’ll likely want to avoid. Rather, you could obtain more leads from your existing traffic by optimizing your conversion rate. This is less risky and is more likely to produce better results for your bottom line.

For instance, if you increase your conversion rate from 1% to 2%, you’d double your leads and your customers. The following table is proof of this — you can see the positive impact that results from increasing your website’s conversion rate:

Notice the drastic increases in number of leads generated and net new customers when you boost your conversion rate.

Not only that, but it’s clear that generating more website traffic isn’t necessarily the right approach when trying to improve your conversion rate — in fact, this chart shows you that you can grow your business substantially without increasing traffic at all.

Hard to believe? Think about this way: Pretend you were trying to fill up a leaky bucket. If you pour more water into the bucket, you won’t fix the root cause of the issue — instead, you’ll end up with a lot of water that’s wasted (not to mention, a bucket that will never fill up all the way).

Are you ready to take the first steps toward CRO at your company? Review the strategies below and start experimenting.

CRO Marketing Strategies to Try

Here are some applicable conversion rate optimization marketing strategies to test and implement at your company.

1. Create text-based CTAs within blog posts.

While it’s considered a best practice to include CTAs in a blog post, they sometimes fail to entice visitors to take your desired course of action. Why?

Banner blindness is a real phenomenon related to people becoming accustomed to ignoring banner-like information on websites. This lack of attention coupled with the fact site visitors don’t always read all the way to the bottom of a blog post (rather, they “snack” on content), means a different approach is required.

That’s where the text-based CTA comes in handy. Here at HubSpot, we ran a test with text-based CTAs — a standalone line of text linked to a landing page and styled as an H3 or an H4 — to see if they would convert more traffic into leads than regular CTAs located at the bottom of a web page.

In HubSpot’s limited test of 10 blog posts, regular end-of-post banner CTAs contributed an average of just 6% of leads that the blog posts generated, whereas up to 93% of a post’s leads came from the anchor-text CTA alone.

2. Add lead flows on your blog.

A lead flow is another conversion rate optimization element you can include on your site. Lead flows are high-converting pop-ups designed to attract attention and offer value.

You can select from a slide-in box, drop-down banner, or pop-up box, depending on your offer. We experimented with the slide-in box on the HubSpot Blog back in 2016 and it achieved a 192% higher clickthrough rate and 27% more submissions than a regular CTA at the bottom of a blog post.

3. Run tests on your landing pages.

Landing pages are an important part of the modern marketer’s toolkit and, as mentioned earlier, integral to conversion rate optimization.

That’s because a landing page is where a website visitor becomes a lead or an existing lead engages more deeply with your brand. To optimize a landing page, run A/B tests to identify your best design and content features for audience members.

For instance, with A/B testing you can quickly and easily test different versions of your website copy, content offers, images, form questions, and web pages to determine what your target audience and leads respond to best.

Thanks to A/B testing, China Expat Health was able to increase their lead conversion rate by 79%. One of the most impactful changes was swapping out the headline “Health Insurance in China” for “Save Up to 32% on Your Health Insurance in China,” which immediately conveyed a value proposition to visitors. This proposition was then supported by customer testimonials.

Get everything you need to start effectively A/B Testing your website today.

4. Help leads to immediately become a marketing-qualified lead.

Sometimes visitors want to get right down to business, skip parts of the typical buyer’s journey, and immediately speak with a sales rep (rather than be nurtured).

There are specific actions you should encourage these high-intent visitors to complete so they can easily become marketing qualified leads (MQLs) — and they can take action through a combination of thoughtfully designed web pages, compelling and clear copy, and smart CTAs.

For instance, at HubSpot, we discovered that visitors who sign up for product demos convert at higher rates than visitors who sign up for free product trials. So, we optimized our website and conversion paths for people booking demos or meetings with a sales rep.

Admittedly, this depends on your product and sales process, but our best advice is to run a series of tests to find out what generates the most customers. Then, optimize for that process. The key here is to look for ways to remove friction from your sales process.

5. Build workflows to enable your team.

There are a number of automated workflows you can create to enable your team with the help of marketing automation software.

For example, with marketing automation, it’s possible to send automatic emails with workflows. Then, leads can book meetings with reps in one click. Meanwhile, reps receive notifications when leads take high-intent actions such as view the pricing page on your website.

Or, if you work in ecommerce, you can send an email to people who abandon their shopping cart as a reminder.  According to research from Moosend, abandoned cart emails can be very effective. They have a high open rate of 45%. Of the emails that are opened, 21% are clicked. Half of the people who clicked make a purchase.

