I was super excited to hear that the lovely people at Interactive Minds were organising a Digital Summit for Brisbane in August 2013. I was super sad when I realised I wouldn’t be able to attend as I would be in Dubai, where I now live and work for an SEO agency called Sekari.

With the wonder that is the Internet and twitter, I was able to catch up on a lot of the gems from the 1 day summit which was jam packed with great insights from some really awesome people in the digital industry.

The hashtag for the event was #IMDS2013 and you can probably read up on it if you have a moment but I’ve saved you the bother by collating and curating tweets from the day.

NB: It took a fair while to collect and I’ve trimmed the list down considerably. But if you know of a super easy way to collect tweets from one hashtag and easily edit/trim the list etc.. let me know!! Nothing beats being there and it’s hard to sift out duplicate tweets but I hope this is of some relevance and service! Please forgive any and all shortcomings.

Please enjoy, share and spread the Digital Love!

— begin tweets —

INTRO, STUFF ABOUT DIGITAL, BRISBANE CITY’s DIGITAL STRATEGY, KIERAN O’HEA

Only 30% of businesses in Brisbane transact online.

Only 10% of US GDP comes from tech companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft et. 90% from traditional businesses.

Brisbane first city in world to have digital strategy focussing on economic growth – really? Wow.

Brisbane is the first city to have a digital strategy and the second city to appoint a Digital Officer  #brisbane

Brisbane digital startup investment fund??!! Wonder how it will compare to the $70M for the river walk.

City of Brisbane running some great program’s to assist digital start ups. Details here:http://www.brisbanemarketing.com.au/Business/Digital-Brisbane

Coder Dojo for 7-17 year olds every Saturday morning in Brisbane – awesome cool nerdy times for kids! Great idea.

Brisbane has the first digital strategy in the World that is focused on economic development! Kieran O’Hea #dbstrategy

 

NOAH KAGAN, APP SUMO  – KEYNOTE

If you only do what everyone else is doing, it’s going to be very hard to win @noahkagan

Know your goals and keep it simple @noahkagan

Giving away Dropbox for life – creating more users for @AppSumo via targeted competitions @noahkagan

Lots of twitter and FB followers is great, but do they convert? Direct them to something that will make you MONEY!

Using Facebook ads? Start small, target your competitors, stalk your customers likes.

Fans don’t always = $. What other value do they give you?

@noahkagan from @appsumo target the newsfeed ads in Facebook. Way better CTR.

Noah’s Facebook ad tips: personalise the company and make it about individuals, advertise in the middle column

News feed ads for Facebook significantly better CTR than side bar blind spot @noahkagan

Marketing is like a buffet, try dishes, see what you like and do more of that @noahkagan

@noahkagan says target smaller niche sites with ads, he doesn’t use top 10 sites; results in better prices

Target niche sites with good clients that not everyone is using. Use Technorati and start at the bottom @noahkagan

Consider advertising on smaller/medium sites. Cheaper cost and easier to get, but still good targeting.

mantra come and reach out to our 500,000 unique visitors on my247 com au – I won’t get you likes I’ll get you customers

If people are signing up for emails, great time to target them to subscribe to yours. Sponsor the thank you page @noahkagan

Sponsoring a ‘thank you for signing up to our newsletter’ pages can be a good win for your newsletter & brand  @noahkagan

“When you provide something to a customer, make sure it’s not shitty” @noahkagan

You need to make your offer something your audience WANTS.

If you’re going to offer (free) education to customers, make sure it’s valuable @noahkagan

Do A/B tests, they can provide a big impact. And the one you think might not always win.

Test things high in your funnel: homepage, subscription page and get some wins

A small percentage improvement from A/B tests can make a massive difference over the course of a whole year.

Use optimizely for A/B testing

Be more efficient by hiring better people

How do you get the lifestyle? “Hire great people!” @noahkagan (And create your death list!)

