6 Highlights From Social Media Week

See Social Media Week 2020 through my eyes. Here I highlight six of my favorite sessions and speakers at this year's Social Media Week (SMWATX) conference.

1. State of Social Media Lisa Fruggiero has worked with companies like ESPN, NBC Sports, GoDaddy, JetBlue, and Walmart. She has spent the last nine years with Brand Networks and has recently taken on the Vice President role at Brand Partnerships. With thirteen years of social advertising experience, she has the inside scoop on where to spend your time. “Facebook and Instagram are king and queen of the social networks, Pinterest is third, Snapchat is fourth, Twitter is fifth, Tik Tok is sixth, but Tik Tok is catching up to Twitter." There are a lot of people using social media. In 2020, 210 million people are using social media. As we take a look at the grand scheme of things, 63% of the U.S. population uses social networks and 20% is made up of 25-34-year-olds. Most of the U.S. users are women as they represent 52% of the user population. Furthermore, the average time spent on social networks in the U.S. is 53 minutes and the revenue generated by U.S. social networks ads is up by 20% this year. There is a lot of activity on social media and it will probably only grow.

2. Human to Human

Joshua B. Lee created his career in online marketing with clients such as MySpace and Google in 2003. Joshua is most passionate about human connections; he pushes humanizing the professional and company brand on LinkedIn through authentic and inspirational engagement. He believes there is no business to business or business to the consumer but only human to human connections. “One of the biggest things that I realized, was there is no BTB or BTC, there's only HTH; because every company is run by another human being and the world that we live in today, we have forgotten that as marketers.” Generating traffic is not the definition of success for LinkedIn. LinkedIn's algorithm doesn't work that way. The more posts you post in a day, the fewer views you get for your posts. The more comments you generate, the more your content is pushed out for others to see. Post once a day on LinkedIn and anymore they'll dock your views. LinkedIn wants real engagement over all other things. We all want to be seen, heard, and known in the endgame and Lee teaches marketers how to be human online again.

3. Be Where the People Are Cynthia Martinez helped bring Major League Soccer to Austin, TX. She has more than a decade of experience in assisting brands by telling their stories via traditional and digital communications. Her session covered "How Social Media Can Be the Best Tool You Have in a Crisis." “ Social media allows you to be where the people are. People are going online to find out what the heck is going on.” Austin FC was about to launch purchasing access for season tickets and their website crashed. Concerned that authorities would think Austin was not ready for their first professional team, they had to turn a crisis into a win for them. Social media was the answer to weathering their website crashing storm. They used social media to communicate their site was down and that they were excited and fully ready for Major League Soccer. The news coverage on opening day for season tickets talked about one thing and it wasn't about how the site crashed. Martinez shared that "Austin FC had broken Major League Soccer records for the most number of deposits placed in a single day."Having a solid social media team puts you in the living rooms of potential customers/fans and can position you to win even while facing a crisis.

4. Dominate Locally Amanda Horvath is a bold and innovative video marketing strategist. She spent years building the brands of others through storytelling and strategic messaging. Amanda decided to test her brand that had zero online presence and share her brand to the world. Her YouTube channel gives entrepreneurs and business owners the knowledge on how to leverage the power of video without spending a lot of money and time. “So many of us undervalue what we have to offer and we think what we know is way more basic than what anyone else knows and the truth is, what you know is worth it. You have something valuable to offer right now and the best way to start is to start simple.” Amanda highlighted that the keys to dominating locally are found in first conquering self-doubt and then staying consistent and simple. Most people are afraid and insecure that they get paralysis to start."So many of us undervalue what we have to offer and we think what we know is way more basic than what anyone else knows and the truth is, what you know is worth it. You have something valuable to offer right now and the best way to start is to start simple."

5. Stopping the Scroll Braxton Manley is the Co-Founder and CEO of Braxley Bands. What began as a class project in 2017 with a $20 budget has since generated over $200,000 in monthly online sales. He uses special functions on various graphic designing apps to make you stop scrolling your feed and pay attention to his product. “This is literally the easiest time EVER in history to create effective ad content.” Braxton's tips on how to stop the scroll kinda changed the game for me. He encouraged artists to use color but for it not to be messy, keep it weird by having a little bit of sarcastic tone and attitude, use movement, don't try so hard, pack it with tons of value, and add cute animals because everyone loves cute animals. There are tons of apps that we can download and use on our phone and that literally makes it "the easiest time ever in history to create effective ad content."

6. Influencer Marketing Jane Ko has a passion for supporting small startups. Austin’s top food and travel blogger has recommended some of the hottest restaurants and vacation getaways since 2010. She also has written a book (which I'm holding) called "Koko's Guide to Austin." This influencer has worked with various big-name companies and products and has been featured in O Magazine, the New York Times and many more. Ko has been voted Austin’s best local blogger by the Austin Chronicle.

“ Companies will spend an estimated 8.5 billion on influencer marketing and a projected 15 billion by 2022." Your brand should represent something in particular and it should be something your audience you know will care about. Being true to what you believe is a big deal. Ko stated, "If I'm not big into lifting weights I'm not going to endorse your protein powder product," it's not her brand and it would be fake to her audience. Companies will spend an estimated 8.5 billion on influencer marketing and a projected 15 billion by 2022. My takeaway is that some companies will do anything to tap into the living rooms of your large audience for extra money, but make sure to not compromise your brand for a check.Do you have a design in mind for your blog? Whether you prefer a trendy postcard look or you’re going for a more editorial style blog - there’s a stunning layout for everyone.

#socialmedia #smwatx #influencermarketing