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AdWeek Events Social Media Speaker Speaker Series

ADWEEK 2020 RECAP: NIKKI SUNSTRUM, SPOTLIGHT SPEAKER

Ad Club Of Buffalo

The prominence of social media has not only altered the way in which we communicate personally, it has reshaped the information we consume, distorted emotional responses, and manipulated the visual identities of its users. In an ever-connected world, everyone struggles to balance competing priorities, remain engaged, and retain authenticity.

For this year’s AdWeek 2020 Spotlight Speaker, we invited Nikki Sunstrum, University of Michigan Director of Social Media and Public Engagement, to discuss methods for addressing the ever-increasing demands of pandemic communications, and how to deal with online negativity, competing interests, and mental fatigue. Although virtual, we were all able to carve out an evening and hear from Nikki on what this past year has taught her.

*insert “This is Fine” meme*

Throughout her hour-long talk, Nikki covered a range of topics, but first, she addressed the giant non-elephant in the room: the pandemic. While it’s no secret that the pandemic quickly impacted the way we live, learn, work, and interact with each other, Nikki focused her presentation on the impact the pandemic has had on marketers and communicators. Namely, how we speak to our audiences and communities. The way we approach our content was starkly changed, instead of encouraging users to participate with brands, and engage with us, strategies quickly became more about advocating for them to stay away, and thus stay safe. The emotions and reactions we were trying to evoke from our communities were now incredibly different than what we had been planning for, and we were left with no instructions on how to forge ahead.

Reality Check

Nikki described the pandemic as a reality check for us all, it was important to address the reality of the situation and address these alterations both internally and externally. She reminded us that social media is likely the first-place people connect, the first people complain, and the first-place people celebrate. Nikki suggested that as professional communicators we stop treating social as a solution, but rather a tool to navigate the uncertain days ahead. It was important to ask ourselves “what are we trying to accomplish by communicating outside of our organization?”. The answer? To strengthen our communities.

Another few key takeaways she shared were:

• Social media requires wit, wisdom, and wherewithal
• Social media demands proactive, preventative, and passionate messaging
• Social media necessities continuous connectivity, customer service and societal awareness
• Social media is strategic communication, and not a last resort

Although we couldn’t host her in our city and show her that city of good neighbors’ spirit, we’d like to send a big thank you to Nikki for taking the time to chat with us virtually. And thank you for everyone who attended or participated in any of this year’s AdWeek events! For more info on all of our programming for the club year, check out AAFBuffalo.com/events.

Advice Social Media

Insta-yes or Insta-no?

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Instagram, one of the fastest growing social networks, is used by brands for sharing images and short videos of people, events, places, etc.  According to Forbes.com, within the last year, 55 percent more brands are using Instagram than just one year ago, accounting for its 150 million users worldwide.

While it may be one of the most popular social platforms, it may not make sense for all companies. Below are a few things to consider before creating an account for your brand.

1.) Mobile-Only
Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram is a mobile-only app as it requires users to upload their videos and photos from their mobile device vs. their desktop.  While the platform does have an online presence, it functions much differently and only allows users to view content rather than share it. If your target market is primarily a desktop-using bunch, consider focusing your efforts on other platforms that are more likely to reach your followers.

2.) Industry
What type of business or organization do you operate? Are you selling a tangible product that you can showcase with pictures?  Do you provide a service that allows you to provide before or after photos?  Are you a non-profit who wants to create awareness for a particular cause?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, then Instagram is a great channel for you to reach people who already have interest in your brand.

Typically, image-focused companies, such as clothing and fashion, makeup, fitness centers, restaurants, etc. use Instagram as a way to generate buzz among their followers.  Posting pictures of the latest trend, new creation or the most popular dessert on the menu will get followers excited and interested in what else you have to offer.

