October 14, 2011 / Mike
AdWeek DC
A few weeks ago I attended a great conference in DC as the advertising community came together for this 8th annual event. I’d like to thank Karen Riordan and Ad Club DC for making it all happen. Over the course of the two-day session, we were educated on both the past and future of advertising, trends, and everyone’s hot button issue – social media.
One of the messages that resonated with me came from Eric Ludwig of Rosetta Stone. In social media, your brand is in the consumer’s hands. The audience builds the content; you are there to stimulate and accent it. Use it as a tool to listen and learn from your customers. Brands being social is not new, it’s just that the multiple of mediums has compounded exponentially with the advent of the digital platform.
Another session I really enjoyed featured Katie Harbath from Facebook. In the 90’s, social media was about building a website and people would come to you. Now, social media is built around you. People want to be involved in the experience and feel engaged. They want to drive the experience and participate. Did you know ads that ask people to participate are four times more effective than ones that don’t require participation?
I learned too many good lessons to re-iterate in this blog but know this, it was a great time. The programs, speakers, and relationships were engaging and it was well worth my time. I can’t wait until next year.