More people should be using video ads. @noahkagan recommends http://wistia.com  – see who presses play + drop off and CTA

“High quality people working on less but higher quality activities” N.Kagan

@noahkagan Death Plan: amazing way to address your own value to your business

How many blog owners do you need to contact for cut through? Enough to meet your objective.

Loving the questions at  – getting some extra gems out of @noahkagan

@noahkagan has recently been buying a cookie drop on websites instead of ads & use it for retargeting. Something new to try?

Try different methods for your objective. The same thing won’t work for everyone…

Look at referring sites that are generating revenue and increase your spend or buy remnant inventory

@noahkagan from @appsumo one goal for the company each year instead of chasing what’s bright and shiny.

Have one objective that everyone in your company aligns to (like a product or revenue target)

AppSumo has a new dashboard with 3 figures on it. Get the whole team focused on the same metric

One priority to along ur business with – ‘Growth!’ For Facebook and @AppSumo @noahkagan  #focus

 

BIG DATA

“Big data is a long way off” @nathbush, “Too much data is a problem” @kellylevestam

#bigdata is all about #smartdata, there’s no point having all the data if you can’t analyse it then action the insights @GJIdata

Big data has been insurance companies secret to marketing…(big analytical product background) @jonathankerr

With big data, start small and build it out.

@nathbush says they have had to update computers to cope with data spreadsheets!

@nathbush: Automate processes to get valuable data when possible

“Take learnings from your data & apply it to your marketing messages” @jonathankerr

“If we can’t measure it, we don’t do it” @jonathankerr

Set up your analytics properly. Work out your goals so you can figure out what to measure. 2yrs of the wrong data is useless.

Set boundaries and guidelines in place so big data isn’t creepy. Walk in their shoes, make it intuitive @jonathankerr

Don’t benchmark against your competitors, benchmark against the big players using data well

Benchmarking is important but it is what you do with that output that is the real measure @kellylevestam

Find your own benchmarks. Every business/market is different & otherwise you can set yourself up for failure @nathbush

There is no silver bullet with data, it takes time and a lot of work!

Spread sheets are still a popular tool of choice for starting out with analytics. Not quite so #bigdata, but getting there

Moving beyond excel for data; @jonathankerr standardised Analytics system, allow real time access & built a custom system.

“focus on outcome and measurement, the path to management investment is getting foundations right” @jonathankerr

Consider a data scientist for your team to get to that next level of data Analytics

BigData requires preferential data & complex user profiling that’s updated & managed 24/7/365. Takes brute force & KISS principle

You will never be able to press one button and get the magic data insight @nathbush

We continue to dream about the magic $10M button @nathbush!

“Power with facts not opinion” @jonathankerr  #BigData

Marketing can be a profit centre where data is used to support or challenge a business strategy

Digital activities including data needs to be incorporated in a new world view including digital from the get go @kellylevestam

“A Digital marketing plan cannot work in isolation from traditional marketing” @kellylevestam  #marketing

“build a culture of CRM” @nathbush data is the new oil!

@mszulc metrics not myths. Drop the buzz words.

Start thinking about where the magic happens @GJIdata

Data + content; art + science >> all contribute to the customer experience

LISTEN to customers, PREDICT what they want, ASSEMBLE the content, DELIVER to the appropriate place/time.

“Data is useless unless you can get insights” @mszulc Your data strategy must find actionable, measurable insights

Relevant content is key. Ensure your message is relevant to your audience and channel

“Engaging customers before, during and after the sale,” with @markszulc at the Digital Summit Brisbane

The right tools will allow non-creatives to be driving your activity @mszulc

Think about responsive design vs adapting design for different platforms  #digitalmarketing #mobilemarketing

Don’t rely on the HIPO’s opinion, let the customers show you what they like & respond to through data

consider using and testing different content that is more relevant to each channel. @adobe

Flow of information/collaboration in and amongst organisations is imperative in our digital age – @markszulc

Anyone know cost of Adobe Marketing Cloud? Last time I looked at their offerings they were WAYYY out of reach of small business.

