DigiMarCon Canada
Day 1 Recap
Members of the VERB Content Team are spending the weekend in Toronto attending DigiMarCon Canada learning about digital trends, automation, storytelling, and AI. We’re also looking for Drake. (Aubrey if you see this, CALL ME.) Can’t be here? Don’t stress. Here’s everything you need to know.
Digital Trends
The conference kicked off with a panel discussing digital trends for 2018 and beyond. Key takeaways? We’re moving away from polished, perfect content in an attempt to connect in a more meaningful way with our audience. Think less perfect, more personal. Voice search is at the top of everyone’s minds, (by 2020 50% of all searches will be voice searches), and so is influencer marketing. If you haven’t seen Groupon’s collaboration with Tiffany Haddish yet, do yourself a favour and check it out here.
Automation
Automation was the star so far, following two back-back-sessions by Goose Digital and Zoho. That insane looking graphic above? It’s chiefmartec.com’s annual Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic. This year’s graphic actually charts 6,829 marketing technology solutions from 6,242 unique marketing technology vendors. So, how do we navigate these (very crowded) waters? Automate, automate, automate. In fact, 98% of marketers agree that marketing automation should play a critical role in your digital strategy. Customer service, customer and partner marketing, and even internal communications, recruiting, and onboarding are all places you should be thinking of integrating some form of automation.
GDPR
It wouldn’t be a digital marketing conference without mentioning the Facebook scandal and GDPR. Long story short? Cambridge Analytica woke up the average person on the street to what was being done with their data. How should the industry respond? We need to start considering the principle of not only what to do with your customer’s data, but what we should be doing with it. Ever hear of privacy by design and default? If you’re collecting data, you should.
You Don’t Control The Message Anymore
Are your employees keeping your brand promise? Increasingly, companies find themselves being scrutinized online and offline. So, what are the best practices for dealing with social media failures and reputation management? If there’s a choice between being corporate or being human, always choose the latter. TLDR; don’t do this.
Stay tuned for our day two DigiMarCon Canada recap, and follow VERB on Instagram for stories and snaps from Toronto!
VERB Interactive is a leader in digital marketing, specializing in solutions for the travel and hospitality industry. Find out more at www.verbinteractive.com.
