And we can’t wait to see what’s next
On January 13, 2016, ListaPost presented their first ever “Buzz Talks” at Soho House. This special event features a panel of industry leaders in technology and media and talks about some of the hottest topics in these two fields. This panel was brought together so that these leaders can share their point of view on how they are able to succeed and adapt to the ever changing technology environment. And currently the trending topic in technology is social media which is why the theme was “The State of Social Currency.” Social media is such a powerful platform that has proven to help businesses thrive. In fact, whether a business sinks or swims can come down to how effectively they can use social media platforms. And ListaPost is all too familiar with the success that social media can bring. Understanding that Instagram can be very cluttered, they took it upon themselves to make it cleaner. Users on Instagram can use lists to sort pictures, hashtags, and accounts, and even share these lists with people they want to. This panel featured Steven Rojas (Corporate Digital Director at Morgans Hotel Group) as the moderator and panelists included Emily Oberg (Editorial Producer at Complex Media), Hallie Harris Managing Director at Epic Signal (Mekanism), and Nicola Fumo (Style and Shopping Editor of Racked (Vox Media)).
All four of these successful leaders shared their perspectives on how social media has led to their businesses’ successes. Hallie, being the managing director at Epic Signal had many stories that she could draw from when discussing this topic. The story that she drew from the most was how she used social media platforms like Facebook to launch her campaign against sexual assault called “It’s On Us.” This entire campaign was developed for the White House and quickly gained traction in less than a day. Using celebrity influencers and social media sharing, this message become viral and was a huge success.
Fumo, dealing with a lot of fashion, credited Instagram to her social media success. When dealing with fashion, you have to experience it visually. It is one thing to read about the latest trends and styles but it is a whole other thing to see it with your own eyes. And Fumo was able to tap into this platform by making her professional Instagram easy to use and very accessible. She also made note to how she has to have an idea on what their target reader is. It’s important to know who you are looking for and staying up to date on what they want without losing your own authenticity. And from that her message is simple and interactive. Although one thing she had to say was that she wishes that people commented more on the pictures from Instagram. But with that platform, the way they measure success is through the amount of likes they get. With any social media platform, people have to figure out what gains the most traction and do more of that. And that is exactly what Fumo said when discussing her success.
And Oberg talked a lot about selling your own personal brand. She also talked a lot about knowing who the target audience. But at the same time she emphasized that “One of the most important things as a brand is to not just sell a product or an idea. It’s kind of important to sell a feeling.” She made note that people like to feel like they belong to something bigger. So what she says is that she creates a space where people can belong and feel like they are a part of her process. She also made note that because her audience is fairly young and impressionable that she tends to try and send out a positive message to keep her audience in a good space.
And towards the end of the panel the question was asked about where these three panelists think social media is going to go. And it was interesting to hear that they all thought that short form videos would be where people gravitate towards next. “People hate to read a lot” the group agreed, so it seems more visual forms of social media will be the next big thing.
