I just have to say, this has been a crazy week! I have to apologize that this blog post is late in the queue this week but I think you can understand why! The week started off with a bang on Monday - Social Media Day 2014! There were so many great events all around the world on Monday to celebrate and educate.

I was thrilled to be one of the speakers at Social Media Day San Diego, presenting to an audience of nearly 700. The day was filled with world-class speakers and highly qualified social media professionals. I'm still trying to justify why I was on stage!

As much fun as I had presenting, I had just as much attending this event. I learned a lot and took a LOT of notes. I've compiled all my notes and key takeaways here for you too. I hope you'll find them interesting and informative as all of us in the audience certainly did!

One of the biggest themes of the day was visual content, visual marketing, and videos. These topics were brought up repeatedly with almost every speaker and session. If you're not focusing on visual content and videos, now is the time to get started!

But here are the key takeways from each session.

Facebook Marketing - Mari Smith

You know it's gonna be a good day when Mari Smith is the first to take the stage! And, as usual, she didn't disappoint, even though the remote to advance the slides wasn't really cooperating with her. But she made the best of it and handled it like a pro - she even managed to work in some Facebook related jokes 😉

One thing I really appreciated is that all of Mari's presentation is available on Slideshare with notes and more information than what she could cover in a short 45 minute presentation. If you want to check out her slide deck and notes, you can view it here.

Here's what Mari had to say:

• On Facebook, and social media, use the same approach you would in person to build relationships. Be friendly, conversational, and don't shove your message down their throat
• The secret to using social media successfully is to use it as member first and understand why people are on the site - hint, it's not to see what Target is promoting each morning 😉
• The more human you are and the more emotion you give your content, the more shares it will get
• When you make your fans look good (smart, funny, etc.) by sharing your content, they'll want to share more of it
• Facebook is still the biggest source of all referral traffic
• Currently only 6% of your audience is seeing your Facebook content organically. And rumors indicate this may drop to 1-2% in the near future.
• This is because Facebook is saturated - more friends, more content, more pages
• The average Facebook user could see between 1500 and 15,000 pieces of content
• The Facebook algorithm uses more than 100,000 criteria to determine what you'll see - bringing you about 300 stories to your feed
• Facebook's declining organic reach correlates to Facebook's increasing stock price - and they say Facebook isn't doing this for the money 😉
• You don't own your Facebook fans or content - you are on rented land and Facebook is your landlord
• Use Facebook contests to collect email addresses and grow your contacts and data on the "land" you do own.
• Mari recommends Heyo and 22 Social for contests and live streaming a G+ hangout on Facebook
• Use the lists within Facebook to regain control of your news feed
• If you own a business or have a brand, Mari recommends enabling the Follow option on your personal Facebook profile. This allows people who you aren't friends with to follow any content you share publicly.
• FOCUS - follow on course until successful
• You must have a visual content strategy - consider using Canva to create graphics and visual content
• Wordswag is an iOS tool to create really good graphics too
• By creating a theme to your graphics, you can incorporate occasional marketing content, that looks like your regular content, and get it shared more and create more engagement because it looks like all your other quality content
• Appeal to emotions
• Make people feel important - compliment them and help them
• Business cards are so 2008 - just Google me 😉 - wise words from Mari!
• 82% of consumers use Facebook to connect directly with a customer service rep
• Increase your organic reach by posting outside business hours, mixing up the frequency and types of posts, test post length, tag other business pages, and include calls-to-action (but not the cheesy "like this if you agree, share this if you support")
• Don't pay to promote content people aren't engaging with. Let your content sit on your page for a while and promote the content that garners responses and engagement
• Facebook ads are the most targeted marketing available
• Work with an expert on Facebook ads to get started to make sure you get it right and get the most ROI for your cost

Video Marketing - Zach King

If you follow anyone in the video world, you have probably heard of Zach King. He is famous for his Jedi kittens videos and other amazing video content. There were quite a few people excited to see and meet this industry celebrity!

Zach started off the session with an awesome video compilation of his content and got the audience amped up and laughing before he even hit the stage.

