MAIN CONFERENCE
Wednesday, Feb. 21
“How? Now. Wow!” The formula that can superpower your content ROI
Do you feel overwhelmed by demands to produce better content—and more of it? What if you could learn an inspiring method of increasing the quality of your content while also increasing reach and results? Hear how the magic of an analytics-friendly “How? Now. Wow!” editorial architecture can reinvigorate your content and reignite ROI. You’ll also learn how to build a content program that achieves measurable results every step of the way—and how to track those metrics across paid, earned and owned media.
You’ll learn:
- The truth about data: Why it’s a cure and not a curse for creativity
- A process to create measurable “How? Now. Wow!” content:
- How? Search-optimized educational content
- Now. Media-worthy news content
- Wow! Viral content that hits emotional hot buttons
- How to track success for each of these content types across all touch points
- Content and measurement lessons from real “How? Now. Wow!” programs, including the “Workplace Happiness Index” and the “Monster 100”
- Cool new ideas for content that converts
Cracking the code: How to measure the impact of customer communication
Using multiple communication approaches makes customer communications more effective, but also makes it harder to isolate how much impact each element might have—especially the elements that we’re responsible for, like media relations. This presentation will use easily adaptable examples of several companies in different industries that used various research techniques to identify exactly how communications affected business outcomes, and how much different elements (PR, ads, collateral, events, etc.) contributed to the ultimate results. You’ll discover practical ways to determine how each different communication contributes to the outcomes of a communication strategy so it can be adjusted to be even more effective and cost efficient.
Attendees will learn:
- How to choose among different research approaches to isolate the impact of different communications on customer outcomes
- How to ask the right questions to identify specific types of potential outcomes
- How to identify the role consumer and trade media relations played in achieving outcomes
- How to add two media relations metrics to traditional media measures to demonstrate its value—and help you tweak what you’re doing for even better results
- How to calculate ROI on an entire communication campaign or its separate elements
Stop measuring internal communications. Focus instead on employee activation
How many people read last week’s intranet article? Did you generate awareness about open enrollment? Has the CEO’s strategy video gone viral on Yammer yet? Wait. Who cares?! Measuring employee communications as though you’re a publisher selling advertising is a mug’s game. So stop counting clicks and refocus your energy on the observable behaviors that propel your business rather than generating nebulous non-outcomes like awareness.
You’ll learn:
- Strategic planning—why it’s essential to meaningful measurement
- Why the term “internal communications” is long overdue for retirement
- Fundamental differences between performance and improvement metrics
- Digital drivers challenging asymmetries of power between employers and employees—and how professional communicators must change their tune
- Easy-to-implement, killer employee activation tactics for driving measurable improvements—and how to use your communications channels to drive recruitment outcomes
Soar with social media’s least understood analytics: Watch ROI take off on Facebook Live, Snapchat and Instagram
Communicators are inundated with metrics that give a snapshot of their successes or failures on the leading social media channels. Capturing KPIs and translating them to organizational goals on livestreaming platforms like Snapchat, Facebook Live and Instagram still remains a bit of a mystery, making it especially challenging to get execs behind live video. Join this session to hear how Southwest Airlines has successfully implemented live video under reputational and operational pillars. You’ll learn how you should incorporate livestreaming into your social business strategy—and which livestreaming metrics you should be tracking today.
You’ll learn:
- What live video is and isn’t—and how to know if it’s for you
- What analytics say about where to budget: Snapchat, FB Live or Instagram?
- Operational versus reputational—where and how to allocate live video efforts
- How Southwest uses livestreaming to inform and connect
- How the customer drives the live video storyboarding process
Networking lunch
(provided on site)
What’s next for measurement: How to convert in the age of chatbots and AI
Engagement on public social networks is plummeting. People are migrating instead to more private platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat. That means your job and the metrics you use to track success are on the brink of radical change. Join this insightful session to get ahead of the curve and transform your results in 2018. You’ll learn how to build a measurable chatbot strategy while also creating content that converts on today’s leading platforms.
You’ll learn:
- Why WhatsApp and Messenger are critical to building loyalty—and how to track it
- Key measurement, research and surveying benefits of messaging chatbots
- How AI will change the metrics, analytics and job functions of all communicators
- Step-by-step demo: How communicators can build a chatbot in two minutes or less
- The ROI question: How to create content that converts on Instagram and Snapchat
- Case studies: How other brands track and report social media storytelling results
What’s new with Google Analytics? Harnessing analytics to drive SEO and content decisions
As you know, analytics can help you make smarter, more informed decisions about your content and communications budget. Yet the biggest player in the analytics space is constantly evolving—and recent Google Analytics improvements and features are no exception. Join John Lincoln and Alan Bush as they share the latest updates, best practices, tools and tips for expanding your online presence and making your content marketing dollars go further.
You’ll learn:
- What’s new: Understanding Google’s new Search Console, PageSpeed Insight tool updates and Google AdWords experimental features
- How to use Google Analytics to better understand your online performance
- Overview of other free and paid web analytics tools for measuring traffic, social media and business competition
- Best bets for your time and money (and where you are likely wasting dollars)
Get more out of internal email: Analytics lessons from 200 million emails
Advanced email measurement can provide insights far beyond open rates. For proof, look no further than PoliteMail’s recent analysis of anonymous data from millions of Outlook users. From this data, PoliteMail will provide insights on which email strategies work—and which don’t. In this 10-minute lightning talk, PoliteMail founder Michael DesRochers will show you how email measurement can transform your internal email strategy and improve your internal communications overall.
You’ll learn:
- What really makes an email more likely to be opened
- How much content people actually read—and how to optimize yours
- How to modify distribution size and timing to boost email engagement
- Easy techniques to skyrocket your email click-thru rates
- More effective ways to measure email results at your own organization
- How to apply these findings to improve your overall internal communication strategy
Networking Break
Eight communications trends shaping 2018—and how to measure them
2018 will be a disruptive year for communicators internal and external alike. From new regulatory pressures (e.g., General Data Protection Regulations) to bold demands for transparency from consumers and the tech industries, now is not the time to continue doing what you’ve always been doing. Chances are something in your communications mix needs to be jettisoned, or at least overhauled. This session will reveal eight dynamic trends that will reshape your communications plans in the year ahead—and give you measurement tips and analytics insights you can apply to each.
You’ll learn:
- Trust metrics: How transparency is gaining momentum—and what to do about it
- Analytics of influence: Why the role of influencers is changing and how you should restructure your program in response
- Data-driven storytelling: When to be more expressive through storytelling
- UX and ROI: Why rethinking your organization’s approach to UX is a mission you need to lead
- Where to look for accurate measurement and analytics on these changing tactics
