Tag: mobile

Storytelling in a Fragmented Media Environment: Keynote with National Geographic’s Chief Marketing Officer

Posted on by Tyler Becker

National Geographic is known around the globe for it’s leadership in visually compelling factual and entertaining storytelling, and in this keynote session at SMW New York, Claudia Malley (Chief Marketing and Brand Officer, National Geographic) will share insights and learnings on how this 128 year-old brand has pioneered the new media and fragmented landscape and to maintain it’s leadership position among consumers.

Claudia Malley heads up brand marketing, membership and market research for National Geographic, and previously served as EVP, Global Corporate Partnerships for National Geographic Society where se oversaw all global corporate partnerships and sponsorships.

Her keynote, “The Power of Storytelling in a Fragmented Media Environment” takes place on Thursday the 25th at 9:30am at The TimesCenter.

Claudia became Vice President and U.S. Publisher of National Geographic magazine in 2004 and Executive Vice President and Worldwide Publisher in 2010. Malley has more than 25 years of experience in media brand management, sales and marketing, working across media disciplines including print, television and digital.

Facebook’s Head of Marketing, North America Will Deliver “Future of Communications” Talk at #SMWNYC

Posted on by Tyler Becker

The shift to mobile has already happened, and it’s radically changing the way businesses and people connect. We’re spending more time with our phones than ever before, and every interaction, click, swipe, tap, message, and pinch is a new data point and experience that impacts the world around us.

Facebook’s Head of Marketing for North America Marketing, Michelle Klein, will join us for Social Media Ween NYC to explore the new kinds of tools and groundbreaking innovations completely transforming the way we communicate.

You can click here to see the schedule of events for the rest of the week, and be sure to register your pass to hear Michelle’s talk, The Future of Communications with Michelle Klein, Facebook’s Head of Marketing for North America on Tuesday, February 23rd at 9:30am at The TimesCenter

Michelle Klein is Head of Marketing for North America at Facebook, where she oversees the vision and strategy for marketing as it relates to advertisers and the advertising industry, agencies, small business and Facebook Marketing Partners.

Prior to Facebook, she was Vice President of Global Marketing for Smirnoff, and in that capacity, spent eight years guiding the world’s original vodka brand through a complete brand reinvention. From the creation of a global experiential and social campaign spanning 50 countries to overhauling the entire packaging design for Smirnoff’s product range, Michelle played a key role in driving the 150-year-old brand into the future.

Image Credit: The Internationalist

Karma’s CEO Steven Van Wel On The Future Of Mobile Connectivity

Posted on by Nicole Brown

In 2015, SMW will explore the power and potential of human connectivity through its global theme “Upwardly Mobile”.

  • Today there are almost 3 billion people connected to each other through the Internet, Social Media and Mobile Technology.
  • A billion new mobile subscribers were added in the last 4 year.
  • By 2022 the total number of connected humans will increase to 6 billion.

Through Upwardly Mobile we want to ask the fundamental question: how can humans achieve more in a connected world?  In this piece, we spoke to Steven van Wel, Co-Founder and CEO of Karma, to find out how our ubiquitous connectivity will change the ways we live, work and create.

1. How will smart devices seamlessly connect our daily lives and help to change our habits?

It all comes down to taking away friction. That’s the biggest thing. We have to make a lot of choices and face a lot of barriers to reach connectivity. What can we do as technology companies to make this a seamless process? As a user you want to focus on the things you want to do, not the things you have to do. The less we interrupt users with complexity, the more they can accomplish.

2. How will our ability to connect, share and exchange information with many more human beings positively impact our connection to humanity?

I have no idea! Our job isn’t to define what humanity is. WiFi alone, or internet connectivity alone will not change humanity. We just want to let people do whatever the hell they want, and stay out of their way so great things can be accomplished. We love humanity, but our technology sort of needs to be humanity agnostic. We’re facilitating a connection, and when we try to do more than that we get in the way.

3. What opportunities are available to entrepreneurs to build products and services for 6 billion connected citizens?

I think what’s hugely important is educating people about what they can do with the internet. It’s not just posting on Facebook. Online schools like Khan Academy and Codecademy are incredible examples, because they expand that horizon. The internet isn’t limited to just the services that have been invented, but to the services and applications and use cases that *can* be invented. That’s why we’re entrepreneurs, and whenever we can show people how they can invent new uses for the internet, we’re expanding what the internet can be for all of us.

