Earlier this month, I eagerly attended my first SEMpdx event, which in this case was Searchfest. I met a lot of great people, grubbed on entirely too much delicious food, prayed to win a SEMpdx snuggie (which I did not win) and most importantly – I learned a lot of great techniques, tricks, resources and methods for Social Marketing efforts. The speakers were all great, informative and definitely worth the investment. Well…the dessert, alone, was worth the investment. YUM! As a token of my love to you, blog reader, I wanted to share with you, 10 Knowledge Nuggets from Searchfest:

1. When measuring ROI for Twitter Marketing efforts – do not measure followers. They are ambiguous and the real results come from the interactions with your followers. You can have all the followers in the world, but if none of them are really interacting with your brand & if 50% of them are trying to sell you Viagra – there are better ways to measure your Twitter success.

2. Research shows that email marketing newsletters receive their highest readership when they are sent at 10AM on a Tuesday morning. Recipients have had a chance to clear their mailboxes, are not too engulfed in the weekly tasks and are past the plethora of Monday morning emails.

3. Your blog is the CENTER of your Social Marketing efforts. Blogs are critical to your social marketing because they are Social Media friendly, conversational, search friendly, attract links and they can be used as an outlet to manage your brand’s reputation. Now this is only true if your blog is done well. If you don’t have the time or skills to keep fresh content on your blog at a consistent rate – do not start a blog. However, if you want the ultimate Social Marketing success, get your blogging butt together and make it happen. And damnit, do it right.

4. The Heritage Ballroom at the Governor Hotel is freezing. If only I had won a Snuggie…

5. Compelling content on your Facebook page brings people in. Lion Brand Yarn is a brilliant example of how the right content can really make a Facebook page successful. Until Searchfest, yarn made me think of kittens and baby-booties – now I think, “Yarn, that reminds me. Compelling content really is the golden ticket on Facebook.” Who would have thought?

6. Matt Inman is quite the character. His successful blog, The Oatmeal, is not only incredibly unique, but it is also a giant Social Media success story. With unique content like “Why I believe Printers Were Sent From Hell” and “How long could you survive chained to a bunk bed with a Velociraptor?”, The Oatmeal has soared to the top of digg.com’s headlines on more than one occasion. For what it is worth, I would only survive 56 seconds.

7. The quickest way to fire up a room full of 400 business professionals? – FREE BEER

8. With the ever-rising popularity of Social Marketing, the tools to assist in these marketing and brand monitoring efforts are also, ever-rising. Below is a list of websites that can help you keep track of the conversations surrounding your brand:

• Google Alerts
• Trackur
• Social Mention
• Reputation Defender
• Brands Eye
• Radian 6
• Technorati
• Sideline.yahoo.com
• Moniterr
• Search.Twitter.com

9. The new Bing Maps is one of those things that is really cool, but also really creepy. Stefan Weitz, Director of Bing, was the Keynote speaker at Searchfest and he walked us through some of the new features. They now have backpack cameras wondering the streets to give users an eye level view of both city streets and the inside of public buildings. Very cool, also very creepy.

10. Social Marketing is for everyone, big and small. And ultimately, it is THE number one investment that any small business can make. Doctors, dentists, pizza shops, salons, bars, – you all need to invest the time into Social Marketing. If done well, it will only benefit you. The success of the New Orleans-based pizza shop, Naked Pizza, is one to study. Naked Pizza has calculated that 15% of their daily revenue comes from Twitter and 90% of those customers are new. It is worth it, get social.

: Lacey Neddo, Social Media Manager at Magneto Brand Advertising

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