Nov 12, 2020
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Guest: Lenka Koppova
Topic: Marketing and Social Media Events
Discussion Points
• What does it take in 2020 to coordinate an event?
• What is different from previous years?
• What is the best thing about organisation them?
• And what's the hardest thing about online events?
• What are your social media tips for 2021?
Enjoy the Episode - Happy Marketing!
Website Thingy: www.marketingstudylab.co.uk
The Professional Bit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petersumpton/
Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/marketingstudylab/
Tweet Tweet: https://twitter.com/cousinp81
Transcript (this transcript isn’t 100% accurate but provides a decent representation of the conversation – soz for any confusion)
Peter Sumpton
And we're live. We're back live and I've got a guest this week or
two weeks it just me. So it's great that I have got a guest again
this week and what a privilege to have lenker cup of are with me
today on marketing study lab live, first of all, Lenka thank you so
much Samuel, do this. And joining me, of course, happy to be here.
Thank you for having me. Excellent. So as the ticker at the bottom
says, we're going to be talking about marketing, and social media,
but social media events as well. And we'll come on to that in a
little bit after you have just explained to the audience a little
bit more about yourself about the wonderful world of Lincoln.
Lenka Koppova
Okay, so Hello, everyone. I'm Lanka, and I'm a social media
consultant. And aside from running my own business, doing social
media strategies, and content and trainings, I'm also the founder
of Cambridge social media, which is an organisation it's a
community for small business owners and freelancers where we all
help each other. And we support our community with anything social
media marketing related. And from there, we started with monthly
meetups, which obviously, this year, is not as easy to run in
person meetups. So we've turned our monthly meetups into weekly
Facebook, live training sessions and zoom workshops. And I'm also
the organiser of embrittled. Media Day, which again, this year
going virtual. So it's a conference in November, and I'm super
happy that Peter is running a session for us as well.
Peter Sumpton
Yes, so am I thank you so much for the opportunity to do that,
really looking forward to that as well. And you'll see that over
social in the coming weeks, but really super excited for that and
to be part of it and to get to know a bit of your community as
well, which will be really, really cool. Okay, so like I said, At
the start, all we're going to do today is have a bit of a chat
around social media events. So first and foremost, if people got
any questions, post them in the comments, and we'll get around to
them, or just say hello, or a shout out or whatever you want to do.
That's fine with me. But so first Lanka, 2020 has been a bit
different over the years, from from, you know, for the past 2030
years, it's been slightly different to what we used to. How have
you had to Well, first of all, how did you make the decision to go
ahead with your events? And secondly, what changed? You know,
first, let's do one question at a time. How did you make that
decision to do this?
Lenka Koppova
It was very interesting this year, because I run to in person
events in the past two years. And it's kind of started as my side
project with it just blows my idea after running a couple of
meetups to be like, How hard could it be to run all day conference
for about 200 people? How did you imagine? years in a row people
loved it. But it was very stressful. So I was at the end of last
year finished this event in November and it was kind of pondering
what to do next. And I found a part partners, I found, you know,
one of my business colleagues, Alex Hughes from shift T's who we've
known each other for a while, and we had a couple of conversations
about what I want, where he's heading, where I'm heading to be
like, well actually sounds like a perfect partnerships. So then we
nail down the plan, we were had a very ambitious plan for the third
annual Cambridge Social Media Day, we plan to change venues go
bigger and better. And we made an announcement first week of March
that we're doing it, it will be bigger and better. And a week
later, like what just happened? So we were back to the drawing
board to be like, so what do we do? Do we postpone the oven and
make do nothing? Or do we hope that it will be okay in November?
Because you know, in March, it looks like it might be discovered.
And everything will be okay in November? Or do we go to Safeway, we
still want to do something for the audience. We still want to keep
the momentum of year or the events doing we still want to
celebrate. So let's do it online. And let's figure out a way to
bring the best conference the best event the best virtual
experience for people or communities
online.
Peter Sumpton
Mm hmm. Excellent. So yeah, a bit of a no brainer, but still
something that you really have to consider because I'm guessing the
way you would lead up to that and will not necessarily lead up to
it but structure it is usually different. So what are the
differences that you're seeing? Because you're right in the middle
of this now the differences you're seeing from trying to organise
something that's that's face to face that's offline to something
that is less classes virtual, I don't really like that phrase.
