Social Media Trends & Insights from Social Media Marketing World with Michelle J Raymond

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Michelle J Raymond: Welcome everybody to the Social Media for B2B Growth Show. I'm your host, Michelle J Raymond and I love to keep up with all things social media. And this time I did it on an epic scale at Social Media Marketing World held every year in San Diego, USA. I had the pleasure of being a speaker and what an adventure it has been.

[00:00:22] Michelle J Raymond: I wanted to have this episode to not only share about my experiences as an attendee and maybe what you can learn from that, but also some of the trends that I saw that were coming through in social media in general, because they have the best of the best speakers from around the world coming and presenting the latest topics and ideas.

[00:00:43] Michelle J Raymond: Now, some of these topics are not going to be any surprise, but there was one thing that really stood out to me that I was excited about, which I'm going to share at the end, so you're going to have to stick around. I'm not going to spoil it up front. But there was definitely things that I expected and things that I was a bit, yeah, I'm not so sure about that and then obviously things that I loved. And I think that's the sign of a good conference, that the team at Social Media Examiner cannot provide a one size fits all that everybody's going to love everything. But with so many different streams and so many different types of presenters and a good cross section of social media platforms represented, it was such a cool experience.

[00:01:26] Michelle J Raymond: Now there's around 2000 people that attend. Who attends? Typically marketers, a lot of the time it is one person marketing teams, which I'm sure a lot of you can relate to. Maybe business owners, agency owners, social media managers that are looking to get the latest and greatest info.

[00:01:44] Michelle J Raymond: It was my first time at this event. So I have nothing to compare it to. I had a good chat to Mike Stelzner and the Social Media Examiner team who organized this. And it's really interesting just to see how things evolved over the three days for me.

[00:02:01] Michelle J Raymond: The thing that I can tell you about me is I'm an absolute extrovert. I love talking to people. I love networking. And I think that all comes back from my 20 years in B2B sales. I was effectively paid to network with people. I found it really interesting when I walked in to the conference center and you go up this big escalator and there's a team that greets you and it's all very exciting. But I was essentially by myself and I was coming into a space I wasn't familiar with, and I have to say for once I have total understanding of what it must be like for introverts who have to go to networking events and do this regularly of what it feels like for you. I spent probably the first day a little bit like a deer in the headlights.

[00:02:47] Michelle J Raymond: I wasn't sure exactly what to do, where I should hang out. I didn't have people that I knew locally that were attending that event that were there on that first day. And so it was really an interesting experience for me. I have to say, I felt a bit anxious. I got over that, but day one it just reminded me that it's been a long time since I've been out and about.

[00:03:12] Michelle J Raymond: I have the thoughts of presenting on a stage and how many people would be there. And I'd had crazy dreams a few days before about no one turning up except my partner, Lil, which, would have crushed me. I was okay if it was a huge crowd, but if there was no one there, I would have just, I w I would have cried. Let's be clear. You all know that.

[00:03:31] Michelle J Raymond: So it was after the first day where I found my mojo and started to talk to people and got to know them, then second day comes around and that's the day when I was speaking. So on the Monday at lunchtime, and it goes for three days in total. And there's a couple of things that I decided up front.

[00:03:49] Michelle J Raymond: I Had decided that there's two ways that you can attack an event like this. You can go into as many of the presentation sessions as possible and learn directly from the speakers live in the moment. Absorb as much as what you can. And that's one way of going around it. The second way of going around it is to meet as many people as you can and look at it as a massive networking event.

[00:04:15] Michelle J Raymond: Now, being in B2B sales, of course, networking really resonates with me, but there's another reason that I chose not to go into a lot of presentations. I think I only went into three or so, so not a lot out of, the big scheme of things. And that's because I personally don't learn in classroom style settings.

[00:04:37] Michelle J Raymond: It is the worst way possible for me to try and sit there and concentrate and listen to what's going on and absorb it. I get too distracted and I'm pretty sure I've got a lot of school report cards that say something like Michelle is easily distracted by her neighbors. Or I recall getting in trouble at school for having my head on the desk, trying to just focus on listening.

[00:04:58] Michelle J Raymond: And I think the lesson here is that we all learn so differently. So remember, this is why we mix up our content. If we want to grow our businesses through social media marketing, we need to make sure that we're always conscious that people learn differently.

