City Connections: IIT Stuart Students at 2014 Chicago Social Media Week - Part 4

Several IIT Stuart undergraduate and graduate students attended Social Media Week Chicago this September, a week-long series of events that takes place in cities around the world featuring experts, iconic brands, and leading thinkers sharing their ideas and inspiration. Thank you to IIT Stuart M.S. MAC student Ruiyang Wan, for sharing his experiences and insights from the week.

Social Media Week Chicago is a fantastic and impressive event. Marketing experts from all related fields gathered together to share their experience, insights, and recommendations for the future of marketing on social media.

I participated in several meetings and seminars during the week. One thing I would like to share is about the McDonald’s online marketing campaign during the FIFA World Cup. With economic globalization, most international companies need to consider their advertising strategy--is it to launch a standardized global advertisement or to modify the content to suit the local need? During the World Cup, McDonald’s launched several online advertising campaigns. All of these were under a unified and standardized theme, but operated by local artists. These artists were selected based on their country being in a profitable market for the campaign. Using local methods to present the unified and global theme is the way McDonald’s engaged audiences through the “GLOCAL” view.

I also attended sessions about B2B marketing. There were different levels of meetings related to this theme, from basic knowledge of the differences between B2B and B2C, to a higher level of business issues, operation difficulties, and problems. These sessions gave me insights into the future of B2B marketing and operating, and cleared up some questions I had. Some tips, like using LinkedIn to inspire interest and build constant relationships, and using multiple social media combined with traditional marketing methods to promote products and services in a more efficient and profitable way, were really useful.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to attend the SMW events in Chicago. It was a good chance to experience real-time business and to gain instructions and recommendations from the top experts in marketing and social media.