Here’s an example of an abandoned cart email by the Dollar Shave Club. 

Image Source

6. Add messages to high-converting web pages.

Use live chat software to chat with your website visitors in real-time and offer support and guidance as needed. To increase conversions, add these messaging features to your high-performing web pages — such as your pricing and product pages — so leads get the information they want in real-time.

You can also make your messaging and chat bots action-based. For example, if someone has spent more than a minute on the page, you may want to automatically offer to help and answer any questions they may have (again, a live chat tool, like HubSpot, makes this easy).

7. Optimize high-performing blog posts.

Again, publishing blog articles opens the door to a big opportunity for conversions. Even more so if you already have existing blog content on your site — in fact, at HubSpot, the majority of our monthly blog views and leads come from posts published over a month ago.

To get started optimizing your blog content, identify your posts with the highest levels of web traffic but low conversion rates. (Possible causes of this issue may be related to SEO, the content offer you are promoting, or your CTA.)

In one instance, we at HubSpot added an inbound press release template offer to a blog post about press releases — as a result, we saw conversions for that post increase by 240%.

Additionally, look at your blog posts with high conversion rates. You want to drive more qualified website traffic to those posts and you can do so by optimizing the content for the search engine results page (SERP) or updating it as needed to ensure it’s fresh and relevant.

8. Leverage retargeting to re-engage website visitors.

It doesn’t matter what your key conversion metric is: The cold, hard truth is that most people on your website don’t take the action you want them to. By leveraging retargeting on Facebook and other platforms, you can re-engage people who left your website.

Retargeting works by tracking visitors to your website and serving them online ads as they visit other sites around the web. This is particularly impactful when you retarget people who visited your highest-converting web pages.

The normal inbound rules still apply here — you need well-crafted copy, engaging visuals, and a compelling offer for retargeting to work.

Take United’s retargeting campaign for example. Using insights from previous ad campaigns, United focused on reaching people who had viewed their ads and were already considering booking a vacation. To this select audience, they promoted a 15-second video ending in a call-to-action.

If viewers felt inspired enough to book their vacation, all they had to do was click on the CTA to be taken straight to the United website. This proved to be a huge success. In just one month, 52% of conversions attributed to YouTube were click-through conversions directly from the ad.

(If you’re a HubSpot customer, take a look at how the AdRoll integration can improve your conversion efforts.)

Now, let’s talk about how you can get started with CRO at your company.

How to Get Started with Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Maybe you’re wondering, “Where do I start with CRO?”

Enter: PIE framework. Before starting a CRO project, prioritize your efforts by ranking each element on Potential, Importance, and Ease.

Use the PIE framework to answer the following questions for every strategy outlined in the previous section. Then, assign a score between one and 10 (one being the lowest and 10 being the highest) to each strategy.

• How much total improvement can this project offer?
• How valuable will this improvement be?
• How complicated or difficult will it be to implement this improvement?

Once you’ve assigned a score for each strategy, add up the numbers and divide the total by three — this gives a score that shows what project will have the greatest impact. Then, work on the projects with the highest scores first.

The PIE framework isn’t perfect, but it’s easy to understand, systematic, and offers a starting point for CRO collaboration and communication among colleagues.

Frequently Asked Questions About CRO 

We’ve covered a lot about conversion rate optimization, but not everything. If you still have questions, then check out the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions below. 

What is the purpose of a conversion rate optimization?

The purpose of conversion rate optimization (CRO) is to improve the likelihood of visitors taking a desired action on a webpage.

What is a CRO strategy?

A CRO strategy is designed to convert more of your visitors into paying customers. While each CRO strategy will vary company by company, the general steps will not. You have to identify key metrics and your target audience. Then you have to collect user feedback and other data to decide what you’re going to test. Finally, you’ll run A/B tests to improve different pages and parts of your site for conversion.

What are CRO tools?

CRO tools are designed to simplify or automate the process of optimizing your conversion rate. They might help with lead capture, research, analytics, mouse tracking and heat maps, feedback, or running experiments.

What is a CRO test?

A CRO test involves adding, re-arranging, and redesigning elements on your website in order to maximize your conversions. Different CRO tests might focus on optimizing the copy, design, or placement of your CTAs, or the length of your headlines, among other elements. 

Begin Using CRO

There are many “best practices” out there when it comes to CRO but, ultimately, you need to find out what your customers respond to, and what drives results for your business.