Well, that's classes virtual.
Lenka Koppova
It's interesting because the feedback that we've got from the past
events and the things that really matter to me during organising
these events was the people vibe, the friendliness didn't come up,
you're really the energy of other people, which is the hardest
thing to do online. So when we thought about is, obviously I wanted
to have great speakers, I wanted to have great content I wanted to
make sure they were providing is relevant. It's timely, it's
helpful. It's designed for our audience. But the biggest challenge
was thinking about how we do we translate our values of really to
community feel and positive friendly vibe online. And I consulted
with a couple of facilitators, people who are like workshop hosts,
and who had to turn their whole business virtual this year, to
break down event to make sure did we pay attention to people's
energy that we don't just overwhelm them with videos, and just
staring at a screen, some time a wall or some exercises away. And
it also we have a tool that supports what we do to support this
feeling of online interactions. And it allows us us as much as we
can to represent the real life feeling and look and atmosphere of
in person event. And I think we found a solution, I think we find a
pretty cool tool. And we plan the layout of the event, vertical
layout to replanning virtual out for our virtual conference room
and conference building. And we've planned a lineup and agenda of
those two days with the mind of people's energy. And they're not
only for them to learn some factual things, but to have as many
opportunities as possible to interact, network meet, and build
partnership, build connections, find people like them, because I
always remember people coming year after year, to me from those
conferences to be like this person that I've met, I sit next to,
you know, we started working together, we started accountability
group to get to where we started this, and I want this to translate
on my event as much as we can.
Peter Sumpton
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's a big ask in some ways, but from a
positive point of view, people have had at least half a year to get
used to communicating more on on tools such as stream yard, or
zoom, or teams, or you named 610 20 100 of them. At this moment in
time, you know, we always got chairs and those back in during life
would be slightly different right now I expect. And so with with
the actual event, then I'm just interested to know, I mean, I do
know, but it'd be good for people that are watching or listening to
know that. So it's, it's a social media event. So the folks on
social media fantastic. But that isn't just the topics that you're
going to be covering. So why, first of all, if you could explain
just a couple of the topics that are, you know, exciting for you,
as the creator of the event. But secondly, why you covering topics
that might not be specifically geared towards social media.
Lenka Koppova
So even though it is a Cambridge Social Media Day, and the main
theme is social media marketing, I always tell my community, I
always tell my clients that social media can't stay alone, not only
marketing tactics can stand alone, you can't do just video
marketing. You can't do just email marketing, you can't do just the
SEO. It's all not only all digital tools, but all marketing tools
and tactics and techniques, they need to be complemented to each
other, they need to be put into a planning strategy. So that's
where we do focus on social media, a lot of our content will be
platform specific or social media content specific. But we then
have other topics that are relevant this year is kind of overall
theme is focused on customer experience, and delivering great
customer feeling, customer journey, customer experience being
online, which is what we most of us can do, but also thinking about
how can you improve the current or foreign experience and the
future of flight experience. And then we have couple sessions are
looking at marketing automation and looking at building lists.
Because no matter how much I left social media, I still know that
built using social media purely it's building a house on a rented
land algorithm can change, someone can hack your account, this can
go wrong and out of nowhere where you're with nothing. So we do put
a lot of emphasis on having your own website, having your own CRM,
having your own mailing list and using social media to drive these
other kind of communities that you have a bigger feel of ownership
and if something happens, you have something that is actually own
and you can then still connect with your community and customers
and prospects.
Peter Sumpton
I'm so I'm so glad you said that. So I've got the way I explained
that is. And this comes down to the old Olden upin, and the merge
if you like. And, you know, everybody likes a bit of merge as long
as you're not paying for it. And so I always explain it, in terms
of that isn't really going to move somebody to purchase very much.
But it's just 1% of what you should be doing. And if you have 99,
or the 1%, that's a huge shift. So a pen alone with your logo on
isn't going to shift people that much, but it's more brand
awareness. And in the grand scheme of things, if you're doing other
elements, including merchandise, that's a bigger proposition than
just the one channel or the one piece of merchandise, which is
exactly what your say, saying in terms of just having social media
alone is precarious, because that changes. So you know, you have to
really think of your strategy, which is, which is really cool. So
this year is about customer experience, then. So let's just shift
it towards social for this moment in time. And what kind of thing
should we be looking at on social to generate a better customer
experience them.
