Social Media Marketing World: What Did We Learn?

Social Media Marketing World is the world’s largest social media marketing conference. The event took place in San Diego, California on March 25, 26 and 27, 2015. At Social Media Marketing World, we were able to learn from the leaders in the industry. What did those influencers have to say? A lot. Social media marketing is more than just content; it is a conversation, it is listening, and it is service, all wrapped into one ever-growing, ever-changing online entity. But, we as social media marketers need to do more than just self-promote. We need to inspire and educate our audience, and in doing so, track our successes – and our failures. We must become ROI driven if we are to show the real-time benefits of social promotion, and, likewise, improve our efforts.  

Here are actionable best practices that you can take and apply to each of your platforms, no matter your industry:

Facebook

1. Include a photoquote or video, a call to action, and a link to your website in EVERY post.
2. Create better content by using simple language.
3. Learn about your customers from audience insights.
4. Design better ads. How? Widen the targeting and make the copy more specific. Use people and faces whenever possible.
5. Test, test, and test again.

Linkedin

1. When publishing, include only the first couple paragraphs, followed by a “read more” link, directing the user back to your site.
2. Create a content calendar for consistency.
3. When managing a group, email members weekly.

Slideshare

1. Know your platform – utilize images.
2. Take a minimalist approach.
3. Add clickable calls to action.
4. Approach your content like a campaign – get people to share, share, share.
5. Utilize word docs, whitepapers, and other recyclable content.

Twitter

1. Make your goal to inspire, entertain, and delight audience, rather than self promotion.
2. Include images in your tweets – they receive notably higher conversion rates.
3. Create more advanced Twitter lists. Examples may include, influencers, customers, prospects, networking, etc.
4. Use lead generation cards to create mini landing pages within Twitter. In doing so, you can collect email addresses, first and last names, or usernames.

Google+

1. Add video content to posts for best conversions.
2. Create at least 3 different circles so you can easily target and group followers. Examples: Visitors = Circles, Leads = Commenters, Promoters = Shared your content
3. Use interactive posts to add buttons, such as subscribe, follow, or buy.

Blogging

1. Content must educate, motivate, and challenge your audience.
2. Create meaningful content that is easy to repurpose.
3. When you create the content, draft other things, like social media posts, while it is fresh in your mind.
4. Target certain people and industries via email marketing.
5. Set up your link dashboard to track, analyze, and change content based on its performance.
6. Goal: Write for 30 minutes a day. You will create new content, fresh ideas, and better your writing skills.
7. Create a resource center. Have a section on your blog that serves as training center where visitors can come to get information. Videos, tutorials and comparison charts work well.

 

Looking for more tools to help with your social media marketing efforts? Here are a few you should keep your eye on:

• WORDSWAG – quickly adds quotes to a picture and share
• Meerkat – tweets live video
• Buffer – shares content to social media & schedule
• Sprout Social – schedules & reports
• ManageFlitter – unfollows, follows, bio search & analytics
• Triberr – shares content
• Infusionsoft – email marketing
• Leadpages.net – lead generation
• Simply Measured – measurement & reporting
• Tweetchat.com – Twitter chat platform
• Oneqube – real-time social database
• Libsyn – podcast hosting
• Canva – free design software

Follow Nicole at @WTWH_Nicole and Jen at @WTWH_Jen.