Women in Digital Conference 2018

I went to my third Women in Digital conference last Thursday and Friday. My favorite part is always meeting new women who are total bosses at what they do. They inspire me to be more confident and a better digital marketer. I also like staying up to date on trends, best practices and hearing what other companies are doing.

I wanted to take a moment to share some of my notes and photos from the conference.
First, photos:

These are the notes I took during the Power Hours. My strategy at the conference was to go to the Power Hours because those would not be recorded. I will watch the recorded main stage presentations later.

Social Media
Olivia De Leon, Sr. Marketing Consultant at Rational Interaction

• When working with influencers, have an influencer agreement with dates, goals of impressions or engagement, clarification about content ownership, requirements to see proofs ahead of time and spell out a set number of edits allowed.
  • Pay to boost the influencer’s post. Win-win for them and you. 
• SMS is the new email 
  • Personally, I have hesitations about this intrusive form of communication but I recognize it has benefits when used sparingly.
• To track in-store success of online efforts, use offers and codes
  • Okay, not ground-breaking advice but useful to remember
• Let your followers define your hashtag. Ask them
  • “I #VoaThrift because…”  or “I’m #aeriereal because I love my freckles” 
  • Weekly use of the hashtag
• Aerie did a campaign in the summer where when followers used #aeriereal they would donate $1 to National Eating Disorder Awareness non-profit
  • Love this idea because it allows brands to give back while encouraging social engagement.
• Aerie put sticky notes in dressing rooms and encouraged folks to write down encouraging body positive messages
  • I went to the Aerie store at Polaris today and yep, there were green and yellow sticky notes around the mirror. My favorite one said Yassss Queen. 
• Ask questions of your followers to increase engagement 
  • How do…
  • Which is…
• Twitter is best for sharing news, asking questions and getting feedback
• Using user-generated content leads to a higher conversion rate
  • I’ve seen this personally from VOA: Regrams outperform photos that I take. I find regrams from when people tag the thrift store’s location. Be sure to give the original user credit for the photo. 

Salary Negotiation
Lauren Hasson, Founder, DevelopHer

• Ground yourself in data, numbers, stats and comparable salaries
• Present the raise as a win-win for your boss
• Take a snapshot of your week and show that. Show them what you do each week. If most of your time is spent doing things not in your job description then negotiate a title change.
• Write out your stated job duties and what your actual job duties are.
• Practice the conversation, rehearse the scripts
• Prepare for pushback. How will you counter?
• Build an agreement. Agree on goals and an action plan. How can I get where I need to be?
• Have an alternative
  • This company will give me x amount of dollars.

SEO
Erin Acheson, President + COO, DemandSphere

• Keyword research: what are people asking? What do they say on social media?
• Mirroring: people like brands that mirror them
• Easier difficulty score means is better. Helps you rank.
• Link building is important
• SEM Rush is a valuable tool
• Google search console is a valuable tool 
• Keep it conversational in your blog posts 
• B2B can use Instagram and Pinterest too. 
• Use language from a popular blog post in an email or email subject line. 
• Pay someone on Upwork to transcribe a video

Content Strategy
Marissa Wilson, Marketing Manager, Blavity.com

• Don’t be afraid to gate content on your website
• Use guest bloggers
• Webinars are content. They are like experimental content.
  • You could offer a free webinar
  • Send replay and similar resources
  • Email worksheets. Keep it personal
  • Remarket to them  
• Blog about the questions you are already getting.
• Give your customers value for free. Let them build confidence in you. Then ask them to pay for content.
• Track customer journey thru Facebook pixels
  • Visited page
  • Lead generation
  • Thank you page

Copywriting
Nicole Hallberg, Copywriter, Blogger 

• Personal writing is different than job writing
• Don’t do free editing
• Don’t say “It’s that time of year again”
• Goal is to educate and inform
• Cut the commercial speak
• Don’t say “It’s the best.” Say why it’s the best for you. Answer “which is the best for you?”
• Don’t be afraid to use I or We. It’s commonly accepted.
• Write first. Then find what it’s about. That results in better writing.
• Read your copy out loud
• Assume your readers are smart yet uninformed
• Don’t use “ this may sound obvious”
• Don’t overuse adjectives. Show them.
• How will my writing make people feel?
• Google knows context. Don’t repeat keywords. Better writing is more important.

Email
Jen Capstraw, Director of Strategic Insights & Evangelism, Iterable. President & Co-Founder, Women of Email

• SMS text message is a good way to have people opt in to emails
• Sending emails regularly helps with email deliverability
• Follow ReallyGoodEmails.com
• Test CTAs in your email
• Consistently send emails when you have something to say
• Test subject lines using A/B test
  • At least 1,000 emails for a good test
• Give people an option to receive less emails
  • Opt down not opt out
  • Give them a choice to hear from you weekly, monthly, etc