socialmedia

Thank you to all that attended the long awaited Chinwag Insight: Psychology of Online Influence conference yesterday.

The afternoon was jam-packed with brain-busting insight from some of the leading experts from both academic and marketing worlds, bringing together theory and practice to build on the debate from the first event that took place during Social Media Week London in February.

Amongst the sea of information, here's a few of our favourite pointers on tackling online influence:

• 1. Know your target, 2. Communicate persuasively, 3. Sell with integrity.
• Relate to what bonds people and drives them to share: shared history, attitudes, society and culture.
• Identify the 5 types of influencers: idea starters, amplifiers, curators, commentators and viewers
• Provide 'social validation': ratings, reviews and pictures bump up effectiveness by 20%

Thinking Digital are holding their first ever Thinking Digital Startup Competition, chaired by Paul Smith (of the Ignite100 startup accelorator programme) and supported by Northstar Ventures, at this year's event.

To enter, the startup needs to have been created or started operating after 1st Jan 2011 and applications need to be in by Friday 11th May.

There'll be a total of 5 startups pitching for 3 minutes on Tuesday 29th May during Thinking Digital University (TDU). Chosen startups will get a free pass to Thinking Digital 2012 (or 2013 if you already have a 2012 pass).

We thought we would give you a little taster of who you can expect to meet at Chinwag's Careers Day this month... With the likes of LBi, Bloomberg, Yammer and more, the day will be one you wont want to miss!

The fair is taking place on Wednesday 23rd May in the Digital Shorditch Big Top at Hackney House. The main 'big top' tent will be the exhibitor hall where you'll meet premier agencies, start-ups and brands, there'll also be a 'little top' tent, filled with how-to sessions, workshops and CV surgeries, so you'll have plenty to do.

So to give you a sneak preview of who can you expect to meet there...

You may have heard some of the buzz about Pinterest, one of the newest social networks on the block, but you might not know how much of this excitement is warranted, and how much is pure hype.

Suffice to say, in the history of social networks, never has a service risen so far, so fast; and never has a social network started to deliver lucrative customers to business so quickly. Read on to understand how Pinterest can help your brand.

We're delighted to announce the latest additions to Chinwag Insight: Psychology of Online Insight Conference! Joining the lineup is: 

Craig Sullivan 
Group eBusiness Manager at Belron (aka AutoGlass)
'Psychology: changing behaviour, increase conversions, cut costs'.
Craig is going to explain his love of studying customers and testing new products, services and page designs on 28M+ website visitors. Using  psychological principles, he'll explain how you can change consumer behaviour, increase conversion rates and lower running costs. 

Martin Talks
President of Digital at Draftfcb
Martin will be talking about 'Why Emotion Drives Your Bottom Line'.

Stuart Battersby and Matt Purver
Co-Founders of Chatterbox
Stuart and Matt will discuss  'Using conversational analysis to understand influence and interaction'.

The wonderful guys (and girls) at Ravensbourne have helped us during two Social Media Week London's, Feb 2011 and this February just past.

On the 13th & 14th June, Ravensbourne2012 will be opening its doors to industry and the public, to showcase London’s brightest new graduates. The two day festival, organised and designed by the student body, is a chance to see a collaborative showcase of graduate work, alongside other outstanding live events and installations. A graduate show like no other. And the invite is extended for you to attend.