Social Media Marketing World 2016 Influencer Roundup 

41 Social Media Marketing Experts: What To Add To Your Plans

Social Media Marketing World 2016-Jason Miller, Heidi Cohen, Alexandra Rynne, Chris Brogan, Jay BaerFeel overwhelmed by social media marketing?

You’re not alone.

Social media is constant firehose of information.

Using it for your company’s marketing efforts can be daunting, especially if you’ve got a limited budget and resources.

But what if you only had to do one thing to improve your social media marketing?

You could handle that. It would be manageable.

You could focus your efforts on that one social media marketing tactic. And you wouldn’t blow your entire budget or get your marketing staff upset.

As the biggest social media conference in the world, Social Media Marketing World 2016 (SMMW16) presenters are a cross section of experts across social media platforms and content formats.

Further, regardless of their focus, Social Media Marketing World 2016 presenters all bring their A game to the conference.

To help you, I asked theSocial Media Marketing World 2016 influencers to answer this short question:

What one social media tactic do you recommend marketers add to their plans to increase their effectiveness in 2016 and beyond? 

Social Media Marketing World 2016 Influencer Roundup – 41 Experts RespondSocial Media Marketing World 2016 Influencer Roundup

41 social media marketing experts recommend you add to your social media plans to increase your marketing results.

You won’t be surprised to discover that many of the Social Media Marketing World Influencers recommended the use of video, especially live video.

Yet it’s worth your time to read through all 41 social media marketing world influencer recommendations. Beyond video, many cite a variety of approaches to maximize your social media efforts to yield measurable results.

Note: The social media marketing world influencers are listed in alphabetical order. Any errors are ours.

BTW: If you’re interested, here are 3 key tactics that were recommended at SMMW16.

star-orange Syed Balkhi – WP Beginner and Optin Monster, @SyedBalkhi

Start creating relevant content upgrades for your pillar articles to get more email subscribers.

Content upgrades are the highest converting lead magnets in the industry. Ian Cleary increased his conversions by 520% using Content Upgrades.

star-orange Bernie Borges – Find and Convert, @bernieborges

One social media tactic I recommend for marketers is to “map the path to the buyer.” This applies more to B2B brands. In close collaboration with the sales team, the marketing folks should help identify the people who influence decision makers at target accounts.

This is also known as influencer marketing, but with a target account marketing perspective. Once influencers are identified, a value-based engagement strategy should be planned.

When deals are won, the strategy is celebrated because finally sales and marketing silos are obliterated and they live happily thereafter.

star-orange Chris Brogan – Owner Media Group, Author of Trust Agents

I recommend using more and better email marketing tactics in 2016. Personalization, customization, segmentation, and a lot better use of the CRM functions inside their email software.

star-orange Brian Carter – Brian Carter Group, @BrianCarter Author of Facebook Marketing

Advertise everything you do with Facebook ads. Facebook is the most important social platform with the most people in all age groups.

First off, you can’t rely on Facebook organic reach, because it varies whether any one campaign’s creative or person’s charisma is enough to succeed- ads will get you reliable reach so that you have a chance of achieving your other objectives.

Organic also can’t get you to your target customers reliably (it’s whomever happened to see it) but ads can be super-targeted.

Facebook ads are the Swiss Army Knife of social because they can achieve so many goals- you should always have separate campaigns running for post promotion, video views, lead generation and sales.

Make this your central 80% of your 80-20 approach to social marketing, then do all those shiny objects (of questionable ROI) with the other 20% of your time and money.

star-orange Dorie Clark – @DorieClark, Author of Stand Out

Get meticulous about tracking leads.

What’s the ROI of your various social channels? It’s time to get serious about finding out.

The metric I’m tracking most closely these days is email signups. It was revelatory for me to discover, using unique tracking links, that Twitter was bringing me more signups than blogging on LinkedIn, even though the latter required far more effort.

Investing just a tiny amount of time (in my case, using LeadPages) to track referral sources has enabled me to make better decisions about my use of social media and content creation.

star-orange Ian Cleary – Razor Social,  @IanCleary

I recommend that marketers identify key influencers within their industry that have access to the audience they want to get access to and focus on building relationships.

The return of investment working with influencers is far higher than advertising so it’s certainly an area to consider.  Traackr is an excellent tool for identifying influencers and tracking relationship building with them!

star-orange Heidi Cohen – Actionable Marketing Guide, @HeidiCohen

While blogs may be the granddaddy of social media, they’re still the jewel in the social media crown.

Put your blog at the center of your content marketing strategy. Create a combination of the 5 core content types: foundational, customer focused, cyclical, crowd pleaser and long playing content. At a minimum, include blog posts as part of your content atomization.