3.) Demographics
Instagram users are primarily 18 to 29 years old, so it is important to consider who your target is before you devote the time and energy to maintain an account.  For example, nation-wide retailer, Free People, has over 1.3 million Instagram followers, most of whom appear to be young women between those ages.  Their posts include pictures of inventory, trends and feel-good images that resonate with their young audience.

Industries that are geared toward an older demographic such as insurance or retirement planning may be better served on platforms that skew older, such as Facebook.

4.) Exclusivity
Instagram also gives followers a behind-the-scenes look at your brand’s products and services, making them feel like they’re getting an exclusive preview before the rest of the world.  These posts add value and encourage followers to beingpart of your social following. If your business or organization is highly regulated and doesn’t allow for much freedom in terms of posts, you may want to consider exploring other social platforms as they may be more conducive to your brand.

5.) Frequency
As with most social media platforms, the more you post, the more likely you are to generate followers.  Posting a combination of videos and images 3-4 times per week will keep followers engaged with your content.  If you feel as though maintaining an active account will be a challenge for your team, you may want to reconsider adding Instagram to your social media mix.

Also, keep in mind that engagement among followers in this platform is higher as content is not limited.  Unlike Facebook, there isn’t an algorithm (yet) that analyzes the posts the platform thinks you want to see, so users see all content regardless of their Instagram habits. If you post it, your followers will see it.

If you’re still not sure whether or not Instagram makes sense for your business, feel free to get in touch at erinkdoherty@gmail.com.

Happy grammin’.

Blog

The Middle Ground

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Written by:  Board Member Ben Kirst

As marketers, there is often an overwhelming urge to embrace the latest and greatest tools at our disposal. A new social network that will change how you attract customers, a unique quantitative approach that’s going to reinvent the way you’ve considered ROI, a buzzworthy strategy you want to give a rib-bending embrace… we have all felt that lightheaded desire for new tools with the intensity of a teenage crush.

We pressure ourselves to integrate fresh industry approaches into our workplace and get frustrated when we face opposition. We envision the glory of success, the hearty slaps on our backs, the jealous glares of rivals as our fearless innovation changes the game.

This is fine, by the way. This is not a screed meant to mock people for seeing the value in the constantly changing communication environment (and this is coming from a guy who works at a newspaper, the most notoriously slow-to-change industry in the media world). However, some of the boring stuff in online marketing still works really, really well.

For example, over 59% of respondents to the 2013 Email Marketing Industry Census in a survey of 1,300 British email marketers gave organic search (SEO), email marketing, and paid search ROI scores of “good” or “excellent.” [1]

What’s equally interesting is that these same marketers admitted in fairly significant numbers that they don’t really work that hard to improve their campaigns, despite the solid ROI. My guess is that there is a tendency to cringe at the analytical or developmental grind that will increase organic search results or the suspiciously-like-math work involved in AdWords campaign management.

Mobile marketing, by comparison, feels now, sexy. Social media marketing doesn’t even seem like work. Affiliate marketing looks like a shortcut to a pot of gold. But are the results as apparent? In fact, are you seeing results at all?

Here’s the thing – in the coming weeks and months, we are going to see more and more successful strategies for integrating all of these processes.

Content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing and display marketing are playing together more and more as savvy companies of all sizes get better at fully integrating campaigns. Check out the way Virgin America rolled out its most recent campaign,[2] which included Richard Branson serving drinks on a coast-to-coast flight, digital billboards in Times Square, and a strong Instagram presence.

Content marketing, mobile marketing, and search marketing are already inextricable. Consider the movement Foursquare has made to integrate these fields in its latest app update[3], where the company is apparently trying to “out-Yelp” their competition by offering improved recommendations and location-based exploration.

Promotions – which Borrell already predicts will dominate local media advertising budgets over the next four years, growing from $32 billion to $80 billion[4] — are going to be increasingly relevant to our work as clients demand more exposure in and around the fragmented digital audience space.

