DMX Dublin is the largest digital marketing conference in Ireland[/caption] Earlier this year I chaired the ‘Engagement’ stream at 2014’s DMX Dublin – the largest digital marketing conference to take place in Ireland. Over the course of the day I introduced speakers who gave talks on everything from how mobile is changing the game for marketers to digital disruption in financial services. I always say that a conference is worth going to if you take away one nugget of information from the event. I didn’t get one nugget – I got five. Here they are… 1. ‘Wherever there are queues, have hashtags displayed’ – Tessa Barrera, Head of Social Media, Lexis Tessa Barrera was the person (or one of) behind Red Bull’s social media campaign for Felix Baumgartner’s skydive from the edge of space. This point she made is so simple, yet could be so effective if businesses did what she said. She told the crowd at the opening session how they had hashtags beside toilets for events they held. If your business doesn’t involve queues, this doesn’t matter – this isn’t the point she was making. What she was saying was that every business/campaign should own a hashtag and that it should be promoted wherever deemed appropriate. This could be in a confirmation email or in a queue. I hope more businesses begin to do this. 2. ‘Content is still king’ – various There were two talks over the day that were very SEO-focused. At the end of both talks the speakers were asked how to get content shared. On both occasions the answer was the same – if you produce quality, valuable content, people will share it. This reinforces the whole ‘content is king’ theory. If you produce quality content, people will share it. 3. ‘Make sure your website is responsive’ – Dave Douglas, Founder and Creative Director, ebow At the end of Dave Douglas’ session entitled ‘Build it. They Don’t Come’ which was about how to market your website online, one of the delegates asked him what was the most expensive mistake businesses were making at present. Without too much hesitation his said that not having your website mobile-responsive was the biggest mistake. The amount of businesses that aren’t paying heed to this advice is astounding. Don’t make the mistake when designing your website – ensure it is responsive to the device you are browsing on. 4. ‘Treat your business like a startup’ – Mark Brennan, Head of Digital Marketing and Innovation, AIB I loved this tip because, like Tessa Barrera’s tip, it is so simple yet so effective. Some businesses who have been using digital marketing for years have taken their foot off the gas and become complacent. To make sure you don’t fall into this trap, Mark Brennan’s advice is to treat your business like a startup. Start-ups are the ones who are constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries. Regardless of how long your company is in existence, you need to do the same thing. 5. ‘Find out what your Twitter followers are interested in using Followerwonk’ – Brendan Jackson, SEO Manager, iProspect I’d never heard of Followerwonk before the closing talk at this year’s DMX. It’s a great (free) tool that let’s you dig deep into your Twitter followers. It tells you what their interests are, when they tweet, where they are and more. Not only that, you can enter any Twitter username, enabling you to analyse your competitor’s followers too. A very handy tool in many ways. What’s the best tip you’ve picked up at a conference?]]>