Erika Bentley and Patsy Stewart
The Social Buzz Lab attended the Internet Summit 2011 last week in Raleigh North Carolina. More than 1800 technology, marketing and social media professionals emerged eager to learn from the 120 presenters representing some of the most influential companies including representatives from Google, Yahoo, Discovery Communications, TheLadders , ESPN and keynote speaker, Gary Vaynerchuk, Co-founder of VaynerMedia and host of DailyGrape.com.
We returned from the Internet Summit so pumped up and excited to utilize and implement the new technologies and marketing strategies we learned to aide our clients. We heard industry experts speak about social media, mobile technology, cloud services, search, analytics, video, usability, e-commerce, online advertising, and data that provided best practices and real world examples for attendees to identify with and apply in their businesses.
Gary Vaynerchuk “We’re in a Massive Cultural Shift”
Gary Vaynerchuk at Internet Summit 2011
Keynote Gary Vayerchuk, “The King of Social Media”, gave an energetic and informative talk about the major cultural shift that is taking the world by surprise. He emphasized that you should not be pushing your message using social media and that context is king. Gary confidently backed up his ideas by polling the audience. This is the second time I’ve heard him and each time he leaves me in awe. We had many takeaways from our 2 days of presentations. Here are three we found most important.
Three Takeaways from the Internet Summit 2011
1. Mobile 83% of US adults own a cell phone and 35% are smartphones. 58% of US smartphone owners use at least one type of Geo-social or location based service. Websites need to be mobile compatible and optimized for smart phones, tablets, notebooks and desktops. With the expansion of social integration consumers rarely make buying decisions without consulting their network or reading product reviews. Geo-targeting is becoming increasingly important in marketing because the consumer is highly influenced by the local community.
2. Google Plus There was a lot of buzz about Google+. Most all of the presenters mentioned Google+ in their presentations and the importance for a business to be there. The obvious effect Google+ provides is the search results. With the introduction of the new business pages, Google+ will provide opportunities for businesses to reach and interact with their clients. Will it replace Facebook? Probably not, but it will and already has impacted Facebook. Just look at the latest round of announcements from Facebook.
3. Data and Analytics Businesses now have an incredible opportunity that has never been available with traditional marketing. We learned about multiple tools and technologies that can provide data, analyze the data and provide results supporting the ROI of social media. The tools can extract the data tell you if your content provided the results you expected, when it was best received, if it was shared, what words worked, how long it should be, and so much more.
One thing is for sure, social media is not a fad, it’s here to stay. Every business should be integrating social media into their marketing strategy and be where their customers are. Every marketer needs to stay abreast of the changes in the industry and the addition of new tools and platforms. Attending conferences and seminars is one of the best ways to learn and keep up with the progression. We look forward to the next Internet Summit… money well spent!
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