With a theme of what’s next, UnSummit3 was attempting to uncover just what we’re all getting ourselves into as we embark on our grand journey as interactive marketers. Several statements were made in the discussions I was a part of that stated some great possibilities. And, more importantly, they left my mind reeling with even more possibilities.

So, here are my top four takeaways from UnSummit3. An “alternative” conference can’t have a nice, neat top five or ten, after all.

1. Will the onslaught of social media activity turn all of our online selves into boring selves with no personalities?

   Making ourselves known online is easier than ever. Everybody’s a writer. Everybody’s a publisher. Everybody’s a marketer and a brand manager (for themselves).

   Unfortunately, everybody’s also a stalker. Whether it’s related to our career, our love life, or anything else, “Facebook stalking” just might be becoming America’s new favorite pastime.

   As interactive marketers, we can’t afford not to be online. This fact is arguably true for other industries, too. (Or maybe just to maintain some kind of social life.) So, simply removing profiles to avoid the issue completely might not be the best option.

   If we “sterilize” our profiles to the point that we look vanilla – not a sprinkle or cherry on top in site – are we doing ourselves an injustice? Assuming we use common sense, do we really want to work for a place or be part of a group that can’t handle our personalities?

   (I’m not sure who brought up the point of sterilizing profiles, but it obviously made me think. So thank you. And if you happen to read this post, please claim the idea as your own.)

2. Interactive marketing isn’t marketing (or even interactive marketing) as usual.

   This idea began to develop, for me at least, at the MIMA Summit (and no, I’m not going anywhere near the Summit vs. UnSummit argument…). Our goal as interactive marketers today is really to connect with our most vocal customers (the 1%), and then, let them do the marketing – talking about the product, telling everyone how great it is, etc.

   Of course, we need to communicate brand and the basic product features and benefits. But then, it’s our job to listen to customers. So we’re finders and we’re listeners, but then what’s next?

   Then, we need to take what we hear back to the company and use it to create a better product, service, or company. So, the possibilities of what an interactive marketer might become are nearly endless: organizational developers, customer service managers, product developers, and more.

   In the agency model conversation, @paulisakson brought up a great point about this situation we’re in as marketers, and how it really builds in the possibility for better companies. Essentially, we should be able to save money by letting our customers do the marketing, instead of buying expensive ad space or designing expensive campaigns. Instead, we can take this money back to the company for product or business development. If things really began to work out this way, everybody wins.

3. Social media might seem like a fun fantasy world, but, this just in, the “real world” can see it, too.

   From career concerns to legal issues to business policies, a lot of the fear surrounding social media could be taken away by just remembering some basic common sense. (Getting to be an oldie, and not directly related to interactive, but so incredibly true – read The Death of Common Sense by Philip K. Howard.) (Also, of course, I realize this doesn’t solve all legal issues.)

   If we wouldn’t say it in “real life”, then don’t say it online. The same real people we talk to offline also happen to be online. Imagine that. And unlike these people’s memories offline, the Internet doesn’t forget. Ever. We’re not paranoid about everything we say offline, and I don’t think we should have to be online either. But we also can’t be stupid.

   A few things to keep in mind? Employees can just as easily make a stupid comment to their entire network of friends and family in the real world as they can online, and there’s nothing we can do about that. And we’ve all heard the tagline: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. Remember the opposite when it comes to social media. What happens on social media sites most certainly doesn’t stay on social media sites.

4. Be succinct, accessible, and useful above all else.

   In the Social Media Reality Check discussion led by @philson, we discussed how everything convenient is winning out among “real people”. Mobile is becoming more common; laptops are often preferred over desktops; people often like Twitter more than Facebook because it’s less cumbersome. If we add too many bells and whistles to things that really aren’t helpful to users, we could end up hurting ourselves more than helping.

   Then, there was the storytelling discussion (with @threevolts, @ sandentotten, and ?? can someone fill me in on the third?). Can the initiative to simplify be applied here, too? I think so. Have we gotten so sucked into the hype and, more or less, fairy tales of viral marketing success that we’re always looking for the biggest, best story to get our customers’ attention? I don’t think we necessarily need rocket ships, robots, or moving parts. Our customers are getting smarter and busier. They just want to know what they need to know. All we really need to do is give them something they can identify with – make them care. If it’s worth talking about – whether it’s covered in glitz and glamour or not – they’ll talk.

Thanks to all organizers, sponsors, and attendees for such great, thought-provoking conversation!

Most attendees could talk about any one statement from any one session for hours, but in the interest of brevity – a favorite with interactive (web) after all – I’ve combined my top ten takeaways from the Summit. (Or at least the sessions I attended.)

Some of these points are overarching ideas I heard throughout the day and others were just some ideas I found extra-profound in specific sessions.