4. How will our ease in communications, no longer limited by time or distance, allow for improved collaboration?

Karma as a company is present in eight or nine different locations: New York, Asia, Europe. As a company, location is not a restricting factor anymore. One of the big advantages is that we can work around the clock without working 24/7. If we come up with something at the end of day in New York, people are working on that feature in Europe overnight. When we wake up, we pick up where they left off. It creates a continuous stream of work. It allows us to iterate better, with a continuously fresh set of eyes. Which ultimately allows us to innovate more.

 

On Wednesday February 25, join Karma‘s CEO and Cofounder Steven van Wel and Social Media Week Executive Director Toby Daniels for a discussion exploring what the future mobile connectivity, advances in WiFi innovation and what it all means, for you, your business and for our globally connected society.

 

About Karma

Karma is the simplest way to get online. The pocket sized device seamlessly connects you to the internet and data is pay as you go–that means no expiration dates, no contracts, no subscriptions. Stay connected by preordering Karma.

Yunha Kim, Founder of Locket: Why I Quit My Job To Launch A Startup

Posted on by Stephanie Carino

When you initially meet Yunha Kim, you wouldn’t automatically assume that she is the mastermind behind Locket, the super successful lock screen app for Android, but that’s before she begins to speak with an intelligence and passion that you would expect from the head of a company. I’m not the only/first/last person to take notice. When companies like TechCrunch and VentureBeat are writing about your company and when Tyra Banks expresses interest in investing in your idea, people are bound to jump on the band wagon. During my visit to San Francisco, I got a chance to speak to Yunha about her journey from Investment Banker to Founder and CEO of  her very own startup. Find out below what exactly it takes to get an idea from concept to realization.

1) You started your career as an Investment Banker and with your switch from iPhone to Android user, you quickly found the calling for this company. Can you tell me a little bit about your first couple of months of the company?

YK: I can barely remember the first couple months of the company. It was just so crazy.

In the first month, I was running around pitching our idea for investment. After getting funded by Great Oaks VC, I was then running around pitching to advertisers and I did that for a half year. Then I started pitching again for another round of funding.

When we had no money or product, I was getting somewhere around four hours of sleep every night. I was living with five other guys out of a two-bedroom apartment with three dogs and a hamster where we worked and lived. We were also getting by with hot dogs and ramen noodles.

Sometimes, I wondered, ‘What did I sign up for?’ but I think I was really happy, getting things off the ground, creating something out of nothing.

2) This idea actually came from our culture’s tendency of constantly checking our phones. Can you give us a little more insight into that?

YK: While pulling long but boring hours in investment banking (prior to Locket), I wasn’t able to do anything fun on my monitor, so I was checking my phone a few hundred times per day. That’s when I realized I keep on checking my phone every single day, bringing it to the restroom, everywhere I go. Every single one of those moments I was unlocking my lock screen which was a picture of a daisy which came as a default lock screen with my Galaxy S3.

One day, I was looking at it wondering why anyone wasn’t doing anything with the most valuable real estate in advertising. If people check their phone 150 times per day, with 71 million Android users, that’s 10.7 billion glances on the lock screen every day in the US that we have not been able to monetize. It occurred to me that this will be the next big thing in mobile advertising.

3) What do you feel are some of the benefits of Locket?

YK: Locket brings content you care about to your lock screen based on your interest, swiping habits and time of the day. It’s a quick passive way to learn about what’s going on around you, in your world. I am too busy to check out all my apps on my phone, but with Locket, I am consistently updated. I was able to learn about a fire in Soma which is only a few blocks away from our office through my lock screen, then I looked outside my window and I saw that fire.

4) How do you find a life work balance with being in such a busy and quickly expanding company? What does your typical day look like?  

YK: When you are in a startup, it’s really difficult to balance your work and life (if you even have a life). It’s like when you have a baby (your startup), and the baby cries, you can’t really say you are off your work hours and let it cry. So, it will feel like you are on call 24/7.

5) I know focus on the company has changed, can you tell me a little about that?

YK: Recently, we have stopped our paid-per-swipe-ad service. We are now focusing on contextual content on your lock screen. Based on an user’s interest, swiping habits and time of the day, we serve content that people care about in a visually delightful way on the Android lock screen, and as the apps is consistently used, the content becomes more relevant

For more on Yunha and Locket, please visit: http://getlocket.com/.

Stephanie Carino has spent over the past 10 years working in the city in the Fashion, Food and Event industries. She currently works in the PR Department at leading Technology and Business Book Publisher, Apress.  On the side, she also writes event coverage and reviews for, Socially Superlative, a NYC-based event website, covering predominantly food, travel and entertainment stories. Connect with Stephanie on Twitter.

