#DigiTalk2013Digital/ Social Media MarketingOn Thursday 26th September I attended the Digi-Talk 2013 digital marketing conference.The speakers were three of Ireland's leading digital marketing experts; leading journalist, broadcaster and author, Conor Pope, content marketing and digital expert Krishna De and Gareth Walls of law firm A&L Goodbody.  Between them they discussed how to put in place a digital marketing strategy, the adoption of tactics and the legal implications of social media.Honestly I was quiet nervous, because I had never been to a conference on my own before.  But at the same time I was looking forward to learning more and expected it would it be similar to events that I attended at University.When I arrived,  and got my seat I got speaking to two ladies one who worked for the council and another for the Hastings hotel itself, two lovely ladies and it was interesting to see their reasons for attending the conference as the three of us all seem to have different reasons, the lady from the council explained that because they deal so much with the public she was wanting to learn how to deal with using social media to met customers demands and for the lady that worked in the Hasting group she explained that they take social media that serious that they have to keep up to date with regular training because social media has took off in the industry and will rapidly expand over the next number of years.The first speaker was Gareth Walls.  He spoke about the legal aspects of social media, he said costly impacts of bad social media can result in,*Reputational damage*Vicarious liability*Intellectual propertyHe said that training in the industry is vital because the market of social media is rapidly evolving, and recommended sending employees on a social media side training scheme, such as Avivo.The second speaker was Conor Pope.   He was amazing, and in my opinion the best speaker of the day.  He was so easy to listen to, and he made a great impression on me because when someone asked him to recommend a good book to help teach you to write better his answer was “no books, just keep writing and if your first 20 blogs are bad, not to worry because you can only become a better  writer by writing.”   What a brilliant answer!  It definitely reassured me.  I wouldn’t say I’m the best writer, but I can only keep trying.  It’s something I am working on,  so I apologise in advance if my next 20 blogs are terrible!He recommended also doing the following,*Use specific words*Plain words*Keep it short*Positive wordsThe final speaker was a lady called Krishna De.  This lady knows her stuff when it comes to the social media industry.  She talked about the evolution of Pinterest, and Instagram.  How the future is image based rather than text because pictures are the most effective way to capture people’s attention in a very short space of time as they search online.  She suggested adding minimal text to help companies promote their products, but not too much.Overall I had an enjoyable experience.  I felt I came away from it with a better understanding of where the industry might be headed.  The most important thing I learnt is how fast moving and ever changing digital marketing is, and how important it is to keep up to date.   Social media has officially become a full time job for businesses and organisations everywhere in 2013.   I’m very excited to be one of the first people to have it as their job, I feel a bit likea pioneer!  I’m the first graduate to take on the role here at Basketsgalore, and I’m determined to pave the way.Now back to my facebooking, tweeting, pinning, researching and writing!