1. The magic number: 1%.
   For many presenters, starting with Jackie Huba’s keynote and continuing to my last session with Scott Monty, the magic 1% of your audience was a topic.
   You must reach the 1% of your audience who will be vocal and who will influence others. Then, the rest will come along. Get some of this 1% to defend you and be proactive in doing so, and you may just be set for life.
2. Interactive is already leading traditional media.
   We often talk about the way that everything is moving to digital. But, overwhelmingly, we’re already there – particularly when it comes to marketing. To kick off the Summit, Jackie Huba gave several examples of traditional media amplifying buzz that started on the web. The examples continued in session after session all day.
3. Always be “on”. Response time, planning time, projections – everything is shorter.
   Crisis time is minutes, not days or weeks. Your customers are online after “business hours” and on the weekends. Not only is there a short time-span for crisis situations, there’s a short time span for implementing your campaigns, too.
   You can see a big change in a short time. According to Scott Monty, Ford became the #12 most social brand in just months, rather than in the 3 years the company planned for their goal. Instead of planning for years, make “bite size” plans.
4. You don’t control your brand.
   You can try to influence your brand, and you can be pretty successful with it. But the days when marketers could scream about their brand at the top of their lungs and that was the brand – they’re over. As Seth Godin succinctly put it during his keynote, “Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what other people say it is.”
5. Social media is measurable.
   Social media marketing may not be measured exactly as we’re used to measuring marketing, but it can be measured. There are tools out there to measure the buzz and even some tools to measure ROI, like the Social Networking ROI Calculator Laura Chavoen mentioned in her presentation. (Haven’t had a chance to look at this yet – does anyone know where I can find the presentation?)
   People are already tracking ROI. Lee Odden gave some great examples: Dell has generated $3 million in sales from their Dell Outlet Twitter account, and Umi, a sushi restaurant in California, knows they get about 5 new guests every night who heard about them on Twitter.
   In an even simpler, more logical way, though, if people talk about your brand online, and some of those people buy from you, you’ve been successful.
   Finally, social media marketing gives us something new and very important to measure – engagement. Before social media marketing, relationships with your customers were much harder to measure.
6. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
   We all know we’re in the midst of a completely new form of marketing that’s at times both invigorating/exciting and overwhelming/frightening. What was clear throughout the day, though, is that interactive marketing, particularly social media marketing, means nothing without some of the basic marketing principles that have held true since the beginning of time.
   Every session I attended said to start your work with a clear set of objectives. Again, Seth Godin stated this concisely when he gave his steps for creating a movement with your brand. The first step was to be remarkable (worthy of remarks). If you haven’t completed this step, he says, you have to go back to it and start again before moving on. So, if you don’t have a good product and some sound objectives for telling people about it, all the fancy interactive marketing in the world isn’t going to make it remarkable. (As Seth also said, you can’t just “sprinkle some of that fancy new media stuff on top”.)
7. Our role as marketers is changing; we’re listeners and relationship builders, and in some ways, our customers are the marketers.
   As marketers, we’re now in the business of listening to our customers online, and then taking this information back to shape our businesses. Of course, there’s general awareness to be created. A creative, attention getting story or a great promotion doesn’t hurt either. But if we listen enough to create a great brand, our 1% (vocal customers) will catch on and take care of the marketing for us.
8. Be relevant and genuine; provide value.
   There’s an overwhelming amount of information available to people today. Sending out content without a purpose isn’t going to get you anywhere. Neither will sending your message out to anyone and everyone. If someone has no interest in your product/service, it doesn’t matter what content you throw at them or through which channel, they still won’t care.
   Tell a real, genuine story that’s worth talking about to people that want to talk about it. It’s not too hard to imagine, then, that these people will talk about it.
9. Track your efforts, and listen to the data.
   Data isn’t everything and no one is suggesting you get too focused on it. But it can help you determine what’s working, so you can stop what’s not. You might make a mistake, but if you realize this mistake, it’s never too late to improve. While consistency and staying true to your objectives are important, don’t cling to something that’s just not working.
10. Social media is risky and scary, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore it.
    Your customers are talking about you. Not paying attention doesn’t mean it’s not happening; not taking them seriously doesn’t make their issues go away. (I liked Laura Chavoen’s reference to ROI as ramifications of ignoring.) Jumping into social media and talking to your customers can be nerve-wracking, but they’re going to talk whether you’re there or not. So, wouldn’t you like a chance to influence them?

The social media guru. Full of mystique, glamour, a hip vocabulary, and…wait… what’s a social media guru?

There’s a lot of discussion about these elusive creatures within the Internet marketing community. What makes a guru? What doesn’t? How do you become one?

