Mervyn Dinnen was our reporter at the recent SMART conference. Here is his review:
Last Thursday’s SMART2011 conference was certainly an absorbing event. Titled ‘Social Media in Business’ it set out to give a fairly wide overview of social media channels and opportunities relating to branding, business strategy and recruitment.
It was well structured, with keynote sessions and panel sessions aimed at all attendees, supplemented with a number of breakout sessions each falling under either the Tools & Techniques, Business Strategy and Talent Management categories. Lots of networking opportunities too.
Speakers were drawn from a wide variety of sectors and companies, with Adidas, The Economist, RBS Insurance, Google, YouTube and Mashable all represented, and discussions ranging from strategy and customer engagement to community building and measurement. There was also attention paid to the pitfalls, something that isn’t always covered at these events.
You couldn’t escape the fact that there are many companies who have started successfully integrating social media into branding, marketing, engagement and recruitment, and there were plenty of learning takeaways.
Charlie Ormond, Fresh Networks had the opening address and was quick to talk of social media being a set of tools to connect with customers. He definitely saw the most valuable long term use as connecting and talking to current customers, not to drive new customers. His ending warning that ‘Social Media isn’t about one night stands’ certainly resonated. He also introduced a client, Amelia Hodge, RBS Insurance to give a practical case study on how they had been able to use social media tools promote their motorcycle insurance business. Successfully developing a community, taking the conversation away from insurance and creating a unique motorbiking resource showed the need for creativity as well as engagement.
There was an effervescent presentation from Steve Fogarty of Adidas on how they have integrated social media into recruiting (only 16 dedicated recruiters for a global workforce of 40,000+!) creating relevant and authentic dialogue with talent networks around sport ‘It starts with the experience, how you treat them’. Dave Mason, CH2M Hill, also on talent acquisition, spoke of how his business had been able to use social media target and engage talent globally.
Matt Alder, Metashift then talked about employer branding, how the balance of power has shifted away from the broadcast message to what people in your network say, and the need for spontaneous and authentic storytelling.
Mark Johnson, The Economist, certainly impressed in describing how they had built a global community through creating intelligent and unique content, and regular debate. ‘Social Media doesn’t mean you have to dumb down’ was a key point.
Some interesting sessions also around content and measurement, using the social media channels for customer service – Customer Service -> Insight -> Advocacy, don’t live in a silo said Angus Fox, ezone – with some others focusing on the recruitment value chain and maintaining online brand.
The conference ended with a well attended networking drinks reception. Delegates that I spoke to all seemed very positive about the day and the insights and inspiration that they had gained.
If you'd like to know more about Mervyn check out his blog.
For information on future events I’d suggest you follow @smart_2011 on twitter and join their LinkedIn Group. If you didn’t attend the event but are interested in being added to the mailing list/database email nikki.poole@incisivemedia.com and she’ll ensure they receive future mailings.