Lenka Koppova
So first things first, it's about being aware where on social media
you're active, where you have accounts, if they have been used, if
they not been used, then why you have them and just do a little bit
of an audit to actually be aware where your customers might come
across you. And if they come across you There is everything working
if they learned and your Facebook page and send you a message will
use it and he will be able to respond if not put processes in place
to either close on account or make sure that it's very clear to
people that you know, this is not your active platform to go and
delete direct messages here and there email recall you never will
be my first advice is just making sure that you look at all the
potential windows and doors where people can kind of run away and
mess on. So it's just about for me with social media, it is about
not selling all the time. Even though Yes, we use social media
marketing to promote the customer experience is all about them.
It's about providing them with value, building relationships,
connecting with them, helping them serving them, finding the pain
that your customers and prospects have, and how you can use social
media and content and social media to help them and providing value
without actually being just buy from me selling or no one has
signed up to LinkedIn or Facebook or especially places like
Instagram, to be bombarded by ads and be sold to we're coming to
social media to connect to get updates and get news to be
entertained, to be hired. We're not coming there to see
advertising. So it will see advertising, then it needs to serve us
it needs to help us with whatever it is that we need to need to be
interesting. It needs to be engaging. And it needs to be
helpful.
Peter Sumpton
Yeah, absolutely. And it was interesting for me when you see maybe
something that is on the surface dry and a bit dull and boring. And
people think that, well, there's nothing we can say that is of
interest, you know, we do whatever it might be. And I'm not I'm not
picking on any industry here. But for example, we do insurance. So
what the hell can we say? It's just it's boring, everybody has to
have it. But you know, they don't really want it, we're just asking
for their money. So they, whatever it might be, but even even that
you look at, you know, compare the near car and go compare and all
that kind of stuff. And it's most that's got nothing to do with
insurance. So similar thing on social for small, medium, or large
companies that it's not just about what you do, it's, it's about
that brand and that culture and and pushing something to people
that they will resonate with your audience like, like you were
saying they're absolutely superb. Do you think that when people
start to use different social platforms, there's that worry that
they chase that new shiny thing? And are you a fan of just focusing
on one platform at a time? Or would you say have a healthy mix? Or
what's your what's your take on that?
Lenka Koppova
Yeah, I'm definitely suggesting people to be aware of trying to be
everywhere and spreading themselves too thinly, especially audience
in the community and working with where it's people who tend to do
their own marketing. They don't have a big marketing team. They
don't have too much time to do very really limited resources. So my
suggestion always is pick one or two. Priority platforms, platforms
where you know, did your target customers are, but also the
platforms that you would enjoy. You know, using, there's no point
of picking a platform that someone suggested because of demographic
research, it's being said that it's more like most likely to have
your target customers there. But you are just dreading and hating
the user interface the way it works. We're on board ahead, you love
being on Instagram, and you love doing stories and you love talking
to people. And even though maybe Instagram is not the number one
platform that you would expect your customers to be, still can work
perfectly. And you still have these days, all the platforms have
pretty balanced, you know, demographics, you know, all sorts of
people on all sorts of bathrooms, I don't think it's like, very
demanding to say like, only Instagram will work for your own
Twitter will refer. But I would say pick one platform or two that
you enjoy, and that you really can see yourself spending time on
creating content for and in engaging with people on
Peter Sumpton
is probably something that you can resonate with. And that's that's
FOMO. What would you say to somebody that that is, and again, is
probably reiterating what you said, but what would you say to
somebody that is say, focus on Instagram, and they're getting
engagement there, and I was worried I'm missing out on Facebook, or
I'm worried I'm missing out on LinkedIn, you know, what would you
What do you advise them, like test the water or stay stay true to
what you know,
Lenka Koppova
I would always say if you want to experiment, you can dedicate like
10% of your time to experiment and keep an eye on other platforms.
