MAIN CONFERENCE
Tuesday, July 24
The simple psychology behind click-bait and how to create infinitely engaging content
Attention in today’s online world is harder and harder to garner than ever before. Our clients, customers, prospects, employees and leads tell us they have no time. No time to read our emails, download our e-books, listen to our podcasts, dive-in to our blog posts, or watch our videos.
However, these very same customers can binge watch two seasons of “Stranger Things” on Netflix in one weekend! Where’s the disconnect?
It turns out, the most successful communicators in the world don’t worry about how long their content is. Instead, they apply two infinitely powerful psychological phenomena to catch, keep and capture their audience’s attention. Beware, though: These same two mental states are responsible for the rise of click bait.
In this exhilarating opening keynote presentation, former television producer and bestselling author Andrew Davis will show you how to keep your audience curious. You’ll be challenged to think like a reality TV editor as he reveals the five things that brilliant organizations do to transform their communications from boring to brilliant. More importantly, you’ll learn the simple secret to creating infinitely engaging content. What’s the secret? You’ll have to wait and see.
All the things that are wrong with your video (and how to fix them)
Video can be so incredibly engaging. Done correctly, it is the single most effective communication tool at your fingertips to get through to your audience. Screw it up, and video is the single most expensive waste of time you’ve ever embarked upon, and can turn off that same audience. Sound familiar? Then this session is for you.
In this session, you’ll learn:
- How to read key metrics to determine if your video is working or not (Hint: It’s not about the views)
- How to think about video’s place in the ever-changing social media landscape
- The four main reasons a video falls flat (and how to fix them)
- How to convince execs that “more video” is not an effective strategy pursue
- What video trends are here to stay, and which ones are a fool’s errand
Want to algorithm-proof your social media strategy? Put your audience first
As Facebook prioritizes “meaningful engagement” and punishes organic content, understanding your audience and how your content can meet its needs is more important than ever. No matter the size of your team or your budget, you can create content that will drive your audience to engage and share.
You’ll learn how to:
- Develop an audience-first social media strategy that will drive growth and engagement
- Create content that will succeed organically (and make your paid promotions more efficient)
- Understand what your audience wants and how to deliver it
- Analyze social media metrics that will help you improve the quality and relevance of your content
Lunch
(provided on-site)
How social listening can be your digital currency across platforms
Communicators know how important monitoring the media landscape and scanning for trends or potential crises can be—and many social media pros keep track of their brand mentions and interactions online. However, social listening can give you much more than a list of praises sung by your fans or concerns brought by your critics. In this panel, communications experts across industries will explain how you can use social listening best practices to better understand who your followers are, target consumers and entice them to act, use feedback to inform your products and campaigns, and avoid digital pitfalls that can tarnish your organization’s reputation.
Sense of belonging: On communities and influencer engagement
How do you build advocates for your organization or causes? How do you ensure your audiences see themselves in the content you create? A sense of belonging can help people feel connected with your organization and other people; paired with a sense of community it can inspire action and advocacy.
In this session you’ll:
- Learn about the concepts of sense of belonging and sense of community and how it applies to digital impact
- See examples of these concepts in both online and offline executions
- Understand how to define what your most valuable audiences want and need
- Hear strategies for turning audience insights into thriving communities that have impact on your organization’s goals
Drive profit by connecting sales teams and executives using secret Facebook groups
Is your corporate news and product info reaching your sales teams in an efficient and productive manner? Jeff Hupp, director of social media for OneMagnify, will show you how to use Facebook groups to increase knowledge and internal engagement to positively impact your company’s bottom line.
You will learn how to:
- Use custom content and publishing strategy designed for groups
- Encourage open communication from the top down, creating honest 2-way dialogues
- Drive employee product knowledge, company advocacy and higher end-customer satisfaction scores to achieve more sales
Networking break
The human side of social media: Tailor efforts to platforms and people
Why do people use social media—and what does that mean to you as a brand manager? Understanding what drives individuals to use Facebook, Twitter or Instagram can help you hone your online content efforts and provide a memorable (and positive) experience that inspires consumers to keep coming back. Bentley McBentleson, digital marketing manager for KFC, will show you how to better target your social marketing messages and focus on putting the customer first.
You’ll learn:
- Why people turn to particular social media platforms—and how communicators can activate based on those behaviors
- Ways to engage consumers and make a splash on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
- Why you should have a mobile-first social media strategy—and how you can implement it
- Tips to make your social media posts more interactive and provide the best digital user experience possible
Tours of the Amazon Spheres, Amazon Go Store, or free time!
Get a chance to tour the new Amazon Spheres, a botanical workspace and check out the new Amazon Go Store nearby. Or take this time to walk around downtown Seattle — or if you must, check email. But don’t go too far, because the conference cocktail party starts at 5:30 p.m.!
Conference cocktail party, hosted by AWS
Enjoy an amazing 360-degree view of Seattle from the 21st floor of Amazon’s Oscar Building while you meet with speakers and your peers during the conference networking cocktail party.
