1. 20
How do you connect? 12
South By Southwest Interactive
Imagination Summary
March 2012
2. 2012 South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive
Festival
Key Takeaways
People before Tech – Good content, cool
technology, great connections
Connect or Perish – Brands must build and
enable ongoing relationships
Digital and Social are only part of the portfolio –
Offline still essential
3. SXSW: Where is Social going?
Mobile
More people are accessing content on mobile
Mobile first, web second?
We all have “Mary Poppins bags” in our pockets
Social Business
Social is moving beyond marketing
Customer Service
Crowdsourcing creative
Shift from selling to building relationships
Niche Networks
Interest Graph vs. Social Graph
Social media fatigue – Dunbar’s number
The Opportunities:
• Content has to be mobile friendly
• Integrate social customer service – be responsive
• Create relevant, quality content that builds the
community
4. SXSW: Where are Brands going?
Purpose
Moving beyond a product – purpose
Meaning over utility – customers want a mission
Relationships
Social has enabled two-way communication with brands
Consumers want to deal with a human, not an organization
Trust, reliable, honest, empathetic
Decentralized
Brand lives out there – Food Truck
Brand as API
Tribal
Make sure you’re talking with the Core
The Opportunities:
• Lean into a purpose – give people a mission
• Scale ongoing relationships with the Core
• Explore outreach – bring the brand to the people
5. SXSW: Where is Marketing going?
Real-time
Agile – no sessions on Pinterest
Moving from campaign to always-on
Lean
Build, Measure, Learn
Minimum Viable Product – smallest experiment to success
Pivot = a change in strategy without a change in vision
Storytelling
Brands as publishers – Red Bull, AP, BMW
The Opportunities:
• Iterate, small experiments
• Portfolio approach – think like an investment
manager
• What about original content?
6. SXSW: What are other brands doing?
Dell
Crowdsourcing video content for commercials
RadioShack
Using Pinterest to connect with loyal fans
Chevy
Meeting people at the point of need – solving problems and making people
happy
Patterson Dental
Sharing the social media love – giving away knowledge, gaining loyalty
7. SXSW: Other Trends and Ideas
Location-based tech is still very young
Check-ins and discovery apps are interesting, but not widely adopted
Challenges – Privacy and Power
IRL is still huge
Oversold SXSW sessions
Box Tops University
People want to connect
Calm Technology
Watch for more apps/tools to run in the background
Helping you live your life
8. For more information contact:
Tim Bursch
Sr Social Media Strategist
612.770.9573
tbursch@imaginepub.com