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Green Buzz Agency is a proud Media Partner of the Digital Music Forum: East
Here are seven reasons we are excited to be a media partner and attend this year’s forum:
1. Keynotes: This year’s event welcomes Gary Shapiro, President & CEO, Consumer Electronics Association as a keynote speaker for the event. Coming off the highly successful 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show and the release of his new book “The Comeback: How Innovation will Restore the American Dream”, Shapiro will be featured in a fireside chat covering a range of topics focused around his outspoken views about how innovation can fuel progress and ultimately save the music industry.
Dermot McCormack, EVP of Digital Media, MTV Networks Music & Logo Group also joins Digital Music Forum East 2011 as a keynoter. McCormack will speak on the topic of “More Than Music Videos: Why today’s music fan wants a 360 curated music experience that includes a diversity of music content and digital products”. Dermot is Executive Vice President of Digital Media for the MTV Networks Music & Logo Group, providing strategic oversight in digital for MTVN brands including MTV: Music Television, MTV 2, MTV Tr3s, VH1, VH1 Soul, VH1 Classic, CMT and LOGO. In this role McCormack is responsible for setting strategy and vision and charting the course on how the Music and Logo brands evolve in today’s digital world. Previously, McCormack was the SVP of Interactive Product Management at Cablevision. Before his tenure at Cablevision, he was Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Flooz.com, the world’s first online gift currency. And prior to that was one of the early executives at iVillage.com.
2. Insiders’ Look of the Music Industry: We are the only event in the United States that brings together the top music, technology and policy leaders for high-level discussions and debate, intimate meetings and unrivaled networking about the future of digital music. Digital Music Forum is known worldwide for the news that is made in our auditorium, the deals that get done in our hallways, and the friendships and partnerships that are forged year after year. Why wait by the sidelines, when you can join the event that is helping to drive the industry’s future!
3. Top Research and Analyst Presentations: Get an overview of the latest research about the current state of digital music, including consumer behavior & attitudes; adoption & penetration rates of digital products, key technology channels & platforms; and business & economic performance numbers.
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We are the leader in corporate, web, and online video production services in Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC!
4. Panels and Speakers: The 11th Digital Music Forum will continue to bring most innovative top industry executives to speak and share their vision, research reports and successful business models and interact with the audience. What is the current state of the online and mobile music markets and where is the industry heading? What does the future hold for cloud-based music services? How is technology changing the concert business? And don’t miss the discussions on music licensing for film & television, mobile music apps, social network & music, and the debate over digital copyrights.
5. Delegate roundtables: At most conferences, you just sit and listen. At Digital Music Forum East, you can sign-up for a roundtable of your choice and express your views with other industry insiders.
6. Networking Opportunities: There are tons of networking opportunities throughout the day – networking breaks, lunch, cocktail reception. Engage with speakers, exhibitors and other attendees, develop your network and get deals done between sessions and after hours!
7. GBA Discount Code: GBA readers receive an extra 15% off with code DMFEGBA. Don’t miss the opportunity – Register now to secure your seat ahead of others!
Venue: Museum of Jewish Heritage
36 Battery Place, New York City
For sponsorship/exhibitor packages, contact:
Jay Baage: jay@digitalmediawire.com
Tinzar Sherman: tinzar@digitalmediawire.com
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Companies of all sizes are pushing to buckle down and implement effective social media plans. This is an encouraging trend. However, before a plan can be developed, organizations must determine how “social media” is defined and used in the business environment. The answers will vary among enterprises.
My good friend and fellow marketer Debbie Laskey and I recently discussed this issue. (Debbie calls it the ‘other’ social media policy.) She says, “companies can build the most carefully-planned social media strategy, but if employees don’t have specific ‘how to’ guidelines, confusion erupts and hands are slapped in the process.”
Is it acceptable to tweet while on a sales call? Who is responsible for uploading company photos to Facebook? Do employee LinkedIn contacts made during business hours belong to the company, or the employee? Is management harboring decisions on these important points, but failing to share them with employees?
