Meg Kerr

Social Media Integration Manager

Mosaic Experiential Marketing

www.linkedin.com/in/megkerr

“Social Media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. No one knows how. When finally done, there is surprise it’s not better”

- Avinash Kaushik (Analytics evangelist at Google).

An attention-grabbing quote started our morning career lecture by Megg Kerr.

Almost all of us are on facebook, twitter and using social media in our lives on a daily basis for personal, work and as a source for information. 


Facebook has changed the world. I also love this video she shared with us – The Social Media Revolution.

 I was very much looking forward to Meg's presentation this morning and hearing her perspective and about her social media career.


Meg originally studied Broadcast Journalism from Fanshaw. She also studied media and technoculture at Western.  However, she  could see a change in media... the success of being the first one to capture a  breaking news story was becoming a thing of the past with the presence of online media. She embraced social media and now currently works in Mosaic’s  Experiential Marketing. Meg has worked at Mosaic since 2006, working in social media strategy, community management, analytics and blog outreach.



Forms of social media are:

• Micro-blogs (like Twitter)
• Social networking sites (Facebook)
• Geotagging (Foursquare)
• Blogs (Blogger, Wordpress)
• Video (YouTube)

Meg discussed the new trends and happenings in Social Media...



4 Trends Affecting Social Media

• Real Time and Mobile Devices - accessing information anytime and anywhere
• Location Based, Services and Geotagging - GPS enabled smartphones, your phone can identify where you are and update your location for you. This trend can allow incentives for these people who are location tagging. I used this on facebook when I went to my favourite pub for a drink and ended up having a couple of friends find me there due to me posting and the pub gave me a free drink for posting. rather cool....
• Privacy - people are becoming more awareto what information they share. Higher privacy settings make users more secure, but the downside it limits valuable information for marketers
• Social Media is becoming less social - 1st and 2nd generation users were like little kids eating candy - ready to overdose. I think as society we are have had too much facebook and shared too much.. we are now as as a society reeling our information inwards and be more protective of what we share and who we share it with. Secure social media groups are being formed - more niche and selected participants
• www.bluechipexpert.com
• www.doostang.com
• www.songfriends.com

Social Media users are even "detoxing" from mobile and social media by removing it from their life... rather like drug users -- I found this rather curious that people have allowed social media to permeate their lives so heavily. Some even commit suicide online to remove their profiles Web 2.0 Suicide Machine.  This site erases your digital life...


Another tip is not to post what you ate for breakfast or insignifcant thoughts. In particular as a business only post relevant and not too often. From first hand experience, I grow tired of a constant stream of posts and then end up resenting the brand and I delete them to avoid receiving notifications.


“Unless you’ve got something to say, don’t say anything, unless it's interesting”

Of course the above statement is entirely subjective, however the public is more sophisticated and educated than ever with the constant source of information they consume. Consumers are becoming more digital savy all the time, so the social media landscape is constantly changing. Businesses are using many of these trends to promote their business, however they also must manage social media and PR crisis.

• People trust peer to peer more than advertising which has a huge impact on sales (I researched this for marketing - a growing trend called "Friendmoration"
• Comparison shopping poses questions for retailers
• Technology is now changing how we as consumers can access information using QR codes in supermarkets, billboards, posters.

I enjoyed Meg’s discussion very much, she had much to share with us....  and she is a very fast speaker! I think a conversational trend in general of online and digital users as we digest and transfer so much information quickly... And I LOVED her fashion sense - right on trend in her chiffon loose tunic dress, long feather necklace and chunky high shoes! Inspired me to go shopping online......