My first Internet industry conference expo thingy was very interesting to say the least. In a previous life I attended Informex USA and Chemspec Europe as a glorified salesman carting my laptop around the exhibition halls demonstrating and selling AgriBase.

This time all I am armed with is a pen and paper (mainly because there was no free Wi-Fi to Twitter using my iTouch, a bit of a faux pas for a digital event) with the task of justifying my day out of the office!

Search vs Web 2.0

I love everything Web 2.0 because the entrepreneurs and their forward thinking and progressive mentality that enabled them to created these wonderful sites is the reason I am in the internet industry. Search on the other hand is the staple part of my working day so with my knowledge of both mediums and how they compliment each other I wanted to find out how the speakers in the Web 2.0 Experience and Keynote Theatres utilised search into their Web 2.0 agencies, websites and campaigns.

Now before I get into the depths of my findings I would like to say thank you to the organisers, speakers and exhibitors at Internet World for a truly exciting and intriguing day. There were some fantastic stands with some brilliant ideas to draw people in and network.

The only issue I have would be the timings and space of the Theatres. I understand there is a ridiculous amount to cover but there was definitely not enough time for group Q&A at the end of each session.

After our success with the Brylcreem and TFL campaigns I was very interested in how other people are using the digital environment to build brands and get their message to their target audience in a medium they want.

Brand Building in Digital environments with a CMS driven e-commerce website

Neil Cartwright said

you have to love something to send it on, it’s not enough just to like things anymore

which I whole heartedly agree with but why when giving his presentation did he not make me believe he loved what he was doing? The innovation Neil has demonstrated in his companies and the online presence of the Jamiroquai brand are impressive and interesting but his presentation lacked heart (IMO).

What the “kids” are doing?

This is a question that has baffled marketers for decades if not centuries but Phil Guest, Managing Director of Habbo UK he has the answer: they want the teenage virtual world of Habbo Hotel and the newly launched Habbo Mall.

With a competitive market of over 250 virtual worlds and an increasing demand from brands to have a presence in these worlds there is some serious money to be made. Or lost. Marketers looking to grow their brands in the “new” online market at low costs compared to “traditional” media would be wise to check out Habbo Mall. This new product from Habbo allows brands to create completely branded shops full of cool branded furniture (which is currency in Habbo) where a brand can communicate directly with their brand evangelists.

Now that sounds amazing; a direct “in” to the teenage market but it’s not all plain sailing for the virtual world market. Privacy, security and money laundering have plagued this space over the last few years so the message is to proceed but to do so with caution and make sure your brand is right for this space.

The holy grail of marketing to me is positive Word of Mouth: without this your brand can not be truly successful, no matter how innovative it is. So the presentation by Brett Hurt, founder of Bazaarvoice, was the next point of call. Bazaarvoice offers Social Commerce Applications for all kinds of websites including Geico, Walmart, Halfords and even shopNBC. With an increasing number of consumers using the internet to research products, previous customer reviews and ratings can have a huge impact on both online and offline sales.

For example you’re in a store looking at the latest HDTV but you’re put off by the pushy salesman. Using your iPhone, Blackberry or even normal mobile, you can read reviews and ratings from other customers helping you to make an important decision. Now having these applications on a site (showing reviews, comments, etc..) has been shown to allow consumers to make purchasing decisions quicker; as Hurt says, it reduces the number of “looks to books”. Previous customer’s Word of Mouth generates a positive reinforcement which a company employee or website will never give.

However it’s not all rosy in this field as many companies have tried to “game” this system by posing as customers writing fantastic reviews in order to improve consumer confidence and increase sales. Such attempts at gaming the system are potentially catastrophic from a brand perspective as detractors can call your bluff and potential distribute their disgust both online and in person. It is also now illegal in the UK!

Viral Marketing: Why Bother?

The new “buzz” word in the Managing Director’s vocabulary is “Viral” so fittingly Viral Marketing: Why Bother? was a hive of excitement and activity. Brand managers flocked to hear what gems the viral marketers would discuss that might help their brand be the next big hit on YouTube. Well sorry to disappoint you but they gave away absolutely nothing of any value.

First and foremost each member of the panel was asked to try an explain the term viral marketing which resulted in a pretty poor show as Chris Kempt said it didn’t exist. At least Scott Burton came up with “something to share and the means of facilitation in which to share experiences”.

This discussion group was a nightmare which in hindsight it was always going to be. Each member of the panel seemed to try and get “one up” on their fellow panellists; in many ways it resembled a footballers’ press conference, with a whiff of arrogance hanging over the entire room.

To top it off there was all of about 30 seconds of Q&A in which to help try to explain an important and exciting discipline, something they had failed to do in the previous 30 minutes. This is not however all the three panellists’ fault; a lot of the blame has to lie with the chair and Internet World for the time allocations.

There were some redeeming comments around the strategic planning of a campaign and that a viral campaign must be planned from the start; it can’t be an after thought (something that Ciaran’s pointed out in the past). Also the “widget” world is an increasingly diverse and attractive proposition for a brand manager but very few understand them and what they offer.

The one thing that every brand manager wants are figures to go to their CEO and show an ROI. Unfortunately just as it is hard to show exactly how many people buy a product after seeing a TV ad or a billboard, so it’s often hard to demonstrate ROI with viral marketing (although our campaign for Lenovo was shown to have had a PR/ad value of $10 million).

Shame they didn’t mention anything to do with SEO and its importance for viral campaigns because in this day and age “build it and they will come” doesn’t work and whether people like it or not Google is here to stay for a while until something better comes along!

The panel did leave us with the one piece of sensible advice: integrate viral at the initial planning stage and measure everything and anything you can.

To answer my initial question it seems that search is not something the web 2.0 world cares about, which I believe this is to do with the “traditional” thinking of art directors and entrepreneurs who see it as an after thought which is sad really as a fully integrated campaign needs search and without it a multi-million pound website may never be found! It’s not just me who thinks this either, Rand at SEOmoz wrote a very entertaining post on exactly this topic very recently.

All in all I enjoyed my day out and I feel as though talking to others in the industry gave me valuable insights into how agencies and brands are looking to and using the digital space. It’s just a shame that so many of these web based businesses seem to have no idea of what the most powerful website on the planet could do for them.

Header image: superfem by flickr

EDITOR’S NOTE: As we’re still having problems with the commenting system, I’m going to add an email we had from Neil at millionmedia, one of the presenters Martin mentioned. I’d just like to thank Neil for taking the time to respond, as everything we do here is about being constructive, so it’s great to get feedback from those we discuss.

Hello Martin

Many thanks for mentioning Million in your blog. Sorry to hear you thought it ‘lacked heart’ – I’d like to think that was down to the weather and a train journey from hell before I got started. I assure you we are very passionate about building fan relationships using Web 2.0 innovations and are happy to demonstrate further.

Great blog btw, and hopefully next year I can rouse my audience a little more

All the best

Neil.

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