The ad-tech London conference will look at how brands can see a return on investment by engaging with social media.

Brands that engage in social media such as online communities as part of their communications strategy will see a long-term return on that investment, organisers of this year’s ad:tech London have revealed.

This follows detailed research last month by the Wetpaint/Altimeter Group that its recent ENGAGEMENTdb* report had found evidence of a financial correlation between brands ‘who are deeply engaged and those who outperform their peers’.

Peter Ward, co-CEO of social network firm WAYN.com and one of the speakers at this year’s event, commented: “More brands than ever are recognising the importance of social media and are experimenting with various ways to engage with it, whether it be creating a Facebook fan page, a Twitter stream or uploading videos on YouTube.

“What we are seeing however, is that many brands remain sceptical and have yet to experience many of the tangible benefits that would convince key decision makers to make social media marketing one of the key pillars of their marketing strategy.”

Lulu Phongmany, Marketing and Business Development Manager for ivillage.co.uk, said: “Social media is no longer something that consumers and brands dabble with. It is something that is core to any successful marketing or branding effort.

“More and more consumers are turning to the web to talk to each other about products and to gauge opinions on a product before they buy. In this way social media platforms offer brands an unprecedented opportunity to interact with their customer base and be part of the dialogue organically.”

Ivan Croxford, General Manager, Digital Marketing Services for BT, also shared his views ahead of the show, saying: “Social networks are making ‘word-of-mouth’ one of the most effective tools for winning business today. It’s an irreversible trend and those that engage with social networks first will be the ones that get noticed in the future. This is a real opportunity for small businesses to compete with big business.”

Taking place on 22-23 September at Olympia, ad:tech London has become established as the largest gathering of digital marketing professionals in the UK. Dedicated exclusively to Interactive Advertising and Marketing Technologies such as Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Mobile Marketing and E-Commerce, ad:tech London is the only event in the UK that welcomes marketers from blue-chip companies and SMEs the opportunity to investigate a complete range of end-to-end interactive advertising and marketing solutions.

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