Keep these three follow-up actions in mind when getting started with CRO today:

• Use the three formulas to start the CRO conversation.
• Experiment with CRO strategies to discover what works for your business.
• Leverage the PIE framework to help prioritize your strategy.

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

Anaerobic digestion and dairy farm digesters for waste management may appear to be an odd subject for this website. However, while this subject is still relatively unknown to most people, it will become a mainstream business for thousands of clever dairy farmers in the United States.

The reality is that many investors are on the lookout for sustainable firms to invest in to shield their children from the pain of climate change. Plus, it’s worth noting that “green” firms are now performing exceptionally well on the stock market. Add to that the US government’s objective of minimising food waste, which farm digesters can readily handle in their digesters as the last option. And then, all of a sudden, you have:

a lucrative sideline for farms and an investment opportunity for expert financiers willing to invest in bringing Dairy AD and food waste co-disposal to a new level.

Therefore, continue reading and keep in mind that you originally heard about it here!

The Anaerobic Digestion Process

Anaerobic digestion is a biochemical conversion process used to treat and reduce the bulk of organic wastes, including solids, such as organic sewage sludge or concentrated industrial biowaste. Bacteria degrade biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. Anaerobic digestion is a process used in business and on a small scale at home to manage trash and generate fuel (i. e. Renewable Natural Gas).

Fermentation is a phrase that the majority of people are familiar with. Fermentation is a component of the process of anaerobic digestion. It is used industrially in the manufacturing of food and beverage products and the brewing of alcoholic drinks.

Background to Anaerobic Digestion in Dairy Farms

Anaerobic digestion has a variety of environmental and economic advantages. The critical element is that it creates renewable energy in the form of methane, a naturally occurring gas. As a result, the number of dairy farm anaerobic waste digesters has gradually grown in the United States during the last few years.

Previously, cow manure was deposited into a stagnant, smelly lagoon and left to dry before spreading on the fields. While it was resting, the emission of biogas (made naturally during anaerobic digestion) occurred spontaneously. This usually occurs before the manure slurry being spread on the fields. However, methane emissions contribute around 30 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. Therefore, if humanity wants to keep the planet’s average temperature to 1.5 degrees, governments must address agricultural methane emissions through much-improved manure management.

In other words, naturally existing microorganisms convert slurry lagoons (which are found on all dairy farms without a biogas infrastructure) to methane gas. And, given the quantity of methane that contributes to global warming, this is extremely worrisome. This is because methane is a greenhouse gas that traps the sun’s heat in our atmosphere 25 to 35 times more effectively than carbon dioxide.

The Dairy Farm Community Biogas Refinery Concept

A typical dairy waste-to-energy facility is comprised of many farms housing between 2,000 and 3,000 dairy cows. Methane is captured from dairy manure via anaerobic digestion and sent to a central conditioning facility via low-pressure collecting pipes. After treatment and contamination removal, the gas is sent to local consumers via the existing underground natural gas distribution network.

As previously stated, anaerobic digestion is when bacteria degrade organic matter in the absence of oxygen, resulting in the generation of biogas in four stages.

Milk Production’s Carbon Footprint

Operating an anaerobic digestion process plant that utilises manure as a feedstock for biogas generation is one of the numerous actions that the agriculture industry must take to reduce the carbon footprint of milk production.

This technique removes a substantial amount of volatile solids (VS) from manure, therefore reducing the possibility of methane and carbon dioxide emissions during storage and later land application. The produced biogas can be utilised to generate electricity, refined further and used as low-emission automobile fuel, or even fed into the natural gas system.

In some parts of the United States, managing residual swine farm flows, such as slurry and hydrolyzate, is also a significant environmental problem.

It is important to seek innovative solutions to rivers and even aquifers caused by massive livestock activities. Additionally, it is desirable if they can be applied on-site, therefore minimising trash transfer. Co-digestion with anaerobic bacteria can be utilised as a long-term approach for controlling and valorizing these fluxes in dairy and swine farms. Installing a biodigester results in the generation of biogas for energy production and digested for agricultural usage.

What is a biogas system?

Anaerobic digestion is a natural biological process used in biogas systems to recycle organic waste by converting it to biogas, energy (the gas), and valuable soil products (liquids and solids). Following simple processing, biogas may be used to replace natural gas sustainably, while the digested materials—liquids and solids—can be turned into a variety of useful soil products, including:

a peat-moss substitute for horticultural compost, a liquid fertiliser, and even a fibre appropriate for use as animal bedding.