 

Full Circle: An SMW Wrap-Up

Posted on by Gary J. Nix

This is a guest post by Gary J. Nix.

Contrary to the belief of some, digital marketing conferences are not merely another chance for people to showoff how awesome they are, learn new autocorrect facts, such as the word Livestream converts to Kirstie Aimee (don’t ask), and come up with new-fangled buzzwords like screenagers and platblishers. These conferences are an opportunity to reinforce the fact that, no matter what adjective you use, it’s all marketing. This is something we must all remember, especially once you see the tag #MarketingMarketing on Twitter. And here’s why:

Games People Play

The IAB conducted a discussion on the relationship of today’s gaming and social experiences, both on and offline. Besides the fact that data tells us that two billion people are playing games digitally and about 900 million of those are doing so on mobile devices, the huge point is that people enjoy competition, collaboration, and sharing. These three levers are used in digital gaming now and have always been used in marketing.

Adding these elements in your marketing mix at the right time and in the right way will give consumers another reason to be involved with your brand. Plus, there’s a reason “Shall we play a game” is one of the most popular movie lines from the 80’s.

The Revolution won’t be Televised, but it May be Streamed

As expected, there was plenty of talk about content at Social Media Week. The most poignant from a marketer’s general point of view was presented by Percolate in a discussion that was really about content delivery has been revolutionized. While it is important to understand the seven core components of content marketing — audience, trigger, brand element, topic, campaign, business objective and platform — along with the importance of context, content has been delivered way before we’ve done so digitally. I only mention this to clearly state that content marketing is not a magic bullet. It is important for discovery and delivery in the world as we know it today; however, it is nothing new. We’ve been doing this for many moons and will continue to do so. It’s marketing. #NODISRESPECTOTPERCOLATE #ALLDISRESPECTTOJIMMYKIMMEL. That last hashtag was clearly a joke.

Millennials are Humans

This is a direct quote from a fun-filled discussion about the millennial demographic. Many truths about millennials were examined, such as their actual loyalty coupled with the ability to adapt, their demands regarding innovation and entertainment, their level of thoughtfulness, their aversion to banner ads, and their respect for serious issues. However, we have been talking about them as if they were some new species. Many of us have gone through a period of life with these characteristics, and some of us, like me, are still going through it. It’s good to know what makes this age group tick, but please don’t confuse them with a flying machine that can make the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. Please don’t confuse them with #GenerationSelfie either.

Culture and Behavior Trump All

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, marketing relied heavily on focus groups and surveys for the data needed to understand what people wanted. Yes, these are still important actions, but we can get a plethora of information from the social web by simply listening. The discussions that take place reveal so much psychographic information as to how people behave and people follow and create culture.

To me, this is the most important recurring theme of the conference. At times it seems that we forget that the most important part of marketing is figuring out to whom we will market our product or service. We’ve become so caught up in how we will deliver the message, we’ve forgotten to make sure it goes to the right people or that the message even makes sense. So, before you go off with a beautifully designed visual campaign with bells and whistles on the newest platform, make sure that you remember that the consumer retains control over our businesses and we need to go to them and show them value. They’ll appreciate you for it.

Just my two cents…

Gary J. Nix is known as many things: Your favorite brand’s de facto ambassador. Propagator of true brandwagoning. Zeitgeist Firestarter. [American] HYPE man. Digerati Deputy. Random comedian. Life observer. Founder of #bespokehashtaggery a/k/a Cobra Kai. Enigmatic wunderkind. Zen BRANDarchist. Keyser Söze. But most importantly, he’s all about marketing, identity, and branding in business. Strategy, Testing, Implementation — all of these things must be done in order to ensure success. Risk & Reward are his R&R. Learn more here.

“Games People Play” image courtesy of Joshua, WarGames, MGM.
“The Revolution won’t be Televised, but it May be Streamed” image courtesy of Web Solutions of America.
“Millennials are Humans” image courtesy of Disney/LucasFilms/The Corellian Engineering Company.
“Culture and Behavior Trump All” image courtesy of KeyChangeNow.com.

