Get “Closer” to Platform Agility with Buzzfeed’s Antonia Bonello at SMWLDN

Creating content that people want to read about the dangers of road accidents is a high bar to reach, but Buzzfeed UK’s Associate Creative Director Antonia Bonello counts doing so in conjunction with Aviva during Road Safety Week among her professional points of pride. Long-form content, translated into shorter snippets and even games, got across information that helped people learn and have conversations around this crucial topic. And as someone who admitted to liking the conversation part the most (“maybe that’s because I’m a bit chatty!”), you should anticipate a lively and insightful presence at Bonello’s midday Wednesday session at Social Media Week London.

The nimble and agile approach that Buzzfeed champions was key to tailoring content that could convey even this heavy message and engage readers across social media platforms—Bonello will be sharing the strategies she uses to accomplish this at her SMWLDN session, How to Remain Agile and Nimble in the Platform Space.

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Remaining nimble as an organization means not only staying in motion, but moving with intention. At Buzzfeed, that intention is data-driven and heavily informed by user feedback. Bonello’s session will delve into how to use the data you have available to drive decision making and strategy. This data has to go beyond vanity metrics; as she sees it, “you can learn so much more from what people are saying than just a ‘like.’” And when you show care and consideration for the details people reveal via comments and shares, users respond in kind.

“Content shouldn’t be thought of necessarily as traditional advertising. It should be thought of as more of a gift or what a brand can do for a person, rather than what a consumer can do for a brand.”

It takes a special culture in an organization to develop skill in interacting this way. Bonello cites risk-taking and courage, as well as sympathy and empathy, as key to hearing and acting on user experiences in a meaningful way. “How do you make a friend? You do it by listening, talking, and learning about each other. And that’s actually what Buzzfeed does,” she noted as we talked about the impact of brand listening. “That’s what brands should do: listen and interact with people on a human level, rather than it just being transactional.”

Look forward to a session that thoughtfully explores how digital data and connections between humans can interlace to inform future content and marketing moves, and much more. Those aiming to engage meaningfully across platforms won’t want to miss this session, presented by Buzzfeed on Wednesday, November 14th, at 12pm GMT during Social Media Week London.

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