Zach's key takeaways included:

• The basis of a story is relatability
• Stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end - no matter how long or how short
• Find the platform that works for you and your audience
• "Publishing everywhere is publishing nowhere"
• Tell stories that captivate, surprise, teach, and entertain
• Marketing is telling a story that leads to an action: story = sale (for him story = smile = share)
• Put yourself in front of the camera
• Consistent posting (growth is slow)
• Give absolutely FREE video content
• 3 things to find: Your Voice, Your Team, and Your Audience
• Don't take yourself too seriously
• Three components to every good video: Sound (ear candy), action movement, surprise element
• Analytics are the backbone to video - YouTube has awesome analytics
• Hone your platform
• Learn what makes a good video title and which creates intrigue - this will drastically change the amount of interaction and shares. Zach gave the example of a video (the exact same one) with two different titles: "Skateboard Safety" and "Why You Should Wear a Butt Helmet" - the second one got insanely more interaction
• Serve your specific audience - not everyone
• Add surprises or breaks to longer videos to keep their attention
• Instagram videos are best at 960 x 960
• Vine videos are best at 480 x 480
• No, Vine does not have analytics 🙁

LinkedIn - Ron Nash

Ron started off by dancing onto the stage and engaging Kimberly Hunt in a little dance. His big personality shone on stage as he explained the value of creating a perception online. He spent the first portion of his presentation covering the importance of perception and the how the content you share impacts people's perception of you.

Ron covered some great information about LinkedIn and how to use it effectively. But I wish he would have spent more time on this and the tips and tricks to use it well - much of the audience did not consider themselves efficient at using this platform properly.

The big lessons from Ron included:

• Create a perception - we want others to perceive us the way we want to be perceived
• Market your perception
• Create continuity in your accounts
• Know how you want to look online
• Whether you realize it or not, you have a reputation to protect
• Leverage video on LinkedIn - you can use videos but so few actually do it
• The #1 activity on LinkedIn is checking another's profile
• Use a photo of you, not a logo
• Eliminate confusion in your photo and profile
• Use your headline to establish your expertise
• Your summary should tell a story - and it should NOT be blank
• Personalize your communications - especially your connection requests
• Think mobile friendly when sharing and posting
• Human interaction is key

Business Panel - Joel Page (San Diego Chargers), Sean Conlon (Pet Box), and Santiago Campa (Donut Bar) - Hosted by Coach Deb

After lunch, we returned to a great business panel featuring local San Diego businesses. They had lots of good insight on social media marketing from different perspectives and answered some very relevant questions.

Joel is still looking for a way to block Raiders fans 😉 and surprisingly, they all listed Instagram as a big priority in their businesses!

The biggest takeaways included:

• Encourage employees to participate on social media - even from their personal accounts
• Use social media to connect with your audience and support your business - don't use social media to be a celebrity
• PetBox said Instagram is their favorite social media platform - it is their best driver of sales
• Donut Bar said Facebook is their favorite platform (Instagram is number two)
• Allow your followers to be a part of your community
• Donut Bar has used zero paid advertising online - it's all been organic, free growth
• Social media is real, with real people - those who engage with your page at night will show up in your store the next morning
• Keep the voice of your brand politically correct and clean

Podcasting Panel - Mike Stelzner, John Lee Dumas, and Tyler Anderson

This panel of podcasters discussed how podcasting has evolved and how it's changing business in 2014. They had great dialogue and information to show the audience how to take advantage of this powerful tool.

I wasn't able to stay for the whole panel discussion because I had to go get ready for my session after this. But here are my notes and takeaways up to when I left:

• Podcasting is social - it's intimate and on demand
• Podcasting creates hug community development - John Lee Dumas started his podcast with no online reputation or presence
• Podcasts are defined as an audio file that can be downloaded or streamed
• The smartphone was the game changer for podcasting - it allows people to listen anywhere and everywhere
• Sponsors will pay you to be featured on your podcast - allowing you to monetize your show
• Podcasting develops an intensely loyal following - people came from around southern California just to see these guys
• For many, it's faster and easier to record a podcast than it is to write a blog post
• The ability to provide thought leadership
• You can do it almost anywhere - you don't need a studio or fancy equipment

At this point I had to duck out...

Instagram Marketing - Yours Truly

I have already posted a blog post with the slides and details of my presentation which I invite you to read if you haven't yet done so.

We covered why Instagram is so important to marketing in 2014 and how to set up your Instagram profile. We also talked about what types of content to share on Instagram and how to create that content. We finished up with how and why to create a solid strategy (and hashtag strategy) for Instagram.

Google+ - Martin Shervington

I have to admit that I'm disappointed I missed this final session. I was hoping to get to hear what Martin had to share about Google+ marketing and from what I've heard, he did an amazing job enlightening the audience to the power of this platform. But because I didn't get to attend, I don't have any notes to share with you directly 🙁

I'm so sorry this post is late and off schedule, but getting all of this compiled and organized for you took a while! I hope you find all of this information helpful and useful in your social media marketing strategy this year.

And, for all of my American readers, have a wonderful July 4th holiday!