Inside the Suitcase
SXSW is one of the most attended, preeminent interactive conferences in the world and it happens in Austin every March. This was our second year in attendance and we’re sharing what we’ve learned with you. This year the buzz was about social networking and the effect it’s having on corporations, advertising and the world community.
A few of the highlights:
- Consumers are using technology to get the things they need from each other rather than from traditional institutions like large corporations.
- Companies have to remember that social networks and what is said on those networks matter just as much to consumers, if not more, than what the company says about itself on its own website. There is more trust in what the social networks say than in what company advertising says.
- Blogs and social networks allow people to talk about subjects and locations, including niches and mini-neighborhoods, that traditional media is not able or willing to cover. Social networking has let consumers and users get “local”.
- If your company is considering building a blog, remember these points:
- Consider why you are blogging and what your objectives are.
- Speak authentically and tell the truth to your consumers.
- Speak to your audience and cover topics they find interesting and valuable.
- Let your content be sharable. Let customers re-post your content on their own sites or share it with their friends.
- Get employees from every department involved in posting to the blog.
- When building a viral website, it helps to remember these five important steps to success:
- Acquisition users visit your site from multiple channels such as search engines, blogs and links.
- Activation users interact with your site through content, forms, blogs and widgets.
- Retention users come back to your site for useful information via blog subscriptions, e-newsletters and auto response emails.
- Referral users tell other people to use your site via email, forms and share with a friend technologies.
- Revenue you make money due to increased brand awareness, traffic and conversions.
- The Google generation, 18-24 year olds, is the most entrepreneurial, political and non-violent generation we’ve ever seen. The Internet, and social networking in particular, has created a “collective intelligence” among them. Collective intelligence forms when people share knowledge from diverse backgrounds, debate that knowledge in an open forum and then arrive at a collective agreement on the subject. Because of collective intelligence, the Google generation often thinks in terms of “We” instead of “I”. This is one reason Obama’s “Yes, We Can” tagline has resonated with this audience.
- Social marketing and networks will only increase through mobile technology now that devices like the iPhone make mobile internet browsing easy and accessible.
Now, learn and go forth with confidence into the world of social networking. Still not sure how? Contact us for a free consultation.
Posted by Mackenzie
Learn | No comments | Share
