Post Social Excitement
Laptops, pens, smartphones, and note pads all ready to go.....To our surprise we had entered a party and not the Social Media Mastery confrence #SMMastery.
Ricky Shetty (founder of Daddy Blogger) and his team put together an exciting and inforamtive day full of Social Media Development. This was the first of its kind to be held in Vancouver, BC. This event was held at Diamond Ballroom also known as the hidden jem of Vancouver. When you see the view you will understand why.
Ricky out did himeself there was never a dull moment and every detail had been taken care of. Parking was amanzingly priced at $4.00 for the entire day and in Vancouver how wonderful? There was a brilliant line up of speakers which I'll break down for you a little later, in between each segmant there were guided stretch breaks, sponsor tables that offered varrious goodies- like a boul of soup from Dalia's Soups (unfortunately by the time I reached the table after socialiazing and connecting with fellow peers, the soup had vanished) and 250 premium business cards just for visiting the booth from Third Eye Pro which I managed to visit and take advantage of the promotion, social shopper gift cards for everyone, promotional sign ups for different courses and some really cool door prizes. Two of the door prizes where by moi or Fatima Sumar . The lucky winners are Catherine Lalonde and Neale Beacon.
Have you heard of a Love Ball? Ricky shared the love with everyone. What an inspirational idea of #OneSimpleAct by using social media for good through love. My simple act is to spend more time with friends and family what is your #OneSimpleAct?
For myself, and my table we were behind a pillar so at times we found it very tough to be present especially during some of the presenters that were not as engaging as others. We did get to a late start due to techincal difficulties and the Wifi disconnecting frequently but that was all inconsquential compared to the overall experience and knowledge acquired from the event. Would I attend the event again decipite the shortcomings? Yes, in a heart beat!
Here is a video by Third Eye Pro heighlightening the event.
The one thing that each specialist agreed upon, is that you need to pick your favourite 3-4 platforms that and master them before adding the many other platforms to your lineup. The 3 main reasons for being selective with your platforms are:
1. So you dont spread yourself too thin and don't maximize your platforms to their best.
2. You do not get overwhelmed by trying to learn all of the rules at once and then get frustratedd as you are not seeing any results on any platform.
3. You are not tempted to cross posts on platforms as you do not have enough content to spread out.
Speaker Lineup was phenominal and outstanding. Below is a quick review of the speakers.
Matt Astifan ~Facbook
Matt was one of my favourite speakers as he was very engaging and very informative. One of his key messaging was to have your profile completely filled out. Something so simple, but over looked by many. Tagging of your friends and other businesses is excellent practice as their friends can see the post and reach individuals organically.
Wendy McClelland ~LinkedIn
Wendy was a wonderful speaker and said she does not go for "coffee" with people wo are trying to get information from her without an agenda of the meeting. Her tip of the day was to have a professional headshot taken and to use key words that will make you stand out. What I found really interesting was that Wendy suggested against a business page on LinkedIn as you do not own the content but rather have links to your site.
Michelle Castillo ~Google Plus
unfortuneatley, this was one presentation I was not really present in as it was very difficult to understand Michelle. I have never gotten used Google Plus as it just seems to be there and automatically post our content from other platforms.
Steve Dotto ~YouTube
Steve comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience in video creation through his journalism background. Steve was very energetic and comical in his delivery. He had some amazing points on creating a YouTube video. I would loved to hear more of his presentation as I want to create YouTube videos for my business.
Cadi Jordan ~Instagram
Despite being right after lunch Cadi managed to deliver a lesson on taking selfies the right way and how to use Instagram to its full potential with appropriate industry #hashtags. Lately, Instagram has become one of my favourite platforms especially for my Fashionably Spiritual Jewelry Company.
Selfie with Jamil Mawani
Selfie with Linda Li
Vincent Ng ~Pinterest
Vincint had a wonderful prensentation and was a high energy presenter one that I really was interested in hearing as I do know the power of pinning can go a long way. For his presentation, I was not fully able to mazimize the presentation as this lady came and stood right infront of us for majority of the presentation. Visuals go along way and it is very imporatnt to create images that are longer and vertical compared to shorter and horizontal. The reason being is that you get more exposure and noticiability considering most people are socially active on their smart phones.
Kate Sterns ~Twitter
Kate was another one of my favourite speakers. Although her time had been shortened due to our delayed start she was full of energy and fabulous tips. Twitter is one platform that you can really have some fun with especially since you are restricted to 140 characters. Kate did stress the imporatnce of completing your profile with what you do, who you are and what you are interested in. This is because your profile is the first connection you have to individuals looking to connect and by having your interests listed, it is an easy conversation starter.
Jonathan Christian ~Snapchat
Jonathan was full of energy and had a tough platform to explore as it is poplar with teenagers and youths in their early 20's. He did a smashing job and I can see how Snapchat would work well for music artistist like Madonna when releasing a preview of an new album but for someone like myself, I'm not sure how it would benefit me on a business level. On a personal note, it is a great tool to use and I've now got a better understanding of Snapchat as a platform.
Kemp Edmonds ~Hootsuite
Last but no least! Kemp had the toughest spot being the last presenter of the day but was marvoulous in providing an overview of how life can be made easier with scheduled posts for upto 3 platforms with the free version and upto 50 accounts with Hootsuite pro. The one platform you are not able to post to is Instagram as they do not permit any third party applications to post. I was really looking forward to finding a way to post Instagram, but you can still monitor your mentions on Instagram. I would say that is better than nothing.
That concludes an eventful day full of connections and learnings. Be sure to sign up for Ricky's next event The Blog Mastery Conference as there will be many more opportunities to learn and implement.
I would like to thank Ricky for an amazing opportunity and his team for being amazing hosts.
What are the platforms that you currnetly use and which platform are wanting to try out?
Fatima
I encourage you to engage with my posts by leaving a comment, sharing them on your social platforms, liking, and following me on my social platforms. Be sure to like our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/DesignsbyFatimaSumar), follow us on Twitter (@fatima_sumar) and Pinterest (DesignsbyFatimaSumar).
