Rachel Levy: Social Media & Marketing

This week I was in  NYC for the 140 Characters Conference, which is a conference about the “State of Now.” It’s my 2nd year here (recap from last year), and a lot has changed for me in the past year. Below are the top 30 highlights for me from the conference. The schedule is here if you want more information on the speakers, and there are videos of each of the session on the site too.

If you’re looking for more tweets from the conference, take a look at my post LiveBlog from #140Conf.

1. The half life of a tweet is 4 minutes, and falling – wow! ~@johnborthwick
2. Children are learning and soaking in things all the time. “My fear is that school will break them of that habit” ~@chrislehmann
3. Sometimes, the teacher is the one adult in a kids life who make a difference. Never forget our teachers. ~@chrislehmann
4. People can tweet their prayers, I print them, and put them in the wall ~@thekotel (I LOVE this idea!!)
5. Even the mere act of writing the prayer can change someone’s life ~@thekotel
6. Why are you doing so much social media? Because it works. ~@jeffreyhayzlett
7. People don’t take pictures, they capture memories, moments. That’s what Twitter is like ~@jeffreyhayzlett
8. Every tweet you send out is sharing a part of yourself ~@jeffreyhayzlett
9. Even if there’s a new way of selling, the basics of communication and rules of engagement are the same@Donny_Deutsch
10. Don’t forget the brand. Always reflect your brand value in everything you do. Don’t let the technology get in the way. @Donny_Deutsch
11. Any selling that’s self-serving will fail @Donny_Deutsch
12. Worry more about being impressed rather than impressing. Women say that about men in dating a lot ~@AndreaSyrtash (she said that, I didn’t!)
13. I respond to everyone who writes me, because they took the time to write me ~@AndreaSyrtash (I wish everyone did that, but they don’t)
14. You can’t have intimacy without vulnerability. In dating and in Twitter. Ask questions, admit you’re wrong. ~@AndreaSyrtash
15. People want to be challenged, not changed. ~@AndreaSyrtash
16. The more you can engage people, the more they get engaged ~@AndreaSyrtash
17. There’s a core “goodness” in Twitter… they want to do good ~@AnnCurry
18. We thought Twitter was really dumb when we first saw it ~@SomeEcards (but now it’s a major part of their business)
19. Risks of engaging and being able to communicate in a more human way, are not as problematic as not engaging. ~@jnjcomm #pharma
20. Sometimes you’re at a game and want to tell people. Other times, you’re at dinner & there’s no need to push that to Twitter ~@jwYES!! (talking about Gowalla)
21. It’s not a game, it’s a utility to help people learn about places. The game is just the tool to do that. ~@dens
22. A “ghost” tweeter? that sounds like the basis for a new album right there. ~@mchammer
23. You’re only a stranger once ~@lizstrauss
24. Monitoring aggregates the data. Listening is a 1:1 thing. ~@lizstrauss
25. Bring your community in, open your heart, and listen. Align your goals together. ~@lizstrauss
26. If they help you build it, not only will they come, but they’ll bring they’re friends back to help you build it too ~@lizstrauss
27. Journalism is NOT dying, it’s changing ~@msholman (I couldn’t agree more… so sick of hearing that phrase)
28. 5 tips to grow your business on twitter ~@SmallBizLady
    • Know your target customer — make sure your stream communicates consistently with that customer
      • On Twitter you have to give to get. You should use a 4:1 ratio of promoting others to promoting yourself.
    • Participate in twitter chat (#smallbizchat) – end small business failure by learning how to avoid the failure
    • Use @replies… don’t just RT, tell them why you liked content
    • Auto-DM’s are OK. Don’t tell me to go to site or FB, but tell them why I should care (I don’t agree with this!)
    • If you use Twitter the right way, it can grown your business
      • Twitter has leveled the playing field.  You can have power on Twitter if you use it the right way. You have to communicate consistently
29. 5 reasons why small businesses fail: ~@SmallBizLady
    • People don’t realize what running a biz is going to be like
    • People don’t save enough money before you start your bis. Need no paycheck for 1-2 yrs
    • They don’t focus on target market
    • No network; Network = net worth — twitter is great for that
    • Financials/budget – know your financials
30. Comments exploded. No one was talking to the host, they were talking to each other. ~Media Roundtable Panel

If you’re interested in following the people above, you can follow my list here, or follow everyone on the list here.

What did I miss?  What were your highlights from the conference?

Be Sociable, Share!

•