I'm not saying that you should not be on all channels, you can have
profiles and keep them kind of maintain on all the channels and
really on deep dive on one platform. But I would say yeah, try to
really appreciate the platform that you're using. Because
especially like now, but it's been a trend in social media, social
media networks are changing so fast. Even I can't keep up with all
the new tools, new updates, new features, new days on all the
channels. And this is my business, I can't imagine how you know,
anyone who has a business whose focus is fotografie, flowers,
consultants, anything else and doing marketing and social media
marketing is just 10 20% of their time and how they can stay on top
of all the new Instagram stories, reels, guides, HGTV live all the
stickers, all the algorithm changes all the things and really be
able to use and leverage the platform properly. Like today, I
discovered in LinkedIn has a newsletter feature. Never heard of it
before. All this is pretty cool. But again, LinkedIn is not my
number one platform. That's why I don't know these things. But if I
was, I would hope that I know about it. And I've considered it for
my strategy.
Peter Sumpton
Doing I mean, LinkedIn is probably my main platform, and that I
love it. But it can be as frustrating as hell because like exactly
what you said they release things. And they only release it to a
certain amount of people. And then that gets around the world. And
it's like, why the hell Haven't we got this and it's only select
month people and all that kind of stuff, which is hugely
frustrating. But I don't get that feel from all the platforms that
they really do that. You know, I feel that they're much more we've
tested it and pretty much everyone can have it or am I missing
something there? Is that the case on all of them?
Lenka Koppova
There's still box I think other
platforms do it less today, once they decide to launch something they tested in couple countries and India launches globally. But like for example, I have five client Instagram accounts. On three of them. I have a new app layout on the rest of them. I have rails on my personal like create a business account I don't have rails feels the same with Facebook. Like I didn't have a new Facebook layout. It's never been switched to me I don't have the option to switch I'm like you don't like me Why? Why me? Why my personal account why my business like a why all my clients do have it and I can use it for them, but I cannot use it for myself. So I think LinkedIn is a worst. Twitter is also really bad in announcing new features. There tend to hide lots of the features to be like we've released something, but only if you know then you will know what otherwise you will not know like media studio is one of the best hidden features of Twitter and pretty much no one knows that it exists. It's like the best way for you to sharing videos and any kind of media on Twitter.
Peter Sumpton
Okay, I've never heard of that.
Lenka Koppova
Exactly.
There's still not enough video content on which is one of the reasons Muito is still under utilised and there's a lot more opportunities for people to do more video content. But because Twitter has certain restrictions, and then you can't have this and that out of nowhere, people don't use it. But if you notice, there is a media studio where you can upload Oreo media, your videos, you can actually add a description and a clickable call to action to videos, you can shoot over there within Twitter, out of nowhere Mind blown, you get so much more with this platform. But as he said, No one knows this.
Peter Sumpton
That's, that's crazy. I've just I've just noticed I'm fairly new to
stream yard. But if I click that, it's a bit better. We've got
we've got more room. And I must admit, I'm obviously not at home.
I'm in an office. And I've just realised it almost looks like I've
just put this big, bright light all the way behind me. It's just a
white wall over it just looks a bit startling. So I need to learn
from that. Really. Sorry. Anyway, just a couple of shoutouts.
Really so Phil's joined us. He just says hello. And then this
thing. It's streaming, I got salty, but I think you need to GDPR
stuff with stream yard. And that was it was that that was Tony.
That sound that Hello. So hello. Hello. Anyone that's watching just
out of interest. What's your what platform Do you enjoy using them
the most.
Lenka Koppova
I enjoy Instagram the most I enjoy stories. I enjoy Rios, I really
enjoyed it. It's very personal. It's very in the moment. It's
really kind of real and authentic. And it's still you can still do
great business there. But it feels very friendly. I do like
LinkedIn. And they're like this year, LinkedIn has been fantastic
in the amount of really quality engagement and support. It's been
happening on LinkedIn. But I prefer like I do my own social media
kind of interruptions mainly on mobile. And I just find Instagram
is the most mobile friendly, and the most fun.
Peter Sumpton
Okay, but let's see, I don't use Instagram at all. I just don't I
don't know, I think it's just that one too many for me. And just
I've never really got around to utilising it in any way shape or
form. But there you go. It's just your preferences. And there
Lenka Koppova
it is. And you know, I love it. Because part of it part of my
lifestyle and my business brand. It is all about travel. And it is
all about a lifestyle. And I love travelling, I love eating out. I
love taking photos of these things. And you know, just the perfect
and second place. And that's how I built my brand. People know that
not only I do social media, but people know me for me, they know me
for my hiking, or my dog. They know me for my you know, latte art
and all the food I go to. And it's a thing that people will
remember, as well as the date I do social media, so it's more
likely for them to remember me really build the connection with me.
