Rip Off the Band-Aid and Blog Already!

Shai Smith, Owner of The Vagabond Studio

Thinking about blogging, but not sure if it’s right for you? Already have a blog, but need more readers? In one short hour, we will clarify why all organizations, businesses, and causes NEED a blog, how to build a basic, user-friendly blog, how to curate original, viral-friendly content, and how to make your blog social media friendly with all the latest (mostly free) add-ons and plugins. I will rapidly take you from start to finish, with room for questions – so bring a pen and your game face. I’ll bring the candy.

Taking your Social Marketing Program from #2Dto3D

Jason Dominy, Social Engagement Manager at The Dalton Agency

Our social channels are filled with noise, from people posting useless trivia, to brands posting pictures of their latest products, and everything in between. But in the midst of all of this noise is a great opportunity for brands and companies to take engagement to another level by simply meeting consumers where they’re at. In this session we’ll take a look at how to create genuine engagement that encourages true advocacy and awareness of your company/product.

Social Sauce – Tap into New Media to Launch a New Product

Josh Martin, Manager, Social Media at Arby’s

In this session, Social Media Manager Josh Martin will present a case study around how Arby’s leveraged social media to drive anticipation and awareness of its bottled signature sauces being made available for purchase for the first time. From UGC to web videos, this session will cover a variety of tactics Arby’s employed within social media to engage its fans.

Social Media Strategy in 3 Words

Phil Bowdle, Communications Director at West Ridge Church

It’s easy to start a social media presence these days without ever defining what the purpose and strategy is behind it. In this session, we’ll discuss a unified strategy to help you maximize your social media efforts and share solutions to get volunteers engaged in the process. Learn some practical tips you can use right away to get strategic with social media.

How to Build Your Brand with Visual Social Media

Lauren Thomas, Sr. Social Engagement Manager at Engauge

The rise of social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr have ushered in visual marketing as a key trend for 2014 and beyond. This presentation will explore a (brief) history of the visual web and provide attendees with case studies and best practices for leveraging visual content to share stories and engage fans.

When “It” Hits the Fan

Drew Hawkins, Director of Digital and Social Media at DeMoss PR
Chandler Epp, Public Relations Strategist at DeMoss PR

Oh, crap. Your brand’s getting dumped on. Digital crises can happen to anyone, but only the best of brands are armed and ready to respond
effectively. What do you do when an offline crisis blows up on Twitter? What about when your social team posts something to Facebook that they shouldn’t have? DeMoss’ Drew Hawkins and Chandler Epp share the steps your brand must take to minimize damage and reveal how asking the right questions makes all the difference when ‘it’ hits the fan.

YouTube is the Next Big Thing (that already is)

Noah Echols, Associate Director of Strategy at IQ
Rachel Peters, Associate Director of User Experience at IQ

Remember when Facebook hit 500 million active users and we all placed bets on whether or not a single website could ever reach 1 billion? And then last September when Facebook actually hit 1 billion, everyone in marketing called the game? Meanwhile, YouTube quietly (and I say quietly because for some reason marketers and Internet trend spotters alike failed to even classify it as a social networking site) reached the same unreachable milestone. And still marketers are allocating their social budgets mostly to Facebook and Twitter while ignoring YouTube.

Our session will outline why YouTube should be a priority in your channel strategy and how to leverage thriving YouTube communities to get results.

PR, Politics + Social Media: Why Traditional Communications Won’t Work for Innovative/Forward-Thinking Politicians and Government Agencies

Jennifer Ogunsola, Communications Manager, Mayor’s Office (2009 – 2012)/City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation (2012 – present)
Anne Torres, Deputy Director of Communications, Mayor’s Office of Communications (2012-present)
Justin Tanner, Political Strategist/Intergovernmental Affairs and former Communications Associate (Mayor’s Office of Communications 2012-2013, City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office)

Social media is growing exponentially and has become one of the major influences in the communities that government entities are serving. Just as major brands such as Delta, Coca-Cola, and Nike must use social media to enhance their brand, government must go where the public and constituents are to enhance their brand. As astute and forward thinking as Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is, it took a while and much convincing before he understood the importance of social media in reaching his constituents directly and in real time. It became increasingly obvious that the 140 character tweets and Facebook posts, in many cases, were much stronger and more accurate than the traditional media that we consume every day. These three individuals from the City of Atlanta will discuss PR, politics, and social media in an era of increasing media and attention fragmentation.

LinkedIn as a Career Advancement Tool

Richard Kirby, Executive Impact

We are living in a time of heightened unemployment, underemployment, and misemployment. If you have found yourself in one of these categories, or even if things are going well for you, Attend this session and you will learn how to strategically leverage LinkedIn to advance your career and income more rapidly. Recruiters are increasingly utilizing LinkedIn as a resource for identifying job candidates. More than a brilliant blog or killer resume, LinkedIn is the resource most important to your career advancement.

This session will explain why a “good looking” LinkedIn profile is not enough, what you can do to improve your online visibility and credibility, and how you can proactively leverage this powerful platform to advance your career and income in ways you never imagined.

How to Build a First Class Social Media Campaign on a Coach Budget

Melissa Kerwin, Social Media Analyst at Marketing Inspirations

“Great! You’d like start a social campaign with us? We need a minimum of $10,000/month.” “But I don’t have that kind of budget!” Sound familiar? These companies are expensive because you are paying for the analytics. That is the basis of a great campaign and they know it. But did you know there are many great tools out there for SMB’s that can be used on a more realistic budget? Reaching your followers and fan base is tough enough with EdgeRank, why should you be forced to pay so much just to reach a few more? In this session, I will discuss how to create and maintain a killer paid social media campaign on a limited budget. I will cover free/cheap effective tools to help understand your analytics so you can optimize with more precision and less money. All the tools are there – you just need to know how to use them effectively and efficiently.

