Social Fresh 2016 Conference Trends Round-Up

The Motherhood is thrilled to have been able to attend the Social Fresh 2016 Conference in Orlando! We heard from an amazing lineup of speakers who shared valuable insights on everything from creating authentic brand content, to running social ads, to providing SEO predictions for the future — just to name a few topics. We especially loved learning that more than half of the conference speakers were female, the most they’ve had in any of the 18 Social Fresh conferences to date! All of the speakers were incredible. Thank you to the presenters and Social Fresh team who made this conference a must-attend event.

Here are some of the trends, ideas and insights that grabbed our attention at Social Fresh 2016:

1. Human-first, good-quality content is still key.

The Social Fresh 2016 team presented this stat: “creating content is the most time-intensive task for social media teams, taking up 18.5 percent of their days!” As any content creator knows, it can be difficult coming up with creative and relatable content; however, when done correctly, it pays off:

• 67 percent of followers will share your content if it is good. – Heather Taylor
• 78 percent of followers believe that companies that provide good content want to build a relationship with them. – Melanie Deziel
• Videos that show people in the first several seconds receive twice the amount of engagement. – Stacy Minero

It’s no surprise to us that authentic content equals the best content. Conference speakers, like author Sally Hogshead and Cory Vasquez of RE/MAX, drove home the fact that people want to see relatable, empathetic content from brands and influencers. Real, honest posts will cut through the crowded social space. 

Hogshead encouraged the room to stop looking at what will make their brand better, but to look at what makes them different, and capitalize on that. Being different can be your brand’s advantage. In her words, “The goal isn’t to create the same message to blast to your following. The goal is to create the right messages that break through and stand out.”

Having “human-first” content was another prevalent theme. Vasquez shared a checklist of characteristics that make her brand’s content “human-first”: timely, engaging, honest, relatable, good quality and empathetic. Twitter’s Stacy Minero also encouraged the audience of marketers to highlight human stories, saying, “People are drawn to people.”

Takeaways for creating human-first, branded content:

• “People can tell when you’re trying to go viral, so be authentic.” – Jeremy Goldman
• Expert content creator Sarah Evans encouraged the audience to ask themselves, “Will this make people care, share or swear? If none of those, it’s boring content.”
• “Woo them, don’t sell them…. Lay off the sales pitch!” – Heather Taylor

2. Video (especially Live Video) continues to become more and more important!

Jeremy Goldman of the Firebrand Group shared an eye-opening session on the future of video in marketing. The Firebrand Group found in a recent survey that the majority of marketers (75 percent) are turning to Facebook for videos, rather than YouTube or other platforms, due to higher engagement. YouTube video comments don’t hold as much value as a like, comment or share on Facebook.

Their study also showed that 85 percent of marketers see positive ROI from video marketing. Goldman predicted this video trend to rise, saying, “As video grows in popularity, the demand for good–quality videos is skyrocketing.”

This is a trend our own network of influencers has also been predicting, calling video the #1 trend in blogging and social media in 2016.

Takeaways for creating compelling videos:

• 80 percent of people mute ads, so make sure your ads make sense without audio, or use text and captioning within the video content.
• Always think, “How can I make this video social and interactive?”
• Pay to promote your Live videos after they are broadcast Live.

3. Twitter is becoming more interactive.

Minero shared ways of getting your followers’ attention in their feed. She reported that Twitter is moving away from broad impressions and toward participation — from viewing to doing. With attention spans as short as eight seconds, attention is the new currency in brand advertising, according to Minero.

In order to “stop people in their feed,” companies are working with Twitter to create customized branded emojis and stickers. Minero used the #TacoEmojiGenerator as a great example of this, which was a hit with the Social Fresh audience.

Tacos over everything. Tweet us 🌮 + any emoji and we'll reply with something we think you'll like. #TacoEmojiEngine pic.twitter.com/f5yhqCeLKk

— Taco Bell (@tacobell) August 17, 2016

 Minero’s tips for creating hashtags on Twitter:

• Keep in mind that the most utilized hashtags are usually the less branded ones.
• Let your hashtag provide a way for people to express themselves and their motivations (see REI’s campaign for #OptOutside as a great example of this!).

Were you at the Social Fresh 2016 Conference? We’d love to hear your top takeaways from the event or your feedback on our takeaways!