Integrate your blog content into your editorial and social media calendars to provide your audience with useful information on a regular basis.

star-orange Joel Comm – @joelcomm, Author of Twitter Power

Live video is the next step in the evolution of social media.

As we make the final transition to entertainment and information on-demand, there has never been a greater opportunity for brands and businesses to establish their own channel for engagement with customers and prospects.

The immediacy and intimacy of live video is the new low-hanging fruit which everyone needs to be paying attention to.

star-orange Melonie Dodaro – Top Dog Media, @MelonieDodaro, Author of The LinkedIn Code

The one social media tactic I recommend marketers add to their plans to increase their effectiveness in 2016 and beyond is to consistently produce high quality content.

Content is necessary to make social media actually work. It’s also important to consider what type of content you are good at creating and that your audience will consume. For example, if you are not good on video but like to write, blogging may be a better fit for you.

However it’s important to understand what types of content you’re audience is interested in receiving. Regardless of the type of content, it is absolutely necessary that it’s high value.

Experts are always in demand. Creating great content is the fastest and easiest way to position yourself as an expert.

star-orange Peg Fitzpatrick – Social Media Strategist. @PegFitzpatrick Coauthor of The Art of Social Media

Start thinking in visuals!

Blogs need video and images, graphics or video to be shared socially and appeal to the human visual appeal. Writing a great blog post is just the start. Make sure to add plenty of eye candy to your blog posts to make them easier to read and more shareable.

So many blog posts are missing the boat with this and you can tell by the small number of social shares on their posts.

Make sure to check your articles by trying to share on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter to see what they look like. Are you creating shareable content or not? Fix that problem and you’ll see more social shares on your blog articles.

star-orange Kim Garst – Boom Social, @KimGarst, Author of Will The Real You Please Stand Up

As marketers, I believe that we have to embrace live video as a medium to connect and serve our community. It’s not only all the buzz right now but I believe it’s also the future of social media.

The beautiful part, from a marketing angle, is that live video gives us an opportunity to build the know, like and trust factor at a super accelerated rate. Since people buy from those that they know, like and trust, this is a wonderful

star-orange Kristi Hines – Freelance Writer

To increase effectiveness in social media, I don’t think it’s about adding to your social media, but rather focusing.

Take some time to figure out what is really working for you in social media.

  • Which social networks really drive engagement for business?
  • Which social networks send referral traffic to your website that ultimately ends in lead generation or sales?

When you figure that out, focus on carving out time for creating great content and engaging with people on those social networks.

star-orange Lisa Jenkins – Social Media Examiner

As I listened to conversations at the conference, one of the main points of discussion was that the increasing demand for a presence on emerging networks was taking time from established communities.

It’s true that the attention of social media users are increasingly drawn to new content platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook Live, Anchor, and Blab, and marketers must follow suit to reach new audiences.

To make the most of their time there and to avoid losing touch with current audiences, it will be vitally important that marketers learn to export, download, and repurpose the content they create on these platforms for use on the mainstay networks and blogs that are home to the bulk of their existing followers.

star-orange Monique Johnson – DIY Mobile Video, @MoniqueOJohnson

2016 is the year for LIVE video. It’s time for you to implement video into your marketing strategy before you get left behind.

There are 7.4 billion people who live on Earth and there are 1.49 billion active users on Facebook. This is your playground to share your story and there’s no better way to do so than through video and Facebook LIVE video.

star-orange Jeff Korhan – @JeffKorhan

Choose one channel to be your proving ground, the place where you push the limits to make new discoveries for that small segment of your audience that truly loves and appreciates your work.

In addition to being a source of valuable content, this is the channel that always gets 100% of your heart and soul, regardless of other commitments, and fuels the larger body of work that defines your brand.

star-orange Christian Karasiewicz – @ckroks

If you’re a marketer looking to increase your effectiveness in 2016 across your social media channels, one tactic you should look to do is promote your content more often.

Typically, most marketers promote their latest blog post only once across their social media channels.

There isn’t a rule that says you can’t promote your blog post content only once. It’s actually to your advantage to share it multiple times, although not necessarily the same day or even the same week.

When you’re planning your social media posts for the week or month, add a few additional posts to your editorial calendar to promote blog content you’ve written in the past 3 months. This way if your audience didn’t see it the first time, this gives them a few more opportunities to do so.

If you’re planning to share your blog posts on Facebook, choose a preferred audience each time you share content. It allows you to “choose the people you’d like to reach in News Feed. People in this group are more likely to see your post. You can choose up to 16 different interests.

