US and Europe

This week I attended NEXT Conference 2011 in Berlin. It was a fantastic opportunity to rub shoulders with some great marketers from Germany and abroad. The theme of the event was Data Love. I have to admit that although there were interesting discussions on the topic of data, what I found most valuable was to hear what companies were doing in realm of social media and branding. In these sessions, we were able hear some great case studies about companies like Ben & Jerry’s, Microsoft, SoundCloud, Deutsche Bank and Etsy. In later blog posts, I would like to drill down in more detail into what I learned from each of these sessions because each is a great example of how companies offer exceptional brand  experiences.

My biggest take aways/reminders from the event were these:

• Remember that not every member of your social media audience is created equal in terms of their affinity for social media. Much like you have to segment an audience to tailor your message to them, you also have to segment them in terms of the means through which the message is communicated. For example, you may notice a particular group that is very active on Twitter, while another focuses on Facebook or may be easier to reach by delivering digital media, such as a viral video on YouTube. Segment for how you deliver the message too.
• Using social gaming for internal collaboration works. I really cannot wait to share more about what Microsoft did in this regard. Stay tuned!
• The importance of community, whether it be in a B2B or B2C environment cannot be ignored. It takes time – a lot of time for a company to support and moderate but it can really pay off. SoundCloud and Etsy gave some great insight on this.
• Beware of the use of social games like Foursquare as a means to drive traffic to a booth at an event. I saw this done at the event in a way that failed miserably because the company did not anticipate people would circumvent the rules they set up for the game. As in all things we do, we simply need to think things through completely from beginning to end, doing the best we can to anticipate hiccups and pitfalls.  Otherwise, you risk doing damage to your brand by people who are disgruntled over problems you created. No one is perfect, you won’t catch everything but I was glad to be a participant in the game (not the organizer) who can learn from mistakes made.

In any case, the overall experience was great. I hope I get to attend NEXT year!