Happy Social Media Week, Chicago!
For those who may have missed the memo, industry leaders are meeting right in our own backyard this week to discuss, explore, analyze, and dissect the current social media environment. Influencers and speakers from top brands like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and yes, Gossip Genie (!!!) will all be sharing their knowledge with those eager to listen and learn. Overall, this event provides us – particularly social media nerds like myself – with an endless well of thought-provoking conversation about how to improve our content in the now as well as the opportunity to collectively ponder where social media is heading in the future.
Our very own Genie, Taryn, will be taking on #SMWChicago tomorrow to discuss best practices when it comes to photos and videos on social (everyone’s favorite!). If you’d like to check out her session, there’s still time to snag a ticket here.
So far, I have been keeping up with the event by closely monitoring its hashtag, #SMWChicago. This feed is the best place to receive panel highlights, insightful quotes, and photos from the event. While reading through the tweets, I found a few that stood out to me among the rest.
Main Takeaway: your customers are looking at your pages so make it count!
So many brands view social as an item to check off their to-do list when in reality, it requires a deep understanding of what works and what doesn’t to be effective. This understanding could be the deciding factor in whether you close the deal or not.
Main Takeaway: all of your social media content should work toward accomplishing the same goal – sharing what honestly sets your brand apart from the rest.
When competition in a market is fierce, you need to provide customers with a valid reason to choose your company over the other guys. Social media is a great way to communicate this message to your target audience and get clients through the door (or for our online business friends, through the checkout page!).
Main Takeaway: make your product or service a must-have, not a want.
When your business provides something amazing, the recommendations and chatter come naturally. People love talking about the products they’re digging with their family and friends so they can experience its benefits as well.
For more updates on this event, feel free to follow me on Twitter: @KristinaKnap! I’ll be retweeting the best content coming out of the panels and discussions as well as adding my own two sense.
