Leveraging social media for online marketing or building up strong brand awareness campaigns becomes more important than ever. As Facebook’s and Twitter’s current success becomes more obvious, we have found ourselves into the land of new marketing opportunities. It is so true that online marketing will never be the same again. We need to get our gears up and ready for the next adventure of exploring the wild jungle of Social Media Marketing.

Reading and researching for social media marketing is just one part of the story. What’s missing is the part regarding the real expert reviews, experiences and visions. Murray Newlands is one of the leading visionaries for opening up the Social Media Marketing pipeline and helping us to envision the future of online marketing. That’s why he dedicated himself for gathering up industry veterans all in one place and let them share their ideas and experiences together with us.

His ambition for helping people to learn more about Social Media Marketing & Advertising and networking leads the way of his Conference Series. Now you have the chance to join one of his unique events in MIAMI, 30th SEPTEMBER

¨SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING & ADVERTISING CONFERENCE¨

Just let yourself go with the flow, enjoy learning more about Social Media and join the team of marketing experts to explore the latest tools and techniques for running effective social media marketing and advertising campaigns.Topics which will be covered include:

• Insights into High Profile Viral Marketing Campaigns;
• How to Leverage Social Media & Paid Search;
• Location-Based Marketing Tips & Techniques;
• How to Monitor & Manage Social Media via Email;
• How to Create Highly Effective Ad Campaigns; Blogger Outreach & Marketing;
• Tools and Trends to Watch in 2010

A-list speaker list includes:

• Mark Schmulen (Constant Contact),
• Evan Weber (Experience Marketing),
• Craig Agranoff (author of “How to Use Gowalla, Foursquare and other Geo-Location Applications for Fun and Profit”),
• E.J. Garcia (Purple, Rock, Scissors),
• Murray Newlands (Influence People & Founder of the London Blog Club).

For more information and tickets visit:
http://socialmediamarketing.co.uk/socialmarketing&advertisingmiami/

Places are limited so early booking is advised
** Enter the discount code: affmeter to get an extra 10% off the ticket price **

The mind blowing penetration of Social Media almost sounds like a revolutionary bell for online marketers. Challenging new ways of marketing adventure opens up tons of new methods and possibilities.

However, I am more interested in with the question of “Does it really work this way” or alternatively “Should we discover wiser ways to use these social and technological phenomena”

Let me explain you how I feel myself at the very beginnings of this deep tunnel. There is the bombardment of social web sites, social web projects, social web applications, social mobile and iphone applications, Conferences and expos, marketing kudos and online marketing methods.  There is no day passed without tons of blog posts about social media and how it is going to turn marketing and our lives into a magic.

If something becomes overcrowded and inflationary, then we must be very careful about it because this means that quality, creativity and sustainability are consumed at the expense of the quantity. In a nutshell if something is too much mentioned then its value becomes less and less and finally faints away.

This is exactly how I feel about “Social Media” today. I want to be a part of it but:

1. Social media sites are in lack of functionality. In order to avoid those shortcomings, they open up their API to third party developers who are producing countless solutions to use this Social websites effectively.
Unfortunately, the outcome of this situation is massive amounts of new applications which are sprung up everyday without quality control or any integrated brand-consumer confidence into them. All the risk is on users’ shoulders.

2. If I want to have a “Targeted follow up list by Twitter” because I am engaging in different groups such as affiliate marketing, travel, diving and etc. Therefore I need to categorize people in terms of their profession or interests in order to send those right messages.  I have to do my homework and make a good research to find a third party solution. We must admit that by technology we want to solve problems efficiently, cheaply and fast. Unfortunately our current Social Media Revolution is not echoing any of these features. If any project is producing new problems instead of solutions, I think we must stop there.

If I could not find it within Twitter then where is the idea of “Technology makes our lives easier and faster approach” Do I have the luxury of spending my time over searching for third party solutions while I am trying to create value for my business and my clients? Unfortunately I do not have this luxury.

Being made all those critics does not mean that I am not a fan of Social Media. Instead Social Media is opening up a door for developing great skills of humanity, communication and online marketing. However, Social Media a is at its infancy.  Imposing too much meanings and duties onto it brings out only disappointment and failure.
The balance and harmony in any business field is an outcome of countless trials and errors, failures and patience. Problems and failures are teaching us to overcome those difficulties by wiser and solemn solutions.

So I believe that Social Media will evolve into a way that transforms itself from unproductive to productive:

1. “Appealing Huge Masses” Approach turns  into engaging into niche but relevant groups
2. Social Web start ups will come up with plans which are more self- sufficient in terms of functionality, applications and financially. The boundaries of the projects will be determined at their beginning.
3. Business plans in terms of revenue models and revenue projections will be more analytical.
4. The content created by social media contributors will become more self controlled without allowing spammers.

My point is, in conclusion, free flow of social media will finally reach a point where the influx of talent, innovation, planning, analytical thinking, experience, human collaboration and contribution will foster its path towards success together with fruitful outcomes for humanity and technology. In order to get to this point, we need to bite the bitter part first as it’s always be the case.