Social Media Workshop

AIGA has brought some amazing opportunities to my design. Last week, I attended a Social Media Workshop with social media experts Brad Cebulski (one of many experts from BConnected LLC) and Tara Rushmer (AIGA Wisconsin’s Social Media Chair). We covered some great topics like why social media is important, the right and wrong strategies, and how graphic designs play in social media. In our generation, we think we know Facebook and Twitter, but there’s so much more that goes into Facebook marketing than I knew before.

6 things to tackle in Social Media

What is needed to start the conversation?

1. Communications || How to say it… When to say it… Do it RIGHT 
2. Photography || Visually represent what you’re trying to say. Go OUT and get it with a photo.
3. Graphic Design || Everything should be branded and cohesive. Resemble your brand in every way. Visual Content is an important element in communication
4. Video || Take your social presence to a whole new level. Multiply your clickable rate.
5. Promotions || Easiest way to get people drawn in. You set it up but running promotions will get people talking! Everyone else is doing your work for you.
6. Marketing Knowledge || Working your social presence into the rest of marketing is huge. How are you getting the word out?

Social Media on Facebook is tricky. Creating content is important, but sharing it correctly is a key factor. Here’s a few tips on balancing marketing, communication, and the social aspect.

What is EdgeRank and why’s it important? This is the back end of what people on facebook see, more specificallys the algorithms that determine who sees what:

Affinity vs Weight vs Time Decay

What is Affinity? || The connection you have with a page or a person… The more you connect with them, the higher your affinity will be. The more you interact the more often they will see you, and vice versa. What shows up on your News Feed is what you like. I clearly like a lot of links because my News Feed is FULL of links… BuzzFeed Articles in particular 😉
What’s your Weight? || How you are sharing your information matters, and certain things weight more than others. Here is a basic breakdown of post weights from high to low:
Photos with descriptions > Photo > Video > Status Updates > Links. However, your weight will increase with your post’s “likes” and “comments”.
How long will it live? || 3-5 hours before your posts it falls off the feed. (UNLESS you have a high Affinity or Weight)

Where do people fall short?

Lack of visuals.
Using links as crutch for content.
Not Engaging.
Overly Promotional. It should be 80 engaging / 20 stuff about you
They’re Not Original. “Be inspired, but be Original”

Who’s doing it right?

Starbucks is a great example of using Social Media well. Their Valentines post of “Buy one and Share one on us.” was a huge success reaching an astonishing 262,908 likes and 44,638 shares. Charmin and Dove are more awesome examples, they make people interested in things like toilet paper and deodorant!

10 principals of good content

1. Informative
2. Emotional – Feelings build Loyalty (Dove – the beauty of you)
3. Transparent – Be Honest, Don’t fake it.
4. Be Useful
5. Amusing – Make people laugh. Be Clever. (Taco Bell, Charmin)
6. Transactional – Don’t promote too much.
7. Optimize
8. Relevant – (Super Bowl – Black out Oreo – You can still dunk in the dark)
9. Be Agile – Do what people are liking, Be free to bop around (Arbys & Pharell – “Y’all tryna start a roast beef?”)
10. Brand Driven
That’s all the notes we have for now! I hope you learned something new. This workshop has shown me how much more there is to learn about social media and all the social platforms. This is only the beginning, stay tuned for more on social media!
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Thank you to AIGA Wisconsin for our photos.