Curated Takeaways from Smash Summit
Curated Takeaways from Smash Summit
I've curated the biggest takeaways from Smash Summit, a marketing conference in New York City organized by Dave McClure and 500 Startups. The summit focused on marketing strategies for various platforms to acquire customers and retain them.
Here's a full summary of the notable individuals and content presented.
Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures (@fredwilson)
Prioritize attention in this order: Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr
"Not much inherently different between +1, Like and Retweet."
Tumblr is underrated at the moment and should be in the conversation with Facebook and Twitter
"Create great content that people care about."
"Every feature you add is another feature you should take out."
"Most powerful platforms focused on getting users at the beginning, not money."
Dave McClure, 500 Startups (@davemcclure)
Twitter is important platform for connecting and dialogue with consumers
Twitter is a broadcast experience
Robert Scoble, Rackspace (@Scobleizer)
Google+ wins
Shiva Rajaraman, YouTube (@shivar)
YouTube plays 3 billion+ videos daily, of which more than 500 million are offsite
The second most searched site. Google now owns #1 and #2
Best marketing tips: pick a title always including company name; first 15 seconds are most important; make it unique; entertain or educate; play on existing trends; encourage feedback and reward your audience
Billy Chasen, turntable.fm (@billychasen)
turntable.fm gained 600,000 active users in first 3 months from word of mouth. Actually told media to fuck off
TechCrunch story doesn't matter if it's not the right community for your product
"Spam, misuse and scaling aren't issues until they become issues."
Friends of friends greatly helps virality; create a better incentive
Influencers are helpful, but not necessary
Make incentives for both referrer and recipient
Laura Fitton, HubSpot (@pistachio)
Be useful—influence is about providing attention and value to others
42% of companies acquire a consumer through Twitter
All businesses should register: http://business.twitter.com/
Jon Steinback, Foursquare (@itsmejon)
Foursquare presents huge opportunity for startups to create incentives and dialogue with consumers
Badging drives foot traffic
Helps via distribution channel
Ankur Pansari, Facebook
Leaked: Facebook has a quarter billion mobile users.
Facebook doesn't see itself owning brand pages. Brands own relationship with consumers
Facebook timelines will curate a deeper identity through visuals
Amanda Steinberg, DailyWorth.com (@amandasteinberg)
Press is good but doesn't grow email subscriber list
Must have kickass content with personality
Pay someone to write subject email lines
Email at 2pm local — best time
Make email newsletters easy to forward
Roshanna Sabaratnam, Gilt Groupe
Paid memberships are the death of any company
Find a way to operate company through free membership, even if exclusive
Partnerships are critical to success