Biogas production from grass is also a well-established practical technology. Farmers with surplus grass that is not required for overwintering cattle might digest it to produce more biogas.

Today, many dairy producers in the United Kingdom have not only considered changing their business model but have already sold their herds!

Rather than milking cattle, they grow grass to feed directly to an anaerobic digestion unit and store silage for winter use. This makes sense in the wet regions of the United Kingdom and Ireland, where grass thrives. Producing the majority of other crops efficiently on their land is challenging for a variety of reasons:

Frequent late frosts, a chilly, wet, and windy climate, and an inability to rely on dry weather and sunshine to develop the crop and allow harvesting to occur.

While anaerobic digestion (AD) can help prevent significant volumes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), from being released into the environment, it also helps protect farms’ aquatic environment from contamination. It minimises nitrate buildup caused by high-intensity farming and produces natural fertiliser, which can considerably reduce purchased fertiliser.

When all of the climate benefits of AD are evaluated in conjunction with other emission reductions, the process becomes self-evident for Dairy Farm companies.

According to AD Company Brightmark, generating RNG (Renewable Natural Gas) from dairy manure can reduce GHG emissions by 400 per cent when replacing traditional vehicle fuels.

Dairy Manure Slurry the Ever Present Waste in Dairy Farming

Dairy manure is a frequent waste product in dairy production, and it offers a variety of challenges in terms of storage, management, and disposal. As previously stated, dairy manure generates foul odours, toxic ammonia, and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming if manure management is not prioritised.

Never forget, though, that dairy manure digesters will always produce very little biogas per unit mass. When compared to the digestion of food waste, for example, it is extremely low. As a result, manure-based biogas production may be comparable in terms of cost per unit volume generated.

The practical use for waste control and the overall fit within the dairy company make a biogas system attractive to dairy farmers who co-digest food waste. Adding food waste to a digester balances it and improves its performance significantly, as food has the most energy of any feedstock. If there was ever a moment when a quart could be squeezed from a pint pot, it is when food waste is added to a manure digester!

Anaerobic digestion can also be configured so that it eliminates odours as it digests the manure. Additionally, by include food waste, the nutritional content of the digestate increases when applied to fields, resulting in a more beneficial soil amendment.

Arla, a renowned dairy cooperative in the United Kingdom, has turned cow manure into a type of “vehicle-friendly gasoline” in a large new operation in Buckinghamshire. Under Arla’s idea, farmers will carry their cow manure to a new local anaerobic digestion (AD) facility. While there, it will be converted to pure biomethane and used as fuel. According to the firm, the pilot will eventually enable Arla to become the first dairy in the United Kingdom to use agricultural waste to generate biomethane to power its HGV distribution fleet.

How are Many US Anaerobic Digesters Working?

In the United States, anaerobic digestion systems for dairy farms are gaining popularity.

The EPA reported in July 2010 that 157 commercial digester plants were operating across the US. 22 of the 157 digesters were located in New York, making it the country’s second most active digester state.

As a consequence of the increase in AD facilities, New York State now has more than 50 digesters, with more ones planned or under construction.

The Anaerobic Digester System

According to the US EPA, 52 manure-based AD systems produced RNG in the United States in March 2021.

These include pipeline injection projects as well as compressed natural gas (CNG) installations. Additionally, according to reports, 44 RNG initiatives are now under development (Source: EPA Agstar Livestock Anaerobic Digester Database). The EPA’s RNG website includes a map of all landfill and anaerobic digester-based RNG projects in the United States.

The biogas digester is the system component that receives animal, human, and other organic wastes and allows them to decompose anaerobically, often as a slurry with water. The produced gas is collected in a storage container and then piped for further use as fuel. Variable volume storage (e.g., a flexible bag or floating drum) is more straightforward, less costly, and may be more energy-efficient than high-pressure cylinders, regulators, or compressors.

Anaerobic digestion requires constant monitoring and frequent modifications to equipment settings to work correctly. All commercial AD process facilities should conduct routine laboratory testing on the substrate (each digester’s reactor tank). The experiments will examine the physical characteristics of the manure fed into the bioreactor tank, the substrate inside the tank (COD, per cent solids, ph, and other critical parameters), and the digestate output. All of these must be quantified and used to initiate corrective action immediately upon discovery of issues.

Through an overflow pipe, the effluent is sent into a covered manure pit. The organic content of the processed manure is reduced and stabilised, resulting in an almost odourless, homogenised liquid that repels rodents and flies.

