5 Tips for hosting a successful virtual conference or event

With the COVID-19 pandemic limiting travel and crowded in-person gatherings, virtual conferences and events have replaced their in-person counterparts. Rather than these disruptions slowing planning down, it seems like there are more events than ever, between webinars and launch events and industry conferences.

Because of how common these virtual events are now, preparation and an established strategy are key to standing out from the crowd. Virtual events are not a new concept. Direct-to-consumer businesses often have digital-only product launches and social media features only make these easier and easier.

If you’re hosting a virtual conference or event for the first time, arm yourself with these tips for a successful experience.

Types of virtual conferences & events

A good deal of in-person events can be converted to digital experiences as long as you put in the necessary planning ahead of time. Industry conferences that are heavy with presentations and speakers work in a virtual setting but you’ll also have to give some thought to how the usual networking piece of an in-person event will work virtually. People go to these types of events partially for impromptu conversations and satellite networking events that arise.

Beyond industry conferences, we’ve seen plenty of examples of virtual events including festivals, concerts, product launches, company gatherings and even happy hours. There’s a virtual alternative available for almost every type of event out there.

1. Budget, budget, budget

Just because it’s a virtual event now doesn’t mean you can throw out your budget. Yes, you’ll be able to save on the printing, in-person tech support, venue reservation and signage but don’t scratch out marketing entirely. Virtual events do have a lower overhead than in-person ones but the more activity and attendance you have, the more you’ll need to budget for, especially for the supporting technology.

Replacing an event venue is the software or app you’ll use to host the event. The number of participants, both speakers and attendees, and your desired level of interaction will determine the type of management platform you’ll use. Some events have taken place entirely on Instagram Live while others are pre-recorded videos that are released at scheduled times.

Sponsorship is a major part of event planning so if you want to still send swag out or host virtual happy hours, be sure to tweak your sponsorship plan to what a virtual event might need. That in-person store that was going to be at the event? It can now be an online dropship store with special deals or offerings for attendees..

Other budgeting items you’ll need to consider that are related to virtual events include: heavy social media promotion, live captioning, comment moderation and hosting videos and documents after the event is over. Smaller events like webinars and all-day live streaming won’t need all of these, so review what you should prioritize and what you can cut from your budget.

2. Mix live streams & prerecorded videos

Deciding on your schedule and heading to talks you don’t want to miss are important parts of a conference. The benefit of a virtual event is that you’re usually able to watch talks that you miss. But then, what’s the point of attending if you’ll just be able to watch later? Beef up your events and make them more appealing to live attendees with fun live streams, virtual breakout rooms or discussion chats and other interactive material.

Prerecorded videos let your speakers off the hook for any technology issues and also allow for editing if needed. At the end of each of their sessions, you can have the speakers join in either on a live video or in the chatroom to answer questions, just like in an in-person event.

The California Academy of Sciences used to have a weekly NightLive event. Each event had a topic and included relevant speakers and demonstrations. During the pandemic, the museum converted these weekly events into Virtual NightLife and NightSchool, which are both live streaming events that mirror their in-person ones. Having these on Facebook Live encourages comments and also saves the video for future participants to watch.

Livestreams, whether on Facebook Live, Instagram or another streaming platform, are a lot more interactive for everyone and a value-add if attendees need to pay to attend.

Mixing the two types of videos up in one event makes it fun and memorable, overcoming the staleness factor that strictly prerecorded videos can have.

3. Prepare your speakers

For an entirely virtual event, make sure your speakers are fully prepared. Larger events should do test runs for internet speed, comfort level with the technology and mic checks. Livestreaming and using whichever event platform you choose might be a new experience for your speakers so it’s best to prepare them for what they might encounter. Will they be required to moderate the comments themselves? Do they need to share their screen for a slide presentation?

Some common scenarios to prepare for include:

• Finding the best physical environment for your speaker to minimize interruptions and have clear sound. Test, practice and prepare equipment to ensure that all speakers will be broadcasting at about the same sound level to avoid surprise volume changes for viewers.
• If sharing a screen or live stream, tips on what to turn off on your computer, such as putting all notifications on hold.
• To comment or not to comment? Ideally, you’ll have a separate person who is moderating the comments so the speaker can focus on their talk. Either way, make sure they’re familiar with the event’s code of conduct and how to handle offensive commenters
• Technology woes. What happens if the speaker’s tech fails them or the software glitches or their slides aren’t working? Have backup plans ready for all these possible issues.

Lastly, speakers are another source of promotion for your event. You want them to advertise their talk so their current audience will feel like the event is worth attending. To make this easier on speakers, prepare several promotional materials in ideal social media sizes and suggested captions. This way, all they have to do is schedule the content and paste in the captions.

4. Set expectations for attendees

Whether it’s a large industry conference or a single topic live stream, you need to effectively communicate what attendees should expect. It stinks to set aside time to attend an event only to realize that the topic is too broad or geared for a different audience. Be clear in what the event is and who it is for. How does it stand out from all the other virtual events out there?

If you’re converting an in-person event to virtual, then you should talk about how the major features will look online. What does a welcome reception and keynote speaker portion look like for attendees? Just like any event, publish a schedule. Let them know if it’s prerecorded, if comments are available, if the presentation will be saved and what interaction will look like. Will attendee videos be on or off? Are hashtags available so live-tweeting or supplementary Twitter chats are possible?

The #ComicConAtHome watch parties powered by @Scener continue with today’s featured watch party, ‘Battle Beyond the Stars’ at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. Join your fellow Con-goers in watch parties all throughout the day! See the full watch party schedule here: https://t.co/XtL6Wt1keb. pic.twitter.com/ovOauK5ozc

— San Diego Comic-Con (@Comic_Con) July 24, 2020

Comic-Con, an event that has historically attracted more than 130,000 attendees, went all virtual in 2020. To replicate the in-person experience, the event scheduled competitions, plenty of talks, an online exhibit hall, watch parties and more.

Make it very easy for attendees to build an event schedule and have the right links to head to when it’s time to attend. If an event platform is being used, send out guides on how to use it and if downloads are necessary. Accessibility features like live captioning and translations should also be taken into consideration. With a virtual event, you have the option of expanding your attendance base and effectively generating more potential leads and meaningful engagement. Those who couldn’t travel to the event can now attend the virtual one.

