#CSMNY Wrap Up: Top 5 Takeaways From Industry Leaders

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The Incite Group’s Corporate Social Media Summit (#CSMNY) proved to be a fascinating experience for those who were able to make it. The two-day conference became a social media crash course of sorts, with marketing leaders across a range of companies sharing their views on social and the ways in which their companies have capitalized on it.

It was equally interesting to see that even though the companies were so different- spanning the fields of finance, technology, television, editorial – they all found common ground on social. Everyone could agree that no matter the brand, social has to be a top priority. It can no longer be seen as a minor addition to marketing efforts; instead, it has proven worthy of a spot at the center of a company’s marketing strategy. Below are five of the major takeaways from CSMNY:

1. Social Listening Has Huge Value for Brands:

Social listening is the act of monitoring and evaluating what is being said about a brand or company online. Brands can then use that information to develop effective content strategies for their target audiences. By listening for mentions or discussions, brands can gauge how customers are feeling and make the necessary improvements to their marketing messages and/or their products.

As Head of Marketing for The Onion,  Joe Fullman digs a bit deeper into how they try to optimize their social efforts internally by being sure they’re maximizing their reach one channel at a time:

2. Social Media is No Longer Exclusively a Marketing Tool

Social media has evolved into a bonafide customer experience channel. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook have now taken on a customer service role and this development was heavily referenced at the conference. Jeff Lesser, Twitter’s Head of Social Customer Service, said customer service is the top reason why people follow brands on Twitter. Using social for customer care provides users with personalized service and is a great opportunity for brands to improve their image.

In our interview with VIP of Clarabridge Sid Banerjee, he detailed how he views the future of social playing a major role in customer service for brands. Learn more in the short video below:

3. Don’t Forget the “Social” in Social Media

Social media can seem like a formidable entity but it’s important to remember that at its heart, we’re still dealing with real people. It is a person-to-person interaction and should be treated as such. Tim Goudie of Coca Cola, incited the crowd to “Stop selling and start telling.” Goudie said brands should use social media as way to build personal connections with followers.

4. Brands have a responsibility to react to negative responses to their posts

The rise of social media has placed brands in a vulnerable position, exposing them to the criticism and discontent of the Twittersphere. Jenny Wolfram, CEO of Brand Bastion, says brands need to react to harmful posts on their properties. “Hate speech, trolling, scam, racist comments, and threats on your page are considered part of your responsibility,” according to Wolfram. She cautioned, “Make sure to protect your fans in order to protect your brand.”

5. Snapchat May be Hot Right Now, But Brands Still Haven’t Mastered it Quite Yet

Twitter dominated the conversation at CSMNY. Snapchat was noticeable – if only from its abject absence in discussion at the conference. The companies in attendance – spanning a wide range of industries – all seemed to be staying away from Snapchat. Twitter seems to be the customer care channel of choice with Facebook snagging second place. Brands may not yet understand how to utilize the messaging app for customer service but with Snapchat’s meteoric rise, they may want to pay closer attention to this platform.

To check out more from Incite Group’s Corporate Social Media Summit, follow @smxplorer and see what others had to say on Twitter via #CSMNY

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12 PR Blogs Your Competitors Are Reading (And 3 They Don’t Yet Know About)

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We barely have time to tailor every one of our PR messages by channel and…
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4 Ways Visual Content Improves Social Media Results

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Want better engagement for your social media campaigns? Wondering how visual content can help? Using visual content to support your messaging makes it easier to grab your audience’s attention. In this article, you’ll discover how visual content can support your social media marketing. #1: Drive Interest and Clicks With Simple Imagery Your social media followers are [...]

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The Twitter Tactics of Hillary and Donald

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“Delete your account.” With this simple three word tweet late last week, it could be argued that presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, officially brought the battleground for the White House to Twitter. The Twittersphere took notice – making this Mrs. Clinton’s most favorited tweet of all time.

With the evolution of social media, there has been a shift in the way that politicians communicate with each other, and people can now easily follow the live action on Twitter. Hashtags and retweets have become some of the most valuable marketing campaign currency. However this isn’t the first time a newly evolved medium has had a strong hand in the presidential election.

The Medium Becomes the Message

In the 1920s and 30s, radio literally gave political candidates a voice, where speaking skills and speeches were judged right from the living rooms of America.  Franklin Roosevelt mastered this art through his fireside chats that engaged the nation.

In the 1960s, television put a face to the voices of politicians.  In many regards, this was the birth of the modern political campaign. John Kennedy harnessed the new medium to appeal to the young, popular culture which played a significant role in his victory over Richard Nixon.

Clinton’s Twitter Evolution

Early on in Clinton’s current campaign, she was very scripted and predictable in her Twitter posts, but her social media presence has evolved into a broad and appealing platform targeted toward a younger audience. Mrs. Clinton’s Twitter account has become increasingly responsive and agile, responding to live issues and news as well as the rhetoric of her presumptive presidential rival, Donald Trump.

While her three word tweet may appear to be an aggressive command, it does have some cultural history behind it. The phrase “delete your account” has been in the “Black Twitter” community for some time now, and is used as an insult. Although this tweet is funny, it can also be interpreted as a sign of Clinton’s attempt to reach young black voters in a more casual way.