Promoting your content and using Facebook’s preferred audience feature should help increase your social media effectiveness. Not only will older content have a chance to get seen, but also by specifying your preferred Facebook audience you can help ensure it gets in front of the right people as well.

star-orange Daniel Lemin – @DanielLemin  Author of Manipurated

Video is not one size fits all, but it’s the most provocative area of social media growth in 2016. Marketers must find the format, social platform and style that fits their brand and make the most of the opportunity.

Stop wasting time. Focus on the people who matter most. Don’t waste money on hitting the same people over and over with the same offer.

star-orange Jon Loomer – Jon Loomer Digital, @JonLoomer

Create evergreen Facebook campaigns that send users through a funnel following an important action (such as opt-in or purchase). Then show them a series of ads for a finite period of time.

Treat Facebook the way you do email. Nurture these people instead of focusing only on the sale and treating all users equally. 

star-orange Phil Mershon – Social Media Marketing World

I started the event by saying “expect serendipty”, but I didn’t really expect that to happen for me. I said that for everyone else and was deeply surprised to see a segment of people emerge who share interests with me and a partnership was formed that I never dreamt possible.

Plan well, work your plan, but always be on the lookout for serendipity that could alter the course of your life. As the movie said, “It could happen to you.”

star-orange Jason Miller – LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, @JasonMillerCA, Author of Welcome to the Funnel

Don’t just focus on creating social campaigns but instead make every campaign social. Ask yourself what campaigns are you currently running that can be plugged into the various social media platforms?

For example, is there a Facebook campaign where you can tweak the messaging a bit and plug it into LinkedIn to expand its reach? Maybe you have an email campaign that can be plugged into your social channels with just a few bits of new creative?

Doing more with less is the way forward for sophisticated marketers in 2016, and this is certainly a great way to start.

star-orange Donna Moritz – Socially Sorted, @SociallySorted

If I have to recommend one thing, it’s to take off your mask and show the human(s) behind your business with video. That’s where connection happens with your community, and connection is translated into traffic and sales.

It could be to add more short video on Facebook or Instagram, to show behind the scenes with you and/or your team or to use live video (either Facebook Live or Periscope). With video of any format becoming so popular your community will want to get to know you. So get familiar with the tools now!

Some tools that I like are Flipagram, Videohance, Legend App, Hyperlapse, Prezi Nutshell and Ripl….. or just go “live” on Facebook!  

star-orange Vincent Ng – MCNG Marketing, @VincentNg

When you’ve done a search on Pinterest, you’ll see word tiles just below the search bar on Pinterest. These word tiles are known as Guided Search on Pinterest. They’re your best friend when it comes to knowing which keywords to put in your pin descriptions.

For example, let’s say that you type in the search term “bathroom design”. Word tiles such as Tuscan, modern, rustic, and on a budget. The goal is to look for relevant words that you can add to your pin descriptions to help reach your specific audience.

If you’re in the business of designing luxury bathrooms, you want to add words like Tuscan or modern but definitely not adding the words “on a budget” in the pin description.

By adding the right keywords from Guided Search, you’re better equipped to reach your niche audience with your pins on Pinterest.

star-orange Lee Odden – TopRankMarketing.com, Author of Optimize

One of the easiest and high impact things marketers can do to increase effectiveness is to do a content analysis of their own and competitor domains using BuzzSumo.

On BuzzSumo, you can easily see what topics, content types, content length, date and platforms resonate the best on the social web so you can optimize your own social media content accordingly.

For example, a competitor might be doing things to dominate on LinkedIn while you’re focusing on Twitter. This presents new opportunities. A competitor’s use of infographics and long content posts (2,000 words or more) might be overwhelming your use of 1,000 word posts with a single header graphic.

Insights into what is already working on the social web can reveal both optimization and creative ideas to help your marketing improve performance without increasing costs. 

star-orange Joe Pulizzi – Content Marketing Institute, @JoePulizzi Author of Content Inc and Epic Content Marketing

Focus on one content niche targeting one audience in one social media channel, and deliver value consistently over time. 

I believe now is the time where we need to strategically choose which channels we are going to build audiences. So instead of being on every social channel our customers are using and doing a mediocre job, be great at one! 

Beyond 2016, less may really be more.  

star-orange Rebekah Radice  @RebekahRadice

Do you captivate and inspire your social media audience?

Is your content engaging, memorable, and captivating?

If you want to stand out in a sea of social media noise, you must earn that right.

To grab the attention of your target market, you need to create differentiation. And you must do it in a short amount of time.

That’s where visual marketing comes in. With 63% of all social media content containing an image, visuals can be your make or break moment.

