Content Strategy: Takeaways from Social Media Marketing World 2016

April 25, 2016 by

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Content Strategy: Takeaways From Social Media Marketing World 2016

Content Strategy is Episode 70 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan.

Frank Kenny has twice been a guest on the show. This week he graciously interviews me to discover and share the top takeaways from Social Media Marketing World 2016 hosted in San Diego, CA last week.

The key was having a strategy and following it, and that is also my top takeaway from the event.

Content strategy isn’t sexy, but it is indeed what everyone was talking about.

Here are a couple of examples from sessions presenters.

Stephanie Sammons talked about tilting your LinkedIn profile to the audience you are trying to reach today. In her own profile, she uses phrases like Texas gal and yogi to show some personality that makes her stand out on what many consider the least interesting social media channel.

And she gave examples of business she has landed with this strategy to back it up. So, don’t be afraid to test new profile strategies.

Shaun McBride (Shonduras on SnapChat) is exactly what you would expect from a SnapChat expert. He’s a snowboarding, surfer dude kind of guy that knows how to tell stories with short videos that will make you laugh out loud. His simple video strategy follows a theme: Will This Work?

He has built a massive SnapChat audience that wants to find out if his next crazy project will work.

If you are curious, the hot social channels nowadays are SnapChat, LinkedIn, Facebook, email, podcasting, and live video such as Blab and Facebook Live. A valid strategy with any of these channels should ideally provide a shift (or tilt) that gets you noticed when others are playing it safe.

And that brings us to a proven strategy that anyone can use.

Take The 3% Challenge

Mark Schaefer, the author of The Tao of Twitter and The Content Code, gave the closing keynote at Social Media Marketing World. He delivered an entertaining and informative presentation that challenged the audience to take the 3% content strategy challenge.

Most of us have a core group that loves us. They are the ones that engage with and share our content because we’ve earned their trust. Our challenge is to focus on this segment that is probably 2% of our subscribers and followers and grow it to 3%.

If you get there, refocus and go for 4%. That’s been my commitment with my weekly newsletter from day one, and it’s why I consider it my primary channel. Feel free to steal my strategy. Here it is.

Choose one channel to be your proving ground, the place where you push the limits to make new discoveries for that small segment of your audience that truly loves and appreciates your work.

In addition to being a source of valuable content, this is the channel that always gets 100% of your heart and soul, regardless of other commitments, and fuels the larger body of work that defines your brand.

Good luck with yours.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on content strategy. Meet me over on Twitter to take the conversation further.

Key Take-Aways

  • Thanks to Frank Kenny for helping to put this podcast together. You can learn more about his work with local Chambers of Commerce at FrankJKenny.com
  • While SnapChat was the darling of the event, you may be surprised to learn that all four of the LinkedIn sessions I attended with Stephanie Sammons, Viveka von Rosen, Melonie Dodaro, Jason Miller and Alex Rynne were completely full. This is a reminder that for many businesses LinkedIn is considered an essential social media channel.
  • Peg Fitzpatrick offered a couple of resources for upgrading your images. They are DesignFeed.io for resizing images for the social media channels and RelayThat.com for quickly and easily creating cool graphics.
  • Syed Balkhi shared AnswerThePublic.com for learning what people want to learn more about so that you can create content that addresses relevant issues. Note: When using it you’ll want to change the country from UK to US, or whatever is most relevant for your search.
  • You can still buy a virtual pass to access to 140+ Social Media Marketing World session recordings and slides by going here.

How to subscribe to This Old New Business podcast

Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
You can also subscribe via Stitcher.

Help us Spread the Word

If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to iTunes or Stitcher to leave a rating, write a review, or subscribe.

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps organizations use media to create exceptional customer experiences that drive business growth in a digital, social and global world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+

Content Movement: How to Get Your Share of the Conversation

August 31, 2015 by

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Content Movement: How to Get Your Share of the Conversation

This is Episode 50 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan.

In this episode Mark Schaefer shares why it’s necessary to build an audience of alpha’s, those people that have a strong connection to you and your content. These advocates believe in you, and that emotional or feeling connection compels them to consistently share your content.

Mark is a globally recognized author, speaker, educator, and a business consultant who blogs at {grow.} In addition to teaching graduate marketing classes at Rutgers University, Mark has written five bestselling books, including the Tao of Twitter (the #1 book on Twitter in the world), Return on Influence, and most recently, The Content Code: Six Essential Strategies for Igniting Your Content, Your Marketing, and Your Business.

Mark also studied under legendary business management consultant Peter Drucker. This is why top busineses and universities listen to Mark, so maybe you should too.

Content Movement: How to Get Your Share of the Conversation

Content Movement Sparks Conversations

In content marketing circles we often hear about sharing, but what does that mean in practical terms?

Mark Schaefer explains that content has to flow and move around in order to spark new conversations. Thus, it’s meaningless to have thousands of social media followers if they are not taking action to give your content movement.

In fact, Schaefer notes that Klout scores are really an indication of people’s ability to create content movement. Those conversations may be large or small, with small being significantly better than not at all.

This is why Mark Schaefer suggests making a list of your alphas, the people that believe in you so much they will share everything, even if they have yet had the opportunity to consumer it themselves.

By any measure, great content is the table stakes for playing in this game. When you think of content as your marketing “product,” it’s clear you don’t want to be in love with it as much as those that consume it.

Be in love with the customers and influencers, which essentially are the “market” that uses your content to spark productive conversations.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on content movement? Meet me over on Twitter to take the conversation further.

Lighting Round Tips and Advice

Mark’s Top Sales or Marketing Advice – Especially for small business, treat people online as you would offline. Engage with people in more human ways, such as helping them, as opposed to selling them. Let’s the sales be a byproduct of genuine interaction.

His Favorite Productivity Tip – Focus and discipline. Focus on the two or three things most important to your business brand that generate profits, either directly or indirectly, such as creating great content.

A Quote that has Inspired Mark’s Success – “A business is marketing and innovation. Everything else is overhead.”  – Peter Drucker. Mark’s take on this is that marketing has to be central to your business. Put another way, you cannot have a business without customers, and you cannot have customers without marketing.

Key Take-Aways

  • You can learn more about Mark at businessesgrow.com, where you will find his blog {grow}. If you make a comment he promises to reply. Also, check out his training courses and The Marketing Companion podcast.
  • Grab a copy of the Content Code, and also consider combining it with a copy of the Tao of Twitter. Both are packed full of practical ideas and useful lists, including BADASS, the six elements of the Content Code: 
    • B – Brand Development
    • A – Audience and Influencers
    • D – Distribution and promotion
    • A – Authority
    • S – Shareability
    • S – Social proof and social signals

How to subscribe to This Old New Business podcast

Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
You can also subscribe via Stitcher.

Help us Spread the Word

If you enjoyed this episode of This Old New Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes or Stitcher to leave a rating, write a review, or subscribe.

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+

How to Write an Introduction That Engages Any Audience

April 4, 2014 by

I recently had the pleasure of helping other speakers as a track leader for Social Media Marketing World. It was an interesting experience for me because typically I am the speaker, so in this situation I was assuming the role of those that help me to look good in front of an audience. My primary […]

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