Google “social media guru”, and you’ll find listings including:

• “Biggest Mistakes Made by Social Media Gurus.”
• “How to Pick Your Social Media Guru.”
• “Expulsion of the Social Media Gurus.”
• “UK’s Female Social Media Guru 2009.” (Not necessarily defining a guru or how to get one, but a pretty funny listing, I thought.)

Buzz words and popularity don’t make an expert.

The main discussion, of course, is that many people claim to be gurus or experts with social media, and there’s very little anyone can do to stop them. They breeze into a business and mesmerize with cool terms (and I use the term “cool” loosely), like blogosphere, twittersphere, web 2.0, hash tag, widget, and avatar.

Surely, if someone knows these buzz words, they must know how to market your business with them, right?

Of course, not.
That’s like saying someone who can throw around the medical vocabulary she learned on Grey’s Anatomy is capable of operating on you. Not a medical guru. Not okay.

Well, look at all the Facebook friends this guru has, you say?

Friends? Really? Since when did the smartest kid have all the friends? Maybe before a big exam. The rest of the time, he sat alone at lunch with his books.

There’s a lot of great articles out there on how to identify a social media marketing firm to represent your business. Find an informative, succinct one on the Star Tribune’s website:
Five Key Questions to Ask a Social Media Firm

Now, onto my real point…

Seriously. Why does this term even exist?

In writing this post, I’m guilty of fueling the fire, but stop and think about the term: social media guru.

At the risk of being unbearably cliché - but to further make my point about how bizarre this term is – some dictionary definitions for guru are…

• A person with knowledge or expertise.
• One who is an acknowledged leader or chief proponent.

Do you really want to leave a large part of your online presence up to someone who’s an expert at social media itself?

There’s a reason everyone from your 13-year-old neighbor to your grandpa is on Facebook. It’s easy. Hit a few buttons – and voilà - you have an online presence.

These people know how to talk to their friends via social media, how to keep in touch with family and post pictures.

Of course, what your 13-year-old neighbor and your grandpa don’t know is anything about marketing. They can’t give you a strategy. They can’t help you find the right audience among millions of Facebook users. They certainly can’t figure out how to engage all of these people or make them interested in your product or service.

What you need is a marketer.

You need someone who knows how to develop a strategy and a following that will lead people to… you guessed it… spend money with your business. Of course, everyone says they want to have a conversation with their customers, but they really want to make some money. At the very least, they wouldn’t mind it.

And, as I mentioned above, because social media is easy, any smart marketer is capable of figuring out how to use it.

I know my preference won’t make this term disappear. But if it can’t go away, can we at least call them social media marketing gurus?

We already know the web has revolutionized the way we do things. As trite as the term “digital revolution” can be, it’s a very accurate description of the last few years in our society.

It’s definitely revolutionized how we travel – from finding directions via Google Maps to buying plane tickets on Expedia.

It’s revolutionized the way we shop. Can’t get it locally? No problem – when we can shop anywhere, globally.

Examples could go on forever. From online activities to the very way consumers are in control now, rather than companies.

All of these ideas are discussed in circles everywhere online and offline.

Recently, though, a few articles made me think about some even bigger shifts in our society – the next big things to be revolutionized, if you will.

First, a bit more about digital marketing.

A few months ago, results of a Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group study announced a great answer to the infamous question social media marketers face…
“What’s the ROI on social media?”
(Without fail, usually one of the first questions all businesses ask about social media – whether they’re skeptical or not.)

Of course, the quick answer is:
“It’s about engagement, not conversions.”
But this study actually found that deep engagement with customers through social media correlates to better financial performance.

The most engaged companies in the study saw an 18% increase in revenues over 12 months. Compare these companies to those who weren’t engaged and saw a 6% decrease in revenues over the same period.

So, sure, it’s great for engagement, but ROI, too? Even better.

The catch. The companies who had the biggest increases in ROI were deeply engaged. This study defined deeply engaged as having:

“…dedicated teams, however small, active in the social media channels they utilize. The study found that the most successful teams evangelize social media across the entire organization to pull in a broad range of stakeholder.”

You can read more about the study here, but what struck me was the evangelization of social media across an entire organization. A large undertaking.

Now, my actual point: the next big revolution…maybe.

Another article I recently read discussed customer loyalty –  more difficult with the less personal nature of online customer interaction.

For better loyalty, Gary Edwards, Executive Vice President of Client Services for customer experience management company Empathica, recommends “ensuring that all employees – from the top down – know your mission and live that mission while at work.” (Read more about this one here.)

So, now, some equations:

• Deep customer engagement through social media = increases in revenue
• Deep engagement through social media = evangelization of social media across an entire organization
• Customer loyalty = ensuring all employees know and live your mission while at work

To me, it seems these points are saying:
To have loyal customers that are going to continue spending money with you, you better have some loyal employees you trust to evangelize your brand.

