Social Media Holiday Calendar 2024
By Yasmin PierreDec 11
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Published May 11th 2016
Good morning everyone, or good afternoon, or good night. But for me, it’s the morning and beginning of NYK day two, and if you followed the liveblog yesterday, you’ll know the drill.
If not, in short, I’ll be updating this throughout the day with all the happenings at the Now You Know Conference here in Chicago.
Follow along on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #NYKCONF. Get strapped in. We’re going deep. Probably.
The talk and questions are coming to an end, and so is this liveblog. I have a plane to catch, and I think I might have RSI.
I’d like to thank everyone for following along, and making this such a fun and rewarding experience. If you’re at the conference, I hope you have a great time at the Happy Hour this evening.
It’s been a ball.
“Don’t hate on the pie chart! You can only swallow so much data at one time.”
Aaron is serving up some executive realness.
Dinah clearly agrees.
“Don’t hate on the pie chart!” ?? YUP. @ASherinian #NYKCONF
— Dinah Susan (@DinahSusan) May 11, 2016
He’s discussing how the data needs to get into the right hands.
“The stakes are high. Working with people who know what they’re doing and how to make the most of it is incredibly important.”
Colleen explains how at GPG they knew what was at stake in the project. Lives.
She runs us through how they helped the UN Foundation by looking into their toolbox, including Brandwatch, to help make sense of all the data.
“As you know, you can’t search for what you don’t know.”
It was very important for them to hand clean, quality data over to their client, so they spent the majority of the project time on set-up.
Our CEO, Giles, is watching along, and live-tweeting of course. #NYKCONF, people! Get at it.
#NYKCONF the analysis process at the UN from @prsoapbox. Great work Colleen pic.twitter.com/dwfxo9mEEN
— Giles Palmer (@joodoo9) May 11, 2016
“Research with insight can save multiple lives.” Poignant take away from Aaron.
“It’s not the frosting, it’s the cake.” Aaron explains that the world has new goals. “How can we take something nobody knew about and make sure everyone’s talking about it?”
The UN Foundation wanted to understand more about healthcare, education, and sustainable development tools.
UN poll on what matters. And it all does. #NYKCONF pic.twitter.com/XwMQQCYOWG
— Dinah Susan (@DinahSusan) May 11, 2016
The thing is, visualizing all of that was not compelling or insightful. They knew they needed to go to people who could help them with comms techniques, to tell a story everyone could read.
Step in, GPG.
These are all near and dear to me personally. Marrying (or birthing), data and action #NYKCONF pic.twitter.com/4u9EaYrqtJ
— Dinah Susan (@DinahSusan) May 11, 2016
Jason is introducing his friends and colleagues. The talk will cover how to measure – and engage in – the world’s most important brand conversations.
He let us into the news that Aaron was just named PR Week’s Global Professional of the Year. Nice.
He had this to say as he took the floor. Aaron, you’re too kind. Your bow tie puts us all to shame.
“I feel like I’m crashing the party of smart, well-dressed, hip people.” Well, @ASherinian we feel that way too about attendees at #NYKCONF
— Dinah Susan (@DinahSusan) May 11, 2016
The main stage is filling up for the UN Foundation and GPG talk.
Here’s the backstage view, fresh from the lens of speaker Jason Boxt:
Backstage getting pumped!! #NYKCONF pic.twitter.com/AxJUgA47oa
— Research Jason (@jboxt1) May 11, 2016
Will is opening the talk. “We’re all a bit tired, but this is where we close strong. We’ve now got the guys from the Glover Park Group and their partner the UN Foundation. There’s a slightly brutal moment that comes to us sometimes in this industry – does what we do actually matter? These guys are changing that.”
I’m gearing up to liveblog an upcoming talk and I know it’s going to be good.
“The Global Goals for Sustainable Development: The world’s most important brand conversation and how to measure it” will feature Aaron Sherinian from the UN Foundation and Colleen Campbell with Jason Boxt of the Glover Park Group.
Let’s think on a bigger scale.
The United Nations Foundation solves global problems. Problems that challenge humanity and – once solved – will advance and improve life for millions.
