Alien between managers and marketeers: The Social Conference 2014

I went to The Social Conference in Amsterdam the other day. An event with great speakers,  for (social media) marketers and managers.  As a multimedia designer, I felt a bit like an alien between all those social media strategists.
I could have seen that coming, afterall, the event was organized by Emerce, a Dutch online magazine for managers and marketers. As it turns out, it was the ultimate setting for a multimedia designer, to look at things from a different angle.

 “Marketeers need to be creative, spot on and sincere”

I’m not used to hearing terms like ‘KPI’ or ‘ROI’ every ten minutes. I guess that is what most marketers and managers focus on. Quite a different perspective fromwhat I am used to: Creating beautiful applications or works of art that will amaze people.

Despite that different angle, this conference made me realize how important it is for marketers’ needs to be creative, spot on and sincere, and why they need creative people. And yes, creative people need marketers as well!

The right to complain

The first speaker, Jacob Morgan, author of the book The collaborative Organisation and co-founder of Chess Media Group), had a really refreshing look on all the developments that are going on in the world today. One thing that intrigued me was his of a manager that wanted to create a really open atmosphere of trust and sharing. He gave his employees the right to bitch. To complain about everything they hated. And so they did…

“Create an environment in which people are willing to share!”

The result? Coworkers who are ready to share everything within the company. Not just complaints, but also their best ideas. Picture that!

Morgan pleads for companies to trust their employees. I don’t like complaining colleagues but I do like people to be who they are, sincere. Companies could benefit from not telling their coworkors how to behave, but instead, trust them to act the way they think it’s best. It is most certainly a good mindset when  you want people to be active on social media. People will not use social media when they have the feeling they are not being trusted, or they have to act according to a bunch of rules.

Video: Jacob Morgan on ‘The futere of work’

Social Capital
Treat your followers and fans as your friends. Be kind to them, don’t expect immediate profit. Those were the words of Michiel van Dam of Efocus.

“Do not aim for short time succes, think long term!”

A really refreshing message! Instead of aiming on short term profit, van Dam pleads for building social capital. Be relevant for those who follow you, treat them as your friends. This way, in the future you can get much more (information, likes, reach, love… ) out of them.

So instead of begging for as much likes as possible, or set up ‘like and share’ actions, create relevant content. Give people a reason to follow you. Share your story, and act the way you would in real life. Don’t ignore inconvenient questions or complaints, but respond. Not defensive though, stick with your story. Explain what motivates you and dare to admit it when you’ve made a mistake.

Above all: give! Create cool games for people to play on Facebook and the coolest movies to share (yes, that’s why you need a multimedia designer!!!) but don’t ask anything in return right away. Be relevant, be yourself and people will love you, instead of just like you.

Get to know your target group
The presentation of Patric Kint (Your Social) was completely in line with the whole social capital concept. As a marketer he pleads for getting to know your target group really well to get into their hearts. The ultimate goal: to contribute to sales.

“Get to know your audience in order to increase your sales”

Social media gives you the possibilty to really get in touch with people. Afterall, they are using Facebook to share everything that’s going on in their lives in a very personal way.

To reach them, it is more important than ever to find out out what moves people, how they react, what keeps them up at night. If you really want to share relevant content with people, you should get to know them. Preferably on a personal level (by interviewing them and creating personas).. Chances are that things are quite different from what statistics may tell you.

Tone of voice
Merlijn Hoek of Roorda Reclamebureau (advertising) was all about using the right tone of voice in social media. According to him, a few elements are key in finding the right tone of voice:

• Be clear on who you are
• Be clear on what you do
• Be clear on how you work
• Be open for feedback

Social media is all about sincerity. Once people get the idea you are not sincere, they won’t follow you, they cannot relate to you. They might even start to talk badly about you and what you do. In that case, social media becomes your enemy.  It does not have to be that way!

“You need to be creative to tell your story in a unique and sincere way!”

Alien
It was great to be an alien for one day. It taught me a great deal on what’s happening around me. What challenges companies will face in the next five years. It also reopend my eyes on how big the value is of creative people to tell the story of a company in a unique and sincere way.

Communicating via social media is all about acting social. Give your audience the information, games, illustrations, animations and stories they want. Don’t aim for likes, aim for love!  But most of all, treat your social audience as you would your friends! Give and who knows what you might get!

Video: An impression of the Social Conference last year. They had the same sandwiches as this year’s edition!

Tags: emerce, social media, strategy, the social conference
Geplaatst op: februari 14, 2014