How to Take Your Marketing Strategy Mobile at SMW

Posted on by Sara Adam

In a day and age where 75% of Americans don’t even go to the bathroom without their phones, it is clear that brands and marketers need a mobile strategy. Customer engagement is critical to success to a brand’s long-term success, so here our top three tips to keep up with your community, wherever they may be:

  1. Use Video
    Platforms like Vine and Instagram make it easier than ever for marketers to connect with their customers on the go. More than 40% of YouTube’s traffic comes from mobile devices. And that’s just one platform. That means it’s the most effective way to get your audience. Unruly seems to have helped master it, having delivered, tracked and audited 3.5 billion video views- they have “viral” down to science. So, if you’re going to use video on mobile, you should join Unruly for this seminar as they share their expertise and how to stay ahead of the competition.
  2. Use a Multi-Cultural Strategy
    If experts from Facebook, Twitter and Verizon care about multi-cultural marketing, you probably should, too. With our increasingly connected and diverse society, it is important to understand who your customers are and how to reach them. And marketing executives agree. African Americans and Hispanics lead the way in terms of adopting technology and represent a large portion of U.S. spending, creating vast opportunity for mobile marketers. Few get multicultural like IAB. So, don’t miss IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence panel on how you can grow the multi-cultural marketing strategy for your business.
  3. Go Local
    Reach customers right where they are and when they are nearby. It’s the easiest way to get them in your door. Advances in technology allow marketers to target consumers more precisely than ever, factoring in location and customer profile. So, it’s time to learn these tools. Learn how to increase engagement and sales conversions with a smarter mobile strategy at this session with experts from Qualcomm, Control Group, and Ogilvy.

To dive deeper into these topics, register for Social Media Week here. We have an amazing lineup of speakers and events on topics from entrepreneurship, technology and publishing. And even if you can’t make it, thanks to our partner Nokia, catch these events on Livestream by creating an account.

Read This On The Move: Mobile At SMW NYC

Posted on by Dani McNally

Reading this on your phone? We thought so. A recent report shows that more than half of emails read last month were opened on a mobile device, reiterating what we already know: Mobile isn’t going anywhere (well, obviously, it’s going everywhere, but you know what we mean…).

With barely a month left until SMW14 kicks off and registration opening tomorrow, here are a few of the mobile-related presentations to add to your must-attend list:

Tap That App: Get Turned On By Mobile Innovation
Everyone’s favorite kindergarten activity is back: show-and-tell. But rather than waxing poetic about baseball gloves or teddy bears, 10 of today’s titans of tech, design, food, and more, are revealing the apps they can’t live without. Hosted by MKG, this event is sure to reconfirm your love for tried-and-true standards—and introduce you to a few surprises.

Man Vs. Machine: Advertising’s Epic Battle for Human Attention
Advertising dollars follow the eyeballs, and as the number of sidewalk run-ins show (53% of cell phone users have been affected by “distracted walking,” according to a Pew Research survey released last week), eyeballs are on mobile devices. But more than 40% of mobile ad clicks are accidental or fraudulent, and the online digital advertising economy loses an estimated $6 billion a year. So what’s the future of advertising? Truex’s Joe Marchese reveals all.

Content Is King, But Distribution is Queen
Social networks are the town criers of the 21st century, spreading articles, pictures, and videos that users deem newsworthy, interesting, or just damn entertaining. You know that to ensure your content gets clicks, it better be good. But not all good content goes viral. Distribution is key to getting users to not only consume your content, but share it. Buzzfeed’s VP of Agency Strategy and Industry Development, Jonathan Perelman, explains how to combine the two successfully.

Mobile will be a part of these and so many more of the innovative and forward-thinking events happening February 18-21. This is just scratching the surface. With our partner Nokia, you know we’ll be going even deeper. So, join us (and Nokia) to explore the future of our always on, always connected world.

Register for your pass today here and receive a 20% discount. Early bird discounts end January 15!

Is the Ability to Use Our Phones “Gate to Gate” a Good Thing?

Posted on by Stephanie Carino

If you took a plane at some point during the recent holiday season, chances are you noticed the flight attendant’s intercom announcement included the allowance of continued Portable Electronic Device (PED) usage, as long as it remained in airplane mode. So what does that change entail?

Back in the day, The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federation Aviation Administration (FAA) claimed that phones needed to be turned off during takeoff and landing because radio signals from the devices could interfere with an aircraft’s communications, navigation, and other systems and therefore cause a safety issue.  After an aviation expert study late last year, they discovered that airplanes could in fact handle the radio frequencies from PED’s without interruption. FAA deemed electronic devices such as cell phones, tablets, laptop computers, and e-readers allowed for use from “gate to gate,” with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) following suite a month later. 

Phone calls are still prohibited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but they also have a proposal to allow that going forward. Once an airline carrier proves their compliance to the FAA, they can begin participating. 

