Earlier this year, the Agorapulse team was at Social Media Marketing World.
It’s a highly regarded industry conference. You may have heard of it. You may have even been there yourself.
And this year, like the last, was full of powerful social marketing insights for organizations of all kinds. Organizations like yours.
Whether you were at the conference or weren’t able to make it, it’s not a bad time to review a few of the key sessions. They’re still relevant and they’ll still make a positive impact on your bottom line. And that’s never a bad thing.
So, let’s go over what we learned.
1. Profitable Facebook Marketing
Naturally, one of your problems as a Facebook marketer is profitability.
You don’t always convert on Facebook, after all. And, aery things like brand sentiment can be hard to sell to your executives – and even harder to translate into dollars and cents.
But you can do it. And it starts with having a good process before you begin.
Mari Smith, a major thought leader in Facebook marketing, makes it simple for you. She proposes a yearlong plan, in 4 steps.
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- Core Phase
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- Build Up
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- Promotion Phase
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- Follow-up
And, of course, don’t forget to start and finish with your fans. Be a human brand.
[Tweet “Remember: time is your biggest resource. Invest in the right people and the right tools.”]
2. Create Visual Content That People Love to Share
Of all the content types out there, we process images the fastest.
And that means something when you’re vying for the attention of your fans. There’s simply so much else out there. You want to attract not only their eyes, but inspire them to pass along your content as well. To share it.
Strategically, think along these lines:
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- Create great content
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- Market it with enticing images
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- Give your fans a reason to share it
Tactically, there are more than a few ways – reliably effective, too – to make it all work. And in our report of this Social Media Marketing World session, you’ll find them all.
Quotes are an effective – and easy, frankly – way to get shares. Think of it as curation!
[Tweet “Don’t forget to batch your visuals and schedule them in advance.”]
3. Powerful, Underused Facebook Ad Tools
We all know Jon Loomer. He’s probably the definitive Facebook ads expert at the moment. So when he talked about the Facebook ad tools we’re not – but should be – using, we listened.
But instead of just listing them all out, he broke it down by the objectives you should be gunning for. They are:
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- Target Your Customers
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- Target Your Readers
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- Measure ROI
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- Optimize Your Ads
He recommended, among other tools, Website Custom Audiences and Facebook Ads Report.
Take advantage of all of your customer data. Use Custom Audiences.
[Tweet “Measure twice and cut once. Split test your ads to get the most from your budget.”]
4. Turn Your Employees Into Your Best Social Media Advocates
Social media advocacy isn’t just for your customers. Your workers can be brand ambassadors too. In fact, they should be.
But it’s a bit more involved than just, say, asking them to tweet about how nice it is to work for you. You generally have to do a little more. Think a little more. And you’ll get a much larger return.
Jay Baer, of Convince & Convert fame, has 8 steps to help you get there.
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- Trust your employees, have a social culture
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- Establish rules and guidelines
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- Understand how different roles can leverage social media
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- Get a software program to coordinate everything
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- Define how you’ll measure success
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- Install coaches to give social advice to your employees
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- Give recognition
With social media, think bigger. It’s more than just a role.
[Tweet “Define your employee advocacy plan before you start. Know what success looks like so you can get it.”]
5. What does the Future Look Like?
According to recent industry research, web data will rise 600% by 2020. That’s a lot of competition.
But you expected as much already. You knew social media would continue to get bigger. But think for a moment what that means for you, as a producer of web data. Think about how much – or, rather, how much less – you’ll stand out.
It’s a problem you need to solve. The kind of problem that can flip your ROI upside down.
This session talks about what you, the social marketer, can do about it.
It might be being the first to do something new – a novel kind of advertising strategy – and throwing everything you have into it. Shock and awe.
It could also be atomizing your content. Breaking it into easily digestible forms, like infographics and videos.
It’s probably a lot of things. And it pays to start thinking about them now.
This plastic surgeon tried something novel. He asked his patients a question about scars. Later, when he saw most of the answers were wrong, he released a video explaining why.
[Tweet “The future of digital marketing is immersive experiences. How will your content strategy adapt?”]
Unsurprisingly, we enjoyed our time at Social Marketing World this year. And we hope what we learned will help you out. It certainly improved our results.
That said, tell us what matters the most to you in the industry. Is it employee evangelism? Is it adjusting to a denser content future?
And, of course, if you were at the conference in March, let us know what you thought.
Leave a comment below!
