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Why It Took Me Two Weeks To Send This

How do you handle this?

This blog post was meant to go live over two weeks ago. But I couldn’t send it. I didn’t know how to strike the balance in acknowledging the acts of war occurring in Ukraine while trying to move forward with “business as usual” without seeming unmoved, unsympathetic, or tone-deaf.

So I started asking others:
“How do you communicate with your audience right now?”

The responses were all over the place with some who kept emailing and posting on social media with no mention of Ukraine, while others had all but stopped their communications unless it revolved around the most recent news cycle. A few commented that it felt like we were going from crisis to crisis these days so they were adapting to this new normal.

After discovering a few thoughtful posts about “do-scrolling” (thanks, A.J.) and “hope-scrolling” (thanks, Jeffrey) and being inspired by countless thoughtful acts of grace and generosity, I landed in a place acknowledging, we can show empathy, support, and awareness AND we can also keep working (and sending emails like this) to help our communities be the best they can!

I’d love to hear from you though about how you integrate what’s going on in the world with your work.

Ultimate Social Media Checklist for Events

The Ultimate Social Media Checklist for Events

Hosting an event? Want to make sure it is a big success for the organizer, attendees, presenters, and event sponsors. Using social media as part of your event marketing strategy, you have a terrific opportunity to create significant momentum and interaction.

You can increase engagement and overall awareness of your events with a solid social media plan. Here’s how:

(Download Social Media Checklist for Events here.)

Social media is a great way to promote your event to your target attendees, but it doesn’t stop there. During your event, social media provides a great opportunity to interact with your audience in real time. It also allows attendees, presenters as well as organizers to share and amplify the event presentations and overall messaging.

Post event, a social media strategy means you can use crowd-sourced photos, presentation comments, reviews, blogs, recaps, podcasts and videos about your event. If you have a regular event schedule, seeing the great comments, videos and photos is a great way to bring in new people to your next event. It’s a great after-event list building tool as well.

You also have a great way to continue the conversation. You can use feedback surveys to create a graphic about the most valued presenter, or the most commented keynote. If your presenters agree (and they will) you can share slides and commentary after the fact and compile a few of the real-time comments for a great way to generate interest in your next event.

Using social media before, during, and after your event is no longer optional.

Organizers, attendees, and presenters now rely on social media for event updates and to connect with others. Sponsors will also appreciate the chance to raise their profile at the event, and increase their visibility to those who can’t attend live via social media posting and sharing.

To help make sure an effective social media strategy is part of your next event, I’ve created a Social Media Event Checklist. It provides the plan for a smart strategy and allows you to make sure your social presence before, during and after your event supports you, your event and your attendees.

Download Social Media Checklist for Events

Online Marketing Advice You Need To Know Now

Marketing Tips and Takeaways from INBOUND17

Still spinning from INBOUND17, an annual marketing conference in Boston, where I spent four days with 20,000 other fellow marketers, I am excited to share some of the top takeaways and immediately actionable insights. These ideas will help you be strategic about what’s trending in online marketing, so you can stay ahead of the curve and become even more connected to your clients and fans. Dive on in.

1> “Instagram is Facebook’s next Facebook”

So says Facebook’s (owner of Instagram) CEO Jeff Zuckerberg. Straight from the horse’s mouth, Facebook expert Mari Smith advised it is imperative to include Instagram in your social media strategy. When Facebook is putting their energy there, so should you, with opportunities for the fastest growth in growing your followers and increasing your brand awareness.

TAKEAWAY TIP – Connect your Instagram profile to your Facebook page for analytics about how to be more strategic with the right audience. Make sure that your Instagram is “on brand” with the rest of your social media profiles.


2> Video, video, video!

Yes, video continues to be the content darling with social media, especially with Facebook TV and video ads. Also from Mari Smith’s presentation, we heard how Facebook is (still) giving priority to videos created in Facebook—not only for posts, but also for ads. It is getting easier and easier to create more professional ads without having to spend a fortune on video production. Some of the video tools Mari recommended were Wave and Animoto.

TAKEAWAY TIP – If you haven’t started, start RIGHT NOW! Start experimenting and post something THIS WEEK! If you have started, take it up a level – especially if you have a great idea for video or television series.


3> Less is more. Quality over quantity.

20% of your content (the unicorns) is bringing in 80% of your traffic. Work it, be smart, be strategic. This message was repeated in many different forums with varying degrees of statistics. But the general message from all of the speakers I heard (Dharmesh Shah, Hubspot; Larry Kim, Wordstream, and Garrett Moon, CoSchedule) was that you should focus your growth (10x growth, not 10% growth) on these really big content ideas and winners.