We are joined by executives from the United Nations Foundation and their partner agency The Glover Park Group for a discussion about how to measure – and engage in – the world’s most important brand conversation.
Also, thanks for the below tweet, Ben! We miss you.
@Brandwatch congrats on the awesome first #NYKCONF, judging by the tweets it was pure excellence ✨✨✨
— Ben Donkor ⚡️ (@FR314) May 11, 2016
Before we move on to our next Keynote, we’re on questions from the audience. Are we able to use social as a look back and look forward? Could we use it as a predictive model?
Melissa takes it. “That’s the $64million question. We’re currently exploring it…it could potentially work better for things like auto vs CPG.”
Up next, we have Kohler giving as a talk on all their secrets with social intelligence.
In the meantime, allow me to just post this because it makes me happy inside.
What a great 1st #NYKCONF @Brandwatch! Congrats @joodoo9 @willmcinnes & BIG thx @DinahSusan @RuxandraRux :) pic.twitter.com/0TZEUKVNSA
— Lee Odden (@leeodden) May 11, 2016
The Johnson & Johnson and Hootsuite discussion is flowing well. Brandwatch’s Mike Brackpool is also on the panel, and it’s being chaired by Glenn White. We’re certainly making the most of his airmiles.
Melissa of Johnson & Johnson and Jonathan Reedy of Hootsuite are offering their top tips for turning insights into action.
“Start early with social listening. Bring your C-suite into the conversation early for that buy in,” says Jonathan.
Melissa agrees. “And bring social listening at the beginning of a campaign not at the end!” Great tips.
Mike adds that customer service with social listening is not only about solving one problem. It can inform tactical decisions.
Good insights on turning a massive messy pile of data into tangible business outcomes. Yes it can be done. #NYKCONF pic.twitter.com/5FiulQblFM
— Tracy Bell (@TBellwether) May 11, 2016
And over at the Masterclass Track we’ve got Brandwatch expert Nicole breaking down how to make the most of the platform.
.@NicolyWolly owning Competitor Analysis, the true wildcard of the team… #nykconf #brandwatch #chicago pic.twitter.com/JGudtdyW4A
— holly oliver (@holly_oliver) May 11, 2016
Following a great lunch of exotically named foods such as the ‘chicken hand pie’ which doesn’t actually contain chicken hands, I’m back in the main theater to watch Johnson & Johnson and Hootsuite discuss turning insights into actions.
#NYKCONF: Next up, Johnson & Johnson’s @MelissaKDavies & @hoot_jon discuss turning insights into action
— Brandwatch (@Brandwatch) May 11, 2016
Before we break for lunch, here’s a sum up of the past hour.
We have a room of 200 people learning and enjoying the deep math behind networks via Dr. Paul #NYKCONF #amazing pic.twitter.com/UI4drQQYxF
— Jim Reynolds (@jimmyrey) May 11, 2016
That’s our very own Paul Siegel in action, ladies and gentlemen. We’re very proud to have him here speaking at the conference.
We’ve also just filmed 3Ms Amy and Christian throwing some mean 3M handshapes for the camera and saying nice things about us.
Kudos to Matt Lewis who’s been running a training session over on the Masterclass Track.
Rumour has it he was ‘well lubricated’ last night following the boat cruise, but you’d never know.
.@mattttjlewis talking Content Strategy at #nykconf in #chicago pic.twitter.com/mZdqKGzd1p
— holly oliver (@holly_oliver) May 11, 2016
Just spotted this excellent bow tie action courtesy of Aaron Sherinian.
That time when I was the only guy in a tie. And everyone in the place was so smart! Love these peeps! #nykconf pic.twitter.com/yI8hfWAFbT
— Aaron Sherinian (@ASherinian) May 11, 2016
Following the Agency Super Panel we broke for coffee, and spent time filming some of our great clients.
If you ever wondered whether it was possible to drink a large iced skinny caramel macchiato with two pumps of syrup in less than 3 minutes, I’m here to confirm it is.
I’m back in the Strategist Track for debate. “Let’s Debate: Skeptical market research vs. optimistic social” with Melissa Zimyeski from AKQA, Jim Tobin of Ignite Social Media and Misia Tramp from Metia.