 

CONTENT

Talking about the secrets to creating digital content that will engage customers within first 5 seconds –  @emma6516

@emma6516 says “engage customers in the first 5 seconds”

Content marketing is a commitment not a campaign – John Buscall

“Your content should ultimately help your consumers make smarter decisions” @Emma6516 from NRMA at

like this @emma6516 “you can create content but it doesn’t mean you are actually using it and gaining benefit”

It all begins with the content strategy – which content, which platforms, which audience, do we need help?

NRMA spent 18 months developing their content strategy. Wow!

Quality is the key to any good content marketing campaign. You need to find that sweet spot to make consumers smarter

Content marketing is about owning not renting @emma6516

Quality content is king

They key to any content strategy is QUALITY. Why don’t many businesses understand this?

Write about what’s important to your customers, not what YOU want to push. Push the boundaries.

“What customers want to know and what businesses want to say are NOT the same thing.” Spot on @Emma6516.  #ContentMarketing

You can’t be good at everything. Know when to call in the experts. #content

Pick the things you’re good at and outsource the rest!

Don’t go rouge, but chances are your CEO is not your customer audience, so don’t write for him!

@emma6516 says “Find a sweet spot that will make your consumer smarter and create content around it.”

Multi-task content – get great CMS; edit it twice, publish once @emma6516

Publish for your platform. What works for your website may not work for twitter, EDM, Facebook etc.

Video content is a great way to engage with customers in the first 5 seconds.

Revisit content/marketing objectives; pull put key points of content strategy; create wish list of influencers/celebs

Celebrity endorsement: create a wish list of influencers/celebrities and get then to really engage not just do a piece to camera

Content #marketing ‘star power’ – engage celebrities to create compelling content

Celebrity endorsement pulls PR – go for gold!

Content marketing produces 3 x more leads than paid search @emma6516

MEA$URE! For NRMA, content marketing produces three times as many leads as traditional marketing @emma6516

And costs 40% less… “@IMBrisbane: Content marketing produces 3 x more leads than paid search @emma6516

Content marketing costs 40% less than paid search. Know your numbers from @emma6516

CRAPY CONTENT CAN KILL YOU :O

Crappy content can destroy a brand. Refine to make sure it works @emma6516

– ideal situation: your customers become your content marketers, make them want to talk about you! @emma6516

With content marketing, go hard or go home! @emma6516

Need a single customer view that captures all touch points to measure engagement and attribution

Rich image content – 1 of 7 trends in social – @jessetyler

Most users spend an avg of 15 mins on Pinterest per session!

83% of Pinterest users are women, average time on site is >15 mins. @jessdoubleya

It doesn’t cost money for your consumers to create content. Rich image content is trend #1 in social media @jessdoubleya

Real time monitoring & engagement -trend 2 of 7 in social @jessdoubleya

Trend #2: Real time monitoring and engagement. Relevant well timed content can have a huge viral impact @jessdoubleya

Personalise personalise personalise – trend 3 of 7 in social @jessdoubleya consumers are ‘owed’ personalised content

Use your insights into what people are saying about your brand to inspire your social media content. @jessdoubleya

Localisation is crucial to personalising the message #localsocial @jessdoubleya

Consumers are starting to EXPECT personalised content – @jessdoubleya. Phew, glad we’re over that ‘creepy’ speed bump.

Key to great content – monitoring what is trending around ur brand and reacting asap to creating content around that

It’s all about: Right message, Right time, Right person. Make your communications relevant and personalised  @GJIdata

Personalisation elements: location, time, content type & length, social media source, frequency of posts  @jessdoubleya

Trend #3 Personalise. Customers can curate their content now. Use location, time, content type & length, frequency @jessdoubleya

Integrated (not BIG) data – trend 4 of 7 in social media @jessdoubleya

Social media influences journalists.