So what’s my point?
There is a middle ground that allows us to satisfy our urges to experiment with emerging technology while cementing the tried-and-true strategies that we know will get results. By remembering that the digital audience still engages deeply with brands via search and email, and using these tactics as foundation pieces in campaigns that branch into social media, promotion, mobile, etc., we will find that we are serving our customers and our audience better – while keeping our own skills sharp and our work engaging.

With rare exceptions, most of us don’t have the resources of Virgin America or Foursquare, but that does not mean we are stuck. When you work on your next project or campaign, consider all of the tools at your disposal, think about how you are using them, and most importantly, if they are working in concert with each other. There’s no need to fight against the work you’re already doing in order to innovate now.

Blog

‘Reverse mentoring’ can lead to social media success

Ad Club Of Buffalo

Post by Emily Burns Perryman originally on BizJournals.com

I firmly believe that individuals in all fields and industries should be continually learning and evolving as professionals throughout all points of their career. From college intern to C-level executive, continued professional development through education and new experiences help add to your skill set, understand how different areas of business and industry work together, and can often uncover beneficial new perspectives.

However, it’s not just the individual who should be concerned about ongoing professional development. It’s important for the decision makers and senior leadership within businesses and organizations to place value on new skills and knowledge, offer and encourage training when their resources allow, and recognize that well trained and motivated employees can help meet their most important business goals and objectives. Some of these objectives may include building community and public relations, increasing lead generation and sales, and building brand awareness.

As many are aware, the skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement can often be achieved through mentoring situations. This one-on-one process generally involves an individual with finely tuned skills or experience, who can provide career advice, direction and guidance to someone at a more junior level. You may be familiar with or have taken part in mentor situations, but consider that often times “reverse mentoring” can be helpful and beneficial as well… especially in the ever evolving web and social media spaces.

Mentors in the workplace used to be a generation or two older and more seasoned than their charges. That model isn’t the only one these days. Many companies have put forth an effort or created internal programs to educate senior executives in the areas of workplace trends, technology and social media. Upper level employees are paired up with or study under younger employees in a trend known as reverse mentoring, which has become popular within a wide range of industries.

According to a 2011 article in The Wall Street Journal, chief executive of General Electric Co. Jack Welch firmly advocated for reverse mentoring, and ordered 500 top-level executives to reach out to subordinates to learn how to use the web. He saw the value in new skills and experience, and wanted his employees to connect and share their knowledge in an important space.

It’s well recognized that frequently young mentors can provide valuable insight on navigating the complexities of various social media platforms, all of which have become essential for business communication, but often overwhelming to older generations. With globalization, technology and access to data shifting and evolving so rapidly, older generations are increasingly identifying the need to catch up and study how to use new web tools and techniques.

With many employees in the Gen X and Gen Y (also known as the Millennial generation) demographics more familiar with and skillful in regard to social media and web tools, they have unique expertise and skills of value to share with their more seasoned coworkers. Reverse mentoring can also help younger employees become more comfortable within a company or organization, promoting trust and cooperation.

In my experience, reverse mentoring situations and social media training must be part of a company’s corporate culture. From top down it must be communicated and reinforced that social media skills are incredibly useful in the business space, and that reverse mentoring opportunities, internal and external social media and web training are all vital to an employees’ success. Reinforcing the importance of these skills can help motivate employees, and placing team members side by side to work together can help champion effective communication.

My firm leadership shares the philosophy that reverse mentoring is important.

“When you have talent in an organization with a passion and a vision, trusting these people and empowering them is an essential ingredient in creating success,” says Ronald J. Soluri Sr., our managing director. “Freed Maxick has always been successful when allowing talent the opportunity to champion new ideas and areas of practice development. Social media is a growing and a diverse area with many channels to reach people, but having content that is relevant is a challenge. Here we are fortunate to have young professionals like Emily pushing this area and enlisting more disciples every day. We have also chosen to invest more in this area, and have recently added a content writer to help manage a steady flow of quality content for our social channels.”

