#Unfiltered
Unfiltered, what does that mean? This year at Social Media Week Lima, Ohio (shoutout to those who have seen Glee) our team had the opportunity of learning what the phrase “unfiltered” means. To be unfiltered, in simple terms, means to be your true, authentic self online. We heard from some of the best marketing geniuses and got a glimpse into how they have found success for not only their business, but their client’s businesses. Now you may be asking, how does being unfiltered have anything to do with marketing on social media? The answer is, it has EVERYTHING to do with marketing on social media. People want to know that there is a real life person behind the business they are working with. They want to know that they are being provided a product and/or service by a human being with an actual personality. Your social media strategy should reflect who you are and what your life looks like. Being genuine is still being professional!!
Jessika Phillips
The legend, Jessika Phillips kicked off the conference and did so remarkably! Jessika is one of those people that brings a little light with her wherever she goes. She talked about the importance of building relationships in a dark social world. Jessika personally built an everlasting relationship with our team by allowing us to stay in her home! Her kindness is something that stuck out to us, and she translated this kindness into her keynote. Jessika talked about how marketing isn’t only about the way that you do it, but rather HOW you do it.
Approaching problems with positivity and hopefulness is a necessity in the world of marketing. You must be real with the way you connect with people. Connection doesn’t happen at a surface level!
Brian Fanzo
Brian Fanzo brought the energy into the house!! He spoke with great passion about how to be a business that takes care of people. This is the core of what businesses are doing today, making sure their customers know they care! What makes a business good isn’t just the products, it’s the people behind the product. Brian reminded us that to market your product effectively, you must find the fine line where social media and being genuine merge.
Julia Jornsay-Silverberg
Julia Jornsay-Silverberg has an energy that is UNMATCHED. She is one of the sweetest people that you will ever meet, and she is one of the most genuine people. In fact, her whole brand is centered around being genuine. She reminded us that on social media, you have to be authentic, or as she says, we must be “anti-highlight reel.” Your social media, INCLUDING your business pages should show a glimpse into what makes you unique.
You have to find that thing that makes your business special, find the niche that makes people relate to you. By finding your niche and advertising that, you will find your target audience.
Chad Illa-Petersen
Chad Illa-Petersen brought the crowd to tears while simultaneously making their stomachs hurt from laughing so hard. THIS is the power of a great story. Chad taught us that stories hold a place in marketing. Stories are how we relate and understand each other as human beings, so why should it be different with business? To effectively communicate your product, you need to tell its story. Not only do you need to tell your story, you need to ask customers’ their stories!
Stories are SO important in our everyday lives, they are what makes us different and unique. Marketing is all about communicating a story, communicating what the story of your brand is, the story of your product, the story of how you got where you are. Never stop telling stories, they are your strongest selling points!
Candice Denise
Candice Denise made our team feel so understood. She spoke about how normal creative block is. As content creators, it can be really easy to find yourself in a rut, struggling to come up with new and unique content. Candice gave useful tips on how to get out of this rut, while simultaneously reminding us to stop comparing our worth to others. Most of the time, we find ourselves stuck in a rut because we get so focused on how great other’s work is, we start to hold ourselves back because we don’t believe our content is as good.
Your work is unique and deserves a space! To get those creative juices flowing, try taking a break, changing your scenery, getting inspired by Pinterest or other people’s content, add a new decoration to your office, whatever you need to do to change things up!! Canice helped show us practical ways to get out of a creative rut and inspired us to value the work we do!
Andy Crestodina
Andy Crestodina brought the KNOWLEDGE!! He absolutely killed it on stage teaching us how to build a webpage that not only looks aesthetic, but functions in an organized manner. Andy taught us that instead of guessing what your audience wants, do research on who your target clientele is and what appeals to them. With this research you can build an effective webpage that is specially curated to appeal to their taste. By doing this, your audience is more likely to interact with/buy your product.
One of the most useful pieces of advice that Andy left us with, was to try out the backyard BBQ test. This is basically the analogy that if someone were to ask you at a backyard BBQ what your company does, could you effectively describe your business with your homepage’s headline?
Brie Anderson
Talk about someone who KNOWS their stuff!! Brie Anderson knows everything there is to know about analytics and how to measure your social media marketing success. She gave helpful tips and tricks into how to access your analytics and the way to quantitate what success looks like.
Overview:
Social Media Week Lima was INCREDIBLE! Not only was it an amazing learning opportunity, it was a fantastic way to network and create relationships that we intend to continue to nurture and grow. Not to mention, that this trip was the first time we got the wholesome team together face-to-face! SMWL21 was an absolute game changer for our business!