During the AD process, only a tiny fraction of the manure is converted to biogas. Dairy cow excrement is made of around 85% water and 15% solids. Around 91% of these solids are volatile.

One digester at Penn State converts between 20% and 30% of volatile solids to biogas, typical for most biogas systems. This Penn State digester project aimed to promote environmentally friendly technology and zero waste concepts in animal agriculture. Additionally, the operator plans to mitigate adverse environmental impacts.

Dairy farms accounted for 203 of the estimated 248 biogas producers operating in the United States in 2017. (Source: U. S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2017 ).

The Importance of Biogas

In comparison to the global biogas capacity of 15 gw in 2015, the EU is the world leader in biogas energy production, with more than 10 gw installed and 17,400 biogas plants.

Using anaerobic digesters to collect methane and convert it to renewable energy is one of the recommended methods for the dairy sector to reduce its carbon footprint. Numerous initiatives around the country continue to spur the growth of biogas facilities.

In the United States and Europe, farm operations have shifted drastically: small farms are disappearing, while farm size and animal population on larger farms are increasing. Animals’ growing spatial density has a variety of negative environmental implications. Anaerobic digestion is one technical solution for minimising the bulk of these impacts while simultaneously providing a source of regional energy.

The economic viability of using dairy-cow manure for any of the following:

on-farm production and use of biogas for electricity and heat generation, or conversion of biogas to biomethane, a natural gas substitute

This article evaluates.

With their four-chambered stomachs, cows have long been considered models of digestive ability, as anybody who has evaded cow pies in a field will confirm.

Each day, hundreds of pounds of faeces are produced by these grazing bovines and other animals. Concerns about animal waste management, energy conservation, and organic farming have revived interest in generating biogas from livestock manure. Two significant projects utilising clusters of anaerobic digesters have attracted the interest of dairy producers around the country.

When the building of the US biogas plants is complete, this network of dairy biogas plants will likely be the world’s largest system of its kind.

BioGas Generation with Dairy Manure?

Anaerobic digesters are used to convert cow manure to biogas. Because biogas, like natural gas, is mostly composed of methane, it may be utilised to create electricity and power automobiles.

Renewable natural gas may be produced on animal farms using biogas recovery systems. Animal excrement is collected and fed to an anaerobic digester to stabilise and maximise methane output. The generated biogas may be converted to rng and used to fuel natural gas vehicles.

The capital investment required to construct a digester varies significantly depending on the design, size, and equipment utilised to generate biogas and/or separate manure fibre. Currently, the capital cost of a complete digester system is between $1,000 and $2,000 per cow, depending on herd size, with the cost of operating an engine-generator set at $0. 015 to $0. 02/kWh of energy output.

Anaerobic Digestion of Dairy Manure in the US

Dairy digesters are a sustainable technology that use cow faeces to generate methane, a renewable energy source and transportation fuel. Multiple environmental and social benefits accrue from the method. Additional information about dairy digesters is available on the USEPA’s Agstar anaerobic digestion webpage.

It is quite uncommon for dairy farms to discharge a significant amount of milk from milking operations to manure digesters. Anaerobic digestion of animal dung has the capacity to inactivate enteric pathogens, reducing exposures to livestock and humans when digested materials are dispersed on land or used as bedding for animals.

Anaerobic Digestion of transport fuel or production of electricity?

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of animal faeces is a very effective method of converting undigested plant carbon to methane for use as a transportation fuel or power generation.

While AD is most commonly associated with dairy farming, it is also used to regulate manure and wastewater on swine and poultry farms. Anaerobic digestion systems can be classified as passive, low-rate, or high-rate. Due to the potential reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) and the economic benefits of generating renewable energy from anaerobic digestion, Ad is a viable GHG emission mitigation technology for dairy and swine farms.

Energy-related expenditures can account for up to 29% of total farm operating expenses. The continuing increase in the real cost of energy-related farm inputs has significantly affected agricultural output costs. However, agriculture can replace some of the purchased energy in fossil fuels, commercial fertilisers, and field production of animal feed with bioenergy and organic fertiliser made from onsite renewable biomass such as animal manure to be economically and environmentally sustainable.

Anaerobic fermentation does not deplete nutrients. Anaerobic digestion of dairy manure on-farm is being used to generate power and eliminate odours. Acidogenic bacteria convert the majority of the organic content in manure to volatile fatty acids (VFAs), consumed by methanogenic bacteria, which produce methane, carbon dioxide, and a few other gases. While these microbial processes transform nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, they do not remove these nutrients.

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