SubscribeTop 5 Things I learned from the Online Marketing Summit 2013 #OMSummit
I’m happy to be back at the Online Marketing Summit this year in sunny San Diego. I’ve been attending this conference as an avid learner since 2008 so it is great to see how much it has grown and connect with so many industry leaders. There’s no denying that in addition to the amazing content you’ll learn and connections you’ll make, the gorgeous sunny San Diego view is a big draw. I love meeting people who are traveling here from across the nation but I’m also grateful that I can proudly call San Diego my home when asked the ever so popular question, “Where are you from?”
I often get asked by people how I stay up to date with the latest changes in social media and technology. The answer is that I’m constantly open to learning and constantly seeking opportunities to expand my knowledge and network. Part of how I learn is by sharing, speaking and teaching others. I find that when I’m talking to others, or even writing, I often catch myself saying things that I need to implement myself. Thus in an effort to learn and teach, I’m thrilled to share with you all the top 5 things I learned from the Online Marketing Summit 2013.
1. ROI is complex, not just one number or a perfect algorithm- This is a takeaway I got from today’s afternoon keynote, Heidi Melin. It’s something very important for marketing professionals to keep in mind when we work with clients. Many people who want to start using social media to grow their business, automatically assume that the ROI can be easily measured. They want a quick fix and they want to see a direct ROI immediately. The challenge with social media and many other online marketing tools is that they are not designed to to be a quick fix. An investment in your online marketing and social media will ensure a stronger brand image, help you grow a loyal following and over time will ensure your business continues to thrive. This is something that marketeers need to understand so they can effectively explain it to clients. This is also something business owners need to understand so they can make a smart investment in their social media without freaking out if they don’t see a significant revenue increase as soon as their social media campaign is launched.
2. Easily find discussions about a keyword or phrase people may be searching for when they are interested in your service- I learn something new every day and this is one of my favorite tricks I learned today from Arnie Kuenn’s talk about creating blog content. By doing a Google search under discussions you can easily discover people asking questions and seeking advice for challenges you many easily be able to solve with your product or service. Simply take your keyword phrase and do a Google search. Scroll to the right of the navigation bar and under “More” click on “Discussions”. This will show you all the places people are talking about you. Long tail searches are the key to success in this case. There is a lot you can do with this data. You can create blog content that answers many questions people are asking and you can also directly reach out to people and let them know you are available to help. The more you understand what questions about being asked, the easier it is for you to respond and be a true resource.
3. Brand your laptop- I’ve seen this done before, but it really stood out to me today. What a great way to increase visibility for your brand on something that you’re always using. This is also great if you’re speaking and giving a presentation with your laptop. The audience has a constant reminder of who you are. I asked Chris from Wider Funnel where he got his custom laptop sticker and he couldn’t remember the company. Does anyone know of a company that can do this for me?
4. Some of the best networking happens during lunch- Many of you are so busy that you barely have time to attend a conference. Every moment that you’re not in a session, you get back to work. You return phone calls, you find a quiet place to return emails and you skip lunch. Don’t skip lunch! Some of the best connections are made during lunch because people aren’t distracted by sessions. You have an opportunity to talk to people on a more personal level and people are more likely to be friendly during break time! During lunch today, I was able to meet everyone at my table and made some great connections. I happened to be one of the few San Diegans in my lunch group so it was also interesting to learn about where everyone was traveling from.
5. When you get advice, take it as a guideline. Step back and think about if and how it applies to your business. This is valuable advice I learned from Intel’s Pam Didner in her Social Media Mash- Up session. With information overload, we are constantly receiving advice from so many different sources. We often receive conflicting advice about the same topic. Instead of immediately accepting advice from the first place you receive, think about how the advice applies to your own business and the goals you’re trying to achieve. You may receive some great advice, but if it has nothing to do with your goals, then it may not be something you want to take action on.