Lastly, set aside networking time, especially if it’s an industry conference that usually has this component. Sponsor-hosted happy hours, one-on-one speed conversations and topical breakout rooms are ways to encourage networking. For whichever platform you decide to host the event on, encourage attendees to fully fill out their profile so they can more easily connect with industry colleagues.

5. Plan the promotion: Before, during & after

Marketing, especially on social media, will be a big portion of your preparation. Paying for social media ads are a must-have for digital events but don’t forget about event landing pages and newsletter sends. Events like Sprout Sessions Digital 2020 have a full promotional schedule that starts before the event. The effort doesn’t end with the day of the event either–virtual events supply plenty of opportunity to repurpose livestream and digital content for weeks after the fact.

Luckily for you, virtual events make it easy to track your ROI. Between social media listening, keyword and tag analytics reports and digital advertising analytics, you’re set on knowing how well your campaign is performing.

#MozCon Virtual featured some of the top industry leaders in PR. @ShannonMcGuirk_ challenged the desire for virality over consistency in her presentation about digital PR campaigns.

Purchase the #MozCon video bundle today & watch Shannon's presentation:https://t.co/nRhoeHscBR pic.twitter.com/fMN8fwJYg7

— Moz (@Moz) August 18, 2020

MozCon, an in-person event, went digital in 2020. The landing page is clear in what attendees can expect from the virtual aspect. Even better, their post-event promotion includes a paid video bundle that you can purchase if you missed out on attending.

Hosting virtual events that have video sessions means you now have a treasure trove of content available to you. Repurpose the content into other formats like podcast episodes, quote graphics and longform articles.

After the event is over, thank everyone involved and use followup surveys to understand what you can work on for next time. These survey results can also become testimonials for next year’s event promotion.

Conclusion

Planning and preparation are pillars of hosting a successful virtual conference or event. When everyone involved–speakers, attendees, moderators–know what to expect and how to participate, it makes for a much smoother experience. Virtual events have the benefit of being lower cost, wider audience attendance and easy to track analytics but it doesn’t mean you should skimp on other necessary items.

The field of virtual events is getting more crowded by the year so you need to effectively communicate why yours is the one to attend and not the others. Extra features like live streams and live Q&As will increase attendee participation.

Excited to host your own virtual conference or event but need some inspiration? Use social listening to see what topical gaps can be filled.

This post 5 Tips for hosting a successful virtual conference or event originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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How to Get Started With Marketing Analytics: A 5-Step Framework

Want to better understand if your marketing is working? Need to do more with marketing analytics? In this article, you’ll discover a five-step framework for marketing analysis. You’ll also learn how to plan and build systems that deliver key insights so you can effectively forecast and optimize your marketing efforts. #1: Set Up a Framework […]

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Webinar Marketing Strategy: A Proven Path to More Sales

Thinking of using webinars to sell your products and services? Wondering how to promote and conduct your webinars to maximize participation and sales? To explore marketing with webinars, I interview Amy Porterfield on the Social Media Marketing Podcast. Amy, an expert on webinars and course creation, is the host of the Online Marketing Made Easy […]

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Are you planning to use Facebook ads to promote your products or services this holiday season? Looking for a process to ensure your campaigns succeed? In this article, you’ll discover five key steps to get the best results possible from your Facebook ad campaigns during the peak holiday sales periods. #1: Optimize Your Website for […]

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How to Set Up Facebook Shops to Sell Your Products

Does your business sell physical products? Wondering how to sell your products using Facebook Shops? In this article, you’ll learn how to create a shop on Facebook, use Commerce Manager to add products to your shop, and promote the products in your Facebook shop. You’ll also discover whether your business is a good fit for […]

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How to Use Instagram Tagging for More Exposure

Want more people to see your Instagram posts? Are you using Instagram tags effectively? In this article, you’ll discover the difference between @mentioning an account versus tagging an account, learn how and when to use each of these tactics, and find out how to remove your tag from someone else’s post. You’ll also learn why […]

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Webinar Marketing Strategy: A Proven Path to More Sales

Thinking of using webinars to sell your products and services? Wondering how to promote and conduct your webinars to maximize participation and sales? To explore marketing with webinars, I interview Amy Porterfield on the Social Media Marketing Podcast. Amy, an expert on webinars and course creation, is the host of the Online Marketing Made Easy […]

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Navigating call-out culture: What to do when your brand is in the hot seat

Consumers play a major role in shaping the public perception of brands, influencing their actions and holding them accountable—and it’s a double-edged sword for brands. On the one hand, a vocal audience can help brands shape their offerings and content. On the other hand, a brand misstep can be costly.

Over the last several years, call-out culture has become a pervasive part of social media. Honestly, it’s hard to think the last time there wasn’t a trending hashtag to boycott a brand or public figure.

In 2020, we’ve seen boycotts in response to brands voicing public support for social justice organizations like Black Lives Matter. Conversely, we’ve seen brands get called out for not being vocal enough in the fight for social justice. Brands with out-of-touch ads risk being “cancelled” and even seemingly benign campaigns can trigger waves of criticism.

Take Mr. Peanut, for example. The 104-year-old anthropomorphic legume met its fiery death in an advertisement ahead of the brand’s Super Bowl LIV spot. But the proximity of the ad’s release to Kobe Bryant’s death left a bad taste in people’s mouths, forcing Planters to apologize and pause all campaign promotions. Just over seven months later, Peanut Jr., the evolved version of Baby Nut who was born from the ashes of Mr. Peanut, celebrated it’s 21st birthday, to the shock and confusion of consumers on social. While some fans “shellebrated” the event, some (like me) wished the adorable Baby Nut didn’t age so quickly. Others were so salty that Planters kept pushing the Peanut Jr. storyline even after the initial backpack, that their calls to #BlockMrPeanut began trending.

Why is this still going like im legit wondering like if yall want to write a fan fic go ahead but dont blast it on Twitter

— insane stuff on the internet (@slayerofstrange) August 19, 2020

Mr. Peanut and its parent company, Kraft-Heinz, will emerge unscathed following this rather confusing ad campaign, but other brands that don’t generate billions of dollars in yearly revenue like Kraft-Heinz might be so lucky.

