Navigating the Social Media Maze

Navigating the Social Media MazeSpeakers and panelists stressed the importance of social media and how to navigate the various platforms at last month’s Arts & Business Council Miami’s Social Media Workshop, underscoring the ever-changing nature of social media and the booming app market.Featured speakers were Liza Walton, principal at Miami Social Marketing, a social media and marketing company and Kevin Sprague, creative director of Studio Two, a design and branding agency. Some helpful hints from them included:

• Make social media a priority in outreach and marketing efforts; pay attention to fans likes and dislikes to help hone your message.
• Determine social media goals; pick platforms that make sense and do them well; monitor review sites and have a response prepared for any negative reviews.
• Post often, tweak the message for each platform and set up reminders to keep messages updated and fresh. Google social media dashboards and Hootsuite are good for managing the message.
• Know how your Website displays on a mobile device. Ensure your content is entirely visible on every type of device.
• Responsive sites are the future and how sites will be built. These are optimized for every type of device.
• Use analytics to see what people want to do on the site and on different devices. Let data be your guide. See areas of growth and decline.
• Determine what strategy for mobile is right for you and know mobile and social media work together. Make sure you are answering people’s questions.

The panelists had this to offer:Laura Ramirez, adjunct professor at Miami International University of Art & Design: Learn to write for each different platform, pay attention to grammar, and learn how to handle public relations/promotions with social media.Maria Murriel, editor of WLRN.org: Engage with the public that reads your site and focus on people’s sense of place; resonate with their hometown, as they do with their Twitter campaigns. They have incorporated social media into their pledge drive campaign. She stressed focusing on accuracy and obtaining all the facts.James Echols of Life is Art: Use e-mail marketing and social media to grow your list. Be genuine and real, let the passion flow through. Send an e-mail about the same event but focusing on different aspects of that event. Create a campaign that features an incentive, then push it out through your social media. Make a true connection through social media. Put a comment in front of a re-tweet.Mark Voll of Flash Muse: He says they liven up events with their Twitter booth. They offer three different booth options -- FB, Twitter, or e-mail through Photoadic machines (http://www.flashmusellc.com/).Adon Williams from Mad Chiller: Spoke about their use of Thunderclap and how they incorporate that into their social media. They’ve found it’s a good platform to get Twitter and FB followers; helps gets events and ideas out to a wider audience.