I definitely learned a lot more than just 5 things today, but I trust that just the tidbit of information I’ve shared will help you in some way, inspire you to take some action and encourage you to keep learning every day! Last but not least, I want to end by sharing a few fun things! I was extremely happy to see our hashtag #OMSummit trending! This takes me back to memory lane since I actually created the Twitter account for the Online Marketing Summit and starting using the hashtag 5 years ago!
The Expo Hall has a lot of stuff going on. The Crimson Hexagon booth hired a Caricature Drawer to use their technology and draw fun photos of everyone. Here’s my digital caricature. I don’t think it looks like me at all, but I’ll let you guys decide. I do like the flower in my hair! Overall, I’m grateful for another opportunity to attend the Online Marketing Summit. I am always so excited to continue advancing my knowledge in the online marketing space and I’m happy that my blog allows me to share what I learn with my readers. Thanks for reading and if you’re at the Online Marketing Summit, please make sure to connect with me!
The Next Digital Media Now for Yogis is Sunday November 4th, 2012
In my previous post about the Workout in Pink event, I mentioned that I’m working hard to launch a new yoga brand. My new brand is still in the works and I can’t wait to launch so the meantime, I’m still using this blog to share any yoga related news and appropriately enough this post is relates to both yoga and marketing. During the summer I successfully hosted my very first Digital Media Now for Yogis. See I wanted to combine my two passions and teach other yoga/fitness professionals how to market themselves effectively and I’m happy to say that is exactly what I’m doing.
I’m also happy to announce that the next Digital Media Now for Yogis is on Sunday November 4th, 2012 from 4-6pm at Chula Vista Yoga Center. Here’s the info and how to register.
This workshop’s topic is: Personal Branding on Social Media- The success of your yoga business depends on your ability to effectively brand yourself as a resource in the industry. Learn how to ensure your personal online brand is cohesive with your professional online brand as a yogi on social media.
- Date: Sunday November 4th, 2012
- Time: 4pm-6pm
- Cost: $39
- Location: Chula Vista Yoga Center- 255 E St. Chula Vista, CA 91910
- Register: Click HERE to sign up and reserve your spot (Special thanks to Prana Yoga Center for their help with setting up the event and handling the registration)
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP: As a yoga and wellness professional you’re an integral part of so many people’s lives as you enhance their health and well-being. In such a competitive industry, it’s important to strategically market yourself to keep your clients and students up to date, encourage them to attend your classes and be a trusted resource. With an abundance of digital technologies available to us, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when creating your own marketing strategy. At the Digital Media Now for Yogis Seminars, you’ll learn how to navigate digital marketing and social media tools such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to attract more clients, grow your business and be a valuable resource in your industry.
*Attendees who came to the first Digital Media Now for Yogis are encouraged to return as the presentation has been updated to reflect the continuously changing landscape of social media. You will definitely learn something new!
Takeaways:
- Actionable content and tips you can implement immediately to start marketing yourself as a Yoga professional
- Knowledge on how to serve as a trusted subject matter expert and resource in yoga
- Understanding on how to use Social Media tools to create a compelling brand
About Melodie: Melodie Tao is a Marketing Consultant, Educator and an International Professional Speaker specializing in Digital Marketing and Social Media. She is also a Certified Yoga Instructor who has completed a 200 hour training in addition to many continuing education sessions. Combing her two passions for Marketing and Yoga, her mission is to empower others with knowledge on how to live your passion as a Yoga and Wellness professional. Her expertise will help you make money from your business through optimizing your brand and online presence while maintaining your true integrity as a Wellness professional.
*Just like I did last time, if you own a yoga studio that hosts a teacher training or if you teach in a teacher training program for a studio, please contact me. I am offering one complimentary entry per studio to this event.
I can’t wait to see everyone this Sunday 4pm at Chula Vista Yoga Center. Please reach out to me if you have any questions and remember to register in advance here.