[00:05:13] Michelle J Raymond: Some people like to listen and learn. Some people like to read and learn. Some people like to watch videos. And hence why I have books. I have content. I have short form videos. I have long form videos. And this is why I mix things up so much. If it was up to me, we'd just all be reading long books which I'm very confident as podcast listeners, you would disagree with that. So that's why I just want people to take that lesson away, that we all learn differently.

[00:05:41] Michelle J Raymond: Now I knew I had the backup of being able to go back and listen to the recordings and watch those, which I've started to do, which has just been brilliant because honestly, these speakers are on fire. So shout out to the Australian contingents of speakers that were over there.

[00:05:58] Michelle J Raymond: So Ben Jones, a YouTube ad specialist. We had Ben Amos who talks about video strategy and Mel Laurie, who is all about your short form videos like over on TikTok. And it was. Pretty crazy to know that we had, you know, those speakers coming from the other side of world. When it comes to LinkedIn, we had some of my favorite people who I was so grateful that I got the opportunity to meet. So a big shout out to AJ Wilcox. I gave him the hugest hug and Judi Fox, honestly, thank you so much for making my, Taylor Swift inspired bracelet. Having that friendship bracelet was amazing. I also got to meet Michaela Alexis and Richard Bliss for the first time. And so it was pretty cool to see LinkedIn really represented it as well.

[00:06:45] Michelle J Raymond: Now, across the, three days and across all of the workshops and presentations and keynotes, there were, a couple of pretty strong themes that came through and the Social Media Examiner team, they do a lot of research into what's trending right now so that they can help marketers get ahead of the game. Very similar to what I try and do on this podcast.

[00:07:07] Michelle J Raymond: Now, what were the trending topics? I don't know. Does anyone want to have a guess what the number one topic was that, everyone was talking about? No, I don't know. Let's guess AI, ChatGPT. Dare I say those words again? I feel like we're drowning in them and we range for everything from speakers talking about the things that we should be mindful of before we even get started. So strategy first, as always. We then talked about how it can help you create content and then also how it can help you with your processes and scalability and how many tools are there. It was very obvious that the people that attended those either looking for tips, looking for ways to incorporate it and I think, in a lot of the talks overall, the words AI and ChatGPT, and, things along these lines. Came up in general. And it's obvious it's the topic du jour right now people want to know. On the plus side, we're just at the beginning of this process. You're not actually missing out on anything on the bonus side as well you've also got the fact that it can really help you improve your productivity. Which if you are a one person marketing team, whether you own your own business or you work for somebody else, The more time that you can get back, the higher the quality, the output that you can do using these tools, then the better.

[00:08:30] Michelle J Raymond: But ultimately, as everyone said in most of these talks, that it's only as good as the inputs that you have selecting the right tools that work for you. And these things are just getting started. We're kind of at day one in the big scheme of things. So if you feel like you're not up to speed, it's okay. It's totally fine. Don't feel like you have to dive in just because of FOMO. I've personally found that it can be distracting, not helping me reduce the amount of time I'm spending on things. Sometimes it actually takes me longer by the time I figure out the right prompts when I'm lucky, I know how to write, and it would probably take me far less time to do it. That's okay. Each to their own

[00:09:12] Michelle J Raymond: Other trends that I saw definitely video, of course, we've got the vertical short form. So TikTok, Reels, S horts along those lines, but the more surprising thing that came out of, the presentations that I've watched is about having a strategy that also incorporates long form video, so not everything is all about the short. Under two minute kind of videos in vertical format. Some of it is going back to this longer form.

[00:09:40] Michelle J Raymond: Why? I think it's a brilliant opportunity to create thought leadership content. There's one thing for it to be entertaining and grab attention, but it's another thing entirely to be able to expand on that and really show What your brand is all about.

[00:09:55] Michelle J Raymond: So I was very happy to learn about those changes coming through and those trends coming through. 'cause I think there's a fascination with the short form, no doubt that TikTok's popular, those rooms were packed. And I've got a couple of those speakers coming on the show in the coming months so that you guys can also get an insight into what you may have missed if you couldn't attend the conference.

