Highlights From The Social Media Strategies Summit Chicago

Attending and speaking at a quality conference every few months is fantastic for putting things into perspective and getting the creative juices flowing. From meeting intelligent, enthusiastic professionals, to learning the best practices of dynamic companies, social media conferences are both educational and inspirational. At GSMI’s recent Social Media Strategies Summit in Chicago, I was fortunate to be one of the morning keynote speakers, but also gained many valuable learning’s to share with my favorite blog readers.

(1) Copy Should Be Human, Yet Spontaneous
Ever find yourself in a content rut when you’re drafting copy for your social media channels? During one of the best presentations of the conference, Ekaterina Walter from Intel encouraged attendees to be human and spontaneous. Effective copy on social media needs to be approachable, relatable, but also shareable in order to break through the clutter. From delivering valuable news, to making someone laugh out loud at their desk, the top brands on social media understand and project a genuine voice, while delivering a content mix of humor, great photos, exclusive news, and more.

And, if you’re truly stuck in that content rut, my best advice is to look for great photos for inspiration. Listen to the voice inside when a fantastic photo catches your eye and write the first piece of copy down that comes to mind. My best copy always comes when it’s not forced. See, human, yet spontaneous!

(2) Diversify Your Content Strategy Across Multiple Platforms
Just as companies were getting the hang of Facebook and Twitter, up popped Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and more. As a result, it didn’t come as a surprise that conference attendees were very focused on learning the best practices from social media savvy companies on emerging platforms. One key theme? The importance of creating unique strategies for each platform. While it’s challenging to create specialized content across a handful of sites, a one size fits all social media strategy won’t move the needle.  The bottom line? Invest the time, be creative with your resources and your content development in order to boost engagement and generate stronger results.

And, for those who heard Ramon De Leon, who represents five Domino’s Pizza stores in the Chicago area speak, the best way to have a never-ending stream of content for all of your platforms is to be a walking, talking, “WOW-ing” content production professional. From smart phones, to Flip cams, and more, it’s never been more important to have an arsenal of content at your disposal. Then, when inspiration strikes, you’ve got the technology at your fingertips to capture the moment.

(3) Have a Social Media Crisis Plan
Everyone wants to think about the happy, fun side of social media. But, what happens when a campaign isn’t well-received, or a negative wave of publicity extends to your company’s social channels? Or, *eeep*, grows into a full-fledged crisis? Following an interesting presentation by Rick Wion of McDonald’s, conference attendees got to hear the story behind #McStories. While it’s never easy to face situations of that nature, I give Rick credit for speaking to us about it.

The message to attendees? If you don’t have a social media crisis plan, there’s no time like the present to create the infrastructure for one. I’d wager a guess that the PR departments for most larger firms have one, but have you run that plan through a social media lens? Things to think about include:

• Do all of the people who contribute to your social media channels know that anything you say on social media channels during a crisis or sensitive situation can be quoted in the media?
• What’s your monitoring plan during and outside of business hours?
• Who needs to be contacted during a crisis?
• How can you contact those key stakeholders quickly off hours?
• Is your company open to taking a more formal PR/Legal statement and adding a more human social voice to the statement?
• What is the defined process for getting a social media statement approved?
• Do you have a blog, or place on your website where you can quickly publish a statement and link to it on your social media channels?
• Are there are ongoing crisis/sensitive topics that you can pre-write and secure approved social media friendly responses for from that key stakeholder list?
• Do you have a job plan for who needs to manage what in a crisis? E.g. Monitor, track, respond, cover various “shifts,” or platforms?

The list could go on, but the above is a good start.

All in all, I love when a social media conference can connect you with inspiring people, interesting case studies and result in fresh new ideas. GSMI’s Social Media Strategies Summits always do just that, and I’m already looking forward to the next one. Thanks to Meaghan and Byron for making the event a great one!