~NAMASTE~
5 Reasons to Attend Social Media Day San Diego @SMdaySD #smdaysd
By now you’ve probably at least seen a tweet or Facebook post about Social Media Day San Diego. It’s right around the corner! The event will be hosted on June 30th, 2012 at the Marina Kitchen inside the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina. Social Media Day is an international day that celebrates the revolution of media and the digital space. We’re all connected now more than ever because of social media; so on June 30th, let’s show our appreciation by getting off our computer screens, meeting new people and hanging out with friends at Social Media Day San Diego! If this isn’t enough to convince you to go, here are 5 reasons to attend Social Media Day San Diego:
1. Experience some of San Diego’s greatest products on Social Media- There will be tons of goodies and giveaways from local companies on Social Media! We’re raffling off some amazing prizes and if you are one of the first 100 people to arrive at the event, you’ll receive a Social Media Day gift bag filled with surprises.
2. Enjoy the luxurious atmosphere and view- What better way to socialize with old friends and meet new ones than in the extravagant Marina Kitchen inside the Marriott?
3. Network with hundreds of Social Media savvy professionals attending this event- You won’t hear the questions “Why would I want to tweet what I ate that day?” or “Why would you check in somewhere” at this event. Come out to network and make new friends with smart and tech savvy like minded individuals.
4. Have fun with games, contests and social media inspired interactive activities- We put out a call for sponsors and have received an abundance of replies! It’s so great to see so many businesses embracing social media. Our sponsors will be conducting fun social media inspired games, contests and have additional promotional offers for you to take advantage of.
5. Put San Diego on the Map- Social Media Day events will be happening across the nation and world so this is a great opportunity for San Diego to really make a mark in the social space and show everyone just how great the San Diego Social Media community is. We’ll have the Minglestream tweet wall ready for action with the hashtag #smdaysd. The best way to celebrate Social Media Day is to actually include social media in the mix!
Full event details are below:
When: Saturday, June 30th
Time: 5PM – 9PM
Where: Marina Kitchen – inside the San Diego Marriott Marquis- Get directions.
This is a free event, however, we do encourage you to RSVP
Official Website: http://www.socialmediadaysandiego.com/
A special thanks to @stef_funny for compiling this post! Stephanie will be volunteering and representing Marketing Melodie at Social Media Day. Tweet her, look for her at the event and say hello!
A Word with the Marketing Nerd @stef_funny (Instagram Buzz)
<Editor’s Note> I’m very excited to have Stephanie Trinh aka @stef_funny on my team here at Marketing Melodie. She’s an ambitious Business Marketing Student at SDSU, is filled with positive energy and is even a fellow marketing nerd! I’ll let Stephanie take it from here. HIT IT STEPHANIE! </Editor’s Note>
With all the hype going on about Instagram, I’ve decided to write a little bit about this mobile app. Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take photos, apply a digital filter to the photos, and then share the photos with friends and followers. This app was originally available only for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch when it launched. Two years later, in April 2012, it became available on Android. There were over a million downloads of the Instagram app when it was finally released on the Android system. A few days after that, Facebook acquired Instagram and its 13 employees for $1 billion in cash and stock. Amazing how quickly things change in the digital world, wouldn’t you agree?
Being that Instagram launched in October 2010, now has over 25 million users and is known as one of the most popular mobile-only social networks, why would businesses not consider playing a role on Instagram? You can post fun altered photos of your products and begin a hashtag trend for your followers. Starbucks has already jumped on the wagon and has over 400,000 followers. The point of Instagram is to share photos, so as a business you can share photos of things that relate to your brand personality or just great mobile photos of your products – be creative! Another awesome thing about Instagram is that you are also able to share your photos on Facebook and Twitter. The more social networks the better!
Here are 3 main reasons why your business should join Instagram:
1. Most people are very visual- Instagram is great because it gives us the opportunity to share fun photos of our daily lives. How interesting would it be to your fans to follow unique photos of your business’s life? You can show how much fun you have in the workplace and even take little “sneak peek” photos and have your followers figure out what the photo is. Keep them engaged, that’s why they’re following you! Just remember to keep in mind that Instagrammers don’t want to see product photography, but more artistic photography that’s been filtered.