Trend #4: integrated data – tweak traditional and social media to work better together

Leveraging off influencers – trend 5 of 7 in social – @jessdoubleya

Senofi eg; 60% of influencers given diabetes reading device; 52 million media impressions over 6 months

Trend 5: Leveraging off Influences. Opportunities for spreading the word but also learning & listening @jessdoubleya

Senofi eg. Achieved 3x budget of the media spend; 144% of sales budget

Trend 6: close the loop. Don’t post for postings sake

Final trend – closing the loop – need to be able to measure each post @jessdoubleya

Closing the loop – trend 6 of 7 (& good practice!!) @jessdoubleya Why are you posting what you are posting?

7 Trends in Social Media 1. Rich image content 2. Real time monitoring & engagement 3. Personalise 4. Integrated Data…

…5. Leverage off influencers 6. Closing the loop 7. Creating a social organisation

Trend 7: creating a social organisation – be an advocate and demonstrate how the bottom line can be impacted @jessdoubleya

7 Trends in Social Media from @jessdoubleya

1. Rich image content
2. Real time monitoring & engagement
3. Personalise
4. Integrated Data
5. Leverage off influencers
6. Closing the loop
7. Creating a social organisation

Creating a social organisation; we need to be promoting to the business what social can do for the business @jessdoubleya

Not many other professions have the privilege to touch the consumer quite like social media marketers.

How can you reward & encourage influences – give them something that makes them feel like a star, relevant for the market

If you can make the consumer fall in love with you, they’ll buy anything!

Create community into which you can softly market or sell or communicate or provide content … @jessdoubleya

“If you get people to love you they will listen to anything.” @jessdoubleya  #Socialmedia

Automate processes and drive revenue – that’s what I’m talkin bout @mszulc

 

OFFLINE and ONLINE BUSINESS

Interesting to hear how Flight Centre is gradually shifting from traditional retail to take advantage of online travel

Listening to @sutho speak about Flight Centre Australia’s less than swift adoption of e-commerce. Very amusing!

Sutho’s preso: http://prezi.com/wwlwfttoojim/interactive_minds/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&auth_key=accf82711061a0c4aadff02b53ca1474cbd94303

Flight centre: we were relying on our staff to do things. We fixed that.

Flight centre: customer expects response to email in 10 minutes but we take 48 hours

Flight centre: We bought online businesses and put offline people in charge of them. Mistake

Year of the customer was last year – we are onto something else now hehehe love it

Internal affiliate system is an option for retail stores trying to delve into e-commerce. Ensures staff get credited for sales.

Price parity between retail and online is important. I’ve bought online because the store didn’t have access to the same offer.

“Shopping is an activity not a place” says @sutho

Any smart device will be a commerce device in the future. Start thinking about that… @sutho

“Mobile strategy” is so 2012. You need a “multi-screen strategy”. The same customer drifts across laptop, mobile, tablet etc

50% of Amazons sales were from people who had looked at that product in store. Someone else’s store @sutho

Aussie bricks and mortar stores should provide OUTSTANDING customer experience to combat lower online prices. Sadly, they don’t.

Ordered from Hong Kong, delivered in 2 days. Ordered from Dick Smith (AU) took a week!

Yes! Online means multi-screen but mobile is first & best experience says @sutho of @flightcentreAU

Solutions to showrooming? You can put a phone jammer in your store…bad service here! @sutho

Or you can change product bar codes to make scanning difficult. Or the endless isle (bigger range online, fast free shipping)

Phone jamming in showroom apparently not bad service in Australia :-) no more price comparisons in store! BOOM! #showrooming

@sutho B2C engagement on FB is where it’s at … If the top 10 retail brands have a twitter audience 59k, FB is the multiplier

Great tips from @sutho . He tells  that retailers should use Blackout devices to jam phones and suggests to blame #vodafone. #funny

Differentiate from other online competitors with services, a bigger network and your own products @sutho

Is Google still launching “Google Flights” in AU? If so, I will be interested to see how the travel consultants/retailers adapt!

Woolies app is great. Scan item barcode, add it to list, tells me what aisle it’s in, my fuel discounts, and live fuel prices!

Tracking movement of clothes in store, over the counter and out the door @ZARA @sutho  clever #data

I really wish NFC was used more in Australia. I have it in my phone but have very little use. How about coffee rewards?