The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people
Social media can generate leads, engages prospects, fosters sales, and can be a vital cog in the company brand wheel. Therefore, it’s crucial that consistent social media policies are implemented to effectively grow your business and ensure the entire organization knows…and follows…the rules. Consistency is the name of the social media game – enhancing your reputation and showcasing industry expertise are too important to leave to chance.
Ready to tackle social media policy development? Consider these questions:
1. Will employees be allowed to use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. during business hours?
2. How much time, or which specific time periods, will be allowed on these sites? Only during the lunch hour and breaks?
3. Who is the designated spokesperson/people representing your company’s ‘voice’? Don’t designate “anyone” — choose wisely.
4. What style will be used when posting? Conversational and friendly? Business casual? Professional and formal? Make sure the style accurately represents your company’s culture.
5. Can employees access sites via company mobile devices? Will this pose a security risk?
6. Who ‘owns’ contacts made for business purposes? This is an especially important question for companies with sales forces.
Once your policy is in place, your next step is communicating the guidelines to your employees. New employees in particular should receive a copy of the social media policy in the new employee information packet.
Learn more by reviewing 160 social media policies other companies have implemented.
Victoria Ipri is CEO of Modello Media, Inc., an e-marketing strategy firm based in suburban Philadelphia, PA. She welcomes your questions and comments on this forum, or contact her directly at: Victoria@ModelloMedia.com
Feel free to connect with members of Green Buzz Agency on Linkedin: Tod Plotkin, Sara Evans, Jennie Nowers. Or join the Green Buzz Agency Linkedin Group.
Fern Mallis, widely credited with creating New York “Fashion Week” and former VP of Marketing at IMG, discusses marketing in the fashion industry.
Fern Mallis was interviewed by Green Buzz Agency after a panel she led on Social Media and Marketing at Afingo’s “Behind the Seams.” Presented at Manhattan’s world-famous Fashion Institute of Technology, “Behind The Seams” saw 30 top designers, apparel manufacturing insiders, head buyers of top retail chains, editors, and celebrity tastemakers to offer wisdom, opinions, and tips to a diverse audience of fashion fans.
The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people
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If you’ve built a profile on the Big Three social media sites, you may have been pleased about not having to defrost your credit card to do it. (Yes, a friend of mine once froze her credit cards in a bowl of water to ‘cold turkey’ her overspending.)
Sure, you can upgrade your LinkedIn membership and pay a variety of monthly fees to get more perks. But you don’t have to, and that makes millions of people very happy. Based on nothing but your creativity, ingenuity and inventiveness, you can promote your business for next to nothing.
How free is social media, really? About as free as starting your own business.
Meaning, it’s not. Hence the phrase…next to nothing.
Gauging the true cost of social media is crucial in today’s marketplace. Which areas might end up costing you? Here are several to reflect upon:
Implementation
As you know by now, there is more to social media marketing than building a profile and waiting for something to happen. A ton of content goes into the best social media campaigns. Even if you’re a copywriter, it’s still going to cost you time (which, ultimately, means money). Images cost too. Getting targeted help can cost if you hire an ‘expert’ to point the way, or buy books and other materials. As well, some social media platforms charge for functionality. You may not care now, but as you grow, you will. And when you get there, you may find you need help from a social media manager, either in-house or outsourced, to keep everything running efficiently.
Promotion
You’ve heard of Starbucks? They are the Facebook leader. And they didn’t get there by accident. You may never aspire to Starbucks fame, but even in your own tiny corner of the world, promoting your campaign requires a budget, as well as a skilled graphics designer and perhaps a web designer to create advertising.
Tracking
Google Alerts are great. TwitterDeck rocks. But some day, hopefully soon, you’ll need to upgrade to Radian6 or another paid tracking tool. The freebies just aren’t going to cut it.
The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people
Engagement
As recently as a year ago, it was all about SEO. Today, it’s about CRO…Conversion Rate Optimization. What good is all that traffic if it doesn’t convert to real sales? Engagement requires focused landing pages, keywords, email, a website, split testing…a host of functions that require tools, and they’re not all free.
