Today I had the honour of being a giant talking head in Sydney, Australia. Seriously. Ok, to be more specific, I Skyped in from Whistler, British Columbia as a guest speaker for the legendary public relations summit: Meet The Press Masterclass. The room was full of inquisitive leaders that kept me on my toes with some great questions about the current landscape of social media marketing.

Here are a few great questions:

How do you subtly and professionally use social media to build your data base/your business/your income without putting people off?

If your audience is like you (and most often they are), count them as sophisticated. As digital marketing evolves the softer sell is always the best way to manage your online presence. Share news people are interested in and manage your online presence as if you were networking with a future client. A rule of thumb is to establish yourself as a thought leader in your field first, then convert people on your website or offline.

What is the best way to build up your Facebook & Instagram audience?

Organically, using crisp, quality content that provokes engagement. Make sure your posts are on the shorter side and your images are high quality. Then pair your content with a great ad campaign. It’s the proven recipe for growth and conversions.

How do you measure the ROI of social media?

This is a tough one. The simple answer is to get a great reporting platform like Google Analytics, install tracking pixels from all of the relevant social channels on your website and at the end of the day Google Analytics will attribute a dollar value to the people who left a social media channel and purchased something through your website. It's fabulous. It sounds simple, but there’s a large nebulous number that isn’t accounted for. That’s the people that engage on social media then visit your brick and mortar location or call or email. It could also be the people that visit your social media profiles and then purchase separately through a different computer or IP. There are quite a few scenarios. Your best bet is to monitor: