Blog World Expo 2009 Reviewed

I’m back from the panel presentation I blogged about last month and wanted to share my Vegas experience with you.

First and foremost, I talked a lot about word-of-click advertising. People are using “social media” to learn as much as they can about a company they are doing business with. It’s not new. Our neighborhoods have always done this: over the back fence, at the post office or the water cooler. And, now people use online tools to do the same thing.

What one attendee learned

Julie Gallaher attended my presentation and here is a little of what she reported back to her newsletter:

“Pierre Martell is a young Canadian home builder who is exclusively using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.) to market his business.  He said that people often ask him how much time he spends online marketing his business.  He said – “I spend a lot of time online, but it’s really paying off.”

I wanted to send huge thanks and congratulations to my fellow panelists. It was a great panel; with great action items for the audience. For my blog readers; here are a few of the big lessons we heard regularly at the conference.

Some big lessons reenforced at Blog World Expo:

1. Small business need to be online; but they don’t have to be online everywhere. Use your skills: photographers use Flickr to great effect, and writers are natural bloggers

2. Social media allows people to get to know you, like you and trust you before you meet them in real life

3. Don’t engage without listening first; hear what your clients think, learn how the social media you choose operates and slowly engage

Las Vegas: an impressive city I always like visiting Las Vegas. It’s a city that makes people smile at every turn. This was my fourth visit to Vegas and my biggest tip for people heading down to the casinos, those massive buildings are a lot farther apart that you think: comfortable footwear is a must.