Key Takeaways from Social Media Marketing World 2019
By: Dave McDonald, Assistant Director of Social Media
When it comes to social media, we’ve grown accustomed to rapid change. Algorithms, site redesigns, and new features have all become a normal part of our relationship with social. So, when I arrived at Social Media Marketing World 2019 in San Diego, I was certainly expecting some curveballs. As it turns out, there were more than just a few.
As the CEO of Social Media Examiner, Michael Stelzner took the stage for the opening Keynote, he said: “It’s time to rethink everything.” Cue the paralyzing anxiety for everyone in the room. But as he spoke it seemed the drastic change he was referring to was more of a pivot. He spoke about the rise of stories on Instagram and Facebook, the need to start thinking about private messaging platforms (i.e. Facebook Messenger, Instagram Messenger, and WhatsApp), the use of chatbots, paid social, and new ways to think about video. His keynote set the groundwork for the smaller sessions happening throughout the conference, kicking off an exciting deep dive into the jungle that is social media.
Here are my key takeaways from the conference:
Video/Live is still essential, but you may need to change your strategy:
Encourage Engagement
If you’re posting video on a regular basis, awesome. If you’re also utilizing features like Facebook Live, even better. The tricky algorithms will reward you for both, but social platforms, especially Facebook now want more. In a recent blog post, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that that organization will now put a focus on more genuine interactions between users on the platform. This means video content can no longer be “passive.” Before you could post a video or host a Facebook Live and the engagements would flow in. Now, it’s all about creating content that will spark genuine two-way interactions between the content and the users. I.E. your video content should now encourage your audience to comment and share.
Short-form video works best
A long-form video is great, but (no surprise here) the attention span of users on Facebook/Twitter is short, very short. When posting a video to your networks, it’s best to post a short video (30 seconds to a minute max) to Facebook and Twitter and then direct those interested in seeing the longer versions to Youtube.
Stories are on the rise:
Think Instagram AND Facebook Stories:
We all know Instagram stories are popular, but it’s time to start turning your attention to Facebook stories. As we learned with the onset of Facebook Live, the platform likes to bring emphasis to the features that are new, so focusing your time on stories will help give your content an extra boost.
Paid social is here to stay:
Utilize Facebook’s Audience Manager
We’re now living in a “pay-to-play” world on social media, which means for those of us with small social media ad budgets, targeting appropriately is a must. Facebook advertising pro, Rick Mulready outlined some of the best ways to use Facebook’s custom audience tools to get the most bang for your buck. Here are a few stand out strategies from his talk:
Email lists: Advertisers can upload an email list and the platform will match those contacts to the email users use to login to Facebook and serve an ad to the specific people.
Engagement: Target your audience using the following engagements options:
- Anyone who visited your page
- People who engaged with any post or ad
- People who clicked any call-to-action button
- People who sent a message to your page
- People who saved content from your page
Website Visitors: Retarget those who visited a specific page on your website. Users can be targeted by visits, length of time on site, and more.
Video: Facebook allows you to serve an ad to those who watched a video on your page based on time watched (3 seconds, 10 seconds, etc).
Pro tip: Create a lookalike audience to pique the interest of others likely to view your content.
An ad is nothing without compelling creative:
Using the correct audience will get your content to the right place, but it’s compelling creative that leads to conversions. In Nicholas Kusmich’s talk on “The Anatomy of a Perfect Ad”, he explained the science behind content that leads to action. Here’s your 411:
Lead them in with a “Yes” question: Ad copy should always start with a question that will result in the reader saying “yes”.
Example: Dying to know what happened at social Social Media Marketing World 2019?
Build rapport: There are four motivating factors that lead people to take action on ads, touch upon one of these when creating copy:
- Frustrations
- Wants
- Fears
- Aspirations
Kusmich said it perfectly in his presentation, “Good ad copy happens when your ideal prospect is understood by you”.
Use creative that pops: When selecting photos and video for your ads make sure you choose content that captures your audience immediately. For photos, this may mean upping the contrast. For video, this means capturing your viewer’s attention within the first three seconds.
Start thinking about chatbots:
According to chatbot marketing pro, Andrew Warner, the use of chatbots is slowly taking over social media and email. This is opening up a new form of marketing that many of us have yet to tap into. He mentioned that soon, instead of receiving emails for marketing materials, event reminders, and newsletters, we’ll soon start seeing them via Facebook messenger.
Looking to get started with chatbots, but afraid you don’t know how to do code? No worries. These platforms can help kick-start you chatbot marketing, no coding required.
Longer updates are the name of the game on Linkedin:
We’ve seen a lot of changes with Linkedin over the years. What was once a simple platform to post your resume and connect with potential employers has now become a full-fledged social platform. In Viveka von Rosen’s session on building your Linkedin visibility, she explained a few simple ways to boost your content on both personal and company pages. Her main takeaway: long-form updates perform much better than shorter ones. In her talk, she said we should think of our LinkedIn posts as “mini blog posts,” with our personal updates at about 1,000 characters and our company pages updates at about 700 characters.
Did you attend this year’s Social Media Marketing World? What were your favorite takeaways?
