Lifelong Learning from #SMMW19

Wrap-up As of March 23, 2019 @marybethmccabe

Here are the top 13 things that I learned at this year’s #SMMW19 (Social Media Marketing World) conference, with attendees worldwide:

1. There is virtually no customer loyalty anymore. Only about 13% of the people will consider themselves loyal to brands, and that’s not trending up. (McKinsey, 2019)

2. Your customer owns your brand. This is the polar opposite of how most companies act, which is why #1 is here. Mark W. Schaefer hit the bullseye with his closing comments from Marketing Rebellion.

3. Analyzing is for historical data. That’s the past. Do you want to know ROI? Sure it’s a metric, but remember, that’s old information, so maybe not as relevant anymore as a key indicator for moving forward.

4. One minute videos appeal to many creators and users, with YouTube as the shining platform. Dennis Yu taught me how to make these last year and I’m doing it!

5. Take note of a sizeable shift in the way people look at social media, as it enters its teenage years. It has turned to the dark side, in many ways, so that social media no longer serves as a conversation you want, but a “place” that is often lacking in ethics and engagement.

6. Those people who said they did not want to use social media are standing up and claiming they knew all along it was bad for you. Perhaps the pendulum has started swinging back toward the equilibrium.

7. Keep our eyes open for We Chat. It’s the All-in-one, mega app, and so popular in China.

8. Be real. Be human. Be kind.

9. Who can really define “influencer?” Every attending person is an influencer.

10. There were no sessions on mobile marketing. The chief of SMMW says he will change that next year. After all, the mobile device is bringing in 75% of digital revenues.

11. What’s hot and what’s not? Email is on life support. Out of more than 200 speakers, only two used email in the title of the presentations. In its place, the messenger bot has become stronger and mighty with open rates to brag about. Swiping, like with Tinder, may be the skill most useful when researching your next B2B needs.

12. It seems to me that FaceBook is not planning to be social, as we know it, but grow closed group communications. Mari Smith analyzed the best seller, “Who Moved My Cheese?” and the answer is found somewhere in the maze of Facebook. Half of those surveyed did not know that Instagram was owned by Facebook. That was a takeaway fact.

(Source: @mari_smith)

13. Linkedin’s “Find Nearby” works only when you are in Viveka von Rosen’s session or a Linkedin table talk. If you are enjoying this, please feel welcome to connect here with me and let me know. This was my 7th year attending and my third annual wrap-up. See you next year.

RIP: Google+, Periscope, Friendster, Meerkat, and maybe SnapChat is next (their website says “Snap, Inc is a camera company.”, so maybe that's their way out)