No brand is immune to call-out culture and social media managers may feel part of their job is navigating land mines just waiting to explode. The permanency of what’s said or shared on the internet means there are no take-backs in this day and age. But brands can recover and regain consumer trust. If you find yourself defending your brand after being called out, incorporate the following steps into your social media crisis plan and get back on the road to redemption.

Be proactive: Move quickly and listen closely to your audience’s reaction

When your brand has been called out, being proactive is essential. Even a single, seemingly small or isolated issue can turn into a flurry of memes, Retweets, comments or a trending hashtag, so it’s important to move quickly and respond ASAP.

Social media managers may be able to address some comments on their own. However, depending on the nature and scale of the issue that’s being called out, you’ll need to involve your public relations team, your boss and your legal team.

Let them know what your audience is saying. Are they demanding action? What are they most concerned or upset about? Consider building a social listening topic centered around the issue at hand to measure sentiment, track the scope of the conversations and provide further insights for your leadership. Listening can ultimately help you shape a public response that directly addresses your audience’s feedback.

Be authentic: Collaborate with your team to craft a humble, human response

If a brand ignores complaints on social, some consumers will try contacting them on another channel—but 35% of consumers will boycott a brand altogether. But a poor response can actually be more damaging than no response at all and increases the chance of consumers boycotting by 43%.

There’s nothing worse than a passive stance, vague language or a “fauxpology.” Suppose a food brand is taking heat for consumers getting sick after eating their products. If that brand leads with “We only source the freshest ingredients and take food safety seriously,” you feel the “but” coming to deflect blame.

Also if your apology includes the word ‘but’ https://t.co/Rhs9uaTv7m

— S (@saixviii) August 23, 2020

As individuals, we’re taught to apologize and own up for our mistakes. As brands, it’s important to do the same, but there are sometimes broader implications. For legal reasons, brands sometimes can’t say outright that they take responsibility online (especially if an accusation hasn’t been verified or needs to be internally investigated). That’s why getting your legal and PR teams involved quickly is essential. However, as the social media manager, you’re the voice of your customers and the person who sees brands get called out on social every day. Bring your recommendations to the table to help your brand develop the most authentic and human response possible.

In some instances, an apology will be the right move. One of the earliest examples of a social media apology that is widely recognized as a proper response came from JetBlue. Back in 2007, the airline had to cancel hundreds of flights due to a massive snowstorm, which left thousands of people stranded. Instead of blaming the weather, the CEO humbly explained the brand’s promise to customers with specific examples of what they were doing to make it right and how they would be prepared, not if, but when they failed next.

If a brand responds well, they stand a chance of winning over consumers who initially shared complaints.

Be vocal: Bring forth your deep understanding of your audience and their expectations

Transparency goes a long way in recovering from a crisis or call-out. In a Sprout Social survey, we found that 89% of people say a business can regain their trust if it admits to a mistake and is transparent about the steps it will take to resolve the issue. Chances that consumers will forgive a mistake are even better if your brand already has a history of being transparent.

While it’s part of a social media manager’s responsibility to help come up with short or long-term solutions, it’s not something you should be doing by yourself. Bring your intimate knowledge of your brand’s audience and insights from their conversations on social to leadership to help determine next steps.

If your ad campaign draws negative attention and is deemed insensitive, you probably need to pull it from circulation. But it’s hard to part ways with creative campaigns that so many people have invested time, money and effort into. If your leadership is hesitant or resistant to remove a campaign from social, but you know your audience wants it gone, make your voice heard. Report comments, sentiment analysis, trending keywords, and other relevant social data to leadership to help them make that final decision to pull a poorly received ad. Not only that, but you can also foreshadow the consequences of leaving that campaign up and running.

If the issue is larger, like your brand being called out for lacking diversity, failing to take a stance on major social movements or fostering a toxic culture, your brand will need to do more than just make a statement on social. In a recent survey on social media activism, we found that people expect real change. There’s little tolerance for performative allyship and more than half of consumers expect brands to announce new initiatives, goals and involvement in industry-wide coalitions.

As the social media manager, you’re responsible for telling the story of your brand’s commitments and sharing details about the progress that’s being made. What consumers want to see most is that your brand is following through on those promises. When brands fail to uphold their commitments on social issues, 42% of consumers will shop elsewhere, 29% will boycott altogether and 19% will continue to share their negative opinions on social. The stakes are high, and you have the power (and social data) to hold your leadership accountable.

Be patient: Track your brand’s recovery over time

Recovering from a brand blunder will not happen overnight, so be patient and persistent in keeping your brand’s promises. Use social listening sentiment analysis to track your recovery over time and continue to inform leadership about insights like spikes in positive or negative sentiment, engagement stats or anything that you believe might derail you from the road to recovery.

But also, be kind to yourself! You may be managing the messages and telling the story, but ultimately, certain decisions are out of your control. If your brand becomes embroiled with more serious scandals, it’s critical to escalate the situation and get someone in leadership involved. If hateful messages come through the inbox, don’t take them personally. Brand crises are a natural accelerant to burnout, so it’s important to rest, recharge and re-engage with the things that make you happiest whenever possible.

Feeling burnt out? Step away.
🎧 Listen to your favorite playlist
👟 Take a walk
🍵 Make yourself a cup of coffee or tea

— Sprout Social (@SproutSocial) August 24, 2020

And if your brand is getting boycotted for taking a progressive stance on an issue that you and your company leaders truly believe in, don’t sweat it too much. The consumers that share your values and have big love for your brand will double down on their support for your company. They’ve got your back.

This post Navigating call-out culture: What to do when your brand is in the hot seat originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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Captivating a global audience: Why social data is the key to your esports marketing strategy

When Heroes of the Dorm, a collegiate-level Heroes of the Storm tournament, made its ESPN debut in 2015, the nerd jokes and sarcastic Tweets that followed were pretty much inevitable.

Was there NOTHING scheduled to air on ESPN2? No way a video game tournament was option No. 1, right?