Yes, in simple ways, the web has already revolutionized hiring. Another equation:

• Pictures of horrifying behavior on Facebook ≠ responsible adult career

But, does a move to how companies find success – by completely and totally engaging with customers online, anytime, anywhere – mean the web is about to further revolutionize how we’ll hire employees in the future?

Sure, a potential employee might have a clean, innocent Facebook page and an impressive LinkedIn profile, but can she be trusted to engage with customers? Can she properly communicate the company culture, mission, and more to them, all without supervision?

In some companies already completely dedicated to social media, this revolution may have happened. In other companies that haven’t jumped on the social media bandwagon, might this movement to genuine online engagement strategies impact hiring – whether companies are primarily online or not?

If shopping, travel, or any number of other examples are any indication, this change will be the case. Digital is still revolting, and we’re all just along for the ride, wherever it might take us.

It’s easy to look at “traditional” media like the yellow pages and see how they’ll need to be very creative to keep up with all things digital.

But what about those of us working in digital industries?

It’s easy for us to forget that our industry is always changing. Sometimes, it seems, at the speed of light. If we’re not careful, it might not be long before we’re hanging out on the curb with the yellow pages.

Researching a direct mail site one day, I came across a banner ad for MRM Worldwide with this tagline:

“In an evolving digital landscape, useful is the new clever.”

This concise statement is itself useful and clever. It sums up what it’s easy to miss with the constant change of digital industries.

Take for instance, again, the example of the yellow pages. Many companies that used to offer yellow page advertising are now offering a modified version of pay per click advertising. However, these pay per click ads are often first routed through a “storefront” or profile page on the company’s site. The ads don’t link directly to the the site for the company in the ad.

First, this isn’t useful for the end consumer. Adding an extra step to get to the site they want to visit doesn’t help them.
Second, this isn’t useful for the advertiser. With added barriers, it’s more likely that their consumers will never make it to the information they want visible – the content on their website.

What’s most useful for these previous yellow page advertisers and their customers? Probably to work with an experienced search engine marketing professional that will send targeted traffic to an actual website. Useful for consumers. Useful for advertisers.

With the saturation of the Internet with blogs, social media, and just plain websites, competition keeps growing.  In turn, so does noise for consumers. It only makes sense, then, that we, as consumers, gravitate toward what’s useful for us.

A clever ad might get our attention, but if it’s not backed up by a useful service or product, we probably won’t do anything more than think about it in passing.

Of course, how to be useful is another story. And it’s not an easy story to tell either. I think this tagline, though, is a great place to start: “…useful is the new clever”.

This just in (9 years ago), the days of seeing success simply from having a website are over.

Of course, just like anything, there are those amazing stories – kind of like Internet fairy tales.

Facebook is a favorite fairy tale. A college kid created Facebook. Without a huge marketing campaign, it completely caught on.

Marketers, college students, stay at home moms, and everyone in between are now clamoring to get on Facebook.

Not another story about Facebook.

Yes, the story of Facebook has been told more times than any of us care to remember. So why bring it up again?

Because while we’re all familiar with it, we sometimes forget one important thing:
It’s news.

It’s a story of wild success that’s not typical of how business and marketing work on the Internet. As this article details, the Facebook story is more like a movie script.

What we often overlook is what’s typical about Facebook’s success.
It didn’t happen overnight.

It started just for college students. Then anyone was allowed to join. Then came fan pages for businesses. Finally, application upon application began popping up.

How were these additions decided? Facebook didn’t just jump in and start creating. They listened.

By listening to their own community, they were able to determine what was a good idea and what wasn’t. Then, they added to the site over time.

It’s not glamorous, but it’s real.

This point – listening – is much less glamorous than the exciting tale of Facebook’s start and success. As marketers, it’s a much more important point, though.

Instead of referencing the fairy tales and wild success that can come from Internet marketing, remember to get real.

Take, for instance, social media marketing for your business. When you’re ready to put yourself out there, consider what you’re doing first. And while you’re doing it, don’t forget to think like a real person, and not like a business owner or marketer already completely invested in a product.

Would you engage with your business online?

• Are the things you’re asking of your customers or potential customers things you can see yourself doing?
• Would you discuss the same questions with your customers or potential customers offline?
• Is the same conversation you want to have already happening? Is someone already doing what you’re thinking of doing?
  (Give your customers some credit – if you’ve seen it work, they have, too.)

As Internet marketers, of course, we like to think there’s magic, excitement, and glamour to what we do, but these things are just the icing on the cake when creating a successful online presence.

We need to get real first.

The magic can’t happen without the less magical pieces – planning, research, strategy, listening…and yes, hard work and time.