Analysis & Reputation Management
Analysis tells you where you’re heading, and when you will arrive. Along the way, analysis, combined with tracking, can assist with reputation management…an emerging industry which seeks to delete or contain negative brand conversations. If you’re not watching listening and responding, what’s it all for?
Personnel
Who’s doing all this work? In many cases, staff. Customer service, design, technology, administrative tasks…you’re only one person, and can only go so far all alone. Your time is an opportunity cost…not to mention the time/paycheck of a staff member…perhaps even additional staff to engage and communicate with perhaps thousands of connections.
Yes, social media can be free…but not for long.
How are you navigating your way through your own social media campaign?
Victoria Ipri is CEO of Modello Media, Inc., an e-marketing strategy firm based in suburban Philadelphia, PA. She welcomes your questions and comments on this forum, or contact her directly at: ModelloMedia@gmail.com
Feel free to connect with members of Green Buzz Agency on Linkedin: Tod Plotkin, Sara Evans, Jennie Nowers, and Jared Lee. Or join the Green Buzz Agency Linkedin Group.
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The recent flip-flop by Gap in their choice of logo illustrates the power of the consumer in brand decisions. But really, the consumer has always had this power – the internet and social media has just sped the plow. We marketers love the idea that we’re in control. We carefully craft messages and choose channels to reach our carefully selected target audience, who we track relentlessly.
But really, it’s all an illusion. It always has been. We don’t create brand perception, we influence it through our actions and messages.
Extend that idea to job candidates. You’re probably not thinking about them much these days, between slow economic growth and high unemployment. It’s likely that you either aren’t hiring or that you have a pretty large candidate pool. Supply is outstripping demand.
It’s not going to stay that way. Recessions historically are followed by roughly 5 years of growth, which will create a talent shortage. Also, recent research by Regus and Rasmussen Reports indicate that anywhere from 27% to 40% of people currently working are going to look outside their current company to change jobs. Lou Adler of the Adler Group has predicted a “Hiring Tsunami,”where millions of employees will change jobs during a 6-month period looking for greener pastures, discover that their new jobs aren’t any better than their old ones, and then change again.
The Green Buzz Agency Blog provides insight for Marketing Decision Makers and other fun people
When that happens, your employer brand will become ever more important. Don’t wait until the “tsunami” hits – by then it will be too late to differentiate yourself from others. A few basic concepts that will help with the employer brand:
Simplify. While in the current environment candidates may put up with about anything to get a job, it’s not likely to stay that way. Make it easy to find the careers page on your website. Have a good search mechanism to find relevant jobs. (That makes it easier on you, too, by allowing candidates to self-qualify.) Don’t make candidates retype their résumés into your online job application – invest in technology to do it for them.
Communicate. There is nothing candidates hate more than a black hole. Consider how disheartening it is to apply for a position or send in a résumé and never hear any response. And by the way, the automated “Thank you for applying” e-mail doesn’t count. At minimum, make sure that candidates know when a position closes. Most applicant tracking systems will send that e-mail for you when you close the requisition. On that e-mail template, however, encourage candidates to seek other opportunities within your company. And no, candidates don’t believe that their résumé will be on file and considered for other positions.
Another communication to consider is actually e-mailing job openings to candidates who have applied in the past for other positions. Make sure this is an opt-in list for CAN-SPAM compliance, but these types of updates can have very high ROI. In a previous position at a medical staffing company, I created a direct e-mail campaign for traveling allied health professionals where they received open positions in their skill set and chosen geographies. This campaign had a 30-day ROI of over 1,000%, and an ongoing ROI consistently over 200%.
Demonstrate. It’s great on your careers website to tell candidates what it’s like to work at your company, but to be credible, show them. Profiles of successful employees, employee blogs, video interviews with successful employees, company event videos, photos of your workspaces, insights from senior leadership and any other way you can show candidates what it’s like to work for your company are invaluable. You create great employer brand equity and credibility through these types of demonstrations.
John Cloonan is the Marketing Director at ZeroChaos. Follow him on twitter @johncloonan or email him: john@johncloonan.com
