Day 2 at Social Media Marketing World 2015 Event

It all kicked off today with the keynote of the Founder of Social Media Examiner and of the actual event Social Media Marketing World 2015 #SMMW15, Michael Stelzner. Michael is also the host of the podcast, Social Media Marketing. With the rise of videos as the preferred medium for social media users, the topic of developing a video strategy seemed the logical topic.

When developing a video strategy the same approach needs to be taken that is taken with any form of content marketing. Recognise your target audience, engage them in their tone of voice, talk about things that interest them and use the platforms that they use. Michael looked at three platforms; Facebook, podcasting and (what seems to be the buzz word of this conference) Meerkat.

Facebook is still the most used platform in the marketing world and is now the platform where most people consume video. Native video from Facebook will yield better results in terms of reach and engagement than any other type of posting.

Podcasting is effectively a video blog and was a topic that was touched on by many speakers. Podcasting is a simple way to get noticed provided that the content is relevant. Michael, for instance, talks about Social Media Marketing in his podcasts. With this he positions himself as the Ambassador or Thought Leader of the topic and becomes a trusted resource. Therefore hundreds of thousands of people listen to his podcasts to reap the quality content and he can then monetize this.

The next step in video blogging is now becoming viral itself, live streaming of video. This is with the use of an app called Meerkat. Meerkat is a simple tool that allows you to podcast on the go, in an interactive environment. This is the latest form of real time marketing and allows people to set up forums on the fly and let their subscribers interact live with the host. Again this needs to be planned as with the afore mentioned video strategy.

With Michael two over arching themes were present in his speech. Firstly content. It is vitally important to know yourself, your company, your audience and to produce good quality, relevant content. Secondly, have a go. Don’t be scared to give new technologies, methods and mediums a try. 75% of marketers ‘sit and wait’ when new technologies are launched. You will stand out from the crowd by trying them and seeing if they work for you or your customers.