Today I attended the preamble to the InnoTech conference in Portland, OR called the eMarketing Summit.  The day was filled with energetic and passionate speakers that made the $149 fee well worth the price.  The topics varied by speaker but there was a common theme - there is much more to marketing these days than just blasting out advertising.  Words including interaction, experience and engagement resonated throughout the presentations.

It is very clear that a new age of marketing is upon us.  Not that we should give up the past, but we need to learn to blend the two together.  Social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook should be added to the strategic plan.  Although companies shouldn’t expect immediate payback on these efforts, the long term impact could be tremendous.  Internet technology connects us all together where  you build a one on one relationship about a customer while progressivly learning and understanding their preference.

My big takeaway for the day… Do it right or don’t do it at all.  (and since I want MioWorks.com to survive and thrive - I’ll pick the former) There were lots of examples sprinkled thorughout the day of fiesta del failures (as a good friend of mine always says) but also several examples of how to do it right.

SPECIAL EXTRAS   Now don’t you feel special!!!!!

As you embark on using social media and building your marketing plans here are some tools to help you down the path:

Twitalyzer.com -Measuring your impact on social media

SM2 - Gain visibility into your social media efforts

Google Local Business Center - Claim you listing & improve your local search results on Google Maps

ping.fm - makes updating your social networks a snap

Google Analytics - Web site analytics

idek.net - url shortening and click statistics (get informaiton about who clicked your link in Twitter, Linkedin, etc)