Delta Airlines and JetBlue were the first two airlines to file after the ruling was approved, but a list of additional domestic airlines that are participating can be found here.

Is this new change a good thing? The most noticeable change is that the FAA and airlines are partnering to try to create less of a life disruption when traveling via plane. It does make a difference, especially with the notoriety of trying to get through airport security without a hiccup. Those that need to stay connected for work can now do so with ease, and airline attendants no longer need to police passengers about powering down their phones. It could be argued that another positive aspect of the change is the ability to be reached in case of emergency, but unless action can be taken remotely, nothing can really be done until landing. In the case of Justine Sacco, you could potentially eliminate eleven hours of unknown social media backlash. Of course, that’s assuming the flight provides WiFi, and even then, it needs to be purchased.

What could be seen as a negative side effect, though, is that planes were known as one of few places where someone could not be reached, like underground subways. But that’s changing for both modes of transportation, now. This is a loss of one of the few times when people could get offline; and this fuels the tech addiction that we face daily of needing to be reachable at all times. It adds one more dimension of a phone being almost attached to our fingertips.

Do you think the new policy is a positive change? Share your opinions in the comments below:

Regardless of whether or not this new change of policy is ultimately for the better overall, it is clear that the FAA’s main concern is safety and not making our lives harder, which is comforting news. As technology advances and becomes a more constant of our daily lives, the world around us will continue to mold to fit those needs. And that’s something you can learn more about during SMW NYC, with events like 2020 Vision: Your Life 20 Years From Now and The Third Metric: Redefining Success Beyond Money and Power.

 
Stephanie Carino has spent over the past 10 years working in the city in the Fashion, Food and Event industries. She currently works in the PR Department at leading Technology and Business Book Publisher, Apress. On the side, she also writes event coverage and reviews for, Socially Superlative, a NYC-based event website, covering predominantly food, travel and entertainment stories. Connect with Stephanie on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of Diana Walker/TIME

The Present and Future State of Media, Featured at SMW NYC

Posted on by Nicky Yates

Many have touted 2013 as the year that changed publishing and media. From listicles taking over our news feeds to the growing dominance of native advertising to Upworthy’s staggering growth numbers (which have outpaced even that of the New York Times), last year we witnessed a seismic shift in the industry.

We’re diving deep into these at SMW NYC, and you’ll be able to know what lays in store for media in 2014 with event like these:

Distribution is Key

Few companies have scaled quite the way BuzzFeed has, especially with its range. It truly is the epitome of a digitally native brand and a perfect case study, which is why we’re bringing in CEO and Founder, Jonah Peretti for a conversation on original and branded content, data analytics, mobile apps, and which social platforms are most important for BuzzFeed’s model.

Later in the week, BuzzFeed will be sharing specifically on how they have emerged as king of content distribution. Social is the new starting point for how we discover, consume and share content. But good content doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll go viral. So, Jonathan Perelman, VP of Agency Strategy and Industry Development at BuzzFeed, joins us to explain how content and distribution can work successfully together. If your brand is engaging in content marketing on any level, this conversation is one you can’t miss.

Harness the Power of Social

If it’s not BuzzFeed clogging up your newsfeed, then you’re seeing the world’s fastest growing media brand, Upworthy. Upworthy curates meaningful content on social, economic and societal issues that is then massively shared by the site’s community. Upworthy.com routinely breaks its own traffic records and has more views than the New York Times, FOX News or BleacherReport — meaning, Founder and CEO, Eli Pariser, knows how to harness the power of social media. He’ll be on hand at SMW NYC to share his secret sauce and where Upworthy as a media entity is heading.

Get Mobile

Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. Adults now get their news on Twitter, with 85% of those consuming it on a mobile device. This means media organizations are more than ever needing to address this change. So, we’re featuring a debate between publishing industry leaders and an interactive audience discussion centered on the future of digital, mobile, and social platforms for news organizations. At the end of this event, we’ll all have an understanding of how outlets can make the most of mobile and social platforms and what journalists and editors need to know.

Overall, we’ll be presenting a solid look at the present state and future of media, along with a focus on leaders you can look to. All we need is you.

Get your pass today here and join us for a serious look at media.

8 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2014

Posted on by Dion Hinchcliffe

Even though spending on social media marketing is at an all-time high and continues to grow, there’s a good reason that the overall portion of the marketing budget dedicated to social channels remains comparatively small. Frankly, this is a bit surprising. It’s been nearly 10 years after social media arrived on the scene; and today, social media essentially dominates as a share of digital consumer attention, yet social channels remain an under served target for many businesses.

