Thanks to Matt Bailey and the good folks at New Media Academy, I had the great honor of speaking at the Global Media Congress in Abu Dhabi. Here are some takeaways.

1. Tools to find content ideas. I create this podcast every day, so I’m always looking for new ideas, which is why I really liked Matt Bailey’s presentation on tools you can use to get ideas for your market. Things like Google Trends, Answer the public, SparkToro, and more.

2. Think outside email. In Abu Dhabi, nobody wants your email address. They want to connect on WhatsApp. People had QR codes on their business cards that you could scan to connect with them on WhatsApp.

3. Everything’s going video. There was a lot of emphasis on video, and the overall impression from the event was that if you’re not focusing on video, you’re going to be left behind.

4. But what’s in your videos? You create a fantastic video, and then, as an afterthought, you say, “Oh yeah, I need a title and a description and keywords, and what happens at what time index, and all that stuff.” MXT1 is a product from newsbridge.io that helps solve that. I had a nice chat with Sebastien Letemple about the product.

5. How to measure influencers. There’s a difference between having an audience and having an influence. My friend Jason Falls gave an interesting talk on the need to focus on influence and not influencers. For example, one person might have a million followers, but have no influence in your target market, while another person might have 200 followers who should be your customers.

6. The future of X. There’s a lot of skepticism about and hostility towards X right now, but Marina Karam from Spica believes X is on the right track and will become dominant in that space because they pay influencers. That’s worth thinking about.

7. Secure AI? When you use a large language model, you don’t know where the data came from or where it’s going. Strategio helps companies solve that and build AI tools that are secure. That’s worth considering.

8. Fight disinformation by looking in the mirror. There’s an old saying that when you point, there are three fingers pointing back at you. There was a lot of talk about “disinformation” at this event. My experience is that the people who speak the most about disinformation are the ones you need to worry about. Just keep that in the back of your mind.

9. Merging the physical and digital realms. Merging the digital and physical worlds can sound scary and spooky, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, you can upload your image and “try on” a suit or a pair of glasses. That’s a nice service. I had a lovely conversation with Irina Safiullina from Phygital District about this. You should check them out.

10. Train to retain. My friend Monique Russell wrapped up the conference with a talk on upskilling. It’s tough to attract good talent, but you can attract and retain top talent by giving them an opportunity to grow. Think of it this way. You want to be able to give a pitch like this to a prospective employee: “You should come work for my company because we have weekly lunch and learns on a wide variety of topics that are designed to help you be successful – not only in your work life, but in your whole life.” Of course you have to follow that up with promoting from within!

Read the full article here -- https://krehbielgroup.com/2023/11/20/insights-from-the-global-media-congress-navigating-trends-video-dominance-and-the-future-of-communication/

Resources

New Media Academy

https://nma.ae/en

Matt Bailey – Internet marketing speaker and trainer

https://www.sitelogicmarketing.com/

Strategio

https://strategio.io/

Phygital District

https://phygitaldistrict.com/

Jason Falls is flipping influencer marketing on its head.

https://jasonfalls.com/

Ahmed Basyouni

Spica – monitor what people are saying about your brand

https://www.spica.media/

Monique Russell and Clear Communication Solutions

https://www.linkedin.com/company/moniquerussell/

On customizations, programmatic advertising, CDPs and more. Vol. 1, Issue 5

Something I Learned YesterdayBy Greg KrehbielNov 29, 2022