This week Hootsuite hosted a rather interesting conference. There were exhibit stands, a networking get together and talks held in a conference room, the difference being it was all done online.

In the talks we listened on how to effectively measure ROI. Speakers came from Microsoft, Twitter and beyond to explain the effectiveness of social media marketing and how to judge its rate of return.

One of the surprising take aways was how social media marketing is overtaking email marketing. Obviously email marketing still has it’s place, but more and more customers are turning to Facebook, not only to gain information from business, but to really get under the skin of who the business is, the kind that was once sent out weekly in a newsletter, can now be found on a social site.

It easy to keep track of customer habits and judge what content they are enjoying, and what content they are ignoring, thanks to programs such as Hootsuite, and analytical tools. Social media as a marketing and selling tool is growing fast, and it’s worth doing right. We have two Hootsuite Graduates in the studio who are experts at reading and reacting to this data.

This was definitely one of the more interesting conferences we have attended, and found the ability to chat to like minded people from all over the world enlightening!