Create a dynamic visual brand and content your audience will love (and want to share!) Here’s how:

  • Audit each of your social media profiles. Ensure that your look and feel is streamlined and easy to identify.
  • Design branded cover photos for each social network. Make them consistent with your current website and blog design. Carry your color palette, fonts and all other elements through.
  • Understand your audience, their needs and the problems you can solve. Design images to share across your social networks that speak to their specific struggles.
  • Position your business as the go-to resource through thought-provoking social images. Take quotes from your blog posts and repurpose them into eye-catching visuals.

star-orange Robert Rose – Content Marketing Institute, @Robert_Rose  Author of Managing Content Marketing

Start looking at Social Media as a river, not a pool.

Stop looking at your social channel as a place to hold a community, and instead as a place that can flow subscribers into your owned media properties.  

Use your efforts to flow people from your social media efforts (paid, organic and otherwise) to sign up, subscribe, buy or whatever your business goal is into an owned media experience.

star-orange Darren Rowse – Problogger, @DarrenRowse

One thing that I think a lot of marketers and online content creators overlook is helping those that reach us to take the first steps.

Many of us think in big pictures about the things we want to help our readers to achieve. But we forget that many people coming to our blogs, podcasts and other destinations are at the beginning of their journey and have very basic questions.

So my tip is this: Identify what the big thing that you’re trying to help your readers to do is. Then, ask yourself what is the first step your reader needs to take to make that change a reality.

The key is to create content that helps them take the little first steps and to highlight it prominently on your blog.

At ProBlogger the big thing we want our readers to be able to do is to make a full time living blogging. That’s the dream that many of our readers share – but for them to get there they need to start a blog.

As a result we created this post How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps that is really about helping our readers take the first step.

Sometimes we overlook the first steps and in doing so we fail to take many of our readers along on the journey with us.

star-orange Alexandra Rynne – LinkedIn, @amrynnie

Social media is redefining the meaning of branding. Consumers are increasingly making purchase decisions on how you do business and not just what you sell.

Publishing long-form content on a personal blog or LinkedIn a powerful way to exhibit thought leadership, show what you’re passionate about the bolster your personal brand.

  • Publish a post ranging from 900 to 1,400 words 1-3x a month.
  • Provide value to prospects.
  • Use subject matter and domain expertise to drive thought leadership.
  • Encourage re-sharing among employees to expand the reach of your content across their networks.

Wonder what to post about? Take a deep dive into topics that matter most to you. Don’t forget that you are the person you’re marketing to. You’re the person you’re trying to reach.

Producing content is great, but sparking conversations in your community is better. The more long-form posts you publish, the more credibility you will build, and the stronger your professional profile will become.

star-orange Stephanie Sammons – @StephSammons, Author of Linked to Influence

For 2016 and beyond, the social media tactic I recommend is building a loyal, high quality ‘connected’ network online that you can build influence with.

People are overwhelmed. They are looking for an industry or market leader they can trust to guide them and connect them with like-minded individuals across the social web.

Position yourself as that influential leader who connects others together and start growing your ‘network’ influence.

star-orange Mark Schaefer – Business Grow, @MarkWSchaefer, Author of The Content Code

I know that many marketers struggle with measurement.

My advice would be to start to account for qualitative, versus just quantitative, measures in your management reporting system.

What I mean by this is that not all business benefits can be accurately quantified — a recommendation, a new contact, a problem solved, a positive review, a new hire, a comment from a customer, for example.

How are you accumulating these benefits and reporting to management? Most business leaders are smart, will recognize this value, and support you.

star-orange Neal Schaffer – Maximize Your Social, @NealSchaffer Author of Maximize Your Social

Marketers need to understand that they can broadcast their content over social channels as much as they want, but it’s only when others share their message do they begin to leverage the word of mouth and most powerful aspect of social media.

For that reason, marketers need to learn to Leverage the Other and celebrate their employees, fans, customers, and partners in social media.

Including them in your content and sharing their content is the best way to Leverage the Other in social media and ensure your brand’s social presence grows and becomes more effective.

star-orange Madalyn Sklar – @MadalynSklar

Did you know a simple Twitter card will help you increase your email list?

It’s called a Lead Generation Card and it easily allows you to collect opt-in email addresses.

If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s probably because Twitter Cards are buried in the Twitter Ads platform. Twitter Cards are free!

To get started, go to Ads.Twitter.com. Fill out a few items and place a credit card on file. Don’t worry, it won’t get charged! Twitter cards are free to use.

