Digital Summit NYC

The Digital Summit New York took place last week on May 1 and 2. This summit is part of a larger series; Digital Summit takes place in 18 cities, and its attendees are “the movers and shakers influencing the growth and success of their company’s digital marketing – and the future of the digital economy.” There are workshops on Digital Marketing conducted by speakers from leading brands, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, and industry leaders.

On May 1, the Keynote panel was “The Craft of Content: Moving Beyond Best Practices” with Stacy Minero, the head of Brand Strategy for Twitter. Twitter helps capture what’s happening in the world and what people are talking about. If something is news, it will be trending on Twitter. So, brands need to think strategically about how to make an impact with their content. 

She talks about how brands need to rethink about the way we connect. First and foremost (and something we learned from Scott’s class) in today’s marketing landscape, consumers do not want brands to be talking at them. They want brands to be talking with them and for brands to actually listen to what they, as consumers, have to say. They don’t want ads; they want content. 

Brands also can no longer just sit on the sidelines for social issues. Consumers demand that brands take a stand because they want to buy from brands that share social values as them. 54% of consumers believe that it is easier for people to get brands to address social problems than to get the government to act on it. That’s why it’s so important for brands to have cooperative social responsibility initiatives that align with their values. And on any social media channel, it is cluttered with content. Approximately, 456,000 tweets are being sent on Twitter per minute. 89% of the content is not noticed at all. Consumers can’t remember the brand if the brand doesn’t have their attention. It’s important to rethink about the way brands are interacting with the consumers because consumers are 40% more likely to recommend brands that respond to them. That’s why these contents need to be able to create emotions from the consumers. 

Before posting content, brands need to ask if the content they create is memorable or interesting.

On Day 2, I attended Digital Strategy & Design Consultant Quinn Tempest’s “How Brands Can Harness the Power of Instagram Stories”. As she gave her presentation, she showed what a multi-tasker she was, as she live-tweeted on Twitter (which is actually amusing cause she’s talking about Instagram).

There are currently 1 billion total Instagram users and half of them are daily Story users. The amount of Insta stories are overtaking Snapchat. “Instagram Marketing is an interactive experience of your brand that is creatively presented and strategically planned in order to build a relationship with your audience.” She explained the difference between what lives on the feed verse what should be Insta stories, especially for brands. The feed is content that is timeless and is curated for discovery.

Brands’ Insta stories should be “in-the-moment” and authentic and be able to engage with the audience. But while hitting all of those points, brands need to make sure that the content that is placed by the brands 1) match what the brands’ values are, 2) the audience care about the content and 3) stand out from all the competitors’ content.

The highlight of Day 2 is the keynote speaker of the day, Seth Godin, Best-Stelling Author and Marketing Guru with “This is Marketing”.

So what is marketing? “Marketing is the act of telling a story that your best clients want to share.” If you create awesome content, your brands’ customers will want to share them. You want to go to places where people are waiting for you. “It’s really difficult to change someone against their will, but maybe you can earn their enrollment and they will dance with you to make that change happen.”

Seth Godin also talks about the power of micro-influencers and how the rule of marketing and influencing have changed because of social media. While television is about mass marketing, the internet is not one big medium. The internet is a micro-medium; it’s a billion tiny media. And brands need to learn to take one of the billion: “The future belongs to the organizations that address the smallest group of people. Delight and overwhelm them with the marketing magic that you make. They will tell their friends.” You want to tell a story that resonates with the people you want to speak with and get their attention.