The underlying reasons for this general underinvestment in social media marketing are complex. In general, marketers have discovered that attaining their objectives through social media can be less predictable, particularly because the discipline itself is one of the fastest changing in the media business. It is harder to tie outcomes to specific business goals. Directly translating traditional marketing activities into social media usually doesn’t produce the best results, as marketing efforts typically have to be rethought for two-way engagement, user participation, and/or viral amplification.

Some of the current data is sobering:

Yet over 70% of marketers plan on increasing their investment in social media next year, and by an average of 50%. This means marketers will be doing more in social, expectations by the business will be higher, and successful outcomes more important than ever.

In this environment then, my research indicates that marketing teams will be looking to increase the effectiveness of their social marketing efforts in three ways: a) by better adapting their digital assets and campaigns to social channels, b) shifting to a focus to managing for quality metrics, instead of just quantitative measures, and c) preparing for more rapid engagement in new channels including mobile and new emerging social networks.

Against this backdrop, here’s what 2014 holds in store for social media marketing:

  1. Marketers will get Facebook fatigue as the social networking giant continues to change its algorithms. 
    Fresh off the most recent — and rather contentious — changes to brand pages, marketers will re-evaluate how much they invest in the platform in 2014, looking for a more diversified social strategy. I’ve long recommended that companies serious about social media should avoid driving their traffic to Facebook in general, and the latest round of changes by Facebook should give marketers reason to carefully rethink their plans.
  2. The resurgence of Google+. 
    Now that Google+ has grown recently to become the #2 social network online, it will get new respect by marketers next year, who will figure out how to incorporate it into their social marketing plans.
  3. Image-based services and surprisingly, blogging, will see new emphasis. 
    Whether it is Pinterest or Instagram, or images in feeds on Twitter and Facebook, compelling visuals continue to drive high engagement and attention. Marketers will be looking at expanding their efforts in this area next year. Blogging will also return as a key engagement strategy that avoids the lock-in and control issues of major social media sites.
  4. Integrated marketing begins in earnest. 
    In 2014, it’ll be practical for the average organization to largely achieve a long-standing goal: Easily create an integrated marketing campaign that has presence and engagement capabilities at all the major social and non-social touchpoints. What’s new that will finally make this happen? The rise, maturity, and recent prominence of new multi-channel and “omnichannel” marketing platforms like Marketo and Eloqua that perform a lot of the work automatically to make consumer experiences seamless across Web, mobile, social, and other digital channels.
  5. Real-time marketing will get real. 
    RTM was all the rage this year, and powerful examples like T-Mobile’s customer retention effort demonstrated that major, market shifting results were possible. But most organizations were just learning about it in 2013. Next year, they will begin integrated real-time efforts into their social media efforts, particularly as more companies build social media command centers capable of scaled listening, triage, and dispatch.

  6. Social marketers will continue to struggle with mobile. 
    Over 250 million Facebook users are mobile-only and that number is growing. While Facebook was able to gets its act together around mobile, it took an investment and effort that most marketing organizations won’t possess. Organizations willing to focus on mobile-first for their social marketing efforts will fare better, but it will be another difficult year adapting marketing strategies to both social and mobile.
  7. The move to measurement of quality of engagement, instead of quantity. 
    Not that quantity won’t continue to matter, as it always determines the ultimate funnel size, but as measurement methods continue to improve dramatically, social marketers will also be able to determine if their efforts are resulting in the quality of engagement needed to drive business outcomes, like conversions. You can’t manage to what you can’t measure, and measuring quality of engagement will ensure more effective and efficient marketing campaigns in 2014
  8. A significant shift in the social networking landscape. 
    The emergence of Snapchat and a host of other new social networks and apps shows how dynamic the industry is. Marketers will find it easy to focus on the old standbys like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, yet some of the best demographic segments will shift their attention to new social networking services in 2014, and smart marketers will allocate resources and budget next year to tap into them.

Of course, much more will happen in social media marketing next year, but these will be some of the most significant in my analysis. That’s not to say that some of the strategies of five years ago aren’t still key. For example, I’m still sanguine the major investments in customer communities have the biggest bang for the buck, even as the window increasingly closes on the easy opportunities.

What are you seeing as the biggest trends for social media marketing next year?

Dion Hinchcliffe is the Chief Strategy Officer of Dachis Group. To find out more about Dachis Group’s session at Social Media Week, click here.