And if they ever need me, they know they can find me.
Peter Sumpton
Yeah, and because I'm not on Instagram, I just got a glimpse of
that. So So I've seen some of your photos. And yeah, you go to some
amazing places, and it's really cool. Maybe not that many.
Lenka Koppova
I managed. I managed a little bit this year, and I managed to move
where I am right now. Back home and the countryside in my family.
So I managed to
Peter Sumpton
I'm just getting some feedback. It's like that's, I think that's my
end. That's weird.
Lenka Koppova
Like, I hear people talking to someone else.
Peter Sumpton
I don't know, there's no one in this office. That's a bit freaky.
Anyway, it seems
Lenka Koppova
like there's no one in this house right now. So it's got to be
coming from me.
Peter Sumpton
That's a bit scary. Yeah, there's literally nobody in this office.
Anyway, okay. Let's move on. Let's just blame that on Instagram.
And then this, this is a really, really big question for me. Okay.
So and I hear this a lot and I've got my own answer to this, but
you deal with a lot, lot more smaller businesses than I do. People
must one of the questions you must get asked a lot is I just don't
have the time to do it. So what I say to people that that say I
haven't got the time.
Lenka Koppova
Um, I would say to people who don't have the time, you know,
consider what it can do for you consider what benefits why would
you use it, it's not using social media for the sake of using
social media. If you want to use social media just to be on social
media, then it's not ill advice. But social media should be a
reason for using it or should be a reason to repurpose, you should
be using strategically. So it's always an excuse, I don't have time
to go to gym, I don't have time to eat healthy, I don't have
properties. Like if I know the goal, if I know why am I doing it
not just because everyone telling me and I see on Instagram, you
should be going to gym. But if I want to feel better, I want to be
healthier, if I want to be more capable, then I will exercise I
will eat. And the same goes for social media. If you want social
media marketing to work for you, if you see it as a helpful
beneficial tool that can help your business to grow can help you to
get the lifestyle that you want, that can give you this time and
space and freedom and revenue that you want. And you will make it a
priority to put a plan in place, pick a metaphor, and invest the
time into it. And I would say to social media, especially at the
beginning feels like a big time commitment and a big investment.
And it definitely is something that you will have to do forever and
ever. But at the same time, if you build it in this time, then over
time eight will be much easier to keep it ticking over if you keep
it activated, to keep deletes coming through there. So it will
become your second nature, you will figure out the processes. And
actually, if you put an investment in then it will really help you.
It has the potential to help you to have the business and the life
that you want. Hmm,
Peter Sumpton
yeah, I agree. And I might take work, particularly when I'm
teaching. And people all have busy lives. And you know that they're
working, they're studying, they want some sort of social life. And
so I've got no time. And the first thing I say to them, is because
sometimes you need that commitment. Particularly if you're going to
add something extra to your life, either Something has to move and
shift, or you need to find that time somewhere. So I always say,
Okay, so what did you do last weekend? And usually the answer is
either Netflix or chilled out or did something. And I'm just like,
Well, there you go. Just take just and I'm not advocating working
over weekends, everyone's got a different preference. Or it's
almost like, okay, we'll take half an hour out of your evening or
half an hour out of a Saturday and Sunday. You've clawed back. What
that's that's like three to four hours a week, just for half an
hour each evening, or in the morning, get an extra half hour. And
it doesn't have to be that all because like you said, socials,
huge, it's daunting, how do I cover everything, just start small,
just just don't cover everything, just start small, there's always
ways to find time.
Lenka Koppova
Yeah, I would say if it really is such a big thing, and you don't
have really don't have the opportunity to put the time aside to
really build a strong plan and strategy. And you really want to do
something, the best thing you can do on social media, it's be
present. So even if it's that you don't have the time to really
create content and put all the effort in to do videos, do training,
do blog posts, do this because yes, it can be time consuming. Even
if all you can do is spend five minutes with your coffee in the
morning or after your lunch break. Instead of watching Tic Tock and
YouTube videos, spend the time go to whichever platform and look
what other people have posted. Find the people who are your ideal
customers, follow them, connect with them comment on their stuff
here, just dm them and start building the relationship seed as
you're building friendships like the same way to check in on your
family. And you would check it in your friends. build this habit of
checking in on your social media community. And even this just very
passively without pushing content out there. But kind of
proactively reaching out to people connecting with them. Even if
you just comment on their stuff. We share their content, you know,
give them a thumbs up and give them a lift up. That's an amazing
time investment that will pay off for your business.