[00:10:19] Michelle J Raymond: What else did I see that was interesting? The other thing that stood out for me, and I also spoke about it in my Company Page's talk, which I found interesting. It wasn't just me that spoke about it was the role that newsletters can play. Now, Andy Crestedina spoke about it and he talks about, your newsletter is your way of being able to move away from the algorithm marketing. So being a slave to the algorithm on social media platforms. By being able to build your own newsletter list. You have direct engagement with your audience without that algorithm in the middle. And this is something I definitely took on. So newsletters definitely got a big play.

[00:10:59] Michelle J Raymond: I spoke about it in the company pages perspective, because again, we know that company page posts are not showing in the home feed as much, so we've got to find a different way to reach out to our page followers and a newsletter where you have subscribers is a perfect way to do that. Now, it's also a great way to repurpose a lot of content.

[00:11:21] Michelle J Raymond: And so if you've got podcasts or blog articles or posts that have performed really well, you can bring them all together in a newsletter. But my favorite part about newsletters and email marketing in general probably came out of the mouth of Ann Handley. So the one keynote presentation, which I absolutely had to attend was hers. Massive fan of what she does. I think she's an inspiration for female marketers. Her keynotes are everything that I'd read about. If you haven't ever seen her content, then check it out. Please go and search her out on LinkedIn. A special shout out because she is a special person and her presentation it started with me laughing. I had a lot of thinking to do during the middle and towards the end, there were tears and back again to laughing. Now that takes a special kind of presentation. But there was a few things that stuck with me. And one of those things out of her presentation was when it comes to sending out emails and content and newsletters, in this case, the from line is more important than the subject line.

[00:12:30] Michelle J Raymond: And it's all about building relationships and trust with people, one person at a time. Sit with that for a minute and have a think about it. Because I think at some point we tried to do everything on such a big scale that it was impossible to keep up with. It was impossible for our content to remain personable and, it became a numbers game rather than how do we build a community and brands have a real opportunity to be leaders in the community and bring everybody together from all those different parts that make up an industry, which I think is a massive opportunity. So don't dismiss things like your newsletter. Don't dismiss the power that you have with a newsletter in building trust in your business. In attracting those opportunities because you're not fighting with people in the home feed.

[00:13:20] Michelle J Raymond: It's almost a futile exercise these days trying to, fight everything out versus a billion people on LinkedIn, 68 million company pages, I think was the last numbers that I saw. More and more content being created because of AI tools. It was just crazy. But there was one thing. My favorite thing that I got out of this whole conference that I was so surprised and I was definitely shocked.

[00:13:48] Michelle J Raymond: I'm not going to lie about this. I was definitely shocked. So going into the conference, when people would ask me, Michelle, what are you presenting on? And I'd say I'm presenting on LinkedIn company pages. And I would give the disclaimer of, I know it's not the cool kid. I know it's not everybody's favorite thing to talk about.

[00:14:06] Michelle J Raymond: But it's so necessary and people don't know what to do with that. And a couple of people pulled me up and they're like, you know what, Michelle, stop saying that because it's really important for brands to build their business. And I was like, yeah, I get it, but it's not cool. TikTok and it's not the topic, dujour, like AI and ChatGPT and things like that.

[00:14:26] Michelle J Raymond: But after having my time on stage. Which there was almost 250 people in that room at a lunchtime session, which I just think is even more mind blowing that people gave up their lunchtime to come and see me present on company pages. And during the whole time that I was speaking, they were writing notes, they were typing notes, they were taking photos of the slides and really absorbing things because I think that LinkedIn is having a renaissance and coming back. And even though it's been around for 20 years, I don't think people understand how to use it. And I saw that in just small things by people not understanding that you can connect with someone instead of follow.

[00:15:09] Michelle J Raymond: I thought everybody knew how to do that. You know, I just assume people know, but they didn't. It was a real insight for me where people are at when it comes to LinkedIn. So even though it's been around for a long time, a lot of social media marketers, are the people that, as I said in the presentation, just got dumped with the page when they turned up.

[00:15:30] Michelle J Raymond: And there's never really a strategy and people can't help. I also saw it in the other LinkedIn talks. The rooms were packed the chatter out in the hallways afterwards. I had around 30 people standing around me, asking me questions about company pages. I saw Judi Fox had about the same. I have no doubt that Richard Bliss and AJ Wilcox and Michaela had exactly the same thing going on.