Since joining the Twitter community in 2013, Clinton has gained almost 7 million followers. It has been noted that Hillary has a staff of dozens producing original content, including news stories, professional video, all managed by an audience development team.

The Don Of Twitter

By comparison, Donald Trump has been an active Twitter user since 2009 and has over 9 million followers. His Twitter dexterity has been a wide topic of conversation throughout the 2016 election. Trump’s impulsive and uncensored personality is a perfect fit for this medium.

Multiple times a day he responds to rumors, comments on media topics, and engages with his legion of followers. He’s often swift to respond to developing news (and also first to provoke, rather than inform). With enough content and continuous posts, he has demonstrated a unique ability to control a large part of the electoral conversation.

The insults are sure to get nastier as November 8^th approaches, and social media has provided us a front row seat to evaluate the tactics of politicians on Twitter. Who knows – in a future campaign maybe we’ll be casting our votes from the platform as well.

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Why Interactive Content Matters and How to Get Started Today

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Here’s a quick math problem: if online advertising began in 1993 and there are over 1 billion websites today, how many online advertisements (an industry that in fifteen years hadn’t innovated past blinking banner ads) are floating around click-less, user-less, and money-less? The answer, a lot.

Luckily 2012 arrived, and with it a refreshing alternative to ordinary advertising straightforwardly dubbed interactive content. It includes: those addicting personality quizzes that rightfully guessed you’re such a Khalessi, polls about random things you couldn’t care less about but still are curious enough to click on anyway, community-ranked listicles of the cutest cat videos this year, and, well, you get the idea. It’s designed to pull you in, grab your attention, and keep you on the site long enough that you’ll purchase something.

Truly, interactive content is a win-win-win for publishers, brands, and users. Let’s see why:

Here’s Why It Matters

It shouldn’t be surprising that something interactive (which is literally a synonym for engaging) is more promising than something static, especially when it comes to brand and publisher marketing. In offering enhanced user experiences, an option for high shareability, and more relevant metrics, interactive content is positioned to overtake static advertisements as the main form of monetization for brands and publishers.

A Better User Experience

If users had it their way, they’d get rid of advertisements and content monetization practices all together. (In fact, they nearly have. I’m looking at you, AdBlock.) But, if brands and publishers listened to users’ concerns — that advertising practices have gotten out of hand — they’d recognize that something has got to change: user experience.

And, interactive content solves just that. It’s entertaining, enjoyable, engaging, and most importantly, subtle. This means users are less likely to shut their browser in annoyance and more likely to continue clicking through the site.

Better Shareability

Today, publishers and brands want one thing: to go viral. It’s simple, more shares, more money. Interactive content has just the right characteristics for increased shareability, it’s amusing, enticing, click-worthy, unique, and designed with the user in mind. It’s much easier for interactive content to get massive shares because it reaches into the fundamental reason people share things in the first place: It captivates them.

Think about show-and-tell from your childhood: would you be more likely to bring in a print magazine advertisement to class or your new Nintendo GameBoy?

More Relevant Metrics

Sure, static advertisements provide brands and publishers with great insights like click-through rates, bounce rates, page views, unique visitors etc. But interactive content as a form of advertising offers all this plus comments, shares, likes, and completion rates. This way, marketers can better pinpoint and understand how and why their interactive content is either succeeding or failing. If, for example, click-through rates on an advertisement are low but there is no indication as to why, how is a brand or publisher going to learn for next time? In adding a social element, the additional metrics that come with interactive content enables the marketer to tweak their content for improvement in the future.

Let’s Get Interactive 

Of course, editorial content as a form of online advertising is nothing new — but that’s just the problem. The digital media world moves fast, after all. If marketers want to keep up with the trends and hold onto the attention of their consumers, they need to constantly innovate their marketing and advertising techniques.

Here are three tips to keep in mind before creating your first piece of interactive content.

1. Outline Your Objectives

First, like before any marketing campaign, it’s essential to outline your objectives and goals.

For example, are you content to build brand awareness, increase conversions, educate potential consumers, or purely entertain? Is it more important that your interactive content receive a higher engagement rate or a longer play time? Who is your target audience — women from New York consuming content on their iPads or teenage boys living on the West Coast with fingers glued to their smartphones?

Finally, you need to think about where you’ll distribute it: on your website, on social channels, or on a third-party site. If you plan to distribute the interactive content via social channels, then virality is the most important. If you intend to feature it on your website, then the interactive options should discourage users from being led to external sites.

2. TL;DR

Now that you’ve outlined your objectives and goals, it’ll be easier to keep your interactive content concise and focused. Today, our attention spans are so short that saying an article is too long to read really isn’t an insult anymore. It’s important to keep your interactive content super targeted, never straying from what the title copy promises.

But, by creating interactive content such as polls, quizzes, and video quizzes, content not only stays hyper-focused, quick, and to the point, but it also gives the viewer complete power to take control of their experience. Thus, marketers can be sure that their audience — short attention span and all — is fully engaged throughout.

