Your Mental Download for Social at Digital Summit and Beyond

Social is, and has been, one of the most hotly discussed subjects in digital marketing for years.

…it’s no wonder that social media is the center of many a marketing conference, and digital marketers flock to gurus to hear their wisdom and perhaps find that breakthrough that leads to social success.

The potential for tremendous business growth and opportunity on social seems obvious. Yet the space is in constant flux as networks rise and fall in popularity, new strategies and tools come in and out of favor, and regulation from the government and the networks themselves require a change in tactics.

Even after all this time, many brands struggle to find the right social recipe and reach meaningful long-term ROI.

So it’s no wonder that social media is the center of many a marketing conference, and digital marketers flock to gurus to hear their wisdom and perhaps find that breakthrough that leads to social success.

If you’re heading to any of those conferences this year, including (but not limited to) the upcoming Digital Summit in Atlanta May 19-20, you’d do well to come prepared. Make the most of your investment and ensure you’re up on all the modern social trends so you have a strong foundation to stand on when the experts start getting into the advanced aspects of the field.

For you Atlanta-area marketing professionals and Atlanta marketing recruiters, we’ve also added some social-oriented discussions at this year’s Digital Summit you might want to check out. View the full schedule here and decide which are most relevant for your business!

Using Social to Sell

Social isn’t just a platform for marketing experiences like branding, PR and experience crafting. It’s increasingly an essential piece of direct sales and ecommerce, too.

This is manifesting in a variety of ways. A few examples:

• Directly reaching out to prospects with sales messages via certain networks’ personal messaging channels
• Offering special deals to individuals posting about a certain topic
• Paid advertisements linking directly to product pages

As new social channels continue to emerge and existing networks get more creative with their offerings, it’s more and more important to keep an eye on social capabilities and get creative with ways to use them as a window to direct sales.

Monitoring Social Channels for Brand and Industry Feedback

While consumers are often too busy to fill out a comment card or write a letter with recommends, they’re often all too willing to take to their social networks to share how they’re feeling about your brand (especially if it’s complaints!).

Opportunities abound for companies that are able to effectively listen in on this social chatter. It’s a way to foster goodwill, make personal connections, put out fires and address concerns that crop up in public conversations.

But most organizations still fail to pay attention to this free input or don’t see its value. And many of those who realize that value don’t have an effective strategy to convert the potential into results.

In reality, almost all social conversation about your brand has some use, even if it’s not positive. Best of all, it’s cheap! Take advantage of it to get ahead on digital without having to make a huge investment.

The Codependence of SEO and Social

SEO is coming up in the social conversation more and more, both in terms of web search engines like Google and the internal search capabilities of networks like LinkedIn.

There is growing reason to believe that a brand’s social media activity has a direct impact on where its web pages show up on search engine results pages. The volume of backlinks and followers, increased traffic, and direct interaction with search engines via networks like Google+ can all contribute how a web browser encounters your brand through organic search.

Additionally, brands are realizing the value of optimizing their social profiles and posts to increase their visibility to users searching on networks’ internal search engines, spawning an entire new branch of SEO that’s proven to be extremely effective. Forward-looking companies and social media recruiters are constantly looking for SEO experts who can bridge that gap and be a master of both worlds.

Even if you don’t live in the Atlanta area and won’t be joining the marketers and Atlanta marketing recruiters in attendance, it’s important to stay on top of the latest social has to offer to avoid falling behind or missing a big opportunity. But if you do end up going, be sure to let us know here or on social and say “Hi” to a MarketPro!

You May Also Like