I’m attending the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas this week. The show is known for its cult following for all things interactive, from business leaders to designers, gamers to artists, film makers and musicians- they are all here (at least virtually.) I came to SXSW to be the eyes and ears for new strategies that are emerging online.
I also plan to help identify which trends and technologies will help small business owners be successful this year. I’ll be posting tips and sharing some of the themes of the show with you in a series of short posts:
Community is King: It’s not just about driving traffic and counting hits and clicks anymore, companies and organizations are focusing efforts and measuring success by how many people are contributing content to their site, customer community and ultimately business. Then taking it a step further, rewarding those individuals that positively influence the cause.
TIP: How do you reward influencers? For starters, thank them publicly. Several panelists spoke yesterday about their success engaging customers by mentioning them in a twitter post on the web site, email, or by taking customer suggestions and feedback seriously and acting on it.
