Last Tuesday I went to the Digital Industry Females event in Covent Garden. Hannah Smith from Distilled was speaking at the event about “Social media- Why and How To Use It For Business”
The event was well organised by Sam Noble. It was a great location, in the Long Acre in Covent Garden. The venue was perfect for the amount of people, we had a dedicated bar and we were away from the noise in the rest of the venue. The pub was centrally located and easy to find. There was a fantastic speaker, Hannah Smith. It was a bonus to have some drinks and food, courtesy of Distilled.
Hannah Smith – Distilled
Hannah spoke about a very relevant subject “Why and How To Use Social Media for Business”. For those working agency side, you may have already been asked several times from your client about implementing a “social media strategy”. Social media is often used but not understood. Clients may think they need to engage in a social media strategy just because everyone else they know is doing so. Hannah addressed the familiar scenarios those working agency side find themselves in.
When to Use Social Media
Not every company should use social media as it may not be appropriate for their organisation. Hannah said there are 3 instances when a company should use social media
1. Get people talking about you–Brandawareness/engagement/PR/advocacy
2. Shift consumer opinion–Reposition your brand
3. Customer Service
Hannah used some great examples for all three points above, including the $1 shave, Old Spice and Compare the Market.com. Hannah kept the presentation lively and fun.
Why Does it Go Wrong
1) Poor creative/product or service
2) Inappropriate metrics/KPIs
Hannah really engaged with the audience and answered all our questions afterwards. Social media should be fun and used appropriately, not just because others are jumping on social media bandwagon. I really enjoyed the presentation Hannah gave and there were some key takeaways for the audience.