SXSW Interactive 2015 did not disappoint!
It has been a week since I returned from SXSW Interactive and now that I’ve had time to recover and reflect on all this year had to offer, here are my Top 5 takeaways from the week:
1. Experience is Invaluable
Experience is everything. Whether you are working with an event, a process, a new device, an app, a website, a marketing campaign, a new product, a brand identity, a restaurant, a film, a relationship…whatever it may be…you must plan and design for the end user experience. We all know this intuitively because we love it when we have an experience that surprises and delights us. We are not often so good; however, at creating an experience like that for others. We are worried about being efficient or about conforming to some cultural standard. The first question to ask yourself in any interaction in our era is: what sort of positive experience will the person engaging with my or my product have that will leave them with a good feeling. If you can learn to do that in all of your interactions and transactions, you will add inestimable value to anything you are doing.
2. Mobile is the Norm
People are mobile and they want to be able to engage with you, your product or access your functionality wherever they are and whenever they want. Because we are an on-the-go culture, portability is key. Increasingly people want the functionality of larger systems or processes available to them at mobile scale. Whether we are talking about searching for library resources, watching films, engaging with friends, gaming, or banking, people are at the point where they expect to be able to do these things within the course of their daily lives. If you are planning a website, an app, or a process, plan for mobility from the start. With the emergence of wearables and the Internet of Things, the trend toward mobile access and portability will only continue to expand. Keep this in mind as you innovate in every area.
3. Socialized Media are at the Hub of our Universe
People love to feel a sense of connection to other people, both people they know and even friends of friends and others they do not yet know. While people do not like to be “always on,” they do like being “always on when they want to be.” And when they are on their mobile devices they look to socialized media platforms for connection, engagement, relevant news and positive experiences. People love to be connected to the world on major social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook being central) and they love to share other moments with their friends in private groups and on SnapChat. Mobile apps that bring relational functionality to devices and automatically connect us with the world carry high value because they invite a experience of serendipity, which we love. So, if you are in the process of designing anything, find creative ways to engage social media in some form or fashion for no other reason than to enhance the experience of the occasion.
4. Content Remains King
The mantra in social media for the past year or so has been, “content is king.” By this social media marketing types mean that the person who posts the most engaging content online wins the Internet…for that moment at least. We have seen this play out hundreds of times and PR professionals are coaching people in how to do “branded content” that is socially engaging, sharable and helps to communicate a brand. With everyone looking to create amazing content, from the New York Times to Mashable to BuzzFeed to many other social media platforms, the challenge is to stay ahead of the curve in creating the most engaging, sharable social media content available. Native content generation, that is content that arises from within your own organization, tends to connect best because it is the most authentic, genuine and thorough. Content (whether video, image or interactive media) that engages people emotionally with a core story that is well-visualized and leaves the viewer/user feeling great about what they have experienced wins the day. With everybody leveraging budgets ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to just a few dollars to create the best socialized content, the competition for mindshare will only continue to increase. So, if you want to connect, get very good at telling media-rich stories that engage emotionally.
5. Millennials Rule
By 2020 about 70% of the U.S. workforce is projected to be Millennials (currently 18-35). Millennials are mulititasking, work/life blend, digital and online social natives who have always been involved in multiple social activities, have always had access to the diversity of the world’s knowledge and experience at their fingertips, and have been told throughout their lives that they can and will do anything they imagine. The heads of many of the major companies that currently enable our online social interactions and provide news and information are run by Millennials. Millennials perceive the world very differently from prior generations. They have a better sense for cultural diversity, they are more open-minded (generally speaking), they are highly collaborative and they know by nature how to market themselves. In a sense, Millennials already rule particular domains of contemporary culture. For instance, at SXSW Interactive I immediately noticed that I was now pulling the average age of attendees up and not toward the middle. As Millennials advance in their positions and take an increasing number of leadership roles in the culture, they will transform the face of the way people live in the world and they way that they work.
SXSW Interactive remains a vista from which the future of digital culture can be both enjoyed and assessed. I’m looking forward to living life in the coming year through the filter provided by that five insights and I look forward to more surprises at SXSW Interactive 2016!