Against the Odds
Today marks my first-ever virtual conference: “MarketingProfs Digital Marketing World: Spring 2009,” sponsored by InXpo.
All I can say is today I finally and totally *get* the power of Web 2.0, and all its interactive potential, implemented so successfully with the InXpo virtual event platform.
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter—I’ve been exploring these social media tools over the past year, with increasing enthusiasm. But today—today I had an online experience that was just as good, if not *better* than my previous experiences at in-person conferences. And I don’t say that because the in-person conferences I’ve attended were bad—I say that because this online conference was just *that* good.
The various conference sites reflected every location you would expect at an in-person conference, including an online auditorium for viewing presentations, an exhibit hall (complete with sound effects) for visiting booths, and a networking lounge for meeting attendees.
What was really great was I could seamlessly click between the locations to orient myself and gauge my interest in the various offerings, in a way I never could at an in-person conference. And the goodies were really fun—not T shirts and pens—but downloadable white-papers from first-rate exhibitors. Did I mention that I experienced all this value from the comfort of my own desk, for free?
Of course, the real value of any conference, in-person or virtual, is the quality of its speakers and content.
If you registered for the conference but missed it, you can still be the judge for yourself, by visiting the MarketingProfs event page at http://www.marketingprofs.com/events/6/conference. There, you can log in and see the presentations On Demand, for the next 90 days. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
For those of you who didn’t register, here are some takeaways, from the presentations
I attended today.
B2B Track: Measuring What Matters Most in Social Media:
Speaker: Katie Delahaye Paine, CEO, KDPaine & Partners LLC
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On metrics: “It’s not about the numbers–it’s about are people engaged.”
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Size doesn’t matter so stop screaming, start listening.
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It’s not how many eyeballs, it’s the right eyeballs.
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HITS = How Idiots Track Success.
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Potential metrics for blogs: number of unique users, returning versus new readers, referring source statistics, links from other sites, rank, conversation index: ratio of blog comments to blog posts (where applicable), total time spent on the site, popularity of the content itself (which gets the most views), traffic from blog to web site, sales.
Both B2B & B2C: Keynote Presentation: The Art of the Possible: Online Branding Strategies and Tactics
Speaker: David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign Manager
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Important to campaign success: providing basic info, like how to register to vote, and designing user-friendly web sites.
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Important to campaign success: consistency of message, diversifying platforms, taking risks, and analyzing own customer base.
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Must reach people where they live.
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Web & email were central drivers in campaign. 13 million on email list. Texting & video were also important.
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Technology must marry with strategic mission.
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Must be authentic for younger voters, or they will tune you out. Younger voters have high BS meter.
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Must 1st establish your message and then make it clear to everyone in your organization. Then you must spend a lot of time monitoring your message.
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Campaign Surprise: High % of people seeking info on own. People don’t trust or accept info. People will do their own research and share.
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Another lesson learned: Loaded campaign web site up with 1 pagers or paragraphs to allow supporters to share with address book.
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Another key success to campaign: “video moments.” Anything visual has a lot of impact.
B2B Track: The 2009 Economic Impact On B2B Marketing Budgets And Practices
Speaker: Laura Ramos, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
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Email, search, and webinars deliver leads.
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Big winner in 09 Marketing Mix is company website. Email, webcast, and inside sales are other big winners.
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Video produced directly by customers is more effective than video produced by companies, though both can spread virally.
Both B2B & B2C: The New Rules of Viral Marketing
Speaker: David Meerman Scott, author and marketing strategist
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Nobody cares about your products (except you). People do care about solving their own problems.
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Use the language that your potential customers use, not the language you use internally. Lose the gobbley-gook.
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Must create info with buyer personas in mind. Can’t create info to spread virally with your own ego in mind.
B2C Track: How to Leverage Social Media, Search and Usability to Maximize Website ROI and Drive Real Results
Speakers:
Aaron Kahlow, Managing Partner, BusinessOnline
Enrique Gonzales, User Experience Sr. Analyst, AARP
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Your biggest competitor is the delete or back button. ~ Aaron Kahlow
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Usability is ease of use for a product or service for its intended audience. ~ Aaron Kahlow
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Usability is getting users to do what you would like them to do in the best interest of your organization.
~ Enrique Gonzales -
Design a site around primary customers first, but also for secondary customers whom you don’t want to turn off. ~ Enrique Gonzales
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Number of comments on a blog is not necessarily a measure of success, though it does indicate engagement- level. ~ Aaron Kahlow
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From a usability perspective, your basic information architecture is more important than a site map.
~ Enrique Gonzalez -
For SEO, site maps do help. Some analytical users also benefit from site maps. ~ Aaron Kahlow
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If you want someone to hit Buy Now, do not put anything in the way. ~Enrique Gonzalez
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Post-purchase you can ask for e-mail address. ~Aaron Kahlow
Both B2B & B2C: The Anatomy of a Strong Corporate Blog
Speakers:
Amber Naslund, Director of Community, Radian6
Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger, Dell Inc.
Christi Day, Public Relations Coordinator and Spokesperson, Southwest Airlines
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On Dell blog: Soc media is a more democratized communication model than the previous command and control model. ~Lionel Menchaca
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On Dell blog, all safety, competitive product, and legal issues go through Legal. Bloggers use common sense. ~Lionel Menchca
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On both B2C and B2B, Dell shares content that reflects product improvements. ~Lionel Menchca
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The Southwest blog provides content that reflects both news and company culture. ~Christi Day
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Negative blog comments do occur, but when that happens, other community members usually share positive comments as well. ~Christi Day
Photo Credit, Philo
Related Links
Awesome wrap-up, Peg! Thanks. Glad you could attend.
Peg,
Thanks much for sharing this conference information. I especially liked your own summaries of the takeaways. Every tidbit was great. I am going to tweet this and pass it around.
You gave me a lot to think about as I try to serve my customers better and in more unique ways.
Thanks for pulling this all together, I know it is not easy to do what you just did.
GLH
Peg, this is terrific. Thanks for sharing your takeaways as well as your enthusiasm for the event. I really like this new social world.
Hi Peg,
So glad you could attend our blogging panel session; I was so thrilled to be able to work with Lionel and Christi and hope you took away some good nuggets of information.
Thanks again for being part of the event!
Cheers,
Amber Naslund
Peg, I’m glad that you enjoyed the virtual experience that we created for MarketngProfs. As you mentioned, being able to seamlessly move from place to place is an important aspect for creating a virtual experience. And thanks for the great summary of the show as well!
Best,
Cece Salomon-Lee
Very useful and well done. I missed the sessions but will go back and watch them with your notes as a guide.
Thanks!