Here, for instance, Nutella and the Food Network partnered to create an Apester poll — this way, users are engaged and more likely to read through, enjoy, and absorb the rest of the content. The poll received nearly 17,000 engagements with a double-digit click-through-rate and increased time-on-site.

3. A Strong Call To Action

If a video plays but it lacks a clear call-to-action, did it make an impact? Obviously not.

In any good blog post or landing page, the text will encourage page visitors to take some sort of action, like download a white paper or sign up for a free trial. Well, successful interactive content is no different — it must feature a strong CTA to achieve the goals and objectives you previously outlined.

Remember, CTAs can be strategically placed during any point, not just at the end. This is the great thing about interactive content, you can manipulate it to build tension and place the CTAs accordingly.

For example, here, the content creator used Mapme to create a story by combining maps with images, videos, and text. In a story outlining the best vegetarian restaurants in Berlin, the content creator set custom CTAs to ensure maximum conversion.

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Facebook Ad Examples That Convert

Influencer Marketing: What You Need to Know to Get Started

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We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #309

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Snapchat overtakes Twitter in the social media race
If you’re not on Snapchat yet, it’s time to get some lessons from your little brother because the mobile messaging service is showing no signs of slowing down. In just four years, Snapchat has acquired more users than Twitter managed in 10, according to an unnamed source from within the company. The mysterious informant claimed 150m people use Snapchat every day, compared to Twitter’s 140 million.

News reach on Facebook down by 42 per cent
Already reeling from plummeting advertising revenues, the news industry has suffered a dramatic drop in reach on Facebook since January. SocialFlow, a platform used by publishers to post stories to social platforms, reported that despite an increase in the number of news stories published, their total combined reach fell by 42%. SocialFlow CEO Jim Anderson put the drop down to changes in Facebook’s algorithm. Thanks Jim!

Instagram rolls out news feed to all users…
Instagram is rolling out a new algorithm that ranks posts in the order of the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post. The picture sharing service claims people miss up-to 70% of content under the older, chronological format.

…and announces new tools to allow the creation of business profiles
Conveniently for any business worried the new algorithm could damage their visibility, Instagram has also launched free insights tools and the ability to turn posts into ads. Instagram says it consulted with hundreds of businesses who asked for better ways to stand out and understand their existing and potential customers.

Snapchat revamps Discover to attract news publishers…
Perhaps beleaguered news organisations should ditch Facebook altogether and invest in Snapchat. The platform is preparing a redesign to its Discover pages which will make it resemble a magazine. The idea is to draw more users into the profitable Discover page. Discover, which launched more than a year ago, already plays home to around 20 publishers including Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, ESPN and Vox.

…and overhauls Live Stories
Mid June will see a redesign of Snapchat Live Stories – the part of the platform that enables brands to share exclusive coverage of special events like the Super Bowl, Oscars, and fashion shows. Later this month Snapchat will merge it with Discoveries to create a single content experience. Snapchat is also planning to introduce a subscription feature so users can have a say in what content is more visible to them.

Meanwhile, Twitter is launching Promoted Tweet Carousel…
Twitter is launching a new advertising format that lets users swipe through photos, video or text. In a blog post announcing the launch, Twitter Revenue product manager Andrew Bragdon said the feature allowed brands to include visually appealing material in certain tweets while featuring pricing and information in others.

…and hosting 360 degree ads for the NBA Championship Series
Samsung and the NBA Championships have teamed up with Twitter to share exclusive behind the scenes footage in 360 degree format. Using the Samsung Gear 360 camera, the team will shoot pre-game warm-ups and shooting, hallway entrances, captain meetings and footage from the floor.  

L’Oreal will do your eyeliner for free… but only on Snapchat
Can’t be bothered to do your makeup? Well, provided you don’t need to be seen in real life, L’Oreal will do it for you. The brand is launching a Snapchat lens this weekend to promote its Infallible Silkissime eyeliner. The lens will apply cats-eye liner, mascara, foundation, blush and lip colour to your snaps – but sadly it isn’t available IRL yet. 

Hotel group launches range of Snapchat lenses
Hospitality company Starwood is offering branded geofilters to its loyalty customers at 650 hotels across the US, UK and Canada. The company, which owns the Westin and Sheraton brands, has created filters for different types of property, with digital postcards saying ‘Hello from…’ and the somewhat counterproductive ‘Do Not Disturb’. There are also filters featuring cocktails or cameras to enable users to share beach views or other hotel highlights.

Avocado bores rejoice – there’s an emoji for that
Anyone consumed with declaring their avocado obsession to the world will now able to do so in emoji form. The overhyped squashy fruit joins bacon, gorillas and an arm taking a selfie in a list of newly approved emojis released by Unicode Consortium. Sad news for safe sex campaigners though – Durex’s campaign for a #CondomEmoji sadly fell flat in the face of such stiff competition. 

Facebook Messenger goes feminist
Facebook Messenger is rolling out 1,500 new emojis in a bid to become more diverse and less sexist. The new selection will include a red haired character, female doctors, and a feature allowing users to customise skin colour. “We’re diversifying the genders to create a more balanced mix that’s more representative of our world,” Facebook said. #Thisemojican

 

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