Two TSL team members hopped a plane last week, traveling to Atlanta for the 2017 Social Shake Up Show. Account Managers Alli Kahle and Kelsey Orthaus made the trip to network, gain insights, identify pain points, and see what the industry’s sharpest minds offered to take on social media’s most pressing issues.
From Facebook advertising to audience targeting to crisis management, pain points, ideas, and case studies flew from all corners of the event. As with any conference, networking was a focal point for many attendees.
The round-table discussions provided the perfect setting to dive into struggles and generate a deeper connection than the “Hello, I’m so-and-so, from that place you haven’t heard of yet.” The keynotes were insightful and highlighted both tried-and-true tactics and emerging trends alike, and discussed practices could be applied by any brand, regardless of size, location, or industry.
Listing every takeaway would be more of a chore than enjoyable reading, so we cut the list down to our top-five “Shakeaways”. Let’s dig in.

5 Takeaways From #ShakeUpShow

1. Influencers are influencers, no matter how small. Influencer marketing has grown in popularity in recent months, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. When brands and marketers hear the word “influencer”, however, their minds immediately leap to A-list celebrities and the price tag that comes with that type of relationship.
Today’s social landscape is shaped by engagement, and often times, A-listers’ raw number of engagements are high. However, the rate at which they attract those engagements is dismally low. Conversely, there are thousands upon thousands of individuals that hold followings that can range from 500 to 50,000 and boast astronomic engagement rates based on audience interaction, conversation, and most importantly, trust. By identifying micro-influencers who align with your brand and establishing a relationship on social, those traits of engagement are immediately transferred to your brand from the individual and their followers, leading to a spike in engagement and following for your brand.
Still need convincing? We’ve leveraged micro-influencers to grow audiences over 275% in less than 6 months. Also, these relationships rarely cost more than a free product or two.
2. The world doesn’t buy products. People buy products. It isn’t enough, anymore, to throw money behind a post and show it to the world. Brands need to envision a theoretical person that will buy the product based on the ad, know their likes and dislikes, their schedule, and their lifestyle, and then develop a targeting strategy around that person.
3. Psychographics over demographics. In 2017, the consumer world is more diverse than ever. By demographics, the following should create a fairly robust targeting strategy:
Male. Born in the UK. Married twice. Three children.
Sounds pretty solid, right? It is. At least until you realize that both Prince Charles of Wales and Ozzie Osbourne both meet the above criteria. My guess is that a brand isn’t looking to hit both individuals with the same ad.
Psychographics delve deeper. Psychographics get into the mindset of a given consumer, are more interest- and value-driven, and provide a better overall picture of the type of person you brand is looking to find. You know what the old adage says about books and their covers. Don’t judge ‘em.
4. Measure. Every platform, whether it be Google, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, offers their own measurement system. This has been hotly contested across the advertising industry, with key personnel voicing their concerns and calling for a uniform measurement system. To create order out of the chaos, some major brands are creating their own in-house measurements that are applicable across all platforms. These custom benchmarks are a reflection of self-identified KPIs that are most important in accomplishing a brand’s objectives.
Brand tip: Identify your target outcome, weight possible results that create a positive or negative value towards your target outcome, sum up the results, and develop a benchmark that is specific to your brand, your objectives, and your campaigns.
5. “Be humble, and be ready to fumble.” No brand can or should expect to avoid conflict every day of the week. No matter the size or predictability of a crisis or audience backlash, brands need to have a plan, strategy, or framework in place. They need to know who is involved in the plan’s execution, how long it takes to execute that plan, and how to get the word out in as efficient a manner as possible.
A big thank you to Social Media Today and PR News for all their work in pulling together this great event. See you next year!