[00:15:54] Michelle J Raymond: People were eager, people were keen, and it was just such an amazing opportunity for me to have. Those conversations with people. So LinkedIn is making a comeback. And I think I can say that with confidence and company pages were definitely on the priority list, which was also exciting in mind opening for me to realize just how far we've come since the early days that I started talking about these. People no longer think I'm as a crazy as what I was, because you realize you've got to build a business brand and you've got to build your personal brands for your employees. That is where we're headed in 2024 and beyond.

[00:16:36] Michelle J Raymond: How do you bring the best out in your business? If you want to leverage these platforms. It is not just one person's job in the business. I'm going to say that over and over again on the podcast. So I, I can't talk anymore, which is how I ended up after Social Media Marketing World.

[00:16:51] Michelle J Raymond: Cause I was at every networking event that you could possibly do. I was having as many conversations, my poor voice. Luckily I'd pre recorded some of the podcast episodes because yeah, I sounded more like a Simpsons character than what I did my normal self.

[00:17:05] Michelle J Raymond: So yeah, it w it was such a cool experience and I'm grateful to everybody that I met, everybody that I had those conversations with. I'm grateful that I got to learn from some of the best people and experts in different fields, because I think it's important to learn from people that don't just do what you do, you.

[00:17:24] Michelle J Raymond: And see, what else is going on in TikTok land? What's going on and over an Instagram Reel land, what can I take from those social media platforms and bring across to create better content on LinkedIn? What trends are applying, at a macro level that I need to be conscious of, and that is something that I like to stay ahead of, so I'm working with my brands and the companies that I work with, I want to be across everything. And so Social Media Marketing World, I highly recommend it to you listeners. If you happen to be in San Diego or in the U S in general it's held in March every year. You can get discounted tickets now, and they're not paying me to say this.

[00:18:02] Michelle J Raymond: I just think for the value that I got out of the three days that I spent, it was absolutely priceless. And I just want to say that genuinely, as I said, there's nothing in this for me rather than I get to help you as a listener, know that this is an event that is seriously worth considering. And, I hope that I get the opportunity to come back and present next year.

[00:18:27] Michelle J Raymond: That would be amazing. I got cracking feedback, which just made my day. So to those of you who did attend and happened to be listening, this is my love sending back out to all of you who actually took the time to write those things. Because yeah, I'm proud of what I did. So I'm going to do a podcast. I think, in the next few weeks, I'm going to talk about the importance of getting started. Because if I hadn't got started several years ago on video, when I was petrified, there's no way I could have been standing on this stage at an international conference.

[00:19:05] Michelle J Raymond: And there's a lesson in that for everyone. I wasn't perfect on day one. I'm not perfect now, but I'm looking for ways to get better. And that was the advice Ann Handley gave me in the speaker's room. I asked her for a piece of advice and I said to her, how can I get better? And she, took a moment to pause. It wasn't just something that came out and she said, it's two things.

[00:19:24] Michelle J Raymond: Take a look at the recording, watch yourself back and look for ways that you can get better. That's number one. Number two is grab yourself a coach and work with an expert who knows what they're doing. And my advice to you listeners, if LinkedIn is on your list of things to do, and you cannot, despite your best efforts, find a way to make your company page work.

[00:19:47] Michelle J Raymond: If you're looking to build your employees up as thought leaders or the brand as a thought leader, that is exactly how I work with my clients. I recharge LinkedIn profiles. That means I write those things for you so that you're not underselling yourselves.

[00:20:03] Michelle J Raymond: And so I'm going to take Ann's advice and I hope that if you're out there and listening, you'll take mine as well if you need some help with LinkedIn. But all in all, I've come back my extroverts battery has been recharged. My jet lag brain isn't quite back to normal, but hopefully it will be soon. But, I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to speak at the Linked Summit in Denmark in June.

[00:20:29] Michelle J Raymond: So I'll get to meet some more people face to face in that part of the world. And it's such a blessing. It is just mind blowing that these are the kinds of opportunities that LinkedIn can bring you to that there are opportunities to grow your business by networking with the right target audience. And that's what it's all about.

[00:20:49] Michelle J Raymond: So thank you so much for listening to the recap. We've got some great guests that are coming up over the next few weeks. So until next week, cheers.