Social Media Influence 2009
March 13, 2009 by Phil · Leave a Comment
The fourth annual Social Media Conference, held on March 3rd in central London and sponsored by Radar DDB UK, saw over 180 delegates and speakers come together to discuss a host of social media issues (not just Twitter!) that are occupying the minds of both big and small business.
Titled, Social Media Comes of Age, conference keynote speaker Matthew Yeomans of Radar DDB asked the key question: What does it mean to be social when hundreds of major brands are looking at YouTube, Twitter (there’s that word again) and Facebook as a new channel for marketing. Using T-Mobile’s viral hit “Dance” as a launchpad for conversation, Matthew asked whether social media communication has a duty to do more than simply entertain?
Meanwhile Benjamin Faes, head of YouTube EMEA, articulated exactly how what once was a peer-to-peer video platform is becoming an entertainment medium in its own right, and Kevin Eyres, head of LinkedIn EMEA, outlined the growing importance of his business social network in a time of economic downturn. LinkedIn’s biggest growth spurt occurred immediately following the failure of Lehman Bros., Kevin told the delegates.
As he has done so well in all of the previous Social Media Influence conferences, Pinsent Masons’ Legal Director, Struan Robertson, struck fear in marketing, PR and corporate communications managers throughout the land with his smart insight into the legal dos and don’ts of social media in the workplace.
Some of the liveliest discussion of the day centred around the panel discussions, notably around the contentious subject of social media measurement. On a panel featuring Radar DDB’s Bernhard Warner and chaired by Tribal DDB MD Mike Parsons, speakers and delegates debated the ability of conversational research to deliver the traditional ROI statistics brand managers need. And on the PR panel, the intellectual debate was focused on and channelled through - yep, you’ve guessed it - Twitter.
Speaking of which, the conference made a certain microblogging platform’s second-most-popular-trend of the day (there’s a qualifier for you) while, in the world of traditional media, it warranted a feature in Business Week. In case you missed the day, Social Media Influencers have brought together videos, photos and presentations from the event available through the Social Media Influence.com website.
And for the latest in social media thinking, you can always follow Radar DDB on, um, Twitter at @RadarDDBUK.