eMarketing Summit & InnoTech Conference: Day 2

The eMarketing Summit at InnoTech Conference kicked off great yesterday and I wrote a recap of Day 1. Day 2 was even better as the exhibit hall opened up. Some really cool IT, internet, and marketing companies were represented. One of the coolest things was that touch screen coffee table. I actually got to play with it instead of only seeing it on the internet. They day also featured more presentations at the summit. Here's a recap of what was discussed today:

• The morning started with reps from Microsoft demonstrating Windows 7. I've seen the new UI changes, but it was cool to see the IT/enterprise changes.
• The first summit talk was canceled, so in the second session was Jake Kuramoto of Oracle, Kelly Feller (@kellyrfeller) of Intel, and Dan Divens of Tripwire, Inc. They led a round table discussion of companies fostering online communities and how ti make them successful.
• After lunch, it was the keynote speach by Rahaf Harfoush (@rahafharfoush). She was on Barack Obama's new media team, running social media campaign to help him win the election. She discussed those strategies and the insights gained from the campaigns. I might make a whole post from this.
• The next session featured Brian Massey (@bmassey) trying to answer the question "how is your social media conversion rate?" It was a first-run for this presenetation and he did a great job outlining how to measure these campaigns.
• Next was another round table on the topic of social media marketing (I am starting to sense a trend here, no?) This was led by Carri Bugbee (@CarriBugbee), Kent Lewis, and John Cooney. They gave tips on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook marketing campaigns.
• The last session of the conference was the Hot Seat Panel, where Hallie Janssen of Anvil Media, Kent Schnepp of EngineWorks, Lisa Williams of Media Forte Marketing, and Scott Hendison of SearchCommander dissected two different websites. They took a look at the current site in front of the audience and gave tips on how to improve them (optimization, keywords, site content, usability)

The two day conference was a great introduction into the industry. I haven't even been doing this work for a year between my two different jobs. There is still a lot I can learn about analytics, seo, and sem. This was a great way to meet people and find out about the latest strategies. Portland proved itself to be a hub for social media and internet marketing. There are a lot of great minds and companies doing some great work. I look forward to more events in the future.

InnoTech Conference & eMarketing Summit: Day 1

So I am still trying to digest all of the great things from day 1 at the 6th annual InnoTech Conference at the Oregon Convention Center. It's my first real time attending an industry conference. InnoTech is the region's premier business and technology innovation conference and expo, where the leading minds of the industry gather to discuss the latest in our ever-changing tech world.

Parallel to the conference is the 5th annual eMarketing summit led by Kent Lewis, president of Anvil Media, Inc. (@kentlewis). This two-day event is where internet marketing professionals can learn the latest marketing strategies from industry leaders. It's two days of techy, savy, social-media mayhem!

Day one was filled with insightful and informative information on internet marketing strategies. Topics ranged from customer engagement to corporate blogging. Here's a rundown of who's who in the tech world and what they had to say:

• The first session featured Mike Caplan and James Rice (@jamesrice) discussed how to engage customers in a fragmented world. It's all about people having micro-identities and trying to reach them wisely, in long-term relationships. They own your brand.
• Next was Eric Peterson (@erictpeterson). He made the relationship between engaging customers and how to effectively measure success from that.
• The third session featured Rich Rosen, the founder of ROSEN, a global consultancy firm specializing in in transforming marketing and advertising campaigns into cost-effective business models. His session talked about the combination of brand and direct marketing, and how that can lead into successful online presence.
• Next was David Mihm, COO of GetListed.org, who discussed the latest in local search marketing strategies. Key take-away here: GET LISTED!!! Google Local Business Center, Yahoo Local, or even on the Universal Business Listing. These are essential steps to take and drive customers to your business, even if you don't have a website.
• The fifth session featured an all-star blogger panel including Rick Turoczy (@turoczy), Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb (@marshallk), and Josh Bancroft on Intel (@jabancroft). The three held an open discussion about the pros and cons of corporate blogs.
  
• To end the day was tips on implementing a successful online strategy. It was led by Dylan Boyd (@dtboyd) of eROI, Brian Massey (@bmassey) of Conversion Sciences. This was catch-all session that summed up a lot of great tips.
  

These are some really great minds in the world in internet marketing and social media. It was great to hear their thoughts and learn from them. Tomorrow will feature more informative session from the eMarketing summit, plus the full InnoTech exhibit hall and lectures. So much to take in from today, and 3 times as much tomorrow!!! Another full update will follow!

Sprint Gives a Shout-out to Twitter

Sprint released a great new commercial this week that demonstrates the world we live in today. In it, they reference Twitter and that "26% of you have no idea what this means".

Here's the commercial:


It's great that Sprint is giving recognition to Twitter. Although it's already been in mainstream for a while. News anchors use it and both John Stewart and Stephen Colbert have joked about it.

Now all the statistics in the commercial are fictional, but I like the commercial because it's still somewhat true. The amount of information going out in the world is staggering and the shear volume of communication we send out through whatever method is amazing. These are some good commercials.