— Tyler Batiste (@TyBatiste) April 27, 2015

ESPN is showing video games so playing 2k15 for days straight in your underwear is now legit

— Desus Nice (@desusnice) April 27, 2015

Fast forward to today, esports is no laughing matter. It’s one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, with an audience of over 500 million viewers and revenue expected to hit $1.1 billion by the end of 2020. By 2023, it’s estimated that 15.5% of internet users will be watching esports events at least once a month. Esports is also a lucrative career for professional gamers and teams; in 2019, the prize pool for The International 9: Dota 2 championship was $33 million. For context, the prize pools for the 2019 NBA Championship and the 2020 PGA Championship were only $22 million and $11 million, respectively.

So, yeah. You could say esports is having a moment.

But despite the rising mainstream popularity of esports, marketing to the esports audience is far from easy. For starters, we’re talking about a fragmented, hyper-social group of consumers who span the globe and have opinions on teams like 100 Thieves, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses. Fans can sniff out when brand partnerships aren’t in the best interest of the game, like in 2016 when fans questioned the legitimacy of Bud Light’s All-Star program which included nominees who retired from competitive play. Not to mention, the esports space is crowded. There are multiple professional teams, hundreds of annual tournaments and thousands of streamers worldwide.

This is where social—or, more specifically, social data—comes in, as esports marketers look to deepen their understanding of their target audiences and what drives fans loyalty. In this article, we’ll discuss the role social plays in the esports ecosystem and why social data is the key to success for your esports marketing strategy.

Grow your fanbase

When you understand who you’re targeting and why, you can deepen your relationship with fans and reach an entirely new group of gamers. The diehard fans playing Fortnite are not the same people playing NBA 2K—understanding what makes each group unique is key to growing your audience.

With tools like social listening, you can break down your audience by gender and age data, and tailor your strategies accordingly. You can also use listening data to pinpoint where in the world conversations around your game are taking place. League of Legends, for example, predominantly attracts players in Western Europe and Korea, with North America only accounting for 10.8% of their total player pool.

In addition to growing your existing fanbase, you can use listening data to uncover new audiences you might not have thought to reach out to. Within the Sprout listening tool, you can segment social conversations into themes to identify what other interests your target audience may have. Almost half of esports fans are interested in traditional sports like basketball, soccer and motorsports and, in recent months, we’ve seen cross-promotional efforts push traditional sports fans towards esports. NASCAR, for example, pitted its professional drivers against gamers in the first ever iRacing Pro Series and drew more than 1.3 million TV viewers for its March 29 race.

We’ve worked on this since yesterday. Short notice but should be fun! Hope you will check it out! https://t.co/ZhSALR0pw7

— tj majors (@Tjmajors) March 14, 2020

Lastly, identify key streamers with a highly engaged following to help introduce a brand new esports game using listening data. When PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG) debuted in 2017, the marketing team turned a budget of $0 into one of the most popular stand-alone battle royale games with over 400 million total players worldwide. Instead of reaching out to the most popular streamers, PUBG’s team gave mid-tier streamers exclusive access to the beta version of the game so they could provide feedback and generate hype.

Another popular esports title, Valorant, rolled out a similar strategy for its title launch earlier this year. Instead of paying streamers to promote the game, publisher Riot Games worked with the industry’s top influencers to provide gamers with exclusive viewing access to the beta version. Streamers like Pengu were given beta keys to drop to random viewers in their chats, giving fans who had both a Riot and Twitch account a first look at the game. By the time Valorant officially launched, it had racked up 470 million hours viewed on Twitch and inspired several tournaments around the globe.

Oh yea, heres a DANK photo, smoke main in Siege, Viper main in Valorant? I will very likely be streaming this game during closed beta & release.
Twitch drops will be enabled so that if YOU are watching you have a chance to get a closed beta key yourself 🙂 pic.twitter.com/wZ5HnMEs6r

— Pengu (@G2Pengu) March 30, 2020

Strengthen community engagement

What makes social an ideal platform for esports fans is that, like them, social is always on. The esports audience spans the entire globe, meaning the social conversation around tournaments, match ups and more never stops.

When fans aren’t watching esports matches, there’s a good chance they’re online talking about said matches, teams and players. This is an opportunity for your brand to experiment with different types of social content to see what draws the greatest engagement from your audience. With Sprout’s Premium Analytics post-performance report, you can measure the performance of your social content and double down on the content that inspires the strongest engagement.

The League of Legends European Championship (LEC) Twitter account, for example, hosts a poll for fans to vote on the player of the game.

Who was your @Kia_Motors Player of the Game in @S04Esports' win against @TeamVitality? #LEC

— LEC (@LEC) August 8, 2020

To further keep their audience engaged and interacting with the account, LEC also hosts an interactive quiz testing fans’ knowledge of LEC trivia and memes.

Do you even LEC? 🤔

Show off your #LEC knowledge and win exclusive prizes, starting August 17th!

More info: https://t.co/Rfbln0DGmw pic.twitter.com/EAabZUR5lQ

— LEC (@LEC) August 14, 2020

Effective community management also means keeping an eye out for when problems within games arise—and players aren’t shy about letting publishers know when servers are down. While it’s helpful to receive immediate feedback from players when problems arise, the fact that esports caters to a global audience means you have to be prepared to address issues at any time of the day.

Valorant going down is the most the game has been talked about since it came out pic.twitter.com/e2jEwrvfOs

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 17, 2020

Listening data can help you stay ahead of growing problems before they spiral out of control. Consider creating listening queries for your brand with keywords like “login” or “outage” to monitor for situations like gamers unable to access their accounts or a downed server. That way, as soon as an issue arises, your team is able to address it immediately on social.

Going one step further, some publishers have established support Twitter accounts to keep an eye on gamer complaints and to share updates when servers are back online.

We're actively investigating an issue where some players in LATAM are experiencing connectivity issues with Modern Warfare and Warzone servers. We’ve implemented some fixes and are continuing to monitor and implement more to provide a better experience for players in the region.

— Activision Support (@ATVIAssist) June 22, 2020

Find new (and relevant) partnerships

Brand sponsorships aren’t limited to NBA or NFL teams; they apply to esports teams and streamers too. But esports fans—and especially players—are picky. Relevance is key when identifying new partnerships, and quality is top of mind for any serious gamer.

