3 Conferences in 4 Days: Observations from a busy NYC Social Week
For the first time in 5 days I found some time to reflect on the 3 conferences that I was lucky enough to attend as a social media enthusiast.
The week started with Tonia Ries (@Tonia_Ries) and Ted Rubin (@TedRubin) who co-hosted Realtime Marketing Lab (#RLTM) which focused heavily on realtime marketing technologies but encompassed everything from a tools competition to digital marketing consultations. There were numerous highlights but the hands-on nature of the event was what stood out most to me. You were going to interact with just about everybody over the course of that day and experience some powerful technology and the teams that built it.
#RLTM was followed by the Pivot Conference (#PivotCon) which spanned two days at a feverish pace. The event was hosted by Brian Solis (@BrianSolis) who seems to have boundless energy and an uncanny ability to multi-task. The presentations and panels were numerous and often happened simultaneously so the only way to get a piece of them all was to slap on headphones and rotate between channels. The list of speakers was impressive at both #RLTM and #PivotCon so the last thing you wanted to do was miss any of the speakers.
The final conference of the week was SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics & Content – new name) Summit by way of Basil Puglisi (@BasilPuglisi). I liked it because of the intimate audience of around 100 people and the information that you could take home and act upon. My favorite part of #SMAC was, once again, the impassioned speakers, who ranged in expertise from Product Branding (@DinoDogan) to Personal Branding on Linked In (@MelonieDodaro) and a Pinterest for Business “how to” session with Cynthia Sanchez (@OSPinteresting).
So that’s the break down of the conferences. Now let’s look at my (personal and non expert) observations from the week overall which resulted in three basic themes:
1) Social media is becoming pervasive throughout organizations and is no longer just a customer service and/or marketing tool.
Social media is more than accepted; it’s starting to look like the new cool kid on the block. It’s different, intriguing and still mysterious but we know it’s up to something and it’s going to be big. Say goodbye to traditional service and marketing roles. Say hello to real time interaction at granular levels and instant results.
2) Data is now abundant, but it’s not very helpful because no one really knows what it means yet.
There are more analytic tools than anyone knows what to with and even the experts struggle to extract meaningful information. If you start with mediocre data, the analysis will be directional at best. It’s been the social media Wild West for quite some time and it’s hard to make sense of all the chaos that comes with establishing a new frontier.
3) Metrics are still a mystery because we don’t know what matters.
Traditional metrics simply don’t apply any more especially when it comes to Marketing and Service. This is still anyone’s game and everyone is just now starting to listen to the community to figure out what matters to them. Things become even more complicated when the data being fed into the metrics is unreliable and make results nearly impossible to read effectively. Unreliable data can be attributed to a number of things but the ability to “buy” Likes, Followers and Tweets is a strong indication of manipulating the landscape.
Sounds like there’s some good news and some bad right? Well, I think it’s a sign of good things to come. One resounding notion that still applies is that content is king and this was reinforced constantly over the past week.
What’s really cool is that content is evolving and that’s going to help with the Metrics and Data issues. The social media Wild West has been established and a little law and order is starting to take hold. The old notion that “quantity” mattered most is falling by the wayside to make room for “quality” content and it’s creators. There’s still going to be instances of “top 10 tools” lists and “inspirational quotes” that fueled the sticky content movement but something new is on the horizon that we’re (#SMUN) calling “salty”. It’s a bit grittier but makes people pay attention when it’s being consumed and a ton of it surfaced this past week. Salty content (#SaltyContent) is not for everyone but it was definitely of interest to the people in attendance that are the backbone of social media.
I think it will take awhile to shift the focus from getting 100,000 Likes or 400 ReTweets from the faceless masses. It’s going to take the right Influencers to start a conversation but I saw it happening this week and it’s really exciting! The presentations were fresh, provocative (@JeffJarvis) and people were moved. If you saw the Breaking Bad session by We Are Social then you probably agree. People are taking notice of salty content because it moves the needle in a way that can be measured and that’s what matters. I could be wrong but I guess only time will tell.
Meanwhile, please pass the salt. I finally found time for a good meal after 3 conferences in 4 days.
Kevin (@kevinGEEdavis)