Social Chaos: Moving from Panic to Plan

Tiffany Deluccia, PR Account Executive at JDPR
Drew Dezen, Account Executive at JDPR

Seth Godin recently wrote, “Social media is a marathon, a gradual process in which you build a reputation. The best time to start was a while ago. The second best time to start is today.” Whether you have been putting off starting a social media plan for your business until there was proof it would stick around, or whether you are starting from scratch on a new project or volunteer role and want a good look at current practices, this session will cover ways to structure a program that will advance your overall business goals. Intentionally building your brand reputation takes time, and doing it through social media is no different. Social media isn’t a strategy in and of itself – these tools are valuable options for your overall communication strategy. Listen, research and know where to start, and you’ll be much more likely to succeed in measureable ways!

How to Nurture B2B Leads through Social Media and Email Marketing

Deborah Reale, Social Media Manager at Reed Construction Data
Rob Sommers, Email Marketing Specialist at Reed Construction Data

This session will focus specifically on business-to-business (B2B) lead generation marketing using social media and email marketing as a lead-nurturing tool. Topics to be addressed are B2B strategies, tools, best practices, and analytics.

Breaking Down Silos with Social Media

Terry Coniglio, Social Media Manager at Georgia State University

Social media can no longer be seen as 100% of one person’s job but 1% of everyone’s job. In this session we will explore how you can use social media within your organization to break down silos within your organization, win customer loyalty, and improve customer service.

Maintaining Your Company’s Voice in Dynamic Social Media

Ray Peabody, Web Marketing Manager at Verizon Telematics

Like all business initiative, social media requires strategy, a game plan and the right roles in place to deliver a positive outcome. What makes it different is the fluidity of social media, its fragmented environment and its potential to quickly impact the reputation of a company or product — positively or negatively. As the MarCom professionals responsible for how our companies are represented, social media creates unique challenges. How much do we open the curtain in our quest to be socially friendly? How do we respond to a consumer with a “social megaphone” or to a well-organized attack? How do we stay within the bounds of legal disclosure with the 2013 FTC Guidelines and recent SEC and FINRA guidance? And operate at a faster pace with multiple contributors?

Eff-Yeah, Content Marketing!

Blair Brady, Partner & VP Client Services at WITH/Sims

We know, you’ve got the best social media strategy in the biz…you know the latest platforms, when to publish, when NOT to publish, and all the latest trends. But WHAT are you putting out there? Social strategy without content is like an Oreo without the filling, a Lamborghini without the motor…neither are worth opening up.

You’re already telling your clients how awesome you are at making the funniest gifs and memes…but WHAT of? That’s what we’re going to talk about – the WHAT, the MEAT…the CONTENT (the good stuff). In social media and content marketing, it all goes back to the fundamental task of understanding WHAT you want to say and HOW you should say it so those who need to HEAR it, do. Once you craft the story, tighten the message and build the content, THEN figure out where to post, tweet, pin, gram, or tumbl it. Sharing is the easy part – figuring out what you’re putting out there is what separates the great from the ‘meh’. Its ok, we’re all in this together. hashtagreadysetgo

The Power of Personal Branding Through the Use of Social Media

Tara Williams, Social Media Expert at Who is Tara Williams

Personal branding is a key element no matter what profession you are in and what your job title is. Personal branding enables you to secure a following of people that are interested in your personal accomplishments and achievements. This enables you to create a security that no matter where you go you have a solid brand. Personal branding is power whether you are in sales, marketing, entertainment it is extremely important that you create your personal brand and utilize online marketing through Social Media to help accomplish this branding. I will provide specific ways to brand yourself online and the benefits.

Posting with a Purpose: Building Sales Pipeline Through B2B Social Media

Lisa Calhoun, CEO of Write2Market

Communicating with consumers has its challenges, but when your audience consists of other businesses’ decision makers, a whole new level of complication arises. How do you run a successful B2B social campaign that builds leads? Join Write2Market CEO, Lisa Calhoun, as she leads you through the steps to conquer the social sphere with an effective social lead generation program. Attendees will leave armed with proven tactics to boost their company’s social footprint with the use of Twitter, LinkedIn and strategic blogging. You’ll see case study examples of social pipeline development campaigns and learn which tools can help you automate and scale your campaign.

Lifecycle Marketing: 7 Strategies Businesses are Using Right Now to Attract New Customers, Maximize Profits, and Thrive

Desiree Scales, CEO/Founder of Bella Web Design

Lifecycle marketing is a seven-stage system devised specifically for small businesses to help them transform their sales and marketing. It is comprised of basic strategies and tactics integrated into a single, self-sustaining process. Small businesses that implement lifecycle marketing principles through the affordable, easy-to-use automation technology now.

Attract traffic – Attract leads to your website with great content like ebooks, infographics, research reports, webinars and blog posts.
Capture leads – Encourage leads to sign up to receive your content. Be sure to include opt-in language in your web form.
Nurture prospects – Create a consistent campaign of useful information and offers with automated, personalized follow-up messages.
Convert sales – Turn browsers into buyers with e-commerce tools and a well-defined lead management strategy.
Deliver and satisfy – Fulfill your commitments on time, then provide additional value that surprises and delights customers.
Upsell customers – Develop a long-term strategy, tactics, products and services to help generate additional sales and recurring revenue over time.
Get referrals – Encourage referrals by encouraging and creating incentives for customers and partners.

The real value of lifecycle marketing derives from integrating the individual building block tactics in to a single system — leveraging the interconnectedness and interdependencies of the stages. As the saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Are you a lifecycle marketer? Do you plan your sales and marketing as a single process, or as a collection of activities? Here’s how to maximize your business at every step in your relationship with your customers and prospects.

 

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