The next session was a panel discussion involving Intel social media strategist Michael Brito, PR firm Burson-Marstellar's chief digital strategist Erin Byrne, IAB CEO Paul Fisher, author of Putting the public back into public relations Brian Solis and iPrime CEO Tony Surtees.
Michael talked about branding and engagement,whereas Fisher raised the issue that current marketing metrics really don't take into account the true nautre of influence. "The old metrics are no longer going to be satisfactory enough," he says. Should new technology be applied to the old metrics? And he is astonished for the amount of money that is allocated to reaching a pair of eyeballs, as opposed to an outcome. What is a unit of influence, and how does a marketer buy them?
Solis opened with the statement that none of us really know what influence is, when we are really just getting excited by Twitter. "Influence is the ability to inspire action and then measure it," Solis says.
Tony Surtees echoed Soli's comments on how poorly understood influence it, and the real impact that it has. Whereas media is used to a top-down approach, which are still supported by advertisers, but the model is broken. "The community is now more influenced by itself than by the leaders," Surtees says. This diminishes the top-down approach, particularly in what he describes as a 'confetti-economy' where a brand needs to be in many places at once.
Byrne also talked about the million different touch points, and hence how a comapny goes about creating a conversational brand, and the move from quanity in communication to quality. "I would rather my brand reach 10 people who really matter, than 10,000 (who don't)," she says. "Ultimately it is about moving from control to influence."
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