Social Media Marketing World 2016
San Diego
WOW – yet another amazing SMMW conference hearing from the experts and meeting like-minded professionals in the digital and social media industry.
Following a long flight to San Diego courtesy or Virgin Atlantic and Delta Airways the learning soon began with pre conference workshops on Sunday afternoon. I chose to attend a session on "How to create videos on your mobile device that your audience will watch and share". Some great tips on how to capture better filming, use of light and depth of focus. Introduced me to the Filmic app which helps you shoot better films too. Now need to practice!
The official conference then kicked off in true social media style with a networking event on the USS Midway with over 3000 (only 42 from the UK!!!) delegates enjoying the food, drink, entertainment, including flight simulators and tours of the ship itself. For those not used to networking the Networking Bingo Card game was a great way and opportunity to meet lots of new people and sharing experience and knowledge.
The conference then kicked off the following morning with Mike Stelzner from Social Media Examiner sharing his findings from a recent survey they carried out. Some of these I have highlighted in my overview paper for you to download. Next we hit the road running with the streams of workshop sessions, 10 running at any one time!!!! This is where decisions had to be made as to which to attend. My plan was to focus on what I believed would benefit our clients to ensure we continue to add value and get them results.
The topics we chose were also in line with what I believed were the key MKT’s – Must Know Takeaways from the whole of the conference:
- Live Video is the answer to success
- Snapchat is here
- You have to Pay to Play - Social Advertising
- Content Marketing is still alive
Throughout the conference we were lucky to hear from some amazing experts including Mari Smith, Gary Vaynerchuk, Kim Garst, Mark Schaefer, Jon Loomer, Rick Mulready, Ian Cleary…. To name just a few. We were also delighted to have managed to get one of the Keynote Speakers, Mark Schaefer do a LIVE BLAB with us back to the UK and my business coach Denyse Whilier. Once again thank you Mark for your valuable time and contribution. If you missed this, look out for our video recording due to be uploaded soon or go and see him live in Dublin in May - Book here
So if you asked me what my 4 MKTs were, they would be:
1 - LIVE VIDEO
This was by far the biggest message that was consistently projected or touched upon in most sessions. Last year it was about “Native Videos” on Facebook this year it was about the power of using “Live Video” to engage with your following or to use it to grow your “tribe”. It’s about “Video in real time, at the right time”
As Kim Garst put it “LIVE VIDEO plays a big part in the know like trust factor”. It’s all about building relationships and showing your real self and not worrying about the actual broadcast itself but the content and messages you are sharing.
Whilst Facebook Live is probably the biggest player in this arena so far, we are also seeing growth in use of BLAB too and of course Periscope is still alive and kicking, unlike our little Meerkat who has left the social playing field. Look out too for YouTube who are already trialling their “Live streaming” offer.
2 - SNAPCHAT
Well until the conference I was not 1 of the 100 million users already snapping away on this social media channel!
With the number of daily video views going from 2 Billion to 8 Billion in less than a year, we need to jump on this opportunity. The time is right to join now and start building your following. As Gary Vaynerchuk said "you need to go to where the attention is at its highest" and Snapchat is where it is for him at the moment. Other big brands are using this channel through having key influencers like SHonduras, ShaunAyala and celebrities like DJKhaled endorse or promote their products.
Whilst 77% of users are 18+ it’s not just for millennials and one thing we should not forget is that they will also grow to potentially become your future customers. We are also living in the moment and want to know what is happening now and Snapchat gives us a network for story telling on mobile device. Short quick visuals, video and messages that are live for only 24 hours
3 - SOCIAL ADVERTISING
Have you noticed that organic traffic on and to your website from Facebook, is down?
This could be due to Content over load, Bad content, Poor tracking or simply Facebook Algorithms. This is because we are now in a PAY TO PLAY arena.
Again here the focus was on Facebook advertising and video advertising and little mention of Twitter. The message was also about not just placing ads or boosting posts but about how to integrate it into your sales funnel process and trigger for Re targeting marketing. No surprise either, that Facebook Video Ads are also performing and delivering results for clients. Being clear on the objective of your advert and including great relevant video content that adds value to the viewer is key.
4 - CONTENT MARKETING
Mark Schaefer, Michael Stelzner and Mitch Joel discussed at length whether there was a future for Content Marketing and Mark rightly stated that we have to adapt, so what was marketing content 2 years ago is dead, but it has now been replaced with different type of content marketing or channels to put your content on.
I totally agree with the team and what was also highlighted was that it’s not just about the numbers but also having the right people in that audience you are talking to. With organic reach falling it is also clear that our audiences are shrinking so engaging with key influencers is growing in importance, together with having a clear content marketing plan in the first place. Then you can decide on the appropriate channels to communicate through.
Mark Shaefer’s final keynote session to close the conference was likewise focused on both ROI of Social media and content marketing. I particularly liked his comment saying that “Content is the starting line not the finishing line” and can totally relate to the fact that “85% of people say reading content that other people share helps them understand and process brand information and events”. We really do value our friends’ opinions and continue to base buying decisions on this.
His final point to close the conference was all about what do we need to do to stand out in this noisy world?
He put it simply to “Be more human! It will create the awareness and gain loyalty”
A fantastic way to end 3 full on days of learning from the experts and now our goal is to put this into action for our social media management clients. You too can find out more about the key learnings by downloading my detailed white paper, full of notes from the sessions attended at the conference. Simply click here for access.
We will also be sharing more of our MKTs, top tips and ideas on our “Einstein’s Formulas to Success” group on Facebook so come along and join Einstein’s tribe. We’ll keep you up to date with the latest news and tips to help with marketing your business or organisation with guest speakers appearing and sharing their knowledge too. Join here
We met back up with people from last year's conference and made some more new amazing friends too. Even met up with a fellow BNI member from Vermont, friends from Australia, Toronto, New Jersey, New Zealand, to name a few and a people from the UK too.