Here it’s helpful to lean on listening data to uncover your audience’s interests and identify which brand partnerships make the most sense to your fanbase. Gamers, obviously, need the right equipment to perform at their best. On Twitter, Call of Duty League recently held a giveaway for a gaming headset bundle from pro-gaming equipment brand, ASTRO Gaming—a perfect match.

Gear up like a pro in the @ASTROGaming “Road to Champs” Giveaway: Enter for a chance to win one of 50 Call of Duty League Edition ASTRO Gaming headset bundles! https://t.co/Am7oZYCNEa

NPN. Ends 8/18. Entry/Rules in link. pic.twitter.com/EtgRvoEPvL

— Call of Duty League (@CODLeague) August 11, 2020

Another way to grow the game is by partnering with popular streamers outside of the esports ecosystem. The reason for this is two-fold: for starters, working with popular streamers not in esports generates fresh, new content for your brand. And secondly, you can tap into the unique audience an outside partner brings to the table. Steelers’ wide receiver, Juju Smith-Schuster, is an avid Fortnite player when he isn’t running routes for Ben Roethlisberger, and he attracts both gamers and football fans alike on his social profiles. In 2018, he actually moved into the widely popular FaZe Clan’s house and documented his experience on YouTube to his one million subscribers.

FaZe JuJu pic.twitter.com/b6Uda35UgX

— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) February 9, 2018

A more strategic approach to esports marketing

Few fans are as loyal or committed to an organization as esports fans. There’s a reason why games like Dota 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare average millions of players year over year.

Unlike other B2C consumers though, esports fans are incredibly niche—they stick to their preferences and belong to a global community that has its own unique culture. Connecting with this market requires in-depth knowledge of who your audience is, what they like and dislike and who they consider influential figures.

Social data empowers esports marketers to deepen their understanding of their players and leverage those insights to both strengthen their gaming community and grow their fanbase worldwide. But social listening can do more than help esports marketers better understand their audience. Listening also enables publishers to identify new market opportunities, unexpected collaborations and content inspiration to differentiate themselves from the competition. As esports marketers look to elevate their social strategies, consider the 40 unique ways listening can impact esports from community engagement to product design to live tournament events.

This post Captivating a global audience: Why social data is the key to your esports marketing strategy originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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How to successfully onboard a new social media team member

So you’re ready to bring on a new social media manager to help your brand or agency’s marketing efforts.

It’s exciting to grow your team, and you want to help your hire succeed in their new position as much as you can. This is why it’s so important to know how to train social media managers and properly onboard a new social media team member.

We’ll run through essential qualities to look for in a new social media manager and our recommended best practices for giving them the best shot in their new job.

What to look for when hiring a social media manager

Social media management isn’t for everyone – it can be a fast-paced, high-creative, research-heavy, data-driven position, and can come with unique work-life balance stresses that both team members and managers must navigate.

While you might not always get all of these qualities in one really awesome social media team member, here are a few great skills and qualities to keep an eye out for in your hiring process. Many people are creatives while others are more analytical, and social media positions often require a bit of both.

Creative copywriting

Writing social media captions is an art form in itself, and finding a new team member who can find the best words to perfectly capture your brand voice and your post’s objective is essential. A highly creative team of social media experts who can regularly bring new ideas to the table will make your brand’s content unique and stand out from the rest.

Social media expertise

This one is a given, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t still mention it. You of course don’t want to have to train your new social media manager on basic practices of all the social platforms you market on. Depending on the specifics of the role, knowledge ranging from how to post successful content to familiarity with analytics are a must.

Customer service

As we found in the Sprout Social Index Edition XVI: Above & Beyond, the top two reasons consumers message a brand are either due to a great experience (59%) or customer service issues (37%). That means much of social media management is responding to opinionated followers, whether they’re happy or not. Finding a new team member who is well-versed in handling any customer service situation will be a huge asset to your team.

Design sensibility

Many social media teams and agencies have designers on staff, but many others don’t, and the responsibility falls on the social media manager creating content. Plus, it’s always a perk if your social team has an eye for design and can help direct the design team or request necessary changes to ensure the final result is perfect.

Flexibility

Social media platforms and marketing tactics are ever-changing, so finding a team member who is flexible and can easily adapt to new strategies is important so your content is always top-notch.

Organization

Social media managers have many job duties on their plate, especially when managing multiple clients at an agency, and it’s important to find someone who is extremely organized and can ensure that everything gets done–from planning, to content creation, to analyzing posts and more.

How to train a new social media manager

Now that you’re sure you’ve hired the best person for the job, it’s time to start training them and setting them up for success. Ensuring that this process goes smoothly for everyone often means creating documents and guidelines that your brand or agency will want to have on hand in an onboarding folder.

Let’s dive into a few essential guidelines to help your new hire learn how to be a social media manager for your specific brand or client.

Introduce brand voice guidelines

Your new social media manager needs to know how exactly to speak for your brand, from the type of personality you show off in captions to how to speak to customers and audience members online.

Having a full brand style guide documented helps every member of your team, not just new hires. For onboarding, you may want to put together introductory brand voice guidelines to give team members something to follow along with as they grow more accustomed to your brand and the way it presents itself.

Creating and approving content in Sprout Social

Sprout Social can help make approving content, responding to customers on social media and communicating with your team easier.

In Sprout, you can set up workflows in your content creation process so that more junior team members can create the content, then immediately notify other team members to approve or modify the content before publishing.

Senior team members can easily add comments providing feedback, reject content that simply isn’t relevant or on par with your brand standards or approve for posting.

Practice messaging scenarios

Conversations and engagement are constantly happening on social media, and you want your new team member to feel prepared. While any major red flags should be sent up the chain of command to a more senior social media manager (and your onboarding document should help delineate what these red flag situations are), basic conversations and messaging scenarios a new social team member should familiarize themselves with handling include:

• Common support questions
• Unhappy customers
• Compliments, thanks and praise
• Obvious spam messages
• Vulgar language (including when to disengage with trolls)

Create a document filled with potential issues, whether positive or negative, that could pop up while someone is managing your brand’s online presence, and showcase the proper ways to respond so your new hire can easily follow along.

