We’re headed for a really big ‘collision’ between content and connection networks

It was an interesting morning at the Socialbakers Engage 2014 brand summit. Heavy hitters from Lenovo, Renault and AO.com waxed lyrical on the benefits of analytics and Facebook mainly but if the Cheerometer in the dedicated event app is anything to go by people were impressed by the opening session from CEO and co-Founder Jan Rezab.

In the opening session Rezab remarked about the changing pace and space social is seeing. In particular, a movement towards what Rezab interestingly referred to as a “collision” between content and connection networks has really big implications for both brands and agencies as they look to make and save money in the space. New analytic products from Socialbakers will be heavily focusing on helping in this area and look impressive from today’s demo.

Beyond clickbait and simple engagement, many of the brands (and indeed Socialbakers) are moving towards the “Socially Native” status but, Rezab remarks, this figure is nowhere near high enough (around one percent of all brands) considering the power and extent social media has in the world today (and beyond).

Vision of Social Media Marketing by Jan Rezab (ENGAGE 2014 London) from Jan Rezab

Three takeaways from the morning sessions:

1. Analytic dashboards have moved on greatly, brands have not

Given that Socialbakers is a social media analytics provider, it’s unsurprisng that this was key message of the day but beyond this some simple advice about focusing on subsets and split-testing emerged as a core way many are seeing success and gaining real traction on the large platforms.

Smart businesses are connecting these to third party platforms to gain real insight and connect with their customers beyond simple customer service.

2. Boosting posts is increasingly common but greatly misunderstood

In a world where increasingly reach is becoming pay-for-play it is important for brands to adopt a different mindset when it comes to content that– whilst initially it seems, and can be, expensive, it should stop poorer content being posted. Rezab remarked, “…if it’s worth posting, it’s worth boosting.”

3. Evangelist strategies are difficult to get right but pay off if they do

Lenovo described the way they reward key fans and engage with key individuals is interesting. Divulging a “most difference made” strategy (where real people are used vs models or high profile individuals) was a refreshing break from the tech influencer strategies you often hear about.