Wednesday, July 25
Empower employees to boost customer satisfaction—and your brand—online
Social is no longer just a function of marketing. Software analytics company SAS has brought social to its employee base to go from “just doing social” to transforming into a social business. With over 1500 employees completing social media certification and 500 active members of their “140” employee advocacy program, SAS is scaling social across their global organization to drive increased customer satisfaction, brand awareness and revenue. Kirsten Hamstra, SAS’ Global Social Media Manager, leads their corporate social media team with an objective of making customers, partners, and employees feel more confident and comfortable using social to meet their goals. In this session, she’ll share how you can build a successful social program around the power of your organization’s employee base and capitalize on your brand’s brightest and best talent to reach customers where they live.
You’ll learn:
- What data can drive decisions for social business growth
- How to identify and empower the right employees to support the brand
- Tips for building a social training program on a shoestring budget
- Strategies to measure the impact of your employee brand advocates
Why (and how) employees should be at the [heart emoji] of your social media strategy
@AmazonVestLife and @InsideAmazon share a view into life at Amazon, including how employees live the company’s leadership principles and “peculiar ways”, in all kinds of roles throughout the world.
During this session, you’ll learn the who, what, where, when and why of employee social media programs:
- Who: Turning a disconnected and decentralized workforce into your most powerful advocates
- What: The value of user-generated content and more
- Where: Internal vs. external social channels
- When: Timing is everything – or is it?
- Why: The value of engaging employees on social
- Bonus: On all of these Ws, we’ll dive deep into how Amazon encourages employees to #bepeculiar while #deliveringsmiles
Use social customer care to win brand loyalists, even during a crisis
The customer service provided in social channels is indicative of an organization’s overall concern with taking care of its customers. Social customer care lets customers know that brand managers are listening and that they care. These conversations can be incredibly useful in identifying threats, providing great content, and creating brand advocates. However, it requires putting together the right team, providing them the right resources, and striking the right tone.
During this session, you’ll learn:
- How to identify customer expectations and use your resources strategically
- Why you should give more than you take and find ways to surprise and delight your customers
- Ways to prepare for a crisis and activate, including integrating social care into crisis planning and management
Lunch
(provides on site)
Stand out from the noisy crowd: Best practices from brands on Twitter
It’s 2018. It’s no longer enough to be on social media to be heard, because news cycles change at the flick of a tweet. Instagram Stories and Snapchat remove and add new features every other month. New platforms like Musical.ly and HQ Trivia pop up and can change an industry in the course of a few weeks. What does it take to make your organization stand out today? Greg Galant, founder and CEO of Muck Rack and The Shorty Awards, and Laura Pacas, communications manager for Twitter, will show you how to make your social media strategy a driver off press, brand engagement and more.
You’ll learn:
- Best practices from Shorty Award winners
- Why your company should be use Twitter to enhance your brand’s voice and personality
- How to use social media to generate positive earned media and make your brand stand out
- Using data on how journalists use social media to optimize your campaigns on different platforms
How data and authenticity can create winning social media content
If you’re just selling your products and services on social media, you’re missing out. Creating the proper social content lifecycle—which includes understanding the audience you’re targeting, writing value-laden messages and measuring your impact—can make your social media presence one that customers actually care about. Kevin Goddard, senior social media marketing manager for Amazon Web Services, will show you how to create digital content that drives revenue and boosts your organization’s bottom line—and how proper measurement techniques and understanding the numbers can help inform your social media decisions and set you up for success.
You’ll learn:
- Digital content best practices for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
- Why there’s no such thing as B2B social media—and what you should focus on instead
- How to create a social media content strategy within your organization that sets the bar high and offers value to your audience
- Tips for using metrics and social listening data to hone your social media and content efforts—and understand what the numbers mean
Networking break
Make the most of the influencer revolution to increase your audience reach and impact
Influencers rule the online world, especially as the digital media landscape becomes more crowded and noisy with content and marketing messages. However, not all influencers are created equal—and not all will represent your organization in a way that fits with your brand voice and meets your goals. Turning to these social media powerhouses can be even more intimidating with B2B content and campaigns, especially when executive buy-in and requests stand as hurdles to ultimately increasing ROI and your online presence. Holly Nielsen, senior social media strategist, data science for IBM, will show you how to find and work with influencers in ways that excite audiences and help both sides come out ahead.
You’ll learn:
- How to find influencers, no matter your organization’s focus
- Best practices for maximizing influencer campaigns and content with paid social media efforts
- Traits of powerful influencers—and how to play to their strengths
- How to set reasonable expectations and create mutually beneficial campaigns
- Tips for gaining executive buy-in, especially when you’re relinquishing digital content control
Brand loyalty cannot be bought: Use storytelling to change how people view your brand
NASA has been at the forefront of social media since 2008, when the agency created its first Twitter account, @MarsPhoenix, for the Mars Phoenix Lander. Since then, NASA has expanded its digital footprint to share the space agency’s powerful story with a worldwide audience, including social media users, podcast listeners, web surfers and others. In this closing keynote, you will learn best practices for using storytelling to build brand loyalty that simply cannot be purchased.
You’ll learn how to:
- Tailor content to audiences across multiple platforms
- Become a nimble storyteller as trending topics change
- Create authentic experiences that transform how people view your brand
- Inspire brand ambassadors to take your messages directly to online audiences
- Curate user-generated content to tell your story in an authentic way
