Live Tweets from Future of Marketing

I virtually attended another Future of Marketing Virtual Conference put on by Sam Rosen of ThoughtLead.  Below is my attempt to capture the most provocative, instructional and useful takeaways.  This is only meant to whet the appetite.  To listen to the recording, which I highly recommend, go to https://futureofmarketing.com/.  A complete Twitter list of the speakers can be found here: https://twitter.com/#!/LyndonHaselhuhn/the-future-of-marketing-virtual-conference.

ON TRENDS:

• Pay attention to social commerce, making shopping a part of the social experience and putting ROI into the mix
• Guy Kawasaki – when launching a new product/service, should you build a dedicated website or just a Fanpage? Guy says Fanpage!
• If you get the culture right, the rest will happen naturally – Tony Hsieh (from Zappos)
• People like making a difference with HOW they spend their money, can you give them that?
• Mobile is a game changer! Marketers can locate customers “at the moment”
• Real-time is a mind set. Focus on what you can do with events that are happening right now – I like this

CHANNELS:

• Don’t neglect the independent web (organic networks) vs. dependent web (portals)
• Shopping is a multi-channel experience. Why isn’t your marketing?
• Go to the About Us page on your website and read it out loud. Does it have personality, does it really describe your business?
• Content rules, but how do you create remarkable content consistently? Share and Solve, don’t Shill

ON SEARCH:

• Add “anyone know” to your generic terms when looking for and listening to new customers – LOVE THAT!
• Future of SEO = conversion. SEO TIPS: Use Webmaster tools (Google/Bing), use bit.ly and track, shareable content
• Social search-don’t focus on Google only, be sure to optimize the other channels where your product/service is relevant and discussed

ON VIDEO:

• Tell your story with video, don’t get caught up with high-end production, do it live, mix and match whatever you’ve captured

MARKETING STRATEGY:

• Limiting information seduces people – see Apple’s iPhone marketing. Tease and tantalize, using the Shibumi Method
• Use discipline and smarts, not just tools – DANG, was looking for the silver bullet;)
• Corporate days of controlling the message are gone – uh, yup. Your brand is THAT fragile…
• 5 ways Fortune 500 generate revenue/value – branding, e-commerce, lead generation, customer retention and research
• Liz Strauss on building brand advocates – this is how you build your community, core influencers and spreading the word
• Social strategy – focus on relationships, give and take, dialog and conversations. Tough pill to swallow for many of my clients
• Keep it real in social media, but in the inimitable words of Bill Cosby, What if you’re an ***hole?
• Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of need try to figure out what the unspoken need is and capitalize on it. Better guess right!
• Social media is about matchmaking – I like that.
• I’ll say it again…It’s about quantity AND quality.
• Thought leadership engagement – figure out what they’re talking about, why and how your client pertains
• Are customers better off with more choices? NO, they are paralyzed, make bad decisions & dissatisfied. Limit choices, make them good
• Your business should not be the brand advocate, it should be the consumer advocate. And that builds brand advocates!
• Are you a good storyteller? People “buy” the story attached to your product/service, something larger than the widget/service

DUHS!

• Ohhhhh, the goal is to be good at business, not to be good at social media! Dang! Gotta tell my clients:)