The 19th – 23rd September was Social Media Week, which took place in 12 locations across the globe from LA to Moscow and everywhere in between, including our very own Glasgow. With last week chock-a-block with work in Alienation HQ, my synopsis of the event had to be delayed, but here we go… better late than never!

A seminar a day gave me a small insight into the goings on of SMW, and the grand scale of this informational event. Held in a variety of chic and extraordinary venues throughout Glasgow, including the lovely SocietyM (a private members area of the CitizenM hotel) and city centre tourist attraction The LightHouse, guest speakers sparked discussions on all things social media.

My Monday kicked off with a fantastic session on LinkedIn, the professional social network, and how to optimise both private and corporate accounts as part of a more comprehensive social media strategy. Simple strategic changes were highlighted that make all the difference to the appearance and usefulness of your profile, such as ensuring you have a photo on your account, or personalising your LinkedIn URL to a shorter, more representative link. For me this session gave me a greater understanding of a somewhat underestimated social networking tool.

Tuesday’s session introduced me to the phenomena of memes, the concept of brand expressions, which spread from person to person and ultimately become highly associated with that brand. The backbone of this concept is that ideas that resonate with your target audience will be successful, and thus brand testing should not be an elongated process but success determined within days or even hours. However, whilst I find the idea interesting and of course valid in many cases, it throws up some issues regarding whether this approach hampers innovation. For example, the Sony Walkman was unanimously rejected by all those questioned in the market research process, and yet this product went on to change the face of music consumption worldwide. Moreover, whilst memes offer a new and intriguing way to generate brand awareness, it is just one of many ways to establish a successful brand.

On Wednesday I was able to get a sneak peak inside CitizenM’s member’s lounge SocietyM for a session on mobile apps and social media. As well as introducing me to some great new apps, this session provided all those in attendance with important information on changing legislation that will impact upon the way in which we develop and use mobile apps in the near future. Evidently, as users become more tech-savvy they are demanding more clarity around how information collected on them will be used, and in what ways it will be attained. Thus, it is crucial that app developers adhere to the strict legal framework in place and create as much transparency for users as possible.

A session in the LightHouse on Thursday discussed the use of social media within the travel and tourism sector. With Alienation’s experience in travel and tourism web design, I was interested to see how others in this industry had adopted new media and integrated it effectively with their online presence. Three speakers from TripAdvisor, CitizenM, and the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, took part in the session, giving their accounts of social media from their differing viewpoints. One trend that resounded across all three speakers’ talks was that mobile technology, whether it be apps or mobile-compatible websites, is becoming integral to this industry. In addition, to remain competitive companies must ensure transparency across social media, taking the good with the bad, and actively responding to negative feedback.

To round off the week I attended the closing Social Media Week session, which involved acclaimed author and keynote speaker Don Tapscott delivering the session live from South America. Following his exceptional account of what he feels is the potential and future of social media, Don partook in an interview and answered questions from the floor. Key points that resounded from this session for me were the need to remain open-minded and non-insular in our use of social media (i.e. following those whose opinions we do not necessarily agree with), the need to recognise a new many-to-many model of consumption and communication, and a move towards new models of exchange, most notably a bartering model. Furthermore, Don highlighted how social media is evolving every day and how he believes we have barely tapped the surface of its potential.

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