Nokia x SMWNYC: See Them In Action

Posted on by Nicky Yates

Being their third year powering SMW, our friends at Nokia have really come to SMW NYC with some amazing ideas around engaging our audience.

Nokia is no stranger to our SMW NYC community- and we love having them here! In addition to powering our mobile app, SMW Live and SMW RealTime so you can truly engage on numerous levels, they are making their presence known. Starting off with offering Nokia Lumia 920 trials to our community, Nokia x SMW NYC got running early, and isn’t letting up. Making sure the week begins and ends with a bang, Nokia is one of the main forces behind the Opening & Closing Parties. Given their past with us, we’re expecting some fun surprises for the attendees…

Nokia is also making sure SMW NYC attendees don’t miss a beat with an incredible Simulcast set-up at the Global HQ. Streaming events from all over SMW13 and SMWNYC with incredible Monster Wireless Headsets, if you’re nearby, you want to see this. You can also get powered up by using the Nokia Charging Station- you know your phones and computers need it.

But don’t forget to swing by their Photo Lab to see the power of the PureView Camera on the latest Nokia Lumia 920’s. Don’t worry, we’ll be sending them to your FaceBook profiles to share… Speaking of photos, Nokia has partnered to bring the 1197 Mobile Photography Conference to SMW NYC. With 3 days of programming and an interactive gallery, it’s the perfect place for you if you love your camera, your phone and combining the two.

Want to learn something? Nokia #SmarterEveryday is making sure you get the most of your experience by providing the Master Classroom at Global HQ, letting you get hands-on learning from some of the best in the biz. From leaders like Tumblr to Dachis Group to Nokia@Work, Global HQ attendees will walk away with knowledge they can immediately use. Nokia is behind some of our Master Classes like Designing Your Day: Maximize Your Brain, Maximize Your Day. Taught by Paul McGinniss, you’ll be given the neuroscience perspective on how to work with your brain to get the most out of your day- like what are the times of day when you are at your cognitive best?

There’s also Designing your day: Practical Tools to boost your creativity & productivity. To help you truly work smarter, this Master Class will give you the tools to help you reconsider your workday and understand what’s getting in the way of your best work; redesigning the way you work. You’ll leave with ideas and tools you can use to give you more get time to do the things you really love.

Then see the team on stage. Starting with Designing A Smarter Everyday, presented by Nokia@Work, as part of the Smarter Everyday series, this event takes the a considered approach using design thinking and similar models about how to work more effectively everyday. They’ll ask the questions of what does the perfect day look like; what are the best strategies for structuring a day to get the most from it; and more. If you’re serious about being productive and getting your start-up off the ground, these strategies are for you.

Moving to a different theme, The Social Engagement Hub: Re-Imagining The Contact Center As A Critical Marketing Tool brings on Sean Valderas, Nokia Care’s Social Media Manager, to join other brand’s customer service managers to discuss what a Social Engagement Hub looks like and why social customer service is so crucial.

If you haven’t seen Nokia’s Global Head of Digital and Social, Craig Hepburn, yet, you are missing out. SMW NYC is your opportunity. Swing by Bloomberg’s Business & Entrepreneurship Hub as he shares his experiences for Social as The Great Equalizer: Interviews With Companies Large and Small.

Rounding it all out, Nokia wraps up SMW NYC with something they’re passionate about- music. In partnership with SoundCtrl, Nokia Music is bringing a Music Day to SMW NYC. With Rock It: How to Drive Brand Awareness and Social Action Through Music Partnerships, you’ll be able to see how social is driving music and how Nokia Music is working with bands to provide a different music experience.

Calling Early Adopters: Trial a Nokia Lumia 920

Posted on by Nicky Yates

How would you like to get your hands on a Nokia Lumia 920 for the duration of your time at this year’s Social Media Week in New York?

Well, Nokia@Work currently have 20 Lumia trial devices they want to loan to the hard working people who are making their way from all over the USA to be at SMW New York.

Nokia want to know how the Lumia 920 with Windows Phone 8 fits into your work life and how the phone can make you #SmarterEveryday in the workplace.

During the week, a Nokia@Work film crew will be on hand to catch your reaction and thoughts on the phone and to capture your philosophy on working smarter. Sign-up here, selecting SMWNYC from the dropdown, and tweet @NokiaAtWork to let them know you are interested.

Lots of Nokia@Work events will be taking place at SMWNY this year. Follow them for more details on when and where they will be taking place and to follow the conversation online, and make sure you check out their events on productivity and getting the most out of mobile. From Designing Your Day: Maximize Your Brain, Maximize Your Day to Designing a SmarterEveryday to Designing your day: Practical Tools to boost your creativity & productivity, you’ll want to be there.

