So I've arrived in New York City - this is my first week on the job as Online Content Manager for this office.
So far, so good - just trying to get my head around the topics and each of the conferences, meeting everyone, understanding what they do and how different it is to Sydney (my comfort zone).
I'm looking forward to learning about this market though and how these marketeers operate to acheive their results.
The most promising thing from my perspective is how big the market is here - the potential to tap into our target through various social media channels, and online content, is massive! Much to be learned, much more to do!
When the role of Online Communications Manager was rolled out throughout the global group, and the volume of events started increasing, so did my work load. Thus, I recruited an intern from a local university to assist with some of online content generation.
Lauren Kelleher joined IQPC as an intern in March of this year (2010), and quickly became a valuable member of the online and marketing teams. She is now with us on a part-time basis, and has provided some insight into her duties and experiences here below... Lauren, tell me about the role of an Online Communications Assistant? What are your day-to-day duties?
My role as Online Communication Assistant at IQPC includes working closely with the Online Comms Manager and Marketing Team to promote our events to the target audience (business professionals). On a day to day basis this mainly involves creating and finding online content such as podcasts, Q&A’s, Press Releases, News and white papers which are then uploaded to the event websites. Another role of mine is to promote IQPC’s conferences on event based websites to drive interest in each conference. Occasionally I also get to attend conferences where Chris and I video interview delegates and speakers and use the footage to create online content.
What’s the best part of the role? Why?
The best part of my role would be would be when discovering online content has performed really well, as it is satisfying to know that an interview or Q&A that I have worked on has helped drive interest and promote the event – as that is the main part of my job. The other great part of my job is attending the conferences because it’s great to see how the conferences actually work and also interact with the people that attend.
What’s the worst part of the role? Why?
The worst part of my role would probably have to be when it’s difficult to get people to agree to do an interview for an event – it can be frustrating. Also promoting our event on conferencing websites (what we call diary listings) can also be tedious at times!
Do you think online content will enhance B2B relations in the future? How so?
Yes I think online content will enhance B2B relations in the future. By creating content online, there are greater avenues to explore, and we can create content tailored to specific business groups or professionals. I think where we market our content is important – by marketing it online we have the opportunity to promote our events on not only a broad range of generic sites, but also in places which meet people’s specific needs or interests. I think online content is a great way to involve people and engage them in each conference, which is why I think it will prove to enhance B2B relations in the future.
Do you understand what is meant by ‘fishing where the fishes are’, please explain? I think what is meant by the phrase ‘fishing where the fishes are’ in relation to my job, is marketing your event in the right places at the right time. It is about being able to communicate with your audience in a way that they can relate to and engage with – e.g. Podcasts etc. I think it is also about being aware where the most ‘fishes’ are and putting continued effort into these places rather than others. For example I found that some diary listing websites are more popular than others in generating traffic to our event, so it is more important to focus on such sites than wasting time on others which hardly attract any users. To contact Lauren, email lauren.kelleher@iqpc.com.au
LinkedIn is a great tool for conference producers and marketing managers – there are many applications you can use to find information about your conference, share content, connect with professionals in the industry, identify vendors, and much more.
Last week I trialled the use of the ‘Answers’ function on LinkedIn (see below) – this is where you can ask a question to the entire LinkedIn community about a specific topic. Ideally, your respondent’s will give you valuable answers which you can use…. So, I did this for a few of our upcoming conferences…(confidential, but I can reveal that I had 21 responses for one of the questions, 11 for another, and 7 for another!)
Watch out though - this one guy said regarding an energy question on Carbon storage (talk about creating controversy….) - My thoughts are that CC&S is a vast pork-barrelled boondoggle, capable of swallowing taxpayer's money far more efficiently that it can ever hold CO2. My primary concern is that those who are most ardently pressing for carbon capture (like Al Gore, for instance) have invested billions of dollars their own money in the same projects that they're promoting politically.
So ask away…. You’ve got nothing to lose. Here’s my advice though…
Keep the question simple
Before you submit a question you need to clarify the appropriate industry (choose two here)
Mention in your description that responses may be used within a content article piece you are producing
Next step though....how to use the responses to generate event enquiries....
Here's an interesting video I came across on Youtube. John Pulizzi on Content Marketing 'We are all publishers' - worth a watch!
