The third annual Bridging the Gap social media conference was hosted last Friday by the Sawyer Business School Department of Marketing and sponsored by the Professional Marketing Association (PMA). Students, alumni and professionals attended in the law school conference room for this year’s focus on mobile marketing.

Presenters included Mobee’s Founder and CEO Prahar Shah and Community Manager Erika Gordon, Jumptap’s Vice President of Marketing Matt Duffy, HubSpot’s Product Manager Anand Rajaram, and Dave Wieneke, digital strategy practice director at ISITE Design. Panelists included Janet Aronica, content marketing manager at Localytics, Jill Avery, assistant professor of marketing at Simmons College and Dusan Koljensic, creative director/experience design at SapientNitro.

“Email is still the killer app for mobile.” 

Key Metrics to Focus On  (via Anand Rajaram, HubSpot)

• Database size
• Email opt-out rate
• Delivery rate
• EMail open rate
• Clickthrough rate
• Campaign conversion rate

3 insights from Dave Wieneke, ISITE Design

1. Being a source of authority isn’t as useful as being a source of influence.
2. Without humanity, content is nothing.
3. Mobility changes the way we connect with people.

5 Steps for Creating a Personal Social Strategy (via Erika Gordon, Mobee)

1. In-depth analysis of similar [businesses/companies]
2. Give your users a way to reach you
3. Make every interaction a personal one
4. Utilize tools and analytics to view what matters
5. Be proactive

Panelists discussed their advice for students entering the career world.

Janet Aronica of Localytics said she looks for candidates who are good writers and are willing to produce content; they need to have the ability to create content and measure its effectiveness.

In regards to the job market over the next few years, Simmons College’s Jill Avery thinks a lot of job opportunities will be on the data analytics side and that LinkedIn will be the first place recruiters will research candidates. She advises to network at conferences and American Marketing Association events and providing value before asking for help with the job search.

“There’s an emergence of people able to tell stories digitally,” said Dusan Koljensic of SapientNitro. He believes qualitative is still as important as quantitative and recommends creating an engaging experience in which you can understand the moment.