Social Media Affects Consumer Holiday Buying Decisions

Posted on by Lisa Chau

Liel Leibovitz is a visiting assistant professor at NYU Steinhardt, primarily focusing on video game and interactive media research and theory. His studies in the ontology of electronic game play, ranges from representations of death and violence in video games to human-machine interaction, gaming and the construction of player subjectivity. A founding member of the NYU Faculty Council on Games, he also serves as a member of the advisory board of the New York chapter of the Digital Games Research Association.  His latest research, commissioned by Offerpop, a ‘next generation’ social media marketing company, finds that Social media outranks TV, newspaper and online advertising as source for consumers’ holiday buying decisions. The study surveyed a demographically-precise sample size of the American population, to gauge their perceptions of holiday shopping via social media.

Mark Cooper is Co-Founder and CMO of Offerpop, a fan-marketing platform for Facebook and Twitter. Thousands of companies use Offerpop to run promotions, sweepstakes and fan engagement programs – launching campaigns in minutes and tracking performance in real-time.

Mark has helped launch an array of online, mobile and media businesses, including the first TV product placement ratings service (Nielsen IAG) and the wireless industry’s first mobile virtual network operator (ESPN Mobile). He began his career building brand campaigns for leading consumer marketers in the US and Asia / Pacific, including NIKE, General Mills and Apple. Mark holds a BA in History and a BA in International Economics from Brown University.

Lisa Chau speaks with both men on their collaboration:

Why is social media the leading source for consumers’ holiday buying decisions?

MC: Today’s consumers are constantly interacting with social content — in fact, 22% of their time online is spent on social networks. Social media offers consumers a platform for seeking advice about their buying decisions from trusted, influential sources like friends, family, and the brands they follow.

In your study, 90% said that following a brand on social media influences their buying habits, with 32% using social to discover new gift ideas. Please explain this with specific examples.

MC: Social media is a great discovery tool by nature. When fans of a brand redeem a coupon or comment on a brand’s status update, their friends see that action in their news feeds. That’s why it’s important for brands to consistently post about their products and offers via channels like Facebook and Twitter.

Many brands ramp up these activities around the holidays with gift-themed campaigns. For example, last year we saw clients like Barney’s creating holiday look books on Facebook that allowed brands to browse gift ideas and click through to their site to make purchases. Additionally, American Eagle recently ran a successful holiday photo contest using Offerpop’s Photo Contest 3 app. They accepted entries across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram — driving brand awareness across the three biggest photo sharing platforms.

How can retailers leverage this knowledge to boost sales even more, especially now that the holiday season is upon us?

MC: Offering fans exclusive coupons and offers is a very effective way to boost sales, particularly around the holidays. Brands can also drive more sales by tracking the content that their fans interact with on social channels — and using that knowledge to target them with offers via other marketing channels like email.

What is the best use of social media for sales that you have seen?  Why?

MC: Last year, Bonobos accelerated e-commerce with a successful coupon program on Twitter that gave followers deals on gifts like gloves and scarves. Using Offerpop’s Viral app, they gave followers three hours to unlock three time-sensitive deals by retweeting the offers. It was a smart way to facilitate sharing and drive sales — they exceeded their virality goal by 60%.

LL: I can absolutely say that there is little doubt that those businesses that distinguish themselves in this field believe that social media are not just tools but platforms and that consumers expect to have an dialogue/ongoing relationship that far transcends spot considerations.

What do you foresee as the next big development in social media? 

LL: People actually learning how to use it.  I think that there what we’ve been seeing with social media is what we’ve been seeing with all other nascent kinds of media.  As soon as they appear, people try to assume that it’s just like the previous medium. It’s a completely different medium, with completely different rules, completely different vibes, completely different expectations.

The companies that do it best, are the companies that understand that there is a possibility there for a wholly different relationship that is deep and meaningful and based not just on limited commercial transactions but around shared tastes, passions, and interests.

I think that brands that really try to be category aggregators do really well. These are the brands that don’t just post about their products, but post about things that interest their consumers.

 
Lisa Chau has been involved with Web 2.0 since graduate school at Dartmouth College, where she completed an independent study on blogging. She was subsequently highlighted as a woman blogger in Wellesley Magazine, published by her alma mater.  Lisa currently works as an Assistant Director in Alumni Relations at Dartmouth College.  She has been published in US News and Forbes.