Which side are you on? “Traditional market research is slow, stuck in its ways and arrogant. Insight from social is flimsy, unreliable and massively overhyped. Smart domain area experts will represent each point of view to give us, the audience new perspectives and ideas.”
On stage now @Metia & @ignitesma #NYKCONF let the debate begin @jtobin @misiatramp pic.twitter.com/HGLNO0Dqs7
— Jim Reynolds (@jimmyrey) May 11, 2016
Who is winning the debate #NYKCONF – please vote & RT @Brandwatch
— Jim Reynolds (@jimmyrey) May 11, 2016
“How do we know if social is working or not?” We’re talking about how to close the loop and attribution.
We’ve covered highs, and lows, and now we’re talking about patterns. What’s bubbling up for the panelist’s clients?
Image recognition is becoming huge, Chris reports. Ryan says influencers and how savvy the clients are getting about influencers and incorporating them into campaigns.
Allyson is seeing in her clients a lot more involvement with technologists building out their own infrastructures. “It’s going to be an interesting evolution. I think we’re at the early stages, but having people on the analyst teams who understand the building of the tech is going to be huge.”
Clients are becoming more savvy about influencers. I don’t think we’re very good at it, but we’re getting better – @ryanpaulsmith #NYKCONF
— Sarah Tyson (@sarahmtyson) May 11, 2016
By the way, @sarahmtyson, you’re doing a great job live-tweeting this event!
We’re onto the Agency Super Panel now.
Will is hosting this one and has covered off some burning questions merely seconds in.
I can confirm that Allyson’s favorite pizza topping is pepperoni, Ketchum’s Chris’ favorite MJ song is ‘Beat It’, and Ryan of Fleishman Hillard’s signature dance move is ‘not dancing.’
The super agency panel has begun with @HugleyA @chrisalbert7 @ryanpaulsmith #NYKCONF pic.twitter.com/37nj1Sfygc
— Jim Reynolds (@jimmyrey) May 11, 2016
They’re discussing how they’re mixing social data with other data sets. Will’s repeating back to Ryan, “Google’s search data was too big, so they had to use search data?”
You can imagine how juicy this panel is.
.@ryanpaulsmith shares story of using social data to track #WorldCup trends when Google search data was too massive #NYKCONF
— Sarah Tyson (@sarahmtyson) May 11, 2016
Guys, I’ve never been more intimidated by the power of other people’s intelligence.
Intimidated in a nice, thrilling way, though. This panel are the smartest brains I have ever been in a room with, and I visited Harvard once.
We all feel for @glennw trying to tame the panel #NYKConf #riseofthemachines pic.twitter.com/xBepX9a460
— Jim Reynolds (@jimmyrey) May 11, 2016
This talk is incredibly interesting – TrumpBots, the failure of Microsoft’s Tay, spam. I can’t type fast enough to keep up with all of the absolute fire quotes here, so have some tweets.
Rest assured, though, we are filming all of the talks in the main theater and will make them available soon.
Neural networks are only as good as the data you train them on. Remember what happened with the Microsoft AI bot? #NYKCONF
— Sarah Tyson (@sarahmtyson) May 11, 2016
Twitter is one of the dirtiest #data sets we have to work with (but I love it so much! ?). DAMN BOTS. #NYKCONF
— jo.lin (@MissWNDRLST) May 11, 2016
Clippy from Microsoft Word just got mention. Was just remembering him with @madoublegie and @blairstokes last week. Nostalgia. #NYKCONF
— Sarah Tyson (@sarahmtyson) May 11, 2016
“You cannot configure a search for the things that you don’t know.” #NYKCONF
— Aaron Sherinian (@ASherinian) May 11, 2016
Now here on the main stage Brandwatch CMO Will McInnes is introducing the next panel that Glenn White is hosting, intriguingly titled “Rise of the Machines: Data Science, AI, and all that.”
On the panel we have Claude Theoret of Nexalogy Environics, Becky Wang of Crossbeat and our own Nate Walton.
Neural networks, deep learning and AI panel- I’d say a great Wednesday start at #NYKCONF
— Kerchanin Allen (@wanderthisworld) May 11, 2016
From the agenda: “The topic cloud (how 2009!) of Data Science would surely include the words ‘Rock Star’ loud and proud.
