The post-summit blues are real! It's an overwhelming feeling to be surrounded by like-minded individuals with the shared passion to create content that keeps your business at the forefront of the digital world. The Digital Summit Tampa delivered 75+ in-depth digital marketing sessions and workshops to over 1,000 attendees with everyone coming away with renewed energy to take their content to the next level.
The opening keynote speaker, Ben Tamblyn of Microsoft, spoke on the topic of Shaping Brand Perception Through Storytelling. Tamblyn laid down a foundation for each talk that followed his with a quote that reads, "instead of counting shares, we have the opportunity and the ability to make something worth sharing." This idea to create content that sticks in our targeted audience's minds and propels them to act, whether it be filling out the form, visiting the website, or buying the product, was the basis of each speaker's unique tips and tricks of groundbreaking content. With so much valuable information presented throughout the two-day conference, I'm going to give a rundown of each talk I was able to attend.
What Markets Can Learn About Social Media from DJ Khalid and Drake - Carlos Gill, Gil Media Co.
"Be savage." Directly compete with your competitor's ads by commenting directly on them. They are targeting the exact same audience as you, so put your company in line with the vision and go ahead with a comment! It doesn't need to be snarky or thought-out - just be present on the competitor's turf, that's all. Genius, right? Another takeaway I gained from listening to Carlos's savage strategy to success was to ditch the noise and master 1-2 social media channels and use them complementary to each other. You can't be everywhere and stay effective - get really good at the channels that produce the most buzz for you and crush them with your killer content!
7 Tips to Level Up Your Social Content - Carmen Collins, Cisco
Utilize "Camel Case" when hashtagging. Rather than #loveyouawesomenerds, use #LoveYouAwesomeNerds. Always use emojis, but keep them in moderation. Design caption length for the way users are engaging and limit the use of text on images. Editing an Instagram post within the first hour of posting de-prioritizes the post on your follower's feeds. Design for the way people use the platform when it comes to sizing your images. Start utilizing the alternative text feature. Using the phrase "Click Here!" without describing to your audience exactly what they are clicking into is a buzz-killer. Always remember the soundtrack of social is silent. Remind your audience to turn on their volume in your caption or ditch the sound altogether and incorporate closed captioning.
Building A Brand with Outrageous Marketing - Scott Dikkers, Found of The Onion
Don't be afraid to create controversial content because this is the type of content people are drawn to read, react to and share further. Mix controversy with comedy by using How to Write Funny.com.
Getting The Green Light: How To Build Content That People Say YES To - Tamsen Webster, The Red Thread, Tedx
Up to 95% of our decision making is unconscious, giving green lights to only the things that we want, we believe and can validate. Wanting something is the customers most common behavior. Trusting someone's ability to deliver to us what we want is our most common question. Our job as marketers is to be the trusted source that delivers people's wants and needs in a way that also validates the customer's wants and needs so that they act on them.
Viral Velocity: How To Build Buzz at Record Speed - Ben Kaplan, PR Hacker
Context is viral. Ideas are viral. Data is viral. Emotions are viral. What makes an idea easy to spread? Presenting that idea in a simple yet surprising and significant way. Can the customer understand your post in 7 seconds? Does it defy their expectations? Does it convey a deeper truth? These are all things to ask yourself before sending out a post. In regards to data, Ben gave an outline of how to make your data go viral: leverage a timely news peg. Find a data study that is related to the news peg. Post the study on your website (anchor point). Pitch the data story to mass media. Link the media to a full data study. This is how you can leverage data to get inbound traffic + SEO. To get the audience's emotions involved, your content needs to target the emotions that cause immediate action. Use the "Aw Factor" as often as possible.
So Digital Summit Tampa, mission accomplished! You left each attendee feeling refreshed and excited to push our clients forward and move our brands into new, more powerful directions. Interested in attending other marketing and business conferences? Connect with 813area for more business news in Tampa. We'll give you good ideas to strengthen your tool kit with thought leadership and practical solutions in our business and finance community. Best of all, it's free!
