Social Media Summit Dublin 2016

Social Media Summit Aviva Dublin Review

So up we get at the crack of dawn to get the bus to Dublin from Clones for the Social Media Summit not really sure what to expect.

I had looked at the line up and to be completely honest I only knew a couple of the names on it . Two actually, Jenny Brennan & Antonio Calero. Both top Facebook heads that I know online who like me manage Facebook advertising campaigns. I was keen to say hello to in person.

Social Media Summit Dublin
Maria & I at the Social Media Summit

Anyway, regardless I was on a winner, two nights in Dublin with Maria and no kids. A good conference would be a bonus.

We arrived and the first day was split into two streams, I headed to see Melonie Dodaro talk about LinkedIn.

I have recently become a Certified Consultant for LinkedSelling.com. We help businesses run LinkedIn marketing campaigns. For my own selfish reasons I was delighted by the interest in the subject, the room was full. Melonie did a great presentation on how to optimize your profile on LinkedIn.

If you knew nothing about LinkedIn going into that room you left it knowing how to optimize your profile on LinkedIn. A good profile on LinkedIn is really important. Essential even. For many in that room, the cost of the two-day event was already covered by what they learned in that first hour.

As to the caliber of the speaker, Melonie is a published author on the subject with years of experience. This standard in speakers was carried through the whole 2 days. All the speakers were top notch so no worries on that front.

A lot of times you learn as much at events looking at the crowd instead of the speaker. While I sat there passively watching Melonie lots more in the crowd were been far more industrious.

Jenny Brennan & Antonio Calero
Jenny Brennan & Antonio Calero

They sat there trying to balance laptop on knee while taking photos or videos of the proceedings. As soon as Melonie made any kind of comment worth quoting down went the heads, fingers on keyboards sprang into action. That quote along with supporting picture or video was immediately fired out on Facebook , Twitter or whatever social platform they have their audience on. This went on for the 2 days of the event. The social media brigade , always on , always connected, always needing to feed the beast. It’s hard work, you need to commit totally to it.

Anyway next up was Twitter, I arrived a tad late for it. Unlike the first event where the speaker took one aspect of LinkedIn and focused on explaining that in depth this presentation was a whirlwind tour of the Twitter Ad platform. We got a great case study on how Volvo I think it was used Twitter to high jack other big companies massive spend on advertising during the Super Bowl. Over the two days I really got a feel for the power of twitter, a channel I have more or less completely ignored to date.

Break up next and a well earned and needed infusion of coffee. Asked Maria about her workshops, watch that guy Brian Franzo she said, he seems very insightful. High praise indeed.

The rest of the summit was a feast of great content. Jenny & Antonio did a great presentation on Facebook ads and the slides they used from Ad Espresso to help deliver their presentation was enough to have me sign up to that service. Ian Cleary of Razor Social the same, another great presentation, Ian has an on-line community called Razor Blazers that I have since joined. It’s worth checking out if you need support and a place to fine-tune your social media chops.

Don’t you just love it when the Stars are all aligned in your favour. I am currently putting together a report on a particular niche and how it uses Facebook. A lot of work has gone into putting this report together. It needs to be promoted properly. Up pops Joanne Sweeney Burke and gives a presentation on how to do just that. Step by step. She later sent me a link to her slides when I later reached out via LinkedIn.

Steve Dotto at Social Media Summit
Steve Dotto talks Video & You Tube

Steve Dotto along with been very funny gave an excellent presentation on video and You Tube. He absolutely nailed it when he talked about intention. Why are people looking at your video ?

People might be watching hours of video on Facebook or Twitter but most of that is by accident and the content can be quickly forgotten. If somebody goes to the trouble of digging your video out on YouTube then its another ball game all together. These are the eyeballs you want on your videos.

I was doubly delighted later when somebody came up to me and said “Steve great presentation” , while we share wearing glasses and both have beards he is less follically challenged than me. Result.

The good stuff kept coming. The same themes kept coming up again and again. Tell your story. Be real with people. Empower & trust the people who work for you. Let them talk about your business using social media. Video on all platforms will be massive as will live streaming.

My wife is rarely wrong and indeed Brian Franzo was an interesting guy to listen to. I would have liked to have heard more from him. Given the opportunity, I think he might have had a lot to say about social media, the digitally native generation and society as a whole.

He has a young family as do I. He used the phrase “total accountability” implying that the digital native generation our kids belong to will have no privacy. All aspects of their life will be shared , good and bad. He seemed supportive of this. I would have liked to have seen that point teased out.

Recently I had a discussion with my eldest son. Jack is 12. He has a phone with a camera. Bloody dangerous combination. I tried to impress on him that he and his friends have the right to make mistakes that can be forgotten. Try and keep your camera in your pocket when your friends falter. I do not want total accountability for my kids but they might have no choice.

It has to be said the general buzz around the place was great, all of the speakers sat in on other talks and were freely available if you wanted to ask them any questions during the day. Since the event I have reached out to a few via LinkedIn and all have responded very positively.

I got loads from the summit as did my wife, She is now actively considering getting a mobile phone !! I will believe it when I see it.

By the afternoon of day two I was starting to wilt. My mind wandered to thinking about the kids, have not seen them in two days. Actually miss the little buggers. Had promised presents so a detour to Easons on the way to Bus Aras was required. Great shop, you could spend hours in it.

Huge kudos needs to go to Samantha Kelly who organized the event. Something like the Social Media Summit required vision , creativity and real determination to get off the ground. She clearly has those characteristics in spades. Even though she herself did not speak on Twitter, she could have, she is also @tweetinggoddess , Twitter is her expertise, her daytime job.

Maria and I have seen this first hand as we have now hired her to fast track our understanding of Twitter so watch out for @profitperclick on Twitter and I will see you at next years event or even at Ian Clearly’s one-day event on Content Marketing coming up in May.

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