By the end of June 30th, I was almost in overload from all I had learned from a stellar group of presenters. Yet, I am so glad I joined the nearly 200 others at Social Media Day Denver: Mile High Influence.

Social Media Day is an internationally recognized day devoted to celebrating the ways social media has changed our lives for the better. Erin Cell, founder of Socially Powered, was the driving force behind the first large-scale Social Media Day event in Denver.

Assisted by an extensive team of volunteers, Erin worked tirelessly to pull off a very successful event that included presentations from over a dozen locally and nationally recognized leaders in the social media industry.

 

Keynotes

  • Joel Comm, best-selling author and frequent contributor to Inc.com, Forbes.com, Social Media Examiner, and Entrepreneur.com, used his crystal ball to create a presentation called The Future of Social: Predictions, Guesses, and Gadgets.
  • Kim Garst, a renowned marketing strategist named by Forbes as one of the top 10 social media power influencers, shared high-level tips in The Art of Facebook Marketing.
  • Bryan (BK) Kramer, TED speaker, author, and thought leader who the Huffington Post calls one of the top 50 Social CEO’s, stressed the importance of having a tribe in Navigating the Climb by Building a Better You.

 

My Personal Takeaways

  • Successful social media marketing is built on relationships. Authentic content + engagement = relationships.
  • Social media isn’t about you. It’s about attracting, building, and then serving a connected community.
  • Be consistent, deliver value, and provide a call to action in each communication.
  • Storytelling has the power to reveal another dimension of your personality and can supercharge your brand.
  • Stories need to be educational/informative, inspirational/motivational, entertaining and/or experiential.
  • Be interesting – use humor, offer inspiration, and provide helpful tips.
  • Every piece of content you share can lead to future sales.
  • Be clear, congruent, credible, consistent, and curious.
  • Videos get three times the engagement of text-only post. Live videos get 10 time the reach of text-only.
  • Self-created video content has more character and authenticity than professionally created content. Plus, it gets more attention.
  • There are four “E’s” in a great live-streaming show: education, engagement, energy, and evaluation.
  • It’s essential to be authentic.
  • When you don’t have an answer, say: “I don’t know.”

To find out more about Social Media Day Denver and how it is celebrated all over the world, here’s a link to a Facebook business page https://www.facebook.com/mashable.smday/

The folks at Mashable, who spearheaded the launch of Social Media Day, started this page on June 30, 2010. That was the date of the first Social Media Day.

How About You?

Have you ever heard of Social Media Day before? If you were to attend such a celebration where you live, what kinds of topics would you hope to learn about? Or if you did attend a local Social Media Day, what were your favorite presentations?

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those ages 45 and older, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.