I told someone this week that California is my “default setting”… That’s because I’ve been in San Diego all this week for the Social Media Marketing World 2017 conference and now it’s over I’m ready to download the experience as I sit at my gate at the airport and settle in for the 2-hour wait until my departure.
If you’re only here for the “Etsy stuff” don’t click that back button just yet… This is applicable to you too.
You see, I had thought that there would be not very much at this conference that I could bring back you as an Etsy seller so I hadn’t planned on doing this blog post but I was trés wrong.
Sure, as an Etsy seller you know about social media and you probably believe that you need to “be on it”. Right?
But how?
I often ask my guests on the podcast what social media platform(s) they use the most and which one (s) gives them best and most ROI – return on the time they invest in it. And the answer varies.
In my head I’ve convinced myself that Pinterest and Instagram are perfect for Etsy sellers because they are visual platforms and very heavily focus on images. So naturally, because Etsy sellers tend to sell pretty things that people want to look at in pictures, those social media platforms are the perfect fit for them.
At this conference, there were a gazillion sessions (not really, but you get my point), all about social media platforms and what you should and shouldn’t be doing on them… Sessions about how to do and not do thing on these platforms… And then even more sessions on why you should or should not be doing what you learned in the other session on these social media platforms…
To say the least, I was overwhelmed with what I was learning each day… But in the best possible way.
But what stood out to me the most were the realizations that I came to and how I intend to change what I’m doing now as a result and start doing things I’m currently not doing (also as a result of what I learned this week in San Diego… I just like saying “I was in San Diego this week” by the way)
What I Learned This Year At SMMW17
- Social media should be exactly that… Social. It’s about people and connecting with them, not simply pushing my message in front of their eyeballs in a bid to try and draw attention to myself and what I’m doing…
- It’s shouldn’t be all about me. In fact, it shouldn’t be about me at all
- What’s my “Why” for being on social media…? To get you to listen to my podcast…? To get you to subscribe to my premium community…? To get you to read my blog so that you think I know what I’m talking about or that I’m an expert…?
- I’m not trying to imply that any of these goals are wrong if they happen to be your reasons for being on social media… I am saying however, that I had never given any thought to why I was on social media (well, except for my personal Facebook profile which I set up to of course connect with friends and family around the globe… The why on that one was clear and easy for me to answer).
- I need to clarify why I am on social media before I carry on doing what I’m doing on there… And maybe decide if I even should. No… I’m not going to abandon social media altogether, I think I need it to some degree, but I need to start using it differently and my “why” will dictate how that will change
- I don’t know it yet, but I’ll figure out my true “why”. If you’d like to know it when I do, feel free to let me know in the comments and I’ll post it there… I feel a manifesto for my “why” brewing inside of me…
- Blogging is social media. Did you know that? I didn’t. I never considered blogging to be a form of social media but I guess if you really sit down to think about it, it actually is! The true essence of blogging is about getting social with others through the power of your words. The social part comes in when they interact with you in the comments (just like I would love for you to do with me in the comments section below) and you keep the conversation going.
- How could I possibly have overlooked blogging as a social media platform all this time! If you’re making the same mistake I did… Stop it now!
- Live video – oh my! I have to give “mad props” again to my new friend Julie Fuller who runs the Etsy shop Tokyo Blossom Boutique because thanks to her, the concept of live video really got into my mind and going to SMMW17 and hearing what the experts had to say about live video really got my brain a-spinnin’.
- I can’t believe I’m going write (type) what I’m about to, but doing so will be my accountability to myself to follow through on it. “I’m going to give live video a whirl”. There. I said it. So now I have to do it.
- I honestly wasn’t convinced that it was something I should or ought to be doing, even after hearing all the pros of it, until the closing keynote speaker – Chalene Johnson – gave her speech on it. What a way to wrap up the conference… And I was sold on live video.
- I confess, even the thought of doing it still absolutely terrifies me, but I’m going to do it anyway. But since it will be live, I can’t predict yet when I’ll hop on and start, but if you’d like to be a part of it I can tell you this much… I will most likely go live on Instagram and/or Facebook. it won’t be anything fancy, it will just be plain ol’ me doing something spectacular, yes, I said it, “doing something spectacular”… I will be reaching out to connect for no other reason than to simply connect. And in this day and age of automated everything, especially on social media, I consider simply trying to make a genuine human connection through live social media something spectacular. Certainly not because of me, but because I think it’s not something most people on social media genuinely want to do, or are actively trying to do.
This is the new me y’all… 🙂
I no longer want to view you simply as “part of my audience” even though technically you might be. That’s more how a blogger or marketer or podcaster or someone who is looking for stat and numbers might view you.
But now I’m going to focus on making connections. Real connections. Social media for me, even being the introvert I am, will be about being social.
My Promises To You… And Me Too!
- I’m going to use social media in a better way.
- I won’t be self-centered about how I use social media (because that wouldn’t be very “social”).
- I will learn how to be more efficient and strategic about using social media… Hmm… “efficiency” and “strategy” sound kind of tactical… But I promise not to remove the humanity from it. Being social doesn’t have to mean being disorganized and haphazard.
Okay, so far, that’s all I can think of right now. I’m sure as I digest the activities of this week even more, I will get more revelations and more ideas will spawn from them. Until then, I’ll see you in the comments section below.
Seriously… Leave a comment below 🙂
PS: I learned at the conference that that last sentence above is called a “Call To Action” or CTA as the social media marketers like to say; and basically, it means that that’s something I really want you to do!