For one week in February, social media aficionados gather for an annual meeting-of-the-minds known as Social Media Week. The Highline Stages in New York City’s Meatpacking District hosts panels, master classes, and fireside chats featuring some of the brightest folks in the digital world.
For four jam-packed days, attendees hear from marketers, data analysts, journalists, content creators, influencers and individuals who have exciting stories to share. The theme of this year’s Social Media Week, Reimagining Human Connectivity, was the starting point for many of the panel discussions and events. In addition to the over-aching focus, consistent ideas seemed to pop up in many different discussions.
Here are the five key themes that emerged from my experience at Social Media Week New York:
- Think mobile.
If your brand’s content isn’t crafted with mobile in mind, you are wasting your time (and money!) on its development. With consumers always on the go, ensure your content can keep up. - Provide value.
Posts such as “Like this post if you like Friday!” aren’t good enough to cut through the noise and really make a brand stand out on social. Jan Rezab, CEO and co-founder of socialbakers, a social media analytics platform, said that brands share too much content. On average, he sees 110 tweets per month per brand. Putting out less content of better quality will pay off for brands. One tip to ensure you’re providing value comes from Jonathan Perelman, vice president of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures: Instead of asking “What’s in it for me?” before developing content, producers should ask, “What’s in it for them?” - Use social platforms as they are designed to be used.
Take a look at why users are on those platforms and make sure your content fits into that role. For example, Instagram is a photo- and video-sharing platform. However, it’s a community and a platform to share beautiful and unique photos – not just a place to post a still from one of your video ad campaigns. - Listen to your community.
Instead of focusing on vanity metrics such as number of page likes, focus on engagement. What did people in your community choose to comment on or share? One of the thoughts that resonated with me the most falls under social listening and measurement. Avoid the trap of focusing on the good metrics. If your account lost followers, was it attributed to one post? Was it a certain time of day? What was going on in the world when you shared that post? Really understanding these “negative” metrics can help you develop content that resonates with your audience. - Dive into video.
With discovery moving from places like Google and YouTube to places like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, video will play a large role. Jonathan Perelman of BuzzFeed already sees marketers and content producers moving away from YouTube to Facebook and Twitter native video – a trend that he doesn’t see stopping any time soon.
Were you at #SMWNYC? What stood out the most to you?