#SMMW18 was the hashtag to use on social media while sharing your photos of you attending the events workshops, and sessions at Social Media Marketing World 2018. There were over 200 industry leader speakers and almost 5,000 attendees! It took up a large portion of the San Diego Convention Center and the energy in the entire building was electrifying. Marketers, creators, advertisers, and more came from all over the world to share their passion for social media marketing. Unfortunately, we were only able to attend a limited amount of events due to the flu. However, we were able to muster up some energy and participate in some key influencer talks. We shared the highlights of our trip using the #smmw18 hashtag and now we wanted to share them with you!
Highlights From #SMMW18 – Social Media Marketing World 2018
This past week has been a whirlwind of excitement and to be honest, exhaustion. Jen and I were ecstatic to be a part of Social Media Marketing World 2018 this year. But on Jen’s travels from London to Toronto, Jen got sick with the flu. She then gave it to me and my son, James, while we were traveling from Toronto to San Diego. We pumped ourselves full of vitamin C and cold medicine, but it was no match for what we got hit with. Trying to recover and attend some of the events we mustered up some energy to go to some of the leading speakers. Although we weren’t able to participate in all the events, we made it to some of the most important ones and got some great insight into the trends for social media in 2018.
Live Video Is the Key to Online Promotional Success
Everyone is raving about live videos on social media lately. It has become a huge factor in the social media success algorithm this year. Facebook lives and prerecorded videos boost your reach on Facebook. Instagram videos also get more engagement. You want to do a live video if you are not already doing so as part of your promotional strategy.
Jen attended a great session by inspirational speaker, mentor and online marketing strategist, Amy Porterfield, on how to overcome your fears when creating live video. Every one of us has something that we are self-conscious about. It might be the way we look or the way we talk.
However, we have to learn to get over our self-consciousness and just DO IT!
Amy spoke about finding our ‘why’ and how it can help us overcome these fears. Why are you so passionate about what you do? Once you find this passion and happiness for what you do, your level of self-consciousness and self-doubt will lower. You will feel confident enough to get on live video and rock it!
Jen’s “Why?” for doing live video:
“I love connecting with people and mentoring them. The live video actually makes me happy and energizes me. In the beginning, it was scary. But once I realized that it came easy to me, I actually love doing it! After I watched her talk I actually did a live video on Facebook. You can watch it here.” Jen Clarke
How to Use Live Video To Promote Your Zazzle Store
Being creative to start with, you will have a huge advantage over other online marketers about what to use as content for your videos that you can use for Zazzle promotion. Again Live video is better but the recorded video is also great. Here is a list of some of our suggestions:
- Unpacking video – receive a product from Zazzle and open it as you record your reaction
- Painting time-lapse – record your progress with a stationary camera while you paint.
- A Photographers walk – record your hike in the woods and then explain how that shot got put on a canvas or cell phone case
- Artist, Photographer, or Graphic Designer Introduction – tell a little bit about your creative process and why you love making art pieces
Be Unique and Creative with Your Content
There are so many creators on the internet right now. YouTube and Facebook are exploding with new content every day. You might be thinking… How am I supposed to get noticed when there are millions of people just like me posting content? This is a question that Jen and I ask ourselves every day. We try to be ourselves because that is the only way we can be unique and different. There is no one else like us out there.
You also have something special that you can offer the world that is different from anyone else. Don’t be afraid that you are not enough.
Once you try and present yourself to your audience as the authentic YOU, you will realize you are just perfect to convey your message.
Jen went to an informative talk by YouTuber, vlogger, and author Amy Landino (formerly Amy Schitthauer of the show “Savvy Sexy Social” on Youtube) about creating unique and special content. Amy spoke about how you can be different from the masses and stand out.
All you need to do is look at your content from a different angle. How can you make it special? Can you add something to make it your own and different?
Amy spoke about how your content does not need to be ‘something special’, all you need to do is give your own personal twist to it and make it stand out.
Create Relationships and Nurture Your ‘Tribe’ ie Customers
Social media has given us the opportunity to connect and create relationships with virtually anyone around the world. We are able to share stories and events about our lives with our followers and engage with them based on their reactions. Social media has made it easier for us to nurture our followers and create a ‘tribe’.
Creating a strong following is super important and to do this you need to show compassion and affection for your followers. You need to interact with them and show them that you are just like them and show them that you can relate to their lives and provide them with solutions.
Jen and I attended a very informative panel with John Lee Dumas about creating relationships and nurturing your followers. He has a very popular podcast called “Entrepreneur on Fire”. His followers are his tribe and he even gives them the name “Fire Nation”.
John Le Dumas speaks to his audience as if he is speaking to each individual and giving them his undivided attention. He nurtures his audience so that they feel special. John told us that you need to make your followers feel as if you care about THEM. This will help you create a strong and powerful following.
During John’s presentation, I won John Lee Dumas’ The Mastery Journal for knowing what he calls his “Tribe”. Below is a picture of me with him after he gave me the book. I can’t wait to get started on this cool goal-setting and mindset journal.
An Eventful Trip Overall
Thankfully we were able to muster up some energy to see some amazing speakers at Social Media Marketing World 2018. Meeting incredible people inspired us to launch some great projects for our business in 2018. The conference was inspirational and gave us the energy we needed to rethink some things for our social media strategy.
We really enjoyed ourselves despite being sick. San Diego is beautiful. We even managed to go and see the USS Midway and the Kiss statue on our last day. We took a short video on the flight deck of the ship and you can watch it here. Being sick during the conference was horrible but we were glad that we were fortunate to be able to take part in some of the events and see some of the leading speakers. We will just have to go back next year!
Check out the video that we did at the airport just before we went home here.
Join Me For A Free Facebook Live Q&A on my public Facebook Page!
On Thursday, March 8, 2018, at 11:30 a.m. EST, we will be holding a FACEBOOK LIVE Q&A on my FB page “ElkeClarke.com” to talk about #SMMW18 and our experiences.
I hope you can join us.
If not you can watch the replay and I will STILL answer your questions later. Just post them in the FB comments under the Q & A LIVE video
Here are the details:
1. I will also answer any questions you have about my recent blog post on Social Media Marketing World 2018.
2. This will be a PUBLIC FREE Q & A for anyone.
Like my FB Page “ElkeClarke.com” so that you will get notified when I start my live broadcast or be on my Facebook page just before 11:30 a.m. EST. We will be live for about 45 minutes.
3. You don’t have to read the blog post to join.
4. I hope you can join me so we can have a great discussion and I can answer your questions live.
If you missed it LIVE, you can always watch the REPLAY.
Look for the REPLAY under the “Videos” section on my FB page “ElkeClarke.com
5. Write your questions in the comments. I will answer them even after the live session is done.
LET’S START A CONVERSATION.
COMMENT BELOW ABOUT #SMMW18.
Have you ever attended an event like #SMMW18?
What did you think of our highlights from the trip?
Post your comments below and let me know!
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