Web 2.0 Expo Take Aways – Analytics and PR

The Web2.0 Expo in New York City was a great event and kudos go out to the Web2.0 Expo organizer chairs Brady Forrest and Jennifer Pahlka and their entire staff that helped make such a successful event. It was extremely well organized, with more than 75 exhibitors showcasing all things Web 2.0—tools, technologies, services, infrastructures, and more! There were many sponsors, of which Webgrrls International was one. There were interesting sessions to attend and with so many attendees, the networking was great too.

The exhibition hall was thriving it was great to see so many new and exciting offerings. I mostly attended Marketing and Media track and a few of the Landscape sessions. Most session where a little light on substance but two really stood out.

“If your company fails now it is not because of a lack of data…it is because YOU suck,” was the best line from Avinash Kaushik, the Google Analytics guru. His session, Web Analytics 2.0: Rethinking Decision Making in a “2.0″ World was a very engaging and entertaining presentation and between some very funny jokes, he offered some great insights and tips how to look at the data available to make business decisions…

Here are the highlights that were presented:

• How to use the data to increase your competitive intelligence
• He talked about the bounce rate of your pages (when someone comes to your site and leaves) his words “I came, I puked, I left” .
• He spoke about finding actionable data, it is not what your users are doing, but, why are they doing it is what is important.
• Most importantly, as always, listen to your reader and ask – Why are they here? Were they able to complete their task? And if not, why not?

The data can now be easily collected with Google Analytics, now it is up to us to filter it and figure out what  is useful and actionable.

Avinash also offered his book Web Analytics: An Hour a Day to all who attended his session. For more information about web analytics read Aninash’s blog.

Another great session that I attended was from Brian Solis of FutureWorks – Web 2.0 and the Reinvention of Marketing and PR.

It was a top level 101 marketing and PR session but start with, “when was the last time a press released worked for you? His points were:

• Broadcast is still part of the mix but a small part
• It is about the conversation and every conversation is an opportunity
• You can no longer control the message completely
• New PR – you have to be part of the community
• And transparency is key – lose the spin

For great insights about PR and Marketing follow Brian’s blog

The Web 2.0 Expo was a great event to see the tools, technologies, and forums that are available to use in a 2.0 world, to meet those who are creating them and to see where things are headed.

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