If you’ve previously attended one of our annual Social Summits in New York, London, or San Francisco, you’ll know what inspiring and informative events they are. Because of the challenges of this year we were unable to do another live event, so instead we created the Meltwater Social Media Festival, and we called it a festival because we think this year, of all years, social deserves to be celebrated.
The two day event began on October 6th with the second day taking place on October 13th – all of the sessions from both days are now available for on-demand viewing at the event hub.
Even my cat is into #MeltwaterFestival. pic.twitter.com/xznpubPmoZ
— Rachel Moore | #vGHC20 (@RachelMooreRS) October 6, 2020
Day One
Our keynote speaker opening up day one was social media marketing expert, Neal Schaffer, whose session “It’s Time to Reset How You Measure Social Media ROI” asked marketers to reconsider how they measure the success of their social media campaigns.
It’s the % of fans sharing not % of fans engaging! #MeltwaterFestival pic.twitter.com/n1rzv1JdpO
— Alyssa Jones (@creeksideally) October 6, 2020
Neal was followed by Facebook’s Weronika Sobolak, who shared some inside tips for success with her session “Marketing Strategies for Success on Facebook’s Family of Apps.” Her advice included starting with clear objectives and KPIs, and using data and insights to understand consumers, with some case studies to show us successful examples.
#MeltwaterFestival – Facebook’s Weronika Sobolak says that the best way to reach your audience is not by frequency but by relevance… and always consider #MobileFirst pic.twitter.com/tremH9nkzk
— Alissa A. Arford (@AArford) October 6, 2020
Next up was Instagram marketing expert, who gave us her advice on how businesses can get more value from the image sharing platform, including liberal use of hashtags and improved photography skills: “Make Instagram Work Better for Brands.”
Writing better IG captions…
???? @jenns_trends #MeltwaterFestival pic.twitter.com/dG3E552Zyz
— Kristy Gillentine Callaway ???? (@KrisGillentine) October 6, 2020
Leo Morejon, Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing at Applegate came next with a session encouraging people to see the wider value of social listening platforms, beyond just the marketing team: “Social Listening as a Business Tool.”
“Social Listening is not a social media tool. It’s an all-business tool.” #MeltwaterFestival pic.twitter.com/aFQKatJuo5
— Taylor Sidwell (@t_sidwell) October 6, 2020
The day’s penultimate speaker was our own Chris Caro, a product specialist at Meltwater Social, who presented a deep dive into the value of podcasts for brands, along with some practical suggestions for how marketers can begin to work with the fast growing medium: “Why Brands Need to Listen to Podcasts.”
Podcast ads get you the reach of a TV show with the credibility of a subject matter expert, plus the specificity of social media ads. #MeltwaterFestival
35% of the labor force is listening to podcasts… wow! pic.twitter.com/xpY8xf6nyj
— Rachel Moore | #vGHC20 (@RachelMooreRS) October 6, 2020
The final session was presented by Tammy Luke, a Senior Social Media Researcher at IBM, who gave us a case study on how IBM used social data to build audience insights for ESPN’s Fantasy Football game: “Play to Win with Audience Insights: A Fantasy Football Case Study.”
Wrapping up Day 1 of #MeltwaterFestival as @tammylluke is psycho-analyzing fantasy football players. “Feel desires strongly and are easily tempted.” Indeed, Tammy. Indeed. pic.twitter.com/DCEVXOu9cM
— Chris Winston (@cwinston75) October 6, 2020
Day Two
The second day began with content marketing expert and founder of MarketingProfs, Ann Handley, giving us her advice on: “Storytelling in a Chaotic and Unpredictable World.”
“Make sure your company looks the same from all angles and keep your experiences consistent across touchpoints”. No one wants a Zoom mullet. ???? @MarketingProfs #MeltwaterFestival pic.twitter.com/zkg48WXS5V
— Jenny Force (@JennyForce) October 13, 2020
Davitha Ghiassi from agency, Red Havas, took a deep dive into Facebook Groups, explaining the value of this tool for building branded communities, with some great tips and examples of how others have used them: “Cultivating Community Through Facebook Groups: 5 Best Practice Principles for Brands.”
Another great day kicking off for #MeltwaterFestival, starting with Cultivating Community Through #FacebookGroups. Very timely as we dig more into these for focused engagement!
Credit to Davitha Ghiassi for a great slide on how to plan your group’s content: pic.twitter.com/GqRRKUNZxB— Rachel Moore | #vGHC20 (@RachelMooreRS) October 13, 2020
Next, Carmen Collins from Cisco gave us a fascinating presentation on the power of employee generated content, explaining how Cisco uses it as “proof of culture” to help attract and retain the best talent. “The Circle of Goodness: Employee-Generated Content.”
Today @CShirkeyCollins shares how Cisco have empowered employees to post on social media with #WeAreCisco. Employees share their authentic experiences and Cisco listens and engages on social media. They also repurpose these stories across channels. #MeltwaterFestival pic.twitter.com/VuE2Iu3j1C
— Brianna Bergeron (@thebbcreative) October 13, 2020
Twitter’s Paul Bowes came armed with a mountain of social data to explain “What the Public Conversation on Twitter is Telling us About the 2020 Holiday Season” – showing us how its possible to use Twitter data to make predictions about consumer behavior.
Love this!
Top used emojis on #Twitter by holiday.
???? for #BlackFriday is my favorite. ????#MeltwaterFestival #SocialMedia pic.twitter.com/QUyhrio6i5
— Alyssa Townsend (@atownx) October 13, 2020
Next Callie Schweitzer from LinkedIn got into a popular topic at this event, community building, with her presentation: “How Brands can Build Authentic Communities in 2020.”
Marketing Editor @LinkedIn , @cschweitz speaking on how brands can build authentic communities in 2020 @MeltwaterSocial #MeltwaterFestival
???????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????
???? Stand for something
???? Are Trustworthy
???? Human
???? Are Fun
???? Cherish the community they have pic.twitter.com/cwr21ivYUX— Sam Junior Mbatha (@SamJuniorMbatha) October 14, 2020
Finally, to close the Festival, Danny Gardner from GlaxoSmithKline went into a lot of detail about how he built an in-house social intelligence capability for the pharma giant, and gave us some great case studies on how the company uses social intelligence across its portfolio of consumer healthcare brands: “Unleashing Social Intelligence as an In-House Capability.”
Why did @GSK need a social listening tool and what’s the value add? Insights, insights, insights! @Data_Danny_11 #MeltwaterFestival pic.twitter.com/a7wttiP1SO
— Jenny Force (@JennyForce) October 13, 2020
It was a great session to wrap up two days of social media insight and advice. We had a lot of fun putting this event together, and even if you weren’t able to attend the live stream we hope you enjoy the on-demand recordings.
Day 2 of #MeltwaterFestival has attracted a crowd ???? pic.twitter.com/1Y79jK1v9S
— Bob Varettoni (@bvar) October 13, 2020