I attended the Summitup conference earlier this week. For a regional conference it was exceptional! For a national conference it was quite good and that says a lot about the effort put in by David Bowman and his team. Here are my notes from the event in a series of posts that group the event together section by section.
John Moore
Opening Keynote was delivered by John Moore who was exactly what an opening speaker should be. Energetic and engaging to wake folks up. John presented the idea of a talkable brand - a brand with social currency. He threw a lot of stats out (78% trust friends, 24% trust advertising). What hit home was that brands are mentioned 93% in face to face conversations, 45% on phone, and 25% in on-line conversations.
John hates the word and idea of BUZZ and stumped that product evangelists create Buzz - Buzz does not create product evangelists! Create a great customer experience, great customer service, and great advertising and win advocates who will buzz about you. In terms of mistakes he quoted Coletrain as saying 'When you hit a wrong note it is the next note that makes it good or bad.'
He finished off by hitting home three ideas for success in marketing: Be Unique in your brand. Be Obvious in your communication with a great personality. Be Affected by your consumers and respond.
Pete Blackshaw
Pete Blackshaw from Nielsen presented next about the major over-aching trend in digital communication as it relates to brands and what brands can do to take advantage of the shift in communications. ID talk drivers, partners, and talkers with a system such as Planetfeedback, Radian6, or another scanning tool. It should be easy to share from any talkable piece of content. Encourage and make it simple to get results. He talked about the 3rd moment of truth as the moment you go to share and express about the product - so capture that 3rd moment sentiment and amplify if it is good and address it if it is bad.
A few insights Pete shared were really interesting. Things I know I knew but hear them from Pete really solidified it. The first review, or reviews are really the drivers of every subsequent review. It is comment inertia. Social Media impacts purchase decisions across all 3 stages of purchase at varying levels. Brands have to actively build brand trust through authentic conversations. That trust is what will help move the brand forward. Loose trust and loose sales.
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