Peter Sumpton
Yeah, I completely agree. It's, I always try to explain it to
people as you need to see these platforms. If you're a business
owner or you're in business or you want to use it from that
respect. You need to see them very differently to what you have
been seeing them because they're not like you said it's not you're
not going on there to aid say socialised. You're not going on there
to use it for what it was built for. You're going on there to
engage in a very, very different way. And you need to it's a
complete different mind shift for some people. And as soon as you
see that mind shift As soon as you see that difference, the
platform's become very different places. Like I've met some amazing
people, you know, I mean, you purely through LinkedIn, and probably
through through somebody else, LinkedIn. And it's just it's that
craziness. And and if I was on there just for watching videos or
consuming the content, I've simply, I wouldn't be speaking to you
right now. And that's that's that will be a sad world.
Lenka Koppova
Exactly. It's really unlock so much opportunities business wise,
like, obviously most of my business comes from social comes from
being on social media, but it is less about the content that I put
out there even though yes, I do put books and I have ebooks and no,
I do video training. But it then comes to me just showing up to
when people post something when I see the day do something that
they cried, and I'm just like commenting and sharing and liking.
They remember that they remember how that made them feel that
someone gave and comes up with someone supported them. And if they
then need your help, they're more likely to come to you. So is
really helpful if you just build relationships and help others
genuinely.
Peter Sumpton
And like you said, Just you don't even have to push yourself just
just get involved, just common. And that that is that is just
taken, tap away. And that's what that's all it is just start with
that. And it might not be for you. That's the thing, and but you
just learn as you go along. But I think that was the thing for me
with Instagram, I probably didn't use it to the best of my ability,
but it just didn't work for me in the way that I I work.
Lenka Koppova
And that's absolutely fine. Again, you just do you and you'd be
where you want to be. But I think that every platform these days
gives you all the accessibility options. So I know that some people
are not the ones who which type. And other people are not the ones
who do video, and other people are not the ones who would like to
talk. So you have two options. You can type, you can record audio,
you can record videos, you can communicate with people in the way
that feels the most natural to you.
Peter Sumpton
And I suppose one thing to note there, and I'm just talking from a
LinkedIn basis, it's, it's doing those different things that make
you stand out, you might feel a little uncomfortable, and I'm not
advocating, I personally feel if you're in that little
uncomfortable zone. That's when you start to grow and develop. But
for some people, they're just not there. And that's absolutely
fine. But it's things like messaging. And I don't do it enough. But
like yesterday, I was I was messaging somebody. And they instead of
trying to type out a long winded message back, they did an audio
and it stands out like a sore thumb. And if you did a video when
everyone else is doing audio, it just stands out like a sore thumb.
And that's on a personal level. You know, so there's so many
opportunities. And just one quick question. I'm just conscious of
time. But I thought I'd put this up because James is pretty much
what we've been talking about just there. So talk to people is a
great strategy to grow your business. And social allows us to talk
to people at scale. And he loves the chat, which is absolutely
super, but it's only great because rank is on with me today, which
is fantastic in itself. So just on that point that James says,
talking to people at scale, I suppose you can do both, can't you?
You know, I've just been talking about peak speaking to people on
on VM. And that's a one to one basis. But I noticed you just posted
something. It was weird. Because before we got on this chart, I was
looking at LinkedIn and lose a video view and then you popped up on
the screen and I'm like, okay, like doubling, amazing day. But
yeah, it's like you're speaking to speak people at scale on video.
And that's a huge benefit.