Saved replies in Sprout’s Asset Library

Want to make it as easy as possible for social media managers of all levels to respond to comments and messages? While you always want to add a personal touch to each message you send, you can still use Sprout Social’s Asset Library to save replies for various scenarios.

This could include drafting support message templates to ensure they always use the right product terminology, customer support messages that link to the best resources on your site, or responses about current promotions with the right campaign hashtags already included. Your team can use these as a starting point to ensure consistency while adding their own voice and content relevant to the specific situation.

Sprout’s asset library can be used for even more than just customer service replies, from saved directions to special menus and more. It can also be used to store pre-approved images and video, including those you’ve already perfectly sized for social platforms through a tool like Sprout’s free resource, Landscape.

Use onboarding templates and worksheets

Give your social media manager a chance to try things out before they’re actually sharing content and conversations with the public.

By providing practice worksheets for various conversations, you can test and train on customer service skill, content creation, brand voice practice and more. This sets new hires up for success and gives them the best shot at wowing you and your audience.

Try creating a template with actual messages your account has previously received. Set up columns for your new hire’s drafted response, notes about any additional next steps they might take such as tagging the message or marking it complete in Sprout, and a column for your own feedback on their proposed response. This will let them practice realistic response scenarios and build their confidence to actually publish to your brand account.

Internal messaging and notes in Sprout

In Sprout, team members can collaborate with notes on profiles and tasks, which makes it easy for new hires to get feedback on complex situations. These features are especially useful for remote teams as well as to streamline communication about social media content and management. Summarize past conversation history so new team members can get up to speed, note past customer care resolutions, or discuss ongoing tasks to finalize post ideas and responses, all through your team’s Sprout dashboard.

Onboarding checklists

It’s a great idea to generate some kind of checklist as well to make sure you’ve covered all your bases and trained new social media team members on all the essentials they need to know to succeed in their jobs.

Social media is a complex practice that balances customer interaction, creativity, and marketing insight, so even your most senior team members know there’s always room to learn and improve. Set reasonable expectations for your new team members through a checklist that indicates when training is done, but be ready to continually support their efforts to refine and grow their experience.

Start onboarding new social media managers successfully

Give new team members the best possible training you can so they’re ready to take on anything when it comes to representing your brand or your clients online. Schedule a demo to learn more about how Sprout Social can help make this process even smoother.

This post How to successfully onboard a new social media team member originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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How to Plan a Facebook Ad Campaign for the Holidays

Are you planning to use Facebook ads to promote your products or services this holiday season? Looking for a process to ensure your campaigns succeed? In this article, you’ll discover five key steps to get the best results possible from your Facebook ad campaigns during the peak holiday sales periods. #1: Optimize Your Website for […]

The post How to Plan a Facebook Ad Campaign for the Holidays appeared first on Social Media Examiner | Social Media Marketing.

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Understanding Twitter verification in 2020

If you’re active on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a blue checkmark associated with various accounts. If you’re a brand, business or personality, you might be wondering how you can get that verification status as well. Being verified on Twitter is somewhat of a status symbol as it indicates that a profile is authentic.

Verification can help build credibility, but it is not the only way for brands, businesses and influencers to build a trustworthy presence on Twitter. Public applications for verification are currently closed, but read on to learn more about how you can build a credible presence on Twitter—with or without a blue checkmark.

The significance of Twitter verification

Before we go any farther, let’s recap on the significance of Twitter verification.

The coveted blue verification badge that appears on Twitter profiles lets people know that the account is of public interest and, most importantly, authentic. Any account that is verified appears with the blue checkmark next to the username both on their profile and in search results, and always appears in the same place.

Twitter is the only entity that can provide verification badges. So any account that tries to use an image of the verification badge in their profile or background photos or implies they are verified without authentication from Twitter can face suspension from the platform.

Let’s reiterate this again: accounts to be verified are determined to be of public interest and authentic. Generally, this includes user accounts in the following interest areas:

• Music
• Acting
• Fashion
• Government and politics
• Religion
• Journalism and media
• Sports
• Media
• Business

A verified badge does not imply an endorsement by Twitter.

A brief history of Twitter verification

For a while, anyone could send in an application to be considered for Twitter verification. The person would then be approved if they met the verification requirements.

At the end of 2017, Twitter decided to work on a new verification program to improve the overall process and ensure verified accounts met their new guidelines. As part of this effort, Twitter put a pause on accepting public submissions for profile verification.

Verification was meant to authenticate identity & voice but it is interpreted as an endorsement or an indicator of importance. We recognize that we have created this confusion and need to resolve it. We have paused all general verifications while we work and will report back soon

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 9, 2017

We've paused public submissions for verification.👇 https://t.co/0KZd4Kxkp9

— Twitter Verified (@verified) February 26, 2018

In May 2018, Twitter verified politicians who appeared on general election ballots and introduced US election labels to indicate in which race politicians were running.

But marketers are still wondering, will Twitter open up public applications for verification again and if so, when? What exactly can you do at the moment if you are looking to build your brand credibility on Twitter?

The future of Twitter verification and what to expect

At this point, there’s no expected date for when Twitter will start accepting public applications for verification again.

Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s product lead, stated in 2018 that their top priority at that moment was to serve the public conversation ; not updating their verification program. Since then, Twitter has continued to work on a variety of efforts around reducing misinformation key topics, outlined below.

We've heard some questions recently about the status of Verification on Twitter, so wanted to address directly. Updating our verification program isn’t a top priority for us right now (election integrity is). Here’s some history & context, and how we plan to put it on our roadmap

— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) July 17, 2018

Where Twitter has focused its verification efforts

Election integrity

In 2016, Twitter saw the need to enhance their election integrity work. They recognized that election integrity needed to be a focus, not only during an election year, but continuously.

As part of these ongoing efforts, Twitter proactively verified all candidates running in 2020 congressional and gubernatorial party primaries. One of Twitter’s stated goals is to protect civic integrity. Verification plays an important role in finding authentic conversations on Twitter, particularly in the wake of Twitter’s recent move to ban political ads.

Health experts

As a result of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter sought to verify accounts that were providing credible information. Working with health experts, Twitter worked to identify those Twitter users, who must have an email address associated with an authoritative institution or organization. Their bios must also include the name of their institution or organization to be verified.