Although your company or organization may not offer reverse mentoring opportunities yet, there are some local groups that may be able to assist. Social Media Club Buffalo is the local chapter of a national group designed to host conversations that explore key issues facing society as technologies transform. The club offers members networking opportunities and thoughtfully designed programs and special events to educate attendees about the world of social media. Check their schedule, get involved, and you may find some talented local professionals who can help reverse mentor you or your team.

Another skillful group is The Advertising Club of Buffalo. With mobile penetration rates rising across the globe, and social media’s exponential growth, marketers are increasingly viewing paid social media advertising as an integrated part of their strategy. Advertising professionals must be skilled in all creative approaches, from print, to outdoor, to online.

When I recently touched base with my contact there, I discovered that organizers are eager to explore the creation of reverse mentoring programs, special events and educational opportunities in the near future. They understand the value that this new mentoring relationship model can bring to the table, especially in the area of the web and social media, and are working to create new opportunities for their members.

The qualities of a great leader can be found in many individuals. Remember that social media is a powerful tool within business, and reverse mentoring can help educate those who need a bit of help and guidance. It may appear overwhelming, but the sharing of a few simple best practices, a review of which social platforms work best for different purposes, and a little inter-generational teamwork can go a long way, helping meet many of the most important business objectives.

Emily Burns Perryman is a State University of New York Fashion Institute of Technology graduate and started her career in New York City working for fashion and digital media companies. She is currently e-Marketing Communications Specialist for regional accounting firm Freed Maxick CPAs. Follow them on Twitter @FreedMaxickCPAs.

AdVENTising Blog

AdVENTising – We Need a Brochure

Ad Club Of Buffalo

AdVENTising – A new series of posts from guest bloggers. The thoughts expressed in this column are the sole opinions of our volunteer guest writers.

We Need a Brochure
Written by member Blair Boone, Ph.D.

Back in the day, clients would come to ad agencies and say, “We need a brochure.”

Some agencies gave their clients a brochure. The good ones asked, “What do you want to accomplish? We’ll tell you if you need a brochure.”

Then the account folks and creative types would develop a strategy and a campaign that might — or might not — include a brochure.

Today, clients come to agencies and say, “We need to be on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.”

You’d think the good ad agencies would say, “Tell us what you want to accomplish and we’ll develop a strategy that includes social media. Maybe we’ll recommend a blog instead of Pinterest.”

But no. Too often, they’re saying, “Oh, sure. Right after we design a nice brochure for you. And produce a TV spot or three.”

Now, I’m not talking about the bad old Web 1.0 days when agencies just took the client’s brochure and put it up on the website. Or slapped up last year’s :30 TV spot. That phenomenon was about agencies not understanding the interactive capability of the new medium of the Internet (yep, it was capitalized back then).

No, I’m talking about agencies today not getting that social media is about (a) content, and (b) engagement. That it’s a process, not a project, a process that relies on having people who can generate engaging content and manage continuous engagement. I’m talking about the mentality that still wants to sneak a brochure in there somewhere. Even though you can’t tweet a brochure. And no one has ever “Liked” a brochure on Facebook.

There’s nothing wrong with a brochure if your client needs one. But who does? Most business is conducted electronically in one form or another. Even restaurants can send a copy of their menu to your smartphone. Do they really need a brochure?

Part of the problem is the agency business model still hasn’t accommodated unpaid media and low-cost production. Under the old model, media commissions and markup on printing and broadcast production were where the money came from. That model’s been dead for a while, yet we still haven’t figured out how to make money selling engagement.

We’d damn well better. If clients have finally gotten over brochures, isn’t it time we did?

Blair Boone, Ph.D. has been writing advertising copy for a long time. Most of it has not appeared in brochures. He is president of OneWriter. You can find him at onewriter@aol.com and @blairboone on Twitter. ©Blair Boone 2012