Top 24 Things I Learned at Online Marketing Summit 2010
Friday, February 26th, 2010
It’s been a long time since I have actually written an entire post for our blog, however I am inspired from the recent Online Marketing Summit (OMS10) put on by Aaron Kahlow and his awesome crew. I spoke on the "Why Your Online Strategy always starts with Content" panel and one of my pieces of advice was to commit to your blog. So call it eating your own dog food if you like, but I am long overdue for authoring my own post.
I am not going to be able to give specific credit to the appropriate parties below (see #1), so I apologize right upfront for that shortcoming. If any of you reading this know who deserves credit for items listed below, please feel free to inform us all in the comments. It should also be noted that my schedule only allowed me to be there for Tuesday and most of Wednesday, so these observations do not include the preconference training or the SES Forum on Thursday.
1). I learned that speakers should have name cards in front of them (and even twitter IDs) to easily identify the speakers and panelists so that everyone tweeting and documenting the presentations can give credit where credit is due. I am also the president of the Arizona Interactive Marketing Association (AZIMA) and will make a note of that for our future events.
2). I learned that if you want to ramp up conversion optimization you should check out WhichTestWon.com from Anne Holland.
3). I learned from Anne that you’re guaranteed to increase your conversion rate if your landing pages include the logo or recognition from the site that sent the visitor there. For example "Welcome, ABC Website readers".
4). I learned that Keyword choices are critical for breaking news. Pay attention journalists!
5). I learned from Michael Stelzner (founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com) that you can add a Retweet button inside of a PDF file.
6). I learned from Lawrence Coburn (founder of, RateitAll) that simple steps like adding a like or dislike button to your blog comments or other UGC can greatly improve engagement.
7). I learned that the RateItAll dog that I met at their offices 10 years ago is no longer with us. 
8). I learned that Steve Ennen (Director, Wharton Interactive Media Initiative) and Eric Bradlow (Vice-Dean and Director, Wharton Doctoral Programs) have incredible skills and resources as they presented some of the best data regarding interactive marketing I have ever seen. For example: Companies’ stock prices are correlated with negative online chatter.
9). I learned that it is a fact that popularity and activity of your social media has been proven to correlate to more sales.
10). I learned that only 2% of businesses (from upcoming OMS survey) feel they are experts at social media. And that Rebecca Lieb tells us all that it’s okay, we shouldn’t feel pressured to be experts yet as this is all brand new stuff.
11). I learned that if you have built a cool Facebook page, have a 1000+ Twitter followers and have an awesome LinkedIn profile, that does not qualify you to be a Social Media Expert. (I actually knew that.)
12). I learned that many leaders in our field feel the same way I do: the amount of change in the online space is daunting for both brands and agencies.
13). I learned that the social experts all agree: "hire excellent headline writers" especially when you are working with 140 characters.
14). I learned about Chartbeat for real time website analytics and uptime monitoring.
15). I learned from Ravit Lichtenberg (Founder and Chief Strategist, Ustrategy Consulting) that companies should have: 1) Vision driven strategy. 2) Campaign driven implementation plan. 3) Own your content. 4) Leverage the right resources the right way 5) Build alignment process across the organization 6) Evolve and adapt 7) Pay attention to women.
16). I learned that Tim Ash has an awesome haircut. Oh and he recommends these tools for conversion optimization: crazyegg.com, clicktale, usertesting.com, crossbrowsertesting,and attentionwizard.com.
17). I learned that Scotland is not a Scandinavian country. Thanks for clearing that up for me Rand 
18). I learned that "Marketers must understand that we no longer control conversations. The consumer does." from Joel Book from ExactTarget.
19). I learned that you need to create content to attract and retain customers… Without a Content Marketing Strategy nothing else works (okay I actually said this one).
20). I learned that marketers should be focusing on their customers’ pain points, not their own capabilities/services.
21). I learned that when you send a new subscriber the "thank you" email, that email will have the highest open rate of anything you ever send them, so make the most of it!
22). I learned that the Obama campaign raised over $10 million in less than 24 hours by capitalizing on an emotional moment with their constituency.
23). I learned that Brian Ellefritz doesn’t seem to age. It had been almost 20 years since we had last seen each other (yes 20 years!) and wish we had more time to catch up. He also had one of the funniest lines of the day: "Global is ALL 50 states not just the lower 48."
24). I learned one big link building secret that I will never divulge publically, this one is for our clients only. (Thanks LC)
Again, if any of you know who should deserve the credit for some of the statements above, please let us know below. And if you have any additional “things you learned” at OMS10 we’d love to hear those too. Looking forward to being a part of OMS 2011.
Follow me on Twitter @ArnieK
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