5 Unmistakable Lessons From 50 Social Media Leaders

The Big Five

There were a lot of changes in social this year. A medium that evolves as fast as ours means the topics discussed in January can sometimes have very little impact in December. However, there were five main themes that jumped out at us as we looked back on 2016.
The role of advertising agencies in social media has undergone a seismic shift that will have a huge impact in 2017. More and more companies have moved their media buying in-house as the plethora of self-service tools has allowed them to do a lot on their own and bring in agencies more as consultants only. The burning question for 2017 will be ‘is this is the demise of media buying departments at ad agencies?’
Another major theme we saw is the rise of B2B marketing on social platforms. Social media is no longer just for B2C. More and more B2B companies are finding the value of connecting with their business customers on a human level through social.
Video in social and social customer service have seen a huge rise in popularity and ingenuity. Businesses are incorporating video into their campaigns and employing social to care for customers with amazing creativity and reaping huge rewards from their efforts.
The last major theme we’ve noticed is the increasing role of influencers in marketing and the tough questions they are forcing marketers to answer regarding social triage. We look forward to tackling this and more with our listeners as we review lessons learned in 2016!

In This Episode

• How the rise of video social leads to a categorical problem that needs AI to solve
• Why great customer service means embracing social video and social platforms
• How influencers leads to a whole new way to market through social media and engages the sensitive topic of triage marketing
• Why multiple brands means multiple messages and content delivery methods

Quotes From This Episode

“There are very few other podcast topics anywhere in the world that would have the same kind of pace of change as we do in social media.” —@jaybaer
“B2B marketers have to find some way to break through to customers and prospects.” —@jaybaer
“Video done well is a great storytelling medium.” —@adamcb
“It was a big year for influencer marketing.” —@jaybaer
“Public Relations has always been based upon the premise of subject matter expertise.” —@adamcb
“Every brand needs to have its own personality and the way that you deliver content for one brand may be very different from another.” —@adamcb
“Influence has to be contextual. It’s not just about reach; it’s about topics.” —@jaybaer
“If you focus on everything, you focus on nothing and end up collapsing under the weight of your own feature set.” —@jaybaer
Resources

• Top 5 Downloaded Episodes of 2016:
  • 1. Gary Vaynerchuk and the Currency of Attention
  • 2. How to Use Social Media to Delight Customers Across 11 Brands
  • 3. Why Social Media Customer Service Is the New Marketing
  • 4. How to Use Influencers to Amplify Social Media
  • 5. Which People Skills Are Most Important in Social Media
• Honorable Mentions:
  • 6. When and How Does Snapchat Work for Business
  • 7. How Mayo Clinic Dominates Social Media
• Most Memorable Episodes:
  • Most Surprising: A Tasty Tale of Social Media Smarts From A Boutique Burger Manufacturer
  • Funniest: How Coca-Cola Mastered Brand Journalism
  • Most Challenging to Record: Why You’re Not Good at Social Until It Embarrasses You
  • Most Unusual Answer to the Big 2: How Kellogg Delights Fans by Telling Bigger Social Stories
  • Most Unusual Use of Social: How Social Media Works When Your Fans Are Truly Passionate
• The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want

Happy Holidays! See you in the new year!