PR Week
By Kimberly Maul
November 16, 2009
This morning, I attended the first part of the Gravity Summit, focusing
on social media marketing. The event, held for the fifth time and the
first time not at a college or university, brought together social media
experts, such as Twitter for Dummies author Laura Fitton, and companies
including SyFy, bing, and VML.
“It’s a social movement,” said Mike Lundgren, partner and director of
creative technology at digital marketing firm VML, of the Internet now
and how brands use it. “When we publish now, we publish with the
expectation that people will talk back.”
“We have to stop thinking about how to get people back to our dot-com,”
he added, saying that reaching customers where they are—Twitter,
Facebook, and others—is the way to engage.
SyFy went out with that thought when the recently-rebranded network
introduced an iPhone app for Comic-Con 2009. The app, which was based
around photosharing, “definitely surpassed our expectations,” said
Matthew Chiavelli, VP of broadband and mobile for SyFy. Attendees at the
event posted pictures, commented, and shared all through an iPhone app
created for the occasion.
“We’re used to a very active fan base and a very active community,”
Chiavelli said. “We wanted to make this a way for fans to communicate
with each other.”
Brian Morrissey, digital editor for AdWeek, was also on hand, commenting
on social media marketing myths, discussing how social media is not
always free, how to sell products with social media while still
listening, and that the 30-second TV spot and one-off campaigns are not
dead.
“Marketers are going to end up buying their way into these
transactions,” Morrissey said, mentioning a campaign from Kmart where
they gave bloggers gift cards to shop at the store. While it may not
seem authentic to some, he said, transparency is key, not necessarily
authenticity.
You can follow the day’s speakers and comments on Twitter: #gravsum.
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Jonalyn Morris PR
O: 310-398-9372 | M: 323-376-3632 | jonalyn@jonalynmorrispr.com