TAKEAWAY TIP – Find your most popular content (check the analytics from your website and social media) and make a plan to make it work harder.

 


4> Be human and connect.

We all want to belong – but we need to be solid in belonging first to ourselves. With a new book out, called Braving The Wilderness, Brene Brown kicked off the conference with a most powerful call for everyone to be more engaged with their fellow humankind. Fresh from the front of the Houston hurricane disasters, she had real life stories and proof that we are capable of being humans together – not apart.

TAKEAWAY TIP – Call, touch, hug and/or really look at someone today and everyday! But also as we think of our companies and brands, it’s imperative to be OK and even stand out or stand alone in our authenticity.

 


5> Creativity happens whenever we solve problems.

I took comfort in being reminded that being a creator doesn’t mean you have to be an artist or designer, or really good at making things pretty. Specifically, Wharton professor and author Adam Grant had some very pragmatic suggestions no matter what you do or who you are for how to bring creative ideas to life …which often involve working with your grumpy outlier cohorts.

TAKEAWAY TIP – Have a plan for bringing your next big idea to life. Don’t assume the people who are like you or who like you are always going to be your biggest advocates and the people who can most help you succeed.


Check out my LIVE FB video from INBOUND here. And if you want more insight in how to apply these trends and tips to your online marketing strategy, set up a clarity call with me now.

5 Reasons You Should Be Using Facebook Live Video

Unless you’ve been ignoring Facebook over the past year, you’ve probably noticed the proliferation of videos in your feed with the launch of Facebook LIVE video. Originally, rolled out for “verified” accounts only, then to business pages, Facebook LIVE video is available now to everyone.

What is it?  Facebook LIVE video is an easy way to record and share a video in real time using the Facebook platform. It is a fairly simple three-step process that instantly puts you live in front of your fans and friends and gives them the opportunity to react and engage with you while you are recording.

Not convinced it’s for you? Here are 5 reasons why you should consider using Facebook LIVE video:

1) Using Facebook LIVE video provides you a way to quickly and easily engage with your audience, clients and fans. They get an opportunity to see you live, hear your voice, get a sense of your personality, tone and approach and brings your brand to life. They can ask questions and react to what you are sharing so you can also know what is resonating with them.

2) You don’t have to write and your fans don’t have to read. In this media saturated, short-attention span world, your Facebook LIVE video instantly goes right to the matter, event, subject or topic without having to craft some perfected blog post or newsletter. Even better, you can use it in your blog post and newsletter like I have done here.

3) Facebook LIVE video gives you the opportunity to bring your audience into your world and give them a behind-the-scenes look at what you or your business is doing. This is a critical part of telling your story and helping people to understand more about you and your business. That exclusive

4) Facebook helps you promote your video. While you are LIVE recording, Facebook works on your behalf to let your fans and others know that you are LIVE and encourage them to tune in while you are LIVE. It typically shows up as notifications. Facebook also wants more people using Facebook video, so it tends to push video up into others feeds to increase or improve engagement.

5) It is so very easy to now create video content, not only to use on the Facebook platform but also to share across other online marketing platforms. Yes, there are a few things you can do to optimize your video process, but in its basic form like the video included here, it is as easy as 1-2-3 GO.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s figure out how Facebook LIVE can work for you and let me know in the comments below how you are using Facebook LIVE or share your videos here. I’ll see you LIVE soon.

Your 2016 Holiday Online Marketing Tips

The year’s not over yet just because the holidays are upon us!

Family get-togethers, feasts, and fun are right around the corner, but don’t close up shop yet! Just because you are doing business online doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for a nice year-end boost.  Here are a few tips for online marketing during the holidays.

How to Create a Holiday Marketing Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide  – Hubspot
It’s not too late to plan a holiday marketing campaign. Hubspot offers this guide with everything you need to launch one. There are offer templates, free holiday-themed stock images, and resources designed to get your campaign up and running right away.

2016 Holiday Tips Mailchimp
40 tips to make the most of your holiday marketing. With special tips for email marketing focused on promotional calendar planning, segmenting, integrating with social media, using split-testing, and more.

Facebook’s 5 Social Media Marketing Ideas for the 2016 Holiday SeasonInc.
The top social media marketing strategies you ought to try, including viral content, tips for Black Friday, and more.