Scott Hicks, Former Client Partner at Facebook and one of the region’s biggest experts in Facebook marketing is delivering a half day workshop at the Marketing Kingdom Cairo, Egypt’s first international marketing event, taking place from 25-26 October at the InterContinental Citystars Hotel in Cairo.
We recently sat down with him and asked him about his views and tips on today’s rapidly changing marketing world. His fascinating anwers are below!
1- MOBILE AS A PRIORITY: With mobile-only users on facebook growing by 34%, and large-screen phones now accounting for more than one-quarter of all sales, brands need to think about how their social presence can cater to mobile users. Brand campaigns now need to start with mobile-first then scale up to desktop / laptop.Plan for everyone to experience everything, from marketing emails through websites to social post, on mobile exclusively.
2- SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT FREE: It’s now a Pay-to-Play social world. Brands should invest in smart social advertising (paid amplification). Take the time to dig deep on audience segmentation and targeting on social platforms that are right for your brands. Focus on storytelling and use the power of technology to add value in your communications.
3- CONTENT MARKETING IS HARD BUT WORTH IT: Marketers will continue to be challenged to produce meaningful / informative / entertaining content for more channels (social, websites, organic search, newsletters, press, paid search and more). Brands should be smart about how content can be leveraged and repurposed, and look to their social audiences (fans) as inspired sources of content that can be curated into authentic and highly sharable brand relevant content.
4- ONLINE VIDEO ISN’T JUST ABOUT YOUTUBE ANYMORE: From short video on Twitter’s Vine channel and Instagram, to even shorter GIFs on Tumblr, and full length shows on facebook, digital video is here to stay and is growing way beyond its traditional home on YouTube. Brands need to understand how to leverage video across their full marketing mix and look for more creative (and less expensive) ways to produce video content.
5- SOCIAL SHOPPING: From Twitter Product Cards to the Facebook “Buy” button, social commerce is quickly gaining traction giving brands yet a new way to drive sales. Brands need to understand how to blend storytelling with commerce, and leverage / facilitate friends recommendations in a way that adds value Vs being intrusive.
If you want to meet Scott and 15 other marketing gurus from Twitter, Google, Facebook, Shazam and Yahoo! get your ticket today for the Marketing Kingdom Cairo by visiting the event’s official website
