The last two days I was living in a Social Media & Content Marketing bubble. Literally. Keywords such as funnel, uplift, KPIs, case, monitoring, or viral were buzzing around in my head, and still do.
My apologies
Dear developers, don’t be angry with me that I’m talking about this on a dev blog. But it’s for your wellbeing 😀.
The last two days I’ve spent at the Social Media Conference in Hamburg. As a Technical Communicator in our development department, I’m also responsible for the department’s Social Media presence. I’m far from an expert in Social Media or Content Marketing, so this conference was a great occasion to learn completely new stuff, to gain deeper insights, and to find out what I currently might do wrong.
Here are my personal highlights from the conference (in no particular order):
Unf*** the economy
Markus Wörner von @EinhornBerlin rockt gerade total auf der #SMConf in #Hamburg
— Birgit (@sol_y_mariposa) 17. Oktober 2017
Meeeeeega!
Markus Wörner completely flashed me with his talk about becoming a Social Media unicorn without spending any money. You must be a little crazy, when you sell vegan condoms in bags of chips, don’t you? But with a good nose and a little (more) craziness, they made it a success. It’s that easy: vegan is popular. Many people love chips. And let’s be honest: everyone’s a little embarrassed when buying condoms in the supermarket. So why not selling them in a bag of chips?
Markus was all over the place, throwing bags (of chips!) with condoms to the crowd, telling crazy stories about how they bond with their community, and resellers. He even motivated the audience to ask questions. Teaser: the last questioner received a - let’s say - gift box with condoms 😊. You can imagine how many people asked questions, can you?
Some phrases that made me think:
- Those who work at einhorn products don’t take themselves too seriously, and challenge their ego.
- They do magic there. If you don’t feel like it, you don’t need to come to work. ‘Cause then you can’t do magic. No sick note or application for leave required.
- They do things that they enjoy themselves.
- They actively involve their community.
- They tell awesome and crazy stories about their products.
Just - unicornly - awesome!
How modern brand management actually works
Christopher Rohs, elbdudler, held an interesting talk about how modern brand management actually works. He made clear that doing Social Media because “That’s what you do now.” is not a strategy.
"Das macht man doch jetzt so" ist keine Strategie. Christopher Rohs von @elbdudler auf der #smconf pic.twitter.com/8TuZNDXAd5
— Monika Riedl (@Shirinja) 17. Oktober 2017
What rules is:
- Stand out as a brand.
- Increase the qualitative presence.
- Create an emotional tie.
- Make use of the RSRS principle: Relatable. Shareable. Remarkable. Suitable.
- Have the right content for the right person at the right time.
Great insights for a newbie like me.
HR & Social Media: It’s complicated
I was full of anticipation to hear Klara Felicitas Sachse talking about Employer Branding. And now this! Kill Employer Branding! Culture eats employer branding for breakfast.
But it’s so true! She made crystal clear that when communicating with candidates, HR has to focus on the emotional bonding to the company. To communicate the culture. To give the candidates real insights into the daily life within the company. And that an authentic presentation of the company culture goes beyond HR image videos.
Breaking up silos was also a key phrase in her talk (as it was during the entire conference). Instead of departments acting on their own, they should work together and learn from each other. Her idea: why not opening up a chat channel where HR and Social Media Marketing post ideas and topics that then can be processed and put into practice?
Also very important: get in contact with the employees and make them influencers.
How to reach Generation Z on Social Media platforms
Only 15 years old and already owning a media agency. Charles Bahr had the most unfortunate time slot with the last talk at the conference. But he so rocked it explaining us how “Generation Z” ticks. Left me speechless.
Krasser Vortrag von @EinfachCharles von @tubeconnect auf der #smconf - jetzt fühle ich mich alt 😅 pic.twitter.com/58p8E71aZe
— Moritz Körner (@moritzkoerner) October 18, 2017
What I took away from the #SMConf
Everything was super exciting for me. Well, maybe I couldn’t totally process the stuff about the big marketing campaigns. But that’s not so bad. What counts are the new insights in the field of Social Media and Content Marketing, as well as an awesome conference experience during the last two days.
It’s viral! I look forward to apply my new skills in the daily working routine.
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