the past, present & future of social media: how to propel your program forward

THE PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

OF SOCIAL MEDIAHow to Propel Your Program Forward

Nikki Little | Account Manager, Social Media | Identity

PR, marketing and advertising

EXPERIMENTEDwith social media.

THE PAST

Communications teams


It was all about

SELF PROMOTIONon company social channels.

Businesses were on

EVERY CHANNELwith no strategy.

It was all about

THE BIG “FOUR”Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,

YouTube

Earned and paid dominated while

OWNED MEDIAwas trialed.

SEO was all about generating

BACKLINKSto your site and

KEYWORD STUFFING.

Companies wanted to latch on to

TRENDS AND NEWSto benefit their brand…

but they didn’t know how.

Likegating contests and hosting giveaways that had

NO BRAND RELEVANCEin order to gain followers was

the norm.

Employees were

BANNED FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

while at work.

Images on social media were

STOCK PHOTOSand not original content.

Websites were quickly

SLAPPED TOGETHERwhen needed.

Brands spent more time

LURKINGthan communicating/sharing.

Communities needed to

SCALEas quickly as possible.

What was the budget for social?

ZERO DOLLARS.

What was our favorite phrase?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION.

What did we measure?

NOTHING.

THE PRESENT



Companies are

SLOWLY WEAVINGsocial media into new areas of the

enterprise.



Brands offer a combination of

BLABBERING AND HELPFULNESS.



We’re still trying to figure out how to create content that

OFFERS VALUE while aligning with the brand.



Brands are becoming

MORE SELECTIVEwhen choosing social platforms

to join.



Emerging social channels

ARE APPEARING ALL THE TIME.



Brands are focusing heavily on

OWNED MEDIA to drive social media efforts.



Backlinks for SEO take a back seat to

WRITING FOR HUMANS.



Some brands are smart with

REAL-TIME MARKETING

while others fall flat.



There’s better alignment with

CONTESTSrelating to the brand.



Companies are opening up and providing

EMPLOYEE ACCESSto social media at work.



Brands are incorporating more

REAL AND AUTHENTIC IMAGES

across social channels.



Budgets are increasing to allow for

MORE MANPOWER &SOCIAL AD SPEND

to help grow programs.



Brands are now creating

THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES.



We’re measuring activity,but still focus too much

ON THE NUMBERS.



Engagement is great. But, how does it connect to

BUSINESS GOALS?Companies still figuring this out.



THE FUTURE



All aspects of the enterprise contribute to create

SOCIAL BUSINESS UTOPIA.



Brands always ask,

“HOW CAN WE HELP?”And then they

FOLLOW THROUGH.



We create

CONTENT UTOPIAby offering information that is

insightful, unique and valuable.



Big brands with big budgets are

ON MANY SOCIAL CHANNELS

with customized strategies.



Scalability is less important as

CAMPAIGN OPTIMIZATION.



All programs include a combination of

PAID, OWNED AND EARNED MEDIA.



Social investment is justified with reporting on the

BEST AND MOST IMPACTFUL METRICS.



SEO goes beyond keyword matching and focuses on

INTENT MATCHING.



When it comes to real time marketing, brands react

SWIFTLY AND STRATEGICALLY.



Companies empower employees to be

BRAND AMBASSADORS.



Contests are strategic, easy to facilitate and offer the

LOWEST BARRIER TO ENTRY.



All websites offer a

SEAMLESS SCREEN EXPERIENCE

thanks to a responsive design.



Social images are

RAW AND REAL.



Social teams operate with a

HEALTHY BUDGET.



Becoming ingrained within existing communities is

A PRIORITYvs. building new ones just because

you can.



What are we measuring?How social media

MOVES THE BUSINESS FORWARD.

Those of us working in the field look at the future of social media in many different ways.



“Stop measuring just to measure if it doesn’t align with business objectives.”Bryan Willmert, Digital Roots

“Twitter will start ranking tweets based on popularity and engagement—following in Facebook’s footsteps.”Chad Wiebesick, Michigan Economic Development Corporation



“Businesses will be more likely in 2015 to go after the next step, which is the return on their social effort.” Matthew Laurin, General RV Center



“The next generation of trending online income is going to be these simple steps: Develop a brand, find an audience, build trust with that audience and sell a product to that trusted audience.” Curtis Crowe, VisionIT

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Social accounts may be free – but success on those channels isn’t.

• Content and multimedia reign supreme – but ONLY if you figure out the recipe that works best for your audience.

• Your content must seamlessly translate across screens.

• The good old days of SEO are gone – trade in keyword stuffing for intent-based keywords.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Make your business social – not just your communications department.

• Pay attention to trends and algorithm shifts – but always experiment to see what resonates.

• Real-time marketing can come back to haunt you – be swift, but strategic. Not sure if it will offend someone? Not worth it.

• Be helpful, build relationships, listen to your customers and adjust your business accordingly. Use social to enhance/complement all this.

That’s how you

WIN IN SOCIALBUSINESS.

QUESTIONS?

NIKKI [email protected]

@nikki_littleidentitypr.comnikkilittle.com

the past, present & future of social media: how to propel your program forward

Social Media

social social channels

social media efforts

social media identity

social platformsexperimentedto

social investment

marketing andbrands

brands marketing

marketing andcompanies