Once you’re set up on the Ads platform, you’ll be able to access a new navigation bar at the top of the page. Click on Creatives > Cards. I recommend setting up several cards, each with a different image. This allows you to test which one performs best.

star-orange Marcus Sheridan – The Sales Lion, @TheSalesLion

Many people have watched Gary Vaynerchuk’s “The Dailey Vee” and thought, “I could never do that with my business.”

But, in reality, most of us could, and most of us should. Every company has a story, and most of that story is untold, un-shown, and even worse– under-appreciated.

 With a “real-time” content person, someone that truly gets videography along with photography, the potential to tell and show this story has never been easier.

Companies need to embrace the reality that, “Your story needs to be told better.” As an owner of three different companies, this is my biggest focus for 2016.

star-orange Martin Shervington – Plus Your Business, @MartinSherv

Make friends with people you like. It’s that simple. Why? Well…Your real friends want you to win.

star-orange Mari Smith – @marismith, Author of The New Relationship Marketing

Integrate Facebook Live video into your content plans!

First, come up with a strategy that helps to maximize and optimize your Live video. For example: a regular weekly or daily show, Q&A, behind-the-scenes, breaking news, product demos, unboxing, staff spotlight, customer interviews, etc.

After each Live video broadcast, be sure to go in and edit the video: choose a compelling thumbnail or add a custom one, get the video transcribed and upload an SRT (captions) file, plus definitely add a call to action and URL.

Next, download the HD video and repurpose! Upload to YouTube. Create 60-second clips for Instagram, 30-second clips for Twitter.

And, use a video editing tool like Animoto to create highlight reel or other varieties of your content.

star-orange Mike Stelzner – Social Media Examiner, Author of Launch

I strongly suggest marketers start experimenting with live video. The easiest one to start with is Facebook Live.  Start thinking of ways to create content and interact live with your community.

star-orange Mark Traphagen – Stone Temple Consulting, @Mark Traphagen

Choose a few of your best fans to make your heroes for a while (then rotate to new ones).

Find some people in your following list who are doing great things, but are maybe not well known, and promote them to your audience. They will love you for it, and remember you as they climb the ladder of success.

Several contacts I have for whom I did this for years ago have ended up making major contributions to my own business success. 

star-orange Andrea Vahl – @AndreaVahl,  Author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies

Marketers need to put more measurement plans in place to make sure their tactics are effective.

There are so many ways to measure social media with Google Analytics, tracking tools that are available, Pixels in ads, and the Insights on the platforms themselves.  You can easily measure your social media ROI when you put the right tools in place.

star-orange Viveka Von Rosen – LinkedInto Business, @LinkedInExpert, Author of LinkedIn Marketing

There’s so much new and improved technology now in the world of Social Media and Social Marketing and Social Selling.  And with all this new tech and new strategies, there’s also increased FOMO (fear of missing out).  It’s a deadly combination that can potentially incapacitate a marketer (especially one who loves shiny objects like me!)

So my take away is “Be Discerning”.  You don’t have to adopt every new piece of tech and every new social platform that comes along.  

Be discerning when learning about all the great new stuff (Ello, Meerkat, etc). If it’s a platform or technology that’ll definitely improve your business, then be an early adopter. But not everything will be.  Don’t let FOMO cost you business!

star-orange Jon Wuebben – Content Launch, @jonwuebben, Author of Content is Currency

Review the companies/individuals that connect with you via Twitter each day. For those that look like solid sales prospects, pick up the phone and call them! Introduce yourself and ask them how you can help.

I’m a big believer in combining the power of social media and/or content marketing with a good old-fashioned phone call or an in-person connection. It works very well and its something we all should be doing.

star-orange Dennis Yu – Blitz Metrics, @DennisYu

Key point is to spend a dollar a day on Facebook to boost your authority. Think like a journalist, like you are doing right here, to get responses from people authoritative on topics you want to be known for.

Social Media Marketing World Influencer Roundup - Tools and Platforms

 

The Social Media Marketing World Influencer Bottom Line:

Focus your social media efforts. Don’t do social media in a vacuum.

Integrate social media marketing into everything you do (at least for your marketing.)

Put yourself in your social media audience’s shoes. Help them with their needs. Give them the information they need at their point in the journey.

Where possible, get social media followers to interact on your owned media. Even better get their email address and start to build a relationship with them.

Remember: at its core social media is about building relationships, one person at a time.

What one social media tactic do you recommend marketers add to their plans to increase their effectiveness in 2016 and beyond?

Hapy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen

Heidi CohenHeidi Cohen is the President of Riverside Marketing Strategies.
You can find Heidi on , Facebook and .

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Influencer photo of Jason Miller, Heidi Cohen, Alexandra Rynne, Chris Brogan and Jay Baer courtesy of unknown photographer.

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