Takeaways from Week 2 of the Social Media Success Summit

Did you attend Social Media Examiner’s Social Media Success Summit? No worries, we’ve got coverage of week two for you right here. We heard industry experts speak on content marketing, LinkedIn, and Instagram and extracted the juiciest tips and takeaways. Keep reading, and prepare to have your #mindblown.

#SMSS15 Lesson 6: Killer Content = Sharable Content

Kicking off week two was Mark Schaefer (@markwschaefer), who, in the true spirit of Halloween, scared the sh*t out of us with social media visibility statistics. One of the happier tidbits he shared was that 85 percent of social media users say reading content other people share helps them understand and process brand information.

So how do you create content that people want to share? He gave us 10 Big Ideas you should use on your content strategy:

1. Branding is more important than ever. HEROIC branding can make your content move. Meaning: sometimes people share content not based on the content itself, but based on the person who wrote it. Case in point, the entire Kardashian clan and Twitter (my example, not Mark’s).
2. People who move content deliver value. They are only earned through trust, so focus your resources on building trust, not traffic.
3. You need a promotion plan based on the type of content you produce. Focusing too much on SEO can inhibit your reach. How do you know which content needs SEO? Take a look at this uh-MA-zing visual Mark showed us

4. Publish on high-authority sites like LinkedIn to get your content to move.
5. Social proof such as Likes, tweets, subscribers, testimonials, awards, and badges can symbolize credibility content that moves.
6. Headlines are the most important part of your content. Optimize them using free tools like coschedule.com
7. Posts exceeding 1,000 words get shared more often than shorter posts.
8. 75 percent of companies have no sharing buttons or sub-optimized buttons. Make sure your tweet button has a short URL, attribution, and the post title.
9. High-sharing individuals love new insights and research. Highlight research within your content and provide your own research.
10. Social sharing rises between 20 – 50 percent when a hashtag is used. Using multiple hashtags decreases social sharing (except on Instagram, where it’s acceptable to use up to 15 hashtags).

#SMSS15 Lesson 7: Live-Streaming Video Is the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Have you heard of Periscope, Meerkat, or Blab.im? No worries, because Brian Fanzo (@isocialfanz) schooled us on it and I’m about to tell you his deepest, darkest secrets. In bulletpoints.

• 74% of internet traffic in 2017 will be video.
• 64% of our consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it.
• New to livestreaming? Use this foolproof step-by-step recipe to make your streams SPEC-FREAKING-TACULAR:

1. Welcome people to the stream
2. Introduce yourself
3. Provide value (this is the meat of what exactly it is you’re livestreaming)
4. Engage the community
5. Recap

BOOM. Deal with it.

While Brian asserts that you don’t need to be perfect on live streaming—in fact, being imperfect is what humanizes you—try to cut down on the “likes,” “ums,” “you knows,” and robotic-like script reading.

#SMSS15 Lesson 8: LinkedIn Is Powerful Tool—If You Become an Authority

You should be using LinkedIn to drive traffic for your website. One mistake a lot of companies make is that they use LinkedIn like a crockpot—a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Unfortunately, it’s more like making butter—you’ve gotta keep churning if you want people to eat it.

So how do you become an authority on LinkedIn? It begins with your company page. Viveka von Rosen (@LinkedInExpert) and Melonie Dodaro (@MelonieDodaro) gave us some great tips on making a slammin’ LinkedIn page. For example, don’t use your company page to just post job openings.

Use targeted updates, share stats, share useful articles your target audience would find helpful. Be relevant to your target audience! Some other tips they gave us include:

• Add pain points in the first 200 words of your company’s description.
• Describe what’s in it for them in your description. Be sure to add your specialties and keywords in the About section.
• Change up your header image to draw attention and keep engagement.
• When setting up an email campaign, ask people to join by telling them what’s in it for them. Nobody wants more noise.
• Reach out to new connections by providing them with relevant content. A great example of this is:

#SMSS15 Lesson 9: Step 2 of Becoming an Authority—Help Your Audience Learn, Think, Achieve, and Feel with Longform Content

We continue on our quest to be the authority on LinkedIn by publishing longform content. Currently, companies don’t have the option to publish longform content, but there is a way around that, and it’s by tapping into your employee pool. Have your writers publish to their pages, and share the content on the company page.

Melonie gave us 5 bullet-proof reasons to publish long-form content:

1. You provide prospects with more value.
2. Your connections are notified each time you post—make sure you have a strong title that will make them want to read it
3. Your network can share it, opening you up to a larger audience. Solve a problem and include an image for increased sharing.
4. You have the potential to reach a MUCH larger audience if your content is featured on LinkedIn Pulse. Quality posts can be included in their weekly email to your connections.
5. Posting regular, valuable content will position you as an authority on your topic and keep you top of mind with your connections and prospects.

Stephanie Sammons (@StephSammons) was all about humanizing your company. For writing long-form posts, write about personal insights and lessons learned. It humanizes you and helps out people who may have been in the same situation. Comment on local news. What does it mean? How will it affect your industry? Review what influencers are writing about. Do you agree? Disagree? Why?

#SMSS15 Lesson 10: Instagram Isn’t Just for #FoodPorn Anymore

Instagram has more than 400 million active users.

Who can use Instagram? Product and service-based businesses, ecommerce sites with physical locations, and people who don’t even have a website yet. Sue B. Zimmerman (@SueBZimmerman) says Instagram is perfect for marketing because it’s mobile and quick. In a world where we have shorter attention spans than goldfish, the quicker the better.

You can emotionally connect and be right there with what’s happening.

A tip? Create different Instagram accounts for different purposes. Sue has a personal account, a business account, and a second business account that focuses on the behind-the-scenes details of running a business. This include shots of her team, behind the scenes at photo shoots, and other photos that let the viewer see what it’s like to be in the business.

According to Sue, there are four main focus areas for your Instagram strategy:

1. Clear brand representation
2. Visual interest
3. Strategic Descriptions
4. Active engagement

A main takeaway? Find your voice. Be different. Don’t try to copy other brands, but see what works for them, and try to apply that to your own strategy.

So what exactly should you actually post? Well here are some tips on what NOT to post:

• Avoid product placement
• Don’t post web shots
• Show more than what you’re selling
• Include tech devices in photo when requesting a CTA

Stay Tuned for Week 3 of the Social Media Success Summit

Could you tell my reward for finishing this blog post was food?  Stay tuned for the next installation of our Social Media Success Summit coverage, and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to see first-hand these tips in motion!