If you’re not using social media in your communications, you absolutely should be. That’s half of what I learned last week.

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend CaseCamp, a conference and gathering in Toronto about and for experts in social media.

I’m not an expert in social media. But I am becoming much more knowledgeable about e-communication in my job as a web producer, and I certainly see the value of social media in my work and life. I think my perspective on social media from a strategic communications background is a useful and sometimes unique one… and through that lens I learned a lot about social media’s importance and how to employ it effectively.

Key learnings from the conference

• A cat can have 1.2 million followers on twitter! (because the person authoring the messages writes what his followers find entertaining and WISH to follow)
• It’s easy with social media to get caught up with popularity (# of followers, facebook fans, site visits)
• Getting obsessed with popularity (gaining more followers/wider audience) always has a negative effect on the quality of the message you share through social media
• If your content fades because you’re obsessed with popularity, your popularity will fade because your content is no longer worth following
• Having a good message will attract your audience
• Remember why you are using social media: to connect with your audience. Make it authentic, make it a reflection of your inner brand message, and make it what your audience wants.
• Social media content is now defining everything on the Internet: it’s no longer that people go to the Internet for information posted on websites; rather people use the internet to read what social media is saying about what is on the Internet.
• Traditional media more and more covers what is popular in social media discussions. A lot of times traditional media will be trying to catch up with a story that is being told through social media.
• Social media should be a part of your marketing/media program if you wish to get the message out to your audience: they’re getting it less through traditional media, and traditional media is getting its info more from social media discussions.
• Your active social circle (those who you actually influence) is 40 people directly. When you communicate to them, they act… and if your message is good those 40 people will spread it to their circle of 40. That is how messages spread in social media.

You’ll notice that a lot of these points that I learned, coming from experts in social media, repeat a core message. They were all talking about how their social media sites became popular and how they gained many followers. 100% of the popular social media sites were popular because their message was interesting to their audience. This quote really sums it up:

Social media works when you can connect with your audience in a manner that compels them to spread your message on their own

You’ll be popular in social media if your message is really strong.

So, I learned:

1. You should be using social media to share your message
2. in order to be successful in social media, your message has to be strong.

Social media needs a good message/A good message needs social media.