Lenka Koppova
Well, I think that's where the benefit and the beauty of social
media lies because social media allows you to reach out to anyone
and everyone it is an open democratic platform where there is no
gatekeeper, you can send a message out there and millions of people
can see it the same time. It allows every single individual to be
able to interact with you. There is no one you know, it's not like
you, you can't interact with TV, you can shout at it. But it's
probably the only thing you will do. Like something if you like
something you can interact with it. And if you keep majority of
your conversations on the public domain where someone tweets you
someone messages us on the comments in a conversation going to a
certain point publicly, Yes, exactly. It is public, everyone else
can see it. No, you are investing in a conversation one on one
potentially under comments on LinkedIn under someone's post that
you you know, you reply to a reply but I can have a conversation.
it for you. It might be I'm having a conversation with one person,
but there might be hundreds of other people who will read the
conversation. And who will align who might comment or might not
comment will might follow you because of the who might like to
because of that. And then yes, it's just then taking it to the next
level of no picking from the scale the people who will resonate
with you, and then taking those relationships to the next level by
going to the DMS or one personalised chat.
Peter Sumpton
And that's why it's so important to be important to be yourself,
isn't it? You know, because you want to resonate with people that
you want to work with eventually. And if you're you, and people see
you for you, and they are still willing, well, in my case, they're
still willing to chat to me, then that that means that they can put
up with me in my ramblings on on marketing, important strategy and
everything else's, I'm really conscious of things I want to cover
and then on to social media. And then this year, first thing is,
people get hung up on on the likes, the comments and all that kind
of stuff. How do you stop people from worrying if they're putting
out content, and there's not that much engagement on the face of it
from what they've seen stat wise.
Lenka Koppova
So there are statistics and numbers that are meaningful, and there
are stats that are meaningless, like watching the numbers of
followers doesn't really matter, like on Twitter, and Instagram, on
other platforms, if you use the right hashtags, if your content is
interesting and valuable, then it will be spread widely, and it can
go way beyond your number of followers. So it's important to
understand the meaningful metrics, the metrics that really show you
the indication of the quality and the interest in your content in
your business in your offering, which could be, you know, comments
could be shares, it could be DMS, obviously, it is web traffic, it
is email science, it is video views, repeat views. But I would say,
especially at the early stages, it takes a long while it is very
interesting to see that social media works kind of exponential in a
way that there is a long lead up to them quite quick growth and
take off too, sometimes, you know, 12, to 18 months of day to day
activity of surgery, podcasters can see the new example of podcast
after podcast that the first nine months just nothing happened. And
then out of nowhere, it goes like this, it goes fast. But without
putting the work in, in the first stage, it wouldn't, you wouldn't
get there it is there is something about your resilience and
consistency and persevere. And understanding that even though
social media will give you results immediately, you can measure
anything and everything from three second views to you know, likes
here and there. It's important to know that the meaningful metrics
and the meaningful results, take time and be patient.
Peter Sumpton
And yeah, it's a marathon, not a sprint, at the end of the day. So
just moving back to your event. Just I suppose two quick questions.
Really, before we wrap up? what's what's the worst thing about
organising an event online?
Lenka Koppova
I think the worst thing is kind of not knowing if the technology
will work. Because in person, you know, yes, there are some tech
aspects that you need to pay attention to, like a microphone and
stuff like that. But also then you you actually have real people in
real life in you in in the room with you to help you this way,
where, you know, we are all in our rooms, we're all in different
parts of the world if something goes wrong before our team before
myself that for one of the attendees, how will I be able to help
them and fix it? I was always the fixed and running around, told
him for blanks doing this and isn't knowing that everything is
under control. And who is the person? Where do I go? And right now
I feel like very early on, if something goes wrong, yes, I know the
person but I can't do anything. And if some something's not working
on someone's laptop, how will I help them to fix it? Because I
don't know.
Peter Sumpton
Yeah, I mean that that that would be a main worry, because that's
the whole event, isn't it? So So On the flip side, what's the best
thing about organising this event or any event that you've
done?
Lenka Koppova
I think organising online events really allows you not to be
bounded by location because we've always been involved in the
Cambridge event. We had people from UK coming, but there was always
commuting as always to drive and park. And this way we can welcome
audiences from all around the world. And we had people coming to
our workshops and Facebook events, people from not only Europe, we
managed to get people from all around the world coming to Cambridge
Social Media Group, to connect with others, and work with others
and learn windows, which is the most wonderful feeling. Because I
love connecting people, I love being connected to different people
from different places, learn about how social media works there,
what it can learn from them. So I think this is the best thing that
we can take everyone globally.
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