And today’s VC community are a-froth at talk of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and (heck, why not) Virtual Reality too. These are fascinating times to live in, and here, right now, we are in the vanguard.
So where is it heading – we dig into deep learning and the rise of machine intelligence with this noob-friendly expert panel.”
Genevieve and Ian are taking us through their “Cloudy with a Chance of Pain” project, which tracked symptom records of app users and combined with weather data.
The talk is going down really well with attendees. Tracy Bell is going to be speaking on going ‘beyond keywords’ a little bit later, and is sitting in on the talk here at the Strategist Track.
Fascinating presentation on the exploration/visualization of data @The_O_C_R #nykconf
— Tracy Bell (@TBellwether) May 11, 2016
This is exactly what makes a conference valuable. Challenge our thinking, and push the industry forward. @The_O_C_R @willmcinnes #NYKCONF
— Tracy Bell (@TBellwether) May 11, 2016
Data visualization yes. Of wild African animals, of display adverts, of weather and pain symptoms. So rich. Lots to be inspired by #NYKCONF
— Will McInnes (@willmcinnes) May 11, 2016
Just a reminder as well, if you’re here at the event you can visit the In Sight booth on floor 10 and make an NYK gif. Here’s one I made earlier:
#nykconf pic.twitter.com/uCrdOuq755
— Natalie Kate M (@Natalie_KateM) May 11, 2016
Genevieve and Ian are discussing how the Office for Creative Research was founded. They are a hybrid research group, working at the intersection of technology, culture and education.
The Group builds user-focused tools, public space interventions and forward-looking prototypes in the service of understanding and humanizing complex data systems. At the crux of everything they do is storytelling.
“Storytelling is a powerful tool, taking the complexity of the world and making it digestible.”
Diverse team, diverse clients at @The_O_C_R #NYKCONF pic.twitter.com/VdIJ6LrCXX
— Sarah Tyson (@sarahmtyson) May 11, 2016
Ian continues that he is frustrated how difficult creating data visualizations can be, and how he wants to close the gap between data and people.
“We’ve shifted from creating data visualizations to data exploration tools.”
Highlights coming up today include a mixed panel with the UN Foundation and Glover Park Group, and we’ve caught on Twitter that they’ve been prepping in the most JK Rowling of ways – on paper napkins.
@PRSoapbox, @ASherinian and I prepping for our #NYKCONF session over eggs and sausage. pic.twitter.com/HVikvOPLVP
— Research Jason (@jboxt1) May 11, 2016
Kicking us off here on the Strategist Track in a few minutes is Genevieve Hoffman and Ian Ardouin of Office for Creative Research. Giles is saying a few words on the importance of design.
#NYKConf Day 2 @Brandwatch CEO @joodoo9 says your visual #brand speaks to the quality of what you do. pic.twitter.com/OsX3mBGrcP
— Sarah Heilig (@sheilig) May 11, 2016
The Office for Creative Research will be discussing data, and how, in their words, “We help shift behavior and make things happen. So let’s explore how storytelling, change and data come together.”
Breakfast is on, and we’re greeting hungry conference goers with pastries and fruit. Vitamins!
I’m again sat with Glenn White, VP of Product Strategy, who will be chairing a Data Science panel this morning at 10am and another this afternoon on turning insights into action. Here’s a peek.
Day two will kick off in just over half an hour, so I’ll be in the Main Theater keeping you updated.
In the meantime, check out the view from the NYK riverboat cruise we did last night.
The beer selection went down well, too.
Highly approve of the beer selection on #NYKCONF boat cruise ?? @revbrewchicago #craftbeer #drinklocal pic.twitter.com/m294ykbDyM
— jo.lin?#ReadySetJo (@MissWNDRLST) May 11, 2016
Some of the crew headed to a Cubs game, as well. Here’s some photographic evidence of that.
#Cubs with @amylamparske and @willmcinnes #NYKConf pic.twitter.com/PCZ0mAW71A
— Blake Zitko (@blakeczitko) May 11, 2016
Updates to follow – check back for more and follow @Brandwatch and the #NYKCONF hashtag on Twitter and Instagram
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