This week I attended my first Social Media event in my native land – the Scottish Social Media and Marketing Show in Edinburgh. The show, aimed at small businesses in Scotland, was right up my alley. It was hosted by Hashtag Events and featured 3 breakout sessions with 3 separate options for talks, as well as an exhibitors centre showcasing marketing, print and networking companies.
I couldn’t attend all of the breakouts and I am sure I missed some great sessions. Here are my key takeaways from the event and the talks I did see:
1. I was at the conference hoping to see how small businesses in Scotland use social media in comparison to Canada. Turns out they are using them in exactly the same way. Social media adoption by small businesses in Scotland is a little behind Canada from what I can tell, and there’s the same confusion over which tools to use and how to use them strategically.
2. The first session I attended was Liz Melville’s talk on How to Spend Less Time on Social Media and Get Better results. Her advice – get clarity on who your clients are, align your products and services to them and use automation to fill your sales funnel even when you’re not working.
3. The next session presented by Colin McKeand focused on networking. Everyone had the chance to do their 1 minute elevator pitch. Key takeaway was that a connection is nothing without a follow up.
4. David Hood’s session was the next one I attended. It was called Stop the Noise: Applying Insight and Intelligence for Competitive Advantage. Ironically, I was at the back of the room and couldn’t really hear for the noise from the exhibitor area but I could tell he was questioning and counter balancing some of the norms of social media and had a great wry sense of humor and directness. Wish I had had a better seat for this one…
5. The final session I attended was the one I found most beneficial, by Steven Sefton who had some killer ideas on how to improve your website. They included:
- ditching the sliders on your site (they don’t work!),
- using copy that is about your prospective customer and not about you,
- having effective call to actions
- really great content marketing that your audience can relate to and that gets shared.
All in all it was a day well spent. Thanks to all of the speakers and to the hosts!
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