Today I went out of the office for the first time in weeks, people.
I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I’ve been way too absorbed in the Lean Content bubble. It’s a good thing that Social Media Week cruised into town from 10th-14th June to remind all of us marketers that we still have so much to learn.
Grillstock founders Jon Finch and Ben Merrington are now the proud owners of Quay Street Diner (formerly Roll for the Soul).
Their panel discussion threw up some pretty important points about social media management in 2019. Having built a really successful business in 2012/13, Jon and Ben highlighted how their strategy has evolved, and what principles should remain eternal when it comes to social content.
The Quay St Diner guys built an organic business empire using social media. A festival grew into a market stall, that grew into a restaurant. Through their journey they emphasised being real about what you do, sharing from the heart and using your authentic voice. They’ve had issues outsourcing to social media agencies in the past, because no-one does social better than the business owner themselves. True stuff, I reckon.
Bex Band is an explorer, blogger and founder of Love Her Wild – a women’s adventure community. She spoke enthusiastically about the journey she’s been on as an adventurer across Israel and Jordan, and as a business owner across social media.
For Bex, the most important part of her growth as an influencer came from blogging. Her website gets 14,000 unique views a month thanks to her strategic, consistent and highly honest blogs. She came up with three key tips for a great blog presence:
What I took away from Bex’s presentation was her commitment to branding. She’s highly aware of brand consistency, her audience and her niche. Definitely something to learn from. Thanks, Bex!
The next talk was given by the fantastic Oh So Social – a marketing company based in Cornwall but with global reach. And by the end of this talk, my opinion about Instagram had firmly changed.
I've been way too cynical about Instagram.
— Lean Content (@LeanContent_) June 13, 2019
Insta is due to overtake FB this year!
80% of its 800m users follow businesses and in app purchasing is coming.
Catherine from @OhSoMarketing just blew my tiny mind #SMWBristol 🤯
For the past few months I’ve avoided Instagram. ‘It’s not relevant for me’ I kept telling myself. Well, Katherine George from Oh So Social proved me wrong.
Her talk detailed the exponential growth of this social platform, likely to overtake its main rival by the end of the year. Added to this, Instagram users are more likely to purchase, follow a business or click-through to a website from a post here over any other social channel. Impressive.
Millennials moving away from other social platforms are flocking to Instagram and they’re ready to buy. Given that Instagram is already testing in-app purchasing in America, it’s not too late for businesses to jump aboard. Benefits of creating an Instagram account are:
Katherine emphasised the need for natural, honest content. Businesses shouldn’t be afraid to do ‘behind-the-scenes’ stuff, use natural lighting and make the most of Instagram stories to let their audience in.
For more advice, she recommended we check out Instagram’s business user resources. I certainly will be.
Last, but by no means least, came Box 2 Media founder Christopher Goodfellow. He offered a content strategy template so beautifully simple, it nearly made me tear up.
Nicely put, Christopher!
Every day is a school day, Lean pals. Don’t forget our lovely books are available as always to download, if you’d like support with content, social or marketing strategy. Get your copy here.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.