I spoke on behalf of 8 Million Stories (8MS) at the Essential Comms Holyrood Event in Edinburgh earlier this week about social media tips, tools and trends to help delegates think about their UK social media strategy in 2017. Includes: - Generation Z being creators and fuelling content creation - Influencer and audience power - Fake news and changes in social media as a result - Social content begins and ends with your target audience. Understand where they are, what they want, and in what form - Plan, Schedule & sharing tips - Mobile and video content is NOW. Build it into your plan for 2017 - Make your content emotional - it needs to strike a chord with your audience audience - Go interactive - keep people clicking, swiping and sharing

1. Social Media – Tips,
Tricks, Tools and Trends
8 Million Stories (8MS)
@8MStories
www.8MS.com

2. Who Are We?
We are a content monetisation agency
that connects content and digital
marketing to deliver a clear ROI.

3. Brands, computers,
people…everyone
creates their own
content. Everyone
is a publisher.

4. “In the last weeks of the US election
campaign, fake news – whether claiming the
Pope had endorsed Trump or Clinton sold
weapons to ISIS – actually out performed real
news…with more shares reactions and
comments”

5. The march of technology
has allowed us to create
and distribute content in
real-time.

6. Brands are starting to take advantage
of marketing in the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNltt5_LbG8

7. The amount of information on the web is
expected to increase by 500% in the next 4
years.
The average amount of content we consume
on a daily basis has gone up by 2 hours a
day in the last 3 years.
Content
Supply
Content
Demand

8. Why? There’s A New Audience In Town….
Millennials
∞Tech savvy (2 screens at once)
∞Communicate with text
∞Curators and sharers
∞Now-focused
∞Optimists
∞Want to be discovered
GEN Z
∞Tech innate (5 screens at once)
∞Communicate with images
∞Creators and collaborators
∞Future-focused
∞Realists
∞Want to work for success
vs.

9. Audience Power
Example - Candace Payne in Chewbaca Mask on Facebook Live
∞ Kohl’s profit tumbled 87% YoY (12th May
2016
∞ ‘Chewbaca Mum’ became the most
viewed live Facebook video ever (19th May
2016)
∞ Kohl’s were mentioned twice in the video
∞ Kohl’s were inundated with requests for
the mask and kept selling out
∞ Kohl’s post better than expected Q2
results, shares soared by 16% (August 2016)

10. Where Should Social
Media Sit Within A
Business?

11. Business Team Structures
Social media activity closely overlaps with PR
SOCIA
L
MEDIA
SEO
CRM
PR /
COMMS
CUSTOME
R
SERVICE

12. The Three Pilars Of Social Media
What should social media achieve?
TO SELL
(Softly)
Not just selling
products, but also your
brand
TO SERVE
Customer service, help
and advice
TO BUILD
ADVOCACY
To keep your audience
inspired, and to reward
and delight them

13. Social Media Tips &
Tools!

14. Where Should You Start?

15. Where Should You Start?
∞Who is our target audience?
∞What are they interested in?
∞What are they located?
∞What content formats work best for them?
∞Which platforms are they on?

16. Why Is Your Target Audience Important?
∞ 48 years old
∞ Dry skin
∞ Not on Facebook
∞ 21 years old
∞ Sensitive skin
∞ Instagram /
Snapchat
MESSAGE
1
MESSAGE
2

17. Example Audience Persona
Persona: Fashionista
Age: 25-45
High Disposable Income
Media Consumption
Online per week: 62 hrs
TV per week: 3 hrs
Top Social Channels
Preferred Content
Video Widgets Blogs
Key Devices:
Interests
Travel Food
Music Shopping
∞ 88% follow fashion bloggers
∞ 92% like to buy new brands
∞ 79% use social media to provide
inspiration for new trends
Can be used by the PR team, content marketing team, SEO team,
and others.
Example:

18. CONTENT PLANNING –
MAKE IT EMOTIONAL!

19. Make People Feel Something

20. Make People Feel Something

21. Make People Feel Something
https://www.facebook.com/stevenbartlettSC/videos/1434574726570724/

22. Plan, Plan, Plan
Create a monthly content plan for social media, for all your
channels. Ensure all key stakeholders have input, and ensure it is
distributed to the right teams.

23. Schedule, Schedule, Schedule
You can schedule directly in Facebook Business Manager, as well
as other tools. Scheduling frees up more time to be more reactive
Twitter
https://twitter.com/
∞ Tagging brands in
images
∞ Analytics access
∞ Direct messages
Tweekdeck
https://tweetdeck.twi
tter.com/
∞ Scheduling tweets
∞ Analytics access
∞ Direct messages
Facebook Business
Manager
https://business.facebook.c
om/
∞ Shared brand page
access
∞ Scheduling posts
Crowdfire (mobile
app)
∞ Schedule tweets
∞ Schedule Instagram
posts

24. Schedule, Schedule, Schedule
Crowdfire – schedule through the mobile app

25. What Is The Best Time To Post?
The Biggest Periods Of Engagement Are
During The Biggest Periods Of
Disengagement

26. What Is The Best Time To Post?
AM – Get Up,
Commute
PM – Lunch
PM – Work
Disinterest,
Commute, TV-post-
dinner

27. Tools To Find This Information?
Twitter Analytics
https://analytics.twitter.com
Facebook Insights
https://business.facebook.com

28. Tools To Find This Information?
Instagram – Minter.io - £18 per month

29. Share, Share, Share
Post everything in your plan! Use URL shorteners.
Startafire.com:

30. 3 Points To Consider

31. CONTENT
SEO
PPC
SOCIAL
PR /
CAMPAIGN
CRM
ROICONTENT
MONETISATION
1

32. THINK
MOBILE
FIRST
2

33. “By 2019 online
video will be
responsible for
80% of global
Internet traffic.”
- Cisco, 2015

34. Video Viewing Evolution
Live (Linear) On-Demand Semi-Live Real-Live
Traditional TV
1926
DVR / Streaming
1999
Snapchat Stories
2013
Periscope & Facebook Live
2015 / 2016
Tune in or miss out
Mass concurrent
audience
Real-time buzz
Watch on own
terms
Mass disparate
audience
Anytime buzz
Watch within 24
hours or miss out
Mostly personal
audience
Anytime buzz
Tune in / watch on own
terms
Mass audience, yet
personal
Real-time + Anytime
buzz

35. The Facebook Reach Problem
∞ Cons ∞ Pros

36. xxxxxx 3
Stand Out From The Crowd.
FIND YOUR
NICHE
BE DISRUPTIVE
THINK ABOUT
INTERACTIVE
CONTENT…

37. Attention will start to shift away from
static, passive content to more engaging
forms of content. Interactive quizzes,
calculators, stories and games…..content
that keeps people clicking, pressing,
swiping and sharing.

38. Interactive Content FTW

39. BUT – A Word Of Caution
Where should you invest time and budget?
70%
Tried and tested
methods
20%
Works, but you can’t
always monetise
10%
Experiment

40. In Summary
∞ Everyone is a content creator – how can you harness audience
power?
∞ Start with understanding your audience – different messages to
different audience groups
∞ Make people care!
∞ Plan, schedule, be reactive – when to post
∞ Mobile and Video content is NOW and the future – plan for it
∞ Stand out from the crowd – find your niche, be disruptive
∞ Interactive content – keep people swiping, clicking, pressing
∞ Now, Next, New – allocate budget and resources accordingly

41. Thank You!
∞ hello@8ms.com
∞ + 44 (0) 131 20 20 360
∞ @8MStories