March Madness here at Stukent contains much more than putting together brackets and waiting to see who the national champ will be.
We have a competition of our very own!
Every March, we compete as a sales team for the “March Madness Champion” title. We work a little harder and stay a little longer so we can reach our goal.
This March, we held an internal sales competition with the winner getting an all-expense paid trip to the Social Media Marketing World Conference in San Diego! Everyone was so excited.
I hadn’t worked for Stukent very long, so I thought it would be cool to win. I don’t know too much about social media marketing, so what better place to soak up everything than at SMMW2016?
After a lot of hours, tears, and hard work, I won the competition! Below you’ll find a quick recap and my top five takeaways from the conference.
1 – 2016 is the Year of Live Video
According to Social Media Marketing World, 2016 is the year of live video.
Video marketing has become more important over the past few years, and now the idea of live video is exploding.
Customers are drawn to the authenticity of businesses, and live video feeds help to bring that out. The authenticity helps them connect to the company, product, or individual.
Providing live video with participatory content can help keep viewers engaged and inspired to take action. Live video can be very valuable, but at the conference they made it clear that we need to “Provide video in real time at the right time.”
2 – Encourage Customers to do Things for YOU
There are so many places to post ads, videos, photos, and more.
But is the act of posting on social media enough?
We have to make content that invites viewers to ACT. It could be as simple as asking them to “Like” a page or the ad could ask viewers to sign up for something.
Whatever your call to action may be, you need to get your product/services out there. You need EXPOSURE.
Encouraging customers to help you gain exposure is one of the best ways to get yourself out there.
3 – Snapchat – Who Knew?
Snapchat.
What do you think of when you hear that word? I automatically think of teenagers taking strange pictures of themselves and sending them to their friends.
At the SMMW 2016 conference, I learned it can be much more.
Chocolate Johnny, a chocolate maker in Australia, uses Snapchat to connect with his customers. Every day he posts pictures, “how to” videos, daily deals, and more on the app. People get so excited to see what Chocolate Johnny will post today!
He says,
“I make my viewers feel like they are part of my business.”
How can YOU make your viewers feel they are part of your business? How can you use Snapchat to help your business grow?
4 – Companies are succeeding with Facebook – How?
Mari Smith is a Scottish- Canadian Social Media Pro. She spoke to us about how integrating Facebook trends can help your business grow.
The top 3 priorities of Facebook are:
- Capitalizing on the shift to MOBILE
- Growing the number of marketers using paid Ad products
- Making ads more relevant AND effective
These priorities will create more traffic on Facebook, which in turn will expose more viewers to your ads, videos, and pages.
With the use of Facebook’s new live video, combined with their other resources, it is a great place to generate a lot of traffic for your business.
5 – Networking is Everything
I went to the SMMW 2016 conference all by myself – and I was a bit nervous at first!
I didn’t know anyone there, and I wondered who I would meet and what I would learn. They had all of these “networking” breaks, and I wasn’t quite sure what to think of those.
Who was I supposed to talk to? I am so young and new into the marketing scene – would they even take me seriously? I made a goal to be as outgoing as I could be during these breaks, and it went great!
I was able to connect with many different professors, entrepreneurs, and industry experts who were very interested in what Stukent has to offer. We were able to exchange info, and I hope to learn from each of them.
[line]SMMW2016 turned out to be a great experience. I was able to learn the up and coming social media marketing trends, meet social media experts, and make lots of connections. I met Derral Eaves, the creator of the “Squatty Potty” video. I’m his biggest fan!
I had lunch with Marybeth McCabe, who is an author of one of Stukent’s new digital textbooks. She even asked to take a selfie with me, and we made a live video feed! SMM2016 was a blast. Can’t wait to apply all I have learned!