3 Key Takeaways from Social Media Success Summit 2010 (#smss10)

With a wink of the eye, 4 weeks went by in May 2010 (5-MAY to 26-MAY) and the Social Media Success Summit 2010 was over. The entire journey however offloaded tons of excellent material, conversations, questions and answers, which are still on-going in the dedicated #smss10 hashtag and discussion forums in LinkedIn. And no more getting up at 3am, Singapore time (GMT+8) as well ... :)


To me, there were 3 key takeaways which left an indelible impression on my learning path:

(1) A.R.C Framework: Social Media Marketing with the A.R.C Framework

• Attract, Retain, Convert (and then Refer)
• Social Media Marketing is not a one-off affair
• It requires consistent attention, engagements and conversations

(2) Activities adapt: Social Media Marketing Activities adapt with the goals set forth and the engagement in the social networks

• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Foursquare, Digg or your own Blog etc social networks, endear themselves to different consumer segments, profiles
• Key is to leverage upon the repurposing of your media and contents to address the distinct contextual use cases and content consumptions in the different social networks
• It is very important to determine where your home base is (e.g. blog, facebook fan page).
• And which social network(s) your target consumers are congregating at and so are the ideal positions to set up your outposts
• Every social media marketing activity or tactic (whether it be an online-offline integrated program, contests, treasure hunts, chase around town for the product) in the different social network needs to tie back to its original business goals and key KPIs

(3) Resourcing varies. There are Social Media case studies but no one size fits all best practice

• Whether there be that one special company social media champion @Ramon_DeLeon bringing to life the Dominos brand with his unique brand of #RamonWow
• Or starting small and informally with a cross-functional core team and executive support, like @HomeDepot
• Or deploying with global content, central support with flexible local individuality (like @wholefoods)
• Or drumming up support throughout the organisation like Best Buy's Twelpforce
• It all boils down to your business ambitions (goals, time frames, key performance metrics)

There are definitely to #smss10 than listed above and so lies my task ahead in learning and putting to practice and learning, tweaking, relearning ... ...

All in all, I wish to give a BIG THANK YOU to Michael Stelzner, his crew, all the marvelous presenters, and the wonderful participants in #smss10. This would not have been the unforgetable event that it turned out to be, without all of you!

The road ahead for social media marketing is going to be filled with continuous and never-ending improvements, refinements and tweaks. But one thing's for sure, it's going to be a real fun and exciting ride!

Looking forward to hear your views and comments on your key learnings so far from this summit, other forums, your current social media marketing experiences.

Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee

Recommended Links for your further reading:
1. Market It Write Coverage of Social Media Success Summit – #smss10
2. 17 Crucial Things You Must Know for Social Media Success
3. Top 9 Things I Learned at Social Media Success Summit 2010