True to form, it’s known as #SMDayADL and this year saw a crowd of not only high calibre but dedicated industry professionals, fill the Bradley Forum in the Hawke Building at UniSA on 28 July 2017.
The program consisted of the following industry leaders:
- Rubina Carlson, SeaLink Travel Group
- Erica Stacey, Scout Digital Training
- Hayley Kroon, KWP!
- Jen Evison, Jennifer Evison Consulting
- Ryan Jones, Refuel Creative
- Mal Chia, SkyCity Adelaide
- Paul Gordon, NDA Law
There was a significant amount of information imparted and it’s well worth the day spent away from the desk and in a room filled with fellow hashtaggers.
‘A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding,’ Marshall McLuhan, Canadian Communications Professor.
Fantastic Metrics and Where to Find Them with Erica Stacey
Why we must be doing thorough reporting
Reporting not only avoids assumptions and justifies our roles as marketers and industry professionals but importantly it really drives strategy and validates each and every marketing activity that we undertake. Reporting is fundamental to better results; how else do we know where to point if we don’t know where we are?
‘I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts,’ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes.
Whilst your clients or organisation may have quite broad and common goals as part of the overall marketing and business plan (which might look like brand awareness, brand loyalty, increase enquiries and increase sales), it’s worthwhile incorporating some really specific goals to hang your marketing activities on. Examples of specific goals might include, reaching a totally new demographic or 5% sales increase over three months in a new city etc. When you identify your specific goals, you know exactly what marketing activities to implement and save money and time from using a scattergun approach and hoping for the best.
Make tracking specific to your strategy
Once you have got your data tracking in place you may like to incorporate your specific minimum metrics that you keep an eye on. This could include:
- community size
- quantity of updates/content
- reach/impressions
- engagement
- conversions
- top posts
- new followers/likes
- averages and trends.
Reporting this to your clients or managers/employers will demonstrate that you are measuring more than just vanity metrics and that the real value comes from interpreting what they mean and what actions you should take.
Erica’s cheat sheet advice card:
- chase the data
- look beneath the surface
- find the most relevant
- make it a habit
You can see all of the slides from Erica’s presentation here.
Influencers with Hayley Kroon
‘An influencer is someone who has a substantial following and can command an audience. They have specialized knowledge about a certain subject. They are all experts at building a brand,’ Agnes Kozera, cofounder of FameBit, an influencer-marketing platform.
It’s beneficial to use an influencer to amplify any existing sponsorships or partnerships and sharing the message.
What is important to look for when thinking about using an influencer?
Look for:
Engagement
The engagement from followers and online audience needs to be relative, not only to their content and branding but also your campaign and branding. Their engagement should be organic and varied and there should be significant new engagement which is evidence that their audience is growing and hasn’t been paid for.
Quality of followers
Bots are of no use to anyone when it comes to end sales, so make sure their followers are actual people that you can cross promote to. Use SocialBlade to help you ascertain whether someone’s audience is real and interactive.
Quality of content
Think about whether their content is something that you would like to align to your brand. Check out their main topics, relevancy, industry and suitability of their content. Check for language they use, events they attend, values they hold, other brands they have shared or talked about.
Don’t forget the important obligation that as of 1 March this year, influencers must reveal where their posts and placements are sponsored. Check out the AANA guidelines for influencers and brands that use influencers here.
Planning Your Social Media with Jen Evison
Jen stole the show with her caffeine fuelled effervesce and natural enthusiasm for the digital space was contagious.
She reminded us that rather than creating content for content’s sake (which can be frustrating, time consuming and exhausting), it’s crucial to discover— and do the necessary research— your customers’ pain points and then address them via content.
Social media is the cheapest form of advertising as opposed to direct mail, television, radio and print advertising in terms of reach. The cost for 1000 users is $2.50 whereas avenues such as direct mail is $57 for 1000 users (via Lyfe). In terms of ROI, social media is low cost and effective and should be a key consideration in your advertising strategy.
Content Hacks, Apps and Tools with Ryan Jones
Make your images and quotes pop:
Whip together a quick video on the go:
iMovie
Spark Video
Premiere Clip
Animoto
More to play with:
Hyperlapse
Directr
Prisma
Q and A with Mal Chia
He reminded us of the rule of reciprocity and that social media is very much a two way street with genuine opportunity to humanise your brand and communication channels. This is particularly useful when communicating in times of crisis. Use empathy and a more human (as opposed to corporate) response to convey urgent and crucial messages during these intense and highly charged times.
Understanding your audiences is the key to social media success and targeting everyone simply does not work. Ensure you define and narrow your target audience to suit your niche and speak directly to them. Really invest time in those people who do care about your brand, not those that don’t.
Finally, test, analyse and optimise. Magic words!
‘It’s really f*cking time consuming to do it right, which is why so many people don’t do it right,’ Mal Chia.
Social Media and the Law with Paul Gordon
Privacy Act
The Privacy Act doesn’t apply to businesses turning over less than $3million a year, unless it’s a business in the health or fitness industry or a business directly dealing with data. Make sure your privacy policy coincides within the Privacy Act.
Copyright
Copyright infringement can occur via social media livestreaming and most of the time, regramming through Instagram is contravening Copyright. Instagram has even stated this in their terms and conditions. To avoid this, you need to seek explicit written permission from the content creator or create your own content. The bad news? Yes, all memes not made by you are infringing copyright.
You’re generally okay with re-sharing content on Facebook and Twitter as they have inbuilt functions for sharing. If you’re unsure – just make your own content!
NB: obviously this is not legal advice, silly. But Paul is very approachable and knowledgeable, so don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need some legal help.
Feel like you missed out on a whole lot of job saving information? You probably did. Nevermind, there’s always next year! See you there.