Learning About Social Media in San Francisco

This post is long overdue, but I promised I would follow up with the "business" part of my trip to San Francisco last month for the NCMPR (National Council for Marketing and Public Relations) Summer Institute on social media. So here it is!

The official title of the institute was "Social Network Marketing: The New 'Word of Mouth,'" and it was run by Tim Burke, senior VP of SEM Geeks, an "innovative search marketing" company, and his colleague. So for two days straight we soaked in as much information about social media as we could! Here are the highlights for me:

How to make the most out of your Facebook page:

• Highest traffic days (in descending order): Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
• If you give people an action, they are more inclined to do it.
• Host contests through apps like Wildfire to increase fan base and network.
• Post fun, impromptu videos. (i.e. Go around campus and ask students random questions.) Think of these as free commercials!
  
• When it comes to other departments on your campus wanting to create their own Facebook page, come up with a list of guidelines/rules for them to follow. (i.e. The page must promote student to student interaction, or must post three times/week.)
• Also, tell departments to email you ideas for Facebook posts rather than creating an entire Facebook page for them.
• Keys to a successful landing page: strong call to action, no visual distractions, match user intent and keep promises, simple contact form (remove any unnecessary fields) and integrate social.
• Treat the "tabs" like extensions of your website.
• Better results come from providing great content.

The pros and cons of social media (according to SEM Geeks):

How to increase chances of getting your email read:

And remember to avoid:

And last, but not least, this little tidbit: "Social media is about the people! Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you." - Matt Goulart, SM Innovator.

I have to say, while Tim and SEM Geeks put on a great presentation, the best part of the conference was interacting with the other NCMPR members. We've even created a Facebook group for everyone who attended to post questions and best practices. I made a lot of great connections and got some great advice. I'm looking forward to hopefully attending many more NCMPR conferences in the future!