I have to say, its been a first in a long time that I have actually enjoyed an networking and discussion event.
This is an invitation only event and as you say you can go you specific what topics you are interested in.

The day is broken into 3 x 1 ½ hour round tables of 8 to 10 professionals on a selected topic. The table is sponsored by a company and that is how it is free to all of us. Luckily the tables I was on the sponsor did a few shameless plugs – but had enough humour in that delivery not to be intrusive.

I was on three sessions:
1) Online Copy, Content onsite and ePR
2) Social media and how to monetise it, and
3) SEO

It was a who’s who of digital marketing and on the whole there was a good mix of experience and learners. Each bringing something unique to the table.
The rules are that no comments/case studies or people can be cited directly, in a bid to aid open and frank discussion.
But I thought I would post a few comments which are a mixture of my thoughts and collected observations.

1) Online Copy, Content onsite and ePR

Most people are working on improving onsite content. This is in terms of entry pages, working on conversion and for purely old-school-doorway pages. And the more conversion orientated are using content to aid and remove fall out from action orientated paths on site.

There was general consensus that those who are working in multi-lingual sites were struggling with translation versus localisation. And we having to accept what they were given due to time or resource constraints.
It was clear that there are so many definitions and tactical uses of content throughout every organisation. But on the whole, everyone believed in quality content. But varied in whether they thought they had any or were going to get some!

2) Social media and how to monetise it

You cant monetise social media at the moment was clear from all. And that all people that we spoke to described their activities as ‘dabbling’ rather than a full on deliberate strategy.
The best practice was fairly well agreed that companies need to Listen first before they jump in.

And when trying to spark conversation or form opinions that identifying key influencers is essential.
One company was proactively searching for keywords in Twitter and when they found a potential customer with a problem their company could solve they would intervene, supply the solution and get that satisfied individual to buzz about their company. Which I think is genius.
Measuring of Social media varied by company. Some didn’t measure at all. And other were using existing or classic KPI to judge its success.

There were some interesting discussion how some retailers are allowing their customers to contact them through more informal channels. And this allowed them to work with angry people and fairly often turn them into advocates.
There was a discussion on how employees who use social media ‘could’ damage a reputation or get them or colleagues into trouble. And there was insight into how some companies are putting in social media education programmes!
We all agreed that we would need to learn when a company should ‘Shut up’ in social media before they alienate the crowd.

3) SEO

This was a good and lively table. I enjoyed this discussion a lot. The conversation meandered from how to work with agencies to brainstorming specific concerns/dilemmas some of the participants are having today.
The topics were varied and to write this up would take more patience than I actually have. All in all it was fun.

Overall, I enjoyed this event, picked up a few tips and meet some interesting people. Well done EConsultancy. Can’t wait til next year.