PSA about what we’re doing to Verify Twitter accounts that are providing credible updates around #COVID19: we are working with global public health authorities to identify experts and have already Verified hundreds of accounts, but there’s more to do and we could use your help.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 21, 2020

In fact, Twitter has created a large resource surrounding COVID-19, outlining how they are helping people find helpful or relevant information, protecting the public conversation, partnering with organizations and public engagement, and empowering research of COVID-19 on Twitter.

So whenever a user is searching for #Coronavirus, a #KnowTheFacts prompt appears at the top of the search result. Twitter specifically put this in place for the public to “access credible information, especially when it comes to public health.”

We want to help you access credible information, especially when it comes to public health.

We’ve adjusted our search prompt in key countries across the globe to feature authoritative health sources when you search for terms related to novel #coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/RrDypu08YZ

— Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) January 29, 2020

Any Tweet that goes against these guidelines and provides misleading content, encourages fake or ineffective treatments or denies expert guidance will be removed.

New account labels in 2020

In August 2020, Twitter announced that as part of their efforts to provide people with more context behind the information they see on the platform, they would expand the types of political accounts they label.

In the announcement, the Twitter Support Team wrote:

“We will add new labels to the following categories of Twitter accounts:

1. Accounts of key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders. At this time, our focus is on senior officials and entities who are the official voice of the state abroad
2. Accounts belonging to state-affiliated media entities, their editors-in-chief, and/or their senior staff.”

While these labels are not the same thing as verifications, they are an important measure in helping the public make informed decisions about the content they see and the sources behind accounts they follow on Twitter.

Collectively, these initiatives show Twitter’s investment in the public conversation and demonstrate that Twitter still sees value in verification. However, brands can look at their Twitter presence as a whole for ways to build credibility rather than relying on verification as their only means.

How to create a credible presence on Twitter

Even if verification isn’t available, you can still create a highly credible presence on Twitter by investing some time and attention into your profile. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Optimize your profile

Your imagery and branding. Optimize your profile by updating your picture and background image with relevant, high-quality images. Use either a professional photo of yourself or a custom logo of your brand or business that stands out and represents your brand or business.

Your Twitter handle. Make sure your Twitter handle name is unique to you or your brand. Whatever username you choose, make sure it’s the same across all your social media networks for consistency.

Your Twitter bio. Your bio is a crucial field to keep up to date on Twitter. This should clearly state the purpose of your profile or your brand’s mission or services.

Your contact information. Twitter also requires users to set their specific location and add a confirmed phone number. Don’t worry, your phone number won’t be public. You’ll also need to update your website or blog URL so users can access your work. How else are you going to get traffic from Twitter to your site?

Your Tweets. Of course, you’re looking to build brand awareness and authenticity with your target audience. Tweet regularly, whether you’re posting original content or engaging with your audience.

Look at Sprout Social’s Twitter profile, for example. It fulfills all the requirements mentioned above including custom imagery that’s relevant to the brand, a bio that clearly explains the brand’s purpose, a location, and a website URL.

2. Be active

As mentioned earlier, look how your Twitter profile can serve public conversations. Add your value and voice on the platform by being active and engaging with your audience. And this isn’t just limited to regularly sharing content and engaging Tweets.

Here’s the top three actions you should take to create an active Twitter presence:

• Keep the conversation going and respond to social mentions. Whether or not they @mention you, you want to be on top of those conversations around your brand.
• Utilizing a Twitter dashboard allows you to better understand your followers, what content resonates with them, when they’re most active and much more. Aggregated analytics allows you to take a deeper dive into metrics and understand what’s working in your Twitter strategy as well.
• To understand what time your audience is most active, it’s good to know the best time to post on Twitter. This is a general overview so it may vary slightly based on your audience, but it provides a great starting point.

 

Fortunately, these interactions not only increase your relevance, they’re also great ways to increase your brand presence on Twitter as well. Being active in conversations on the platform will help you drive more engagement, increase visibility and possibly gain new followers as well.

3. Connect with other profiles

Credibility could be further established by connecting with other major profiles. In a sense, you’ll show your credibility or authority in a subject by associating with these major profiles.

For instance, if you’ve written a piece for a major publication, share those articles in your Tweets, and mention that you’ve been featured in those publications in your bio. Or, if you work for a university, hospital or other major organization, tag your company in your bio.

Conclusion

If you have been coveting a blue checkmark on your Twitter profile, you will have to wait for Twitter to reopen public applications for verification. But there’s no need to wait to create an authentic, engaging Twitter presence in the meantime. Until Twitter revamps its verification program, read on to see how you can still build a solid Twitter strategy for your brand.

This post Understanding Twitter verification in 2020 originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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How marketing on Reddit works (and how to do it right)

If you’re curious about marketing on Reddit, we totally understand why.

After all, Reddit is the epicenter of all things viral online. With billions of visits per month and 430+ million active users, the platform represents one of the most engaged communities online.

Not to mention that content originating from Reddit tends to score huge numbers on social media.

How to increase your car’s value by $1B.

Step one:https://t.co/YRQv4TofIL (cc: @Schwarzenegger) pic.twitter.com/7Swrm3I88l

— Reddit (@reddit) August 13, 2020

Here’s the thing, though: marketing on Reddit is often an uphill battle for brands who don’t really “get” what the site is all about.

If you approach Reddit like the rest of your social presence, you’re going to be disappointed.

That’s why we put together this guide on how to use Reddit for business and decide if marketing on the platform makes sense for you.

What is Reddit, anyway?

Fair question! To folks who’ve never really navigated Reddit before, the site might look like a hot mess.

The self-promoted “front page of the Internet,” Reddit is basically one-part webform and one-part news site.

But where does all the “stuff” on Reddit come from?

In short, users publish content to Reddit in the form of links, photos or videos. Posts and comments related to that content are then “upvoted” or “downvoted.”

The concept of upvote system is simple: the cream (buzzworthy content) rises to the top while downvoted content (often irrelevant, inflammatory or spammy) gets buried.

Beyond Reddit’s front page, discussions are separated by individual communities known as “subreddits.”

