social media | Marhublog

I just came back from Social Media Week Miami and as you probably think, I am pumped. It was an experience that not only reinforced the concepts and knowledge that I already had but also made me realize about a ton of things that I wasn´t fully aware of, specially in terms of what I want to do next, here are the things I learned about personal branding at SMW Miami:

Social Media week Miami was held at Miami Ad School

Think like a content creator: Thought this is something that I already knew, it has been reinforce greatly, everywhere I look there´s content and an opportunity to use it for a greater good.
Purpose: You have to define what the purpose of your personal brand is; is it food? is it travel? is it arts? is it kittens in salad bowls? If you don´t define the purpose of your business aka personal brand, you´re most likely to bite more than you can chew. This will also help you get ROI expectations right for yourself and your clients.
Audience: Who are you talking to? What are their likes? Attend those who already like your brand, keep talking to them.
Don´t make wonderful content and then fail to promote it. We all agree that not all social media channels are good for all brands, find the ones that are more natural to you and your business and use them right.
Think Mobile! Stats are strong about mobile devices usage on basically everything, think big but also think small screenwise.

Most of the conferences I attended were held at the super cool Jellyfish Room

Keep the content and format useful, simple and delightful: Sree Sreenivassan , Chief Digital Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was very strong about this and I have it still fresh in my mind, so I think I better review on my old content and curate some more.
Real followers get you real influence in social: In this case, Sean Gardner threw as many social pearls as he could on this subject, real followers will engage with your content (if its useful, simple and delightful).
Being stationary is deadly in all aspects of life: trial and error, go step by step but keep trying new things, new social media channels, new devices.
Return, Learn, Repeat: This goes directly with listening to your audience, return to what worked in the past, learn from what didn´t work and repeat what worked.
Break some rules: Maybe mix up your posting times, experiment on scheduling and content.

Ted Coiné at SMW Miami

Marketers don´t trust other marketers: Mister Ted Coiné explained this in many ways as well as more priceless advice but I found that this is as true as the sky is blue.
Build your brand around visual content marketing and oxidize it.
If the channels are not working together, is not omnichannel: Pam Moore explained it really well, omnichannel does not mean that you have to use all social media channels, but if you build your brand around some of them, make them work in a 360º degree level. Use them wisely.
Do you want the eyeballs or the conversion? Think this through, what´s more important if to get traffic for your website or convert your audience into sales?
Don´t be afraid to fail/ be nice to yourself.

Listening to all these pros and people I´ve followed for a long time taugh me a lot, I could only handpick these 15 things I learned about personal branding at Social Media Week Miami because I think these are the most important to know in a generic way, anyone could apply them for whatever business or brand they may have and it could be good even for your own social media channels in order to “clean up” a little bit ones social media mess.

Kelly and me being silly while charging our phones on a break of SMW Miami

Another highlight about the three day conference was spending some time with Kelly, who has been working on her personal brand The Sober Señorita in a very organic and authentic way for quite some time now; as inspiring as she is to her primary niche audience, she is an example of what you can create and achieve through social media: awareness on any issue, make a point of view stand out, help others. Besides, she is as much fun as anyone could think of and so open to help, I´m glad we could reconnect in Miami amiga!

This trip to Miami was far better than the previous one, I felt love, support and answers so the next steps for me are more clear now, I´m glad I broke some rules and attended SMW Miami. As one of my favorite singers said once ¡Gracias, Totales!

The first time I heard about Social Media Week was about a year ago, I was scrolling down my facebook Timeline and found a blog that mentioned it. I was interested and looked further and I found out that they were going to held an event in Mexico City in about 6 months, so I started following the event in different social media outlets, I even… I even signed for Newsletters

There, I said it; I was hooked; I loved getting their e-mails every week with cool and interesting things about social media, how the different generations are facing change, the Braincandy video series and I kept on sharing their stuff and learning from them. Then the Mexico City event schedule and info was released, I asked my Boss permission the answer was a plain NO.

I was bummed and at the time I was in a money shortage so, I kept it cool and waited for my weekly Newsletter patienly.

Last year a low cost mexican airline launched this direct flight from Cancun to Miami, it was cool and since I was able to get an american tourist visa very quick I booked a cheap flight and spent my 1 week vacation there. That was back in July and 2 weeks after I returned home the dates for Social Media Week Miami were released and I was excited to say the least… but still I had to wait to get all the information and insights on the price tickets, the speakers and the topics, I was determined to go.

So about a month ago – August – when the tickets were finally for sale and I could check out the schedule I said to myself “I HAVE to go” so again, I went to my boss, told him about the dates and the speakers and basically everything and I said “We HAVE to go” and he went on saying “I just asked to go to a SEO related event in New York, they said no – his boss – so I´m afraid the same is going to happen with this“.

Needless to say that I was mad, how could a company just focus on what´s urgent and not on what´s important and long lasting ROI? It was stupid and I felt really bad. The mexican working laws do not favor employees in most cases and most employer´s point out that employees should be grateful to have a job that pays the minimun and gives them the minimun benefits (such as social security and some medical coverage).

Thought, I am not here to discuss the mexican law because:

1. I am a foreigner living and workin in Mexico legally and

2. Because I decided to not give a f*&k and book a ticket anyway.

Luckily for me, I had some money left in the bank from my vacations, and started the search for a cheap flight and the tickets… also for a credit card because since I don´t have the permanent resident status I cannot apply for a credit card…

A really good friend lended me his card, I found a really cheap promotion on Interjet and got my plane tickets and thanks to my good friend – and Miami host – Manuel Gago I got a promocode that helped me get a lower price for the full 3 day pass for Social Media Week Miami. I was all set, yay!

So I approached my boss, he looked at me like saying “Are you sure?” but then by the look on his face he was actually kind of happy that I decided to go anyway, he said “I have no problem, just so you know, Human Resources are not going to pay for the days you are away, it will be deducted from your paycheck” and I said “Fine!” then he said “I wished I could trade places with you”

So, I´m super excited to jump on the plane next Tuesday and live 3 full days surrounded by the best of the best of Social Media and how it affects us as human connectivity is growing as these new platforms and technologies develop. I´m also very happy because I´ll get to see my friend Kelly a.k.a The Sober Señorita whom I met here thanks to social media and will be attending SMWMiami as well, we are going to have so much fun!

So, I have to pack now, see you in a few days!