Single Customer View #isabigdeal

“Big data is like high school sex. Everyone’s talking about it, very few are doing it & no one is doing it well!” Classic! @sutho  – (Ed: this was arguably the most popular line from summit!)

“If IT is looking after your data, that isn’t good! You need either a real or virtual team. @sutho

Tell your kids to become a statistician. The future demand is going to be huge!

 

MOBILE

Mary Meeker says you will look at your phone 150 times a day! @michaelweeding

‘Mobile at a point of critical engagement right now’  @michaelweeding Get ur mobile on ppl!

The apps on your phone home screen are defining people, it shows your personality! @michaelweeding

Mobile is pillar of @michaelweeding‘s digital strategy for @citibankaus as data shows its 1st touch point

Become a merchant with a mobile phone? Sounds easy!

One thing that annoys me about banking apps is the lack of features. Can’t do the same things as desktop.

Starbucks in 2012 had $820 million being deposited via mobile phones in store. Worth thinking about #mobile ?  @michaelweeding

I can’t imagine my life without mobile banking! @michaelweeding

An average banking customer logs on about 7 times a month. A lot don’t want to bank via mobile @michaelweeding

Consumers want convenience and expect security. Hard to do both

Adoption of mobile banking has only just reached early majority on the product innovation curve. Surprising @michaelweeding

Consumers want convenience. They expect security. Two conflicting wants when it comes to mobile @michaelweeding

Competing consumer demands for mobile banking – Security & Convenience @michaelweeding

Mobile banking security – it’s not about the money honey, it’s your ID that we need to worry about @facecentral

Security vs Convenience… That is the question

Second factor authentication: Something you have and something you know. A privacy protection measure we should know about.

so true identity theft is the real security issue. People are more aware.

use @1Password people

Passwords are so last year

Passwords in their current format are not secure. One of the most popular passwords is “password1” @michaelweeding

Who is planning for the extinction of the password? We need to maintain security with another mechanism in place @michaelweeding

Will passwords be obsolete? Fingerprint technology may be coming to #apple iPhone 6 perhaps. @michaelweeding  #tech

Does your phone have residual fingerprints that effectively shows your password?

Love that @michaelweeding is covering security + convenience, an area of digital that doesn’t get discussed as often.

Many organisations at disrupting banks, and they aren’t even perceived as banks @michaelweeding

Customers are good at improving products, but not inventing them. That is radical innovation @michaelweeding

One of the most discussed mobile banking topics is the mobile wallet. What will the solution be?

Whoever gets the digital/mobile wallet right will win. #googlewallet  @michaelweeding

Disruption occurs when the meaning of  a product is changed

User experience with a physical card trumps current mobile wallet solutions

Apple didn’t roll out NFC in the iPhone 5 = uninnovative?

Apple patented NFC integration & a fingerprint scanner in 2008. They know they need more convenience to make it actually work.

I wouldn’t be smart with spending if it was easy as paying with a tap of my mobile – great opp for banks to help with triggers.

Great point by @michaelweeding: the credit card is a hugely efficient piece of technology. He do you make that simpler on mobile?

73% people feel panicked if they misplaced their phone #nomobiphobia @michaelweeding  #irelatetothat

25% of apps are only used once

25% of apps are only used once. 75% of apps last less than a year on a device. Hard to get cut through & loyalty @michaelweeding

Mobile phone winner- the 1 that can think less about what is inside the wallet & more about how it makes good financial decisions

You have to maximise the first engagement with an app, to ensure ongoing engagement and loyalty @michaelweeding

48% research products on a mobile but only 8% convert. It’s a leaky bucket & processes need to be modified to improve it

Mobile innovation: Balance conflicting desires; do more w less; plug the leaky funnel @michaelweeding

Impressive to see that 55% of websites are mobile-optimised as of 2013! Thought it was less.

 

MULTI SCREEN

On average, we spend 4.1 hours of our leisure time in front of screens each day #squareeyes

Google says 88% of interactions are screen based. radio, tv, newspapers and magazines now only count for 12% of interactions.