It’s no exaggeration to say there’s a subreddit for just about everything. Beyond subreddits such as /r/IAmA (ask me anything) or /r/personalfinance, there are tons of large niche communities such as /r/jellybeantoes which is dedicated to cat paws (and has over 139,000 members, by the way).

Reddit isn’t technically a social media site, although some critics may argue otherwise. While your actual user profile is limited, the ability to “like” (via upvotes) posts, drop comments and publish content is similar to the major social platforms out there.

Demographically, Reddit’s audience skews on the younger side and is nearly 70% male. While the platform is still largely associated with gaming and fandom culture, there are active communities for everything from fitness to beauty and beyond.

The challenge of marketing on Reddit

At a glance, Reddit might seem like the perfect place for marketers and brands to engage with customers.

And sure, it can be.

But just like any social network, you can’t just dump a bunch of links on people and expect traction.

This is especially true on Reddit, a platform that thrives on a sense of community. Users don’t take kindly to people trying to sell to them without contributing to the community themselves.

Also, users on Reddit can see through thinly-veiled attempts at promotion and are often hostile toward them. That’s why many subreddits have explicit rules that restrict advertising.

Does this mean that Reddit is against businesses? Absolutely not. They just take a firm stance on self-promotion. Perhaps they put it best themselves:

“It’s perfectly fine to be a Redditor with a website, it’s not okay to be a website with a Reddit account.”

Reddit has no problem with businesses joining the platform. The key is that those businesses need to focus on community relationships and value versus selling. Here’s their “tl;dr” to anyone interested in marketing on Reddit:

“Don’t just spam out your links, and don’t blindly upvote your own content or ask anyone else to! Why? Because Reddit is a community, not a platform for self-promotion.”

Keep in mind that Reddit boasts its own ad platform and sponsored posts for brands. With advertising partners such as Audi, Poshmark and Adobe, it’s silly to say Reddit is antibusiness.

 

Oh, and conversations about brands and products are all the rage on Reddit. People love using the platform to discuss businesses because all content is authentic and unfiltered (hint: no brands butting in).

The takeaway here is that there is a place for businesses on Reddit: you just have to familiarize yourself with the platform prior to posting.

What the best way to approach marketing on Reddit, then?

Even if you never plan on business building a presence on Reddit, you should at the very least understand how brands use the platform.

And if nothing else, Reddit is a brilliant place to conduct market research and maintain a pulse on trends in your industry and beyond.

Below are some ideas for how to use Reddit for business and marketing based on your brand.

Uncover customer feedback and suggestions

As noted earlier, Reddit is a potential treasure trove of conversations relevant to businesses.

From your audience’s favorite products to what people are saying about your competitors, you don’t have to look hard for customers asking for advice and recommendations.

However, the key here isn’t for you to intervene or take action.

Instead, just listen.

By keeping tabs on conversations about your products or competitors, you can get a better sense of where you’re winning, where you might be falling short and how you can improve.

For example, check out this /r/personalfinance discussion about IRA accounts. This conversation highlights real-world problems and concerns from banking customers, stressing specific pain points and why one bank might be preferable to another.

 

These are the exact sort of conversations your business should be privy to and Reddit is rife with them. Take some time to explore industry-specific subreddits to better understand trends and what your customers are thinking.

Another way to zero in on these conversations on Reddit (and beyond) is through social listening tools like Sprout Social. Aggregating messages and posts from across the web, you translate messages and posts into actionable data for your business.

Discover unique user-generated content

In addition to questions from customers, Reddit is home to tons of user-generated content such as product photos and testimonials.

Customer photos are perfect for platforms like Instagram. Meanwhile, the fact that you have Redditors talking up your brand is a brilliant form of social proof to give your business some serious credibility.

For example, check out these recent posts on /r/FancyFollicles talking up Arctic Fox’s hair dye.

With just a quick search, you can uncover brand advocates and success stories from satisfied customers.

Provide support and recommendations to your audience

Arguably one of the best ways to approach marketing on Reddit is to prioritize support over selling.

There are many brands that have dedicated subreddit communities for asking questions and troubleshooting problems. This creates a direct line between your brand and customers, all the while being a public forum for people to seek out solutions and product recommendations in the future.

Heck, some companies such as Corsair use Reddit as an extension of their existing customer support efforts. Doing so creates visibility for your brand and likewise proves how committed you are to helping customers.

Use AMA events to get in front of your community

If you’re part of a bigger brand, you can flex your influence to talk directly to members of your community.

AMA (ask me anything) sessions are a cornerstone of Reddit and are a popular way to engage with fans organically, taking on questions and letting your brand’s personality shine through. Companies usually conduct AMAs in conjunction with a promotion or launch.

The key to a successful AMA is actually going back-and-forth with people rather than talking about what you’re promoting. In fact, shameless self-promotion has been the result of some of the worst (and most infamous) AMAs in Reddit lore.

Engage with customers from a personal account

This is a subtle tip but definitely one worth mentioning.

Ideally, you don’t want to potentially approach Redditors with a totally inactive account. Accumulating posts and comments on the site might take time, but doing so is worth it to prove to your community that you aren’t a spammer.

Some companies get around this by approaching customers from a personal, non-corporate account.

For example, Beardbrand’s Eric Banholtz is a seasoned Redditor and regularly comments on brand and beard-related topics from his personal account.

Similar to how brands conduct employee advocacy efforts, this is a great way to approach people on Reddit minus the sort corporate “stamp” on your presence.

Be human when talking with Redditors

This might seem like a no-brainer, but brands should talk to their customers candidly and jargon-free.

A distinct and approachable brand voice is pretty much always a good idea but is particularly important on a platform like Reddit where authenticity counts.

Here’s a great example from Deciem’s AMA on /r/skincareaddiction.

Their brand response is personalized, detailed and has some emotion behind it. This is exactly how brands should interact with customers on Reddit to win them over (and the upvotes on this post prove they were successful)

Ready to start marketing on Reddit?

Listen: marketing on Reddit is definitely tricky.

Even so, the platform is totally worth exploring for brands who want to understand industry trends and what their customers are thinking.

And as you brainstorm your Reddit business plan, make sure to check out our social media toolkit for additional ways to level up your brand’s social marketing.

This post How marketing on Reddit works (and how to do it right) originally appeared on Sprout Social.

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