On Wednesday, September 17, a group of social media experts and enthusiasts gathered in western Minnesota for the Social Media Rockstars Event. The Social Lights were there to be a part of the action, and it was a day packed full of dynamic presenters, social learning, and fun!
Jason Falls kicked off the day with a keynote presentation including a Six Point Blueprint to Digital Marketing success. He made the point that we keep asking the same questions about social media and digital marketing when we already have the answers, and they’re not going to change.
The main points of his Six Point Blueprint are:
1. Know your audience
Are you aiming toward the relevance bullseye? Knowing your audience helps you develop a surefire way to get there.
2. Search is still your number 1 priority
Social media engagement is great, but search is imperative. People must be able to find you and discover more about what you do.
3. Social and PR elevate search
Use social to let search engines see that you’re relevant and should show up in the top results.
4. Without content you don’t exist
Your job with content is to make people say “Holy smokes!” Without content, there is nothing for search engines to point to.
5. Measure for the future, not the past
Make measurement about where you want to go, not where you’ve been. Make it about informing, not performing.
6. There is no easy button
Stop looking for one and get to work! You have all the tools you need to go forth and be a social media rockstar.
Jason put together a great blueprint for success, and even offered a few bourbon recommendations for the crowd! After an inspiring first hour, it was time for a quick break and then Lee Odden’s thoughts on blogging.
Minnesota native Lee Odden knows blogging, because he built his blog from the ground up. After a poem describing his journey in the blogging world, he offered wisdom about how blogging can be a serious part of growing your business. These main takeaways are invaluable for anyone considering a blog for personal or business purposes. Did you know that 80% of company blogs never publish more than five posts? — Don’t be that blog!
Odden offered many more tips for new and advanced bloggers alike. Here’s three of them:
1. Stand for something! Figure out what you stand for, and be specific. Focus attracts attention and builds authority. You need to be the best answer for the questions your customer or client is asking.
2. Know your customer. (Similar to Jason’s “Know your audience.” This is a big one!) Empathy for your customer drives relevance in your content.
3. Great content isn’t great until it is discovered, consumed, and shared.
For more insights from Lee Odden, check out our blog post from CMTP 2013!
The two main ideas that almost all presenters touched on were relevance of content and knowing your audience. These two ideas go hand in hand when creating social content and deciding what to amplify.
We came back to Minneapolis with a ton of food for thought and inspiration for content and social strategy! Thanks to the organizers and sponsors of the Social Media Rockstar Event. We had a blast, rock on!