2. There are millions of users using this app- The digital world is making changes all the time, just make sure you are caught up with the newest fad and stay in the loop. After Instagram became available on the Android, there were millions of downloads through the Android system, that pretty much means that Instagram is sort of a big deal.
3. You can create fun contests- With the usage of hashtags, it makes it easy to track and create contests. Have your fans post a creative photo with a certain hashtag that represents your products or services and give out fun prizes. The more interactive your consumers are, the more they begin to feel like “family” to your brand.
You can connect with Stephanie on Twitter, Google+ and check out her blog, Marketing Nerd!
Educating My Way to Success (On the Bay! @OMSummit #OMS12)
Having a drive to continue learning is so important for staying at the forefront of technology! By now you guys all probably know how important continued education is to me. I’m constantly educating myself and even make a point to learn something new every day! I learn by teaching others in classrooms, online classes, hosting seminars and webinars.
Digital Media Now November 2011
To ensure the knowledge I teach to businesses and students on marketing, technology and social media is up to date, I take the initiative to keep myself educated. This is crucial with the ever changing landscape of marketing in a digital world so I’m excited to once again be a part of the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) coming up in just a few days Feb 6-9, 2012 at the Hilton San Diego Bay front! I have received dozens on inquiries on “Are you going to be speaking?”. While I’m normally a speaker at conferences I attend, I’ll be at OMS as an attendee, eager to learn from others. It doesn’t getting any better than learning more about the topics I’m most passionate about on the gorgeous bay!
Hilton San Diego Bayfront Photo by: Port of San Diego
*EVENT HIGHLIGHTS*
- Online Marketing Summit is the premier educational event for digital marketing, focused primarily on educating marketers across all digital marketing disciplines and emerging best practices including social media, mobile, search engine media, eCommerce and website optimization.
- OMS hosts a keynote line-up of thought leaders. I’m personally looking forward to hearing Mari Smith speak for the first time! Mari and I are social media buddies, but I haven’t had an opportunity to learn from her insights yet so I was excited to learn that she is giving a keynote!
@MariSmith and @MyMelodie
- A first time Expo, featuring over 50 companies, showcasing the leading online marketing tools and solutions
- 1:1 Labs: Unique to the event program are expert labs, which offer a one-on-one consultation with experts in social media tools, web analytics, search, usability, email and more.
- New conference tracks: With 40% more content this year, OMS is featuring six tracks. Two new tracks include: Mobile Marketing and Content Marketing for Social Engagement
Remember promo code: MM25 for 25% off any conference pass!
Educating My Way to Success (I’m a Professor at National University!)
I absolutely love teaching and speaking about my passion, Marketing! More specifically, digital marketing and social media. Each time I teach and share my knowledge, I learn more and more about the topics I’m teaching, I become a more effective public speaker and a better leader. In fact I have mastered the art of learning something new every day which truly inspires me to continue doing what I do.
I previously created and taught a Marketing Communications course at Platt College. I’m currently still a sub there when needed. Now I’ve been graced with another opportunity to teach my passion at National University! I was hired as a Course Developer in November, then hired on board as an Adjunct Professor. Yep, Professor Tao has a nice ring to it.
I’m currently creating a course on interactive strategies that will teach students everything they need to know about creating an interactive campaign. The students will choose a real client/organization to work with! From understanding goal setting and market research for their client to targeting the right audience and learning how to effectively communicate and engage their client’s customers through social networks and other marketing mediums. I’ll also be giving examples from real live clients I work with.
My class starts in January! This is a part time gig so I’m still open for business full time here at Marketing Melodie. I’m accepting new consulting clients, booking speaking gigs and other opportunities. I’m so grateful for this new venture and I’m really looking forward to finishing up with the course development, then teaching at National University.
