Staying at Converge South all day Friday was soooo worth it.
I connected with other media strategists who gave tips on how to effectively use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instragram and other tools to brand yourself, your nonprofit or your company.
Most importantly, us iMedia kids left with possibilities for portfolio work and ideas for our class projects.
Here are my main takeaways:
- Make a social media plan. Don’t use social media services without knowing who you’re trying to reach and why.
- Mobile is where it’s at. Don’t just design for desktops. Design responsively so content can work in the future on smartphones, tablets and devices we haven’t even seen yet.
- You can’t market without measurement. Analyze the metrics of everything you do to see what’s effective. (ex. Facebook Insights)
I wish I would have gone to the sessions about Google+ and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but am pleased overall with the choices I made.
The best choice – attending Erick Fadiman’s session “Responsive Web Design is Responsible Web Design.” Brian Walsh, iMedia’s resident HTML/CSS guru, would have loved his code-filled presentation, too.
Fadiman indirectly gave my fly-in group some ideas for our Costa Rica trip. Team Costa (F)Rican Awesome will document the culture of an indigenous tribe that’s endanger of losing its identity if the government builds a dam in its land. Our team is challenged with designing and creating a Web presence for a tribe that probably has not seen the Internet and for a community that accesses the Internet on dumb phones.
Dr. Amanda Sturgill and three other Team CFA members soaked up Fadiman’s ideas like sponges.
His main points:
- Responsive Web design refers to Web pages, or “Web experiences”, that respond to a user’s needs or context or device dimensions.
- Think mobile. Think global. Mobile outpaces the desktop in the developing world. In Latin America, India and other regions, people access information using dumb phones.
- Fadiman tells clients that responsive sites are better than mobile apps and a dedicated mobile site because (1) apps are expensive and (2) it’s hard to maintain a regular site and a dedicated mobile site.
- Users should be able to follow story all day and have it be visually consistent despite changing screen sizes on devices.
Fadiman gets major points for providing his entire presentation at http://www.erikfadiman.com/respo.
Find more of my notes at this link (STORIFY) Dioni’s Takeaways from Converge South or read below.
Tracy Myers “YOU are the brand”
- Branding Tips
- Have a great website that positions you as an expert and provides lead capture.
- Create crowd-pulling personality in blog.
- Publish a newsletter people want to read.
- Write an expert book, which is basically a 200-page business card that boosts credibility to customers.
- Make a splash in social media.
- Make it easy for people to get to know you.
- Speak at events, host seminars & teleseminars.
- Myers on his social media addiction and writing all the posts for his company: “I feel like I’m letting somebody go out with my wife if I let somebody else post.”
Sue Polinsky “Share the Story: Utilize Tools to Bring Awareness to Your Cause”
- Use metrics analysis, such as Facebook Insights. “It’s not something you can avoid anymore…You must own Facebook.”
- The biggest email mistakes nonprofits make: They’re too frequent, long or boring. They don’t have links, a call to action or new information.
Jennifer James “How to Break Out of the Ordinary: Unique Ways Nonprofit Can Engage Digital Advocates”
- Nonprofits must plan social media use. “If you don’t have a strategy behind it, you can waste a lot of time.”
- Nonprofits should work with bloggers because they can amplify your message.
Jeff Gauger “Getting the Press’ Attention”
- People who want help from a news reporter or editor should offer stories that don’t benefit them at all now and then.
In this session, people debated if the public still needs newspapers. I know that’s a tough pill for Gauger to swallow. After all, he is newspaper man at his core and the editor of the News & Record.
Guager, my former boss, gave his session participants 10 minutes to post 10 stories of different topics and lengths on the front page or A1. The exercise made people understand the difficulty in determining what is news and, obviously, what will sell papers.
One participant said: “I have a new appreciated for newspapers.”
Jeff SanGeorge “Content marketing: Earning and keeping your audience’s attention”
- Content marketing = To price and distribute relevant and valuable content purposes with attracting, converting or remaining customers.
- Consumers view on average 10.4 source before buying.
- The 3 E’s of Content are: Entertain, Educate and Encourage.
- The day kicked off with a high note with a keynote address from Tracy Myers of his eponymous auto business. Myers, who undoubtedly has the used car salesman look, is a branding and PR marketing guru. His empire has become so successful because of his media savvy.