Digital Influencers Marketing Summit 2012 Review

Just like what I expected the Digital Influencers Marketing Summit 2012 was jam-packed by people doing online stuff: seo practitioners, social media specialists, internet marketers, networkers and entrepreneurs etc. While everyone was giving their introduction, I don’t know how to tell my profile because my seven year old job is not in any way related to what my online persona is that dragged me in this event. So I passed on the microphone to the next one because I was there to listen, observe and be inspired of whatever the social media or digital influence that I can learn from.

After almost three years of blogging “silently” and realizing that my blog is all about “forgotten stories and dead people”, I decided to deactivate its Facebook Fan Page long ago. I got two reasons: not many

people will engage “religiously” to these “boring” topics in social media sites unless I am as famous as Carlos Celdran and I don’t want to hide behind my blog’s identity. I want to be known not just as a blogger but as an advocate of culture, heritage and tourism. I am leaving everything of my blog’s faith mainly to the traffic from search engines and direct traffic now. So when an SEO company asked me to do a paid guest post about their client, I was really surprised that my blog’s presence was acknowledged and that’s when I thought of checking for more opportunities of what this blog can do to me.

If someone asks why I blog, my usual answer is “just for the heck of it”. But listening to Janet Toral’s “How Blogging is Changing for the Past 6 years” from her observations in doing the Most Influential Blogs citation that started in 2007 made me realize that blogging for some changed their life if not a gateway for other opportunities. I definitely agree because I have known a lot of successful people that I look forward online to push me positively. I am like a car dwindling in the zigzag road and battery dying but just got fully charged after listening to her! 

I was all ears during the discussion of Hitting Page 1: How Influencers and Brand Advocates are Shaping Search Engine Results by Gary Viray and Tof Salcedo because I have zero knowledge in SEO when I started. I am grateful learning from them that SEO is not all about ranking but more than conversion or ROI (Return of investment). Link building/ exchange still count but not really page ranks . It would always be quality content. I was at the same time trying to guess how my first client were able to find me, what are their requirements and after posting their offer I wonder if I was able to give a considerable traffic to them that lead to sales.

I also learned that to be a brand advocate one should be a digital influencer. This means one should build a list of strong connections and thought leaders around him. Engaging with the right set of people that can lead to getting “quality” followers and subscribers after is the most important. There are many apps online that is used to measure ones influence or a particular keyword’s frequency like the Topsy.com, Sleepingtime.org, Twitterland, SocialMention, SocialMap and Tweetreach. The one I am most familiar is Klout.com which I have presence. It was emphasized that the measure on Klout should not be based from the score alone because it can be manipulated but it should be the topics associated to that profile. Noted!

My Facebook profile is my online persona. I live in Facebook actually. I just got to Twitter again just for the heck of having presence there. I am really not a woman of 140 characters but after listening to Ros Juan, I am determined to find time because being a digital inflluencer one should learn to use Twitter to share and build authority on Twitter. Same with Google Plus, I underestimated its power but I learned I need to click that Google Plus button whenever I have a new blog post. 

It is a pity though I have to leave at 5pm because a day ago I just got back from a four-day travel to Bacolod, Iloilo and Guimaras still feeling jetlagged, seasick etc. and I badly need rest. I did not reach the end of the discussion but these stuffs I talked above really come in handy to me.