Some Top ‘Shakeaways’ From the 2017 Social Shake-Up
By: Seth Arenstein
May 24, 2017
Usually it’s the Twitter bird when you think of ornithology and social media. That wasn’t quite the case at one of the final sessions of the sold-out 2017 Social Shake-Up Show Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta. Instead the bird theme centered on birds of a feather, as in we all work in social, what can we learn from each other? As such, attendees were seated at tables to discuss a slew of social topics with designated leaders; attendees then switched tables every 20 minutes. The session lasted about one hour.
The key takeaways, or “shakeaways,” from the tables present a good snapshot of what is on the minds of Shake-Up attendees. Below, briefly, are some of the takeaways from the tables and the subject leaders:
Video: The main question here was the optimal length of video. The consensus was that the best length is as long as the video is interesting to your audience. And the first 3 seconds are critical: Avoid having branding there and have a human face making eye contact with the audience. Longer video length is OK when you are doing live streaming. (Robin Selvy, audience development director, Industry Dive)
Social Media Analytics: There’s so much data, it’s important to winnow down the metrics that best fit the needs your brand wants to measure. (Christine Carzo, marketing manager, Digimind)
Crisis Management: Crises can range from small to large, but all are managed best when brands have plans in place for crisis management and social media. And be aware of how you respond to people with issues as others may have similar issues and note: People likely are watching you. (Jessica Schindelar, health communication specialist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Paid Social: It’s important to know where your target is on the buying funnel; too many brands are failing to be cognizant of this when boosting content. (Blair Broussard, SVP, ARPR)
Facebook: Testing your Facebook page is key; test the optimal time(s) of day for optimal posting; also test the content, photos and videos that work best. (Skye Estroff, digital specialist, Taste of Atlanta)
Snapchat: Tremendous frustration at this table regarding measurement, specifically numbers of friends and how many people are viewing your stories. The other issue was being found on Snapchat. The group noted there are apps and sites that create profiles on Snapchat, such as GhostCodes and Snapdex. (Chris Strub, founder, TeamStrub.com)
Twitter: The platform is great for customer service, recruitment, social listening during a crisis and disseminating news. (Jon Silver, VP, digital director, Golin)
Instagram: There was a lot of excitement about Instagram carousels as well as features that help users repost. The group also emphasized using user generated content, which attendees said is much more relatable than brand-produced content.(Kathleen Celano, social media content supervisor, Brownstein Group)
Podcasting: The big question about podcasts: What should it be about? The consensus answer was go deep and go narrow. About half the attendees said they are conducting podcasts for personal reasons and half were doing it for business purposes. Get great guests to boost promotion. (Lee Fredriksen, owner/CEO, Hinge)
Media Relations in the Social Age: Social media managers are in need of ways to keep track of what journalists are writing about. Some of the tools they’re using include TrendKite and MuckRack. (Stephanie Proft, account and content strategist, EveryWhere)
Registration is now open for the 2018 Social Shake-Up in Atlanta.
Follow Seth: @skarenstein