One device no longer commands our full attention. Today’s world is multi-screen.

Device usage is driven by context; time, location, goals, attitude

Our media interaction is spread between 4 primary screens: mobile, tablet, PC, TV

Tweeting during a presentation – a sign of rudeness or engagement?

36% of our daily media interactions occur on a smart phone; 62% of smart phone use at home; 38% put of home/office use

7% of daily media interactions occur on a tablet – is more about entertainment, and mainly used late at night

23% of daily media interactions take place on TV; 96% of that usage occurs at night

Device usage changes depending on time of day.

Getting a good run down of Internet users across devices from Roger James

Between 2009 & 2012, tv stations have quadrupled; newspapers halved in distribution

Nearly everyone used to have a Nokia phone. Back in the old days of 2009!

Nearly 40% of households have a tablet device. Or maybe they have more like mine!

Again, 2009 – 2012, smartphone numbers tripled. And in 2012 43% of homes have a tablet

Hopefully Google’s new Universal Analytics will help us track the same user across multiple devices.

The consumers journey is multiscreen & sequential. Research on one device & purchase on another

81% of participants use multiple screens sequentially to accomplish a task over time; 97% move between devices in same day

These stats are showing the number of mobile optimised sites has increased 175% in just the past two years

I don’t think I can sit through an entire episode of a TV series without browsing the web on my phone/tablet. #help

77% of time watching TV we are also on another device. Sounds about right!

Top simultaneous screening activities: Internet, email, social, games, search – Google research

TV is a major catalyst for search – 1 in 10 searches on tablet prompted by ad or show…

TV is a major catalyst for search – tvc & TV press is still important people

Google has some great market research and stats for all types of industries at http://www.google.com/think/ 

Great insight from Roger James at Google. Is multi screening the new black? @google @PrendiDigital

When Comm Bank ran TV ads it resulted in immediate spikes in traffic to their website. Good to see it in graph form from Google

Senofi eg. Achieved 3x budget of the media spend; 144% of sales budget

Consumers search for everything, at anytime, across all devices, from everywhere. Is it YOU they’re finding? #localsocial

Internet traffic spikes when ads are on TV

Good Adidas example of assigning attribution to a campaign from Roger

 

TRAVEL

Future of travel? http://www.adioso.com  – intuitive travel search.

Google has big data but doesn’t share much of it

I think p2p travel sites will be big in coming years – car sharing, holiday rentals etc.

Coming soon to a sky near you ‘drone spam’ the future of the #ads space? Future tech discussions with Jeff Dermann

The world is getting faster & smaller. The speed of change is noticeable. @jeffez setting the scene for what is ahead

People use their mobile phones in the morning. We know.

@jeffez – localised, green, medical travel and new competitors are the future of travel.

Travel trends we can expect: green travel, medical travel & niche verticals like airbnb @jeffez

The rise of the mega hubs is coming to travel. A shift in the hubs is already underway

Improve the airport experience! Biometrics, fast check in & frequent fliers. Expect big changes in this space

How much will customers give away in order to get through airports quickly? Facial recognition? Scanners?

Travel industry will change with millions of new middle class in China, India etc. Lots of ppl coming online & discovering travel.

Travel insights from Google: http://www.google.com.au/think/industries/travel-tourism.html

Watching a clever video showing how travel can evolve to focus on the consumer experience, flow and connections

Most people have booked travel online, some via mobile & fewer using an app.

People hate filling in forms. It’s why we have so many repeat customers @CarRental – search, compare and book in less than 1 min!

Areas to improve in travel: booking process, more time dreaming, more customisable options

Value will move from price to convenience.

Controversial I’m sure but I love the concept of #GlobalIdentity

People will give up their data for experience. Experiences will be more tailored based on history & preferences

Geolocators for luggage – something already available & sure to be popular!

Dreaming pods in shops – picture yourself there before you go! Are these mini holidays?

Travel of the future will involve more time to dream & less time to book

 — end tweets —