I spent the latter part of last week at the #BigSocial Media Conference in Manchester, organised by the very inspiring, John Ashcroft. I learnt so much but I really wanted to share some of the great nuggets I gleaned from a number of the brilliant speakers at the conference where they shared their expertise with us on stage – I hope you find a nugget or two to learn from them too!
Mari Smith
Mari is one of the world’s leading social media thought leaders, widely recognized for her Facebook marketing expertise. She is author of The New Relationship Marketing and co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day.
Mari’s speaking topics over the 2 days of the #BigSocial Media Conference were: “How and Why Businesses are Succeeding with Facebook” (Day 1) and “How to improve your Facebook Marketing: 7 Power Techniques” (Day2).
Mari shared with us, the 3-Part Social Media Success Formula: Content, Engagement and Conversion.
Mari spoke not only on creating content, but on the importance of engagement. In addition, she enlightened us on Facebook trends such as Videos and the Focus on Visuals. She also emphasised on the importance of social customer care and on Facebook Advertising as the best way to reach a targeted audience.
You can find Mari at marismith.com
Melonie Dodaro
Melonie is the No.1 Bestselling author of the LinkedIn code. She runs the highly successful Social Media agency, Top Dog Social Media and is considered Canada’s No.1 LinkedIn Expert.
Melonie’s speaking topics over the 2 days of the #BigSocial Media Conference were: “How to master lead generation on LinkedIn” (Day 1) and “Five ways to establish yourself as a Thought Leader on LinkedIn” (Day2)
Melonie gave us her 3-step formula to LinkedIn success – Get found, Attract Your Ideal Client and Stand Out!
Melonie spoke on the value of knowing your target audience in succeeding with lead generation on Social media and enlightened us on practical steps to take in order to master lead generation on LinkedIn. In addition, she spoke on how to use Content Marketing to achieve Thought Leadership and shared with us, her own example and personal experience of doing the same on LinkedIn.
Melonie also spoke on the need to use the right key words on LinkedIn, have “Daily LinkedIn Activities” as well as, what to avoid doing on LinkedIn!
You can find Melonie at TopDogSocialMedia.com
Lilach Bullock
Lilach has been listed as one of Forbes Top 20 women Social Media Power influencers and is the Co-Founder of Comms Axis, a highly successful digital marketing, social media and content agency.
Lilach’s speaking topics over the 2 days of the #BigSocial Media Conference were: “The Road to Social Media Success” (Day 1) and “Powerful Twitter Strategies” (Day2)
Lilach enlightened us on practical tips businesses can use to Succeed in Social Media, especially using the Twitter platform, the importance of using keywords in your Twitter Bio and how “what you tweet, is more important than how many times you tweet”!
Lilach also shared with us how social media marketing takes time because we need to build relationships.
You can find Lilach at commsaxis.com
Jenny Brennan
Jenny is a Facebook Marketing Pro and runs her own Boutique Social Media Agency.
Jenny speaking topic at the #BigSocial Media Conference was: “Influencing the influencers, bridging the gap”.
Jenny spoke on using Social media to create credibility, making use of the right channels and how she has nurtured and developed relationships with key influencers over the years, which has now led to her working with some of the biggest influencers in Social Media.
You can find Jenny at JennyBrennan.Me
Sam Flynn
Sam is the owner of Sam Flynn Social Media and is a Social Media Trainer & Speaker.
Sam’s speaking topic at the #BigSocial Media Conference was: “Selling more by Selling Less”
Sam spoke on how building relationships and being “More Social than Media” will help businesses sell more on Social Media.
She also spoke on using the right keywords our target audience understand, listening to customers, encouraging customer reviews and lastly, putting out offers with deadlines to our target audience!
Finally, Sam shared her new word with us – BRANDONALITY – The person of a Brand – This is what makes you or your brand stand out!
You can find Sam at SamFlynn.co.uk
Ian Anderson Gray
Ian is a Social Media Consultant and Trainer. He is the founder of the popular blog “seriously social” and co-founder of Select Performers Internet Solutions.
Ian’s speaking topic at the #BigSocial Media Conference was: Social Media Tools to boost your effectiveness in a noisy world.
Ian totally rocked our world 🙂 with several tools to help with the various social media activities that we need to carry out daily.
Some of the tools Ian shared include, but are not limited to: Buffer, FriendsPlusMe, IFTTT, Feedly, Latergramme for Instagram, BuzzSumo and Agora Pulse.
You can find Ian at Iag.me
Ian Brodie
Ian Brodie is the author of the No. 1 Amazon Bestseller, Email Persuasion. He has been named as one of the “Top 50 Global Thought Leaders in Marketing and Sales” by Top Sales World magazine and “Top 25 Global influencers in Sales and Sales management” by OpenView Labs.
Ian’s speaking topic at the #BigSocial Media Conference was: Email reinvented
Ian spoke on the basics of email marketing, such as having a deep understanding of our ideal client, giving value in advance, and letting personality shine through in our emails.
Ian also spoke about Integrating email marketing with other platforms such as Facebook, the importance of personalising emails based on the preferences of subscribers and lastly, the adaptation of marketing emails using various strategies.
You can find Ian at IanBrodie.com
Zoe Cairns
Zoe is an international Social Media Speaker, Trainer and Consultant.
Zoe’s speaking topic at the #BigSocial Media Conference was: 7 Steps to a Successful Social Media Strategy
Zoe spoke on outlining our Social Media goals as businesses and the importance of using Social Media for engagement and not just broadcasting.
She also spoke on identifying and studying our Target audience, competitors and Key influencers.
Lastly, she enlightened us on the importance of measuring and monitoring our social media marketing activities and shared a number of tools to achieve this with us including, but not limited to: Sendible, Tweroid, BuzzSumo, Twubs and Followerwonk.
You can find Zoe at zcsocialmedia.com
Katie King
Katie is the Managing Director of Zoodikers, a leading PR and Social Media Agency. Katie is a Strategic Business and Marketing Consultant
Katie’s speaking topic at the #BigSocial Media Conference was: Up Periscope and fast forward to 2050
Katie spoke on super artificial intelligence, its rise, its impact on marketing and communications, jobs, the consequences and how we can take it more seriously.
You can find Katie at zoodikers.com
To attend the 2016 #BigSocial Media Conference, go here
Disclaimer: The above is an account of my own learning at the #BigSocial Media Conference. I am in no way affiliated with the conference or it’s organisers.