
In this week’s #Bufferchat, Lee Odden, CEO of Top Rank Marketing and expert on all things marketing, joined us to share his thoughts and lead a discussion on “What’s next in digital marketing?”
Inspired by the voices of experts in Lee’s post on Top Rank Online Marketing Blog, “21 Digital Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2015,” the #Bufferchat reflected many of these predictions and spurred some incredible conversations.
Check out the full Storify recap here!
How do you define digital marketing?
A1 In a way, all modern marketing is digital. #bufferchat
— Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
A1: Anything that gets the word out there online – but w/an extension into real life. Surprised we still divide marketing vs DM #bufferchat — Shannon Byrne (@ShannnonB) July 16, 2014
A1: #DigiMkt is driving awareness across variety of digital channels (social, paid, mobile, email etc) to increase #RoR and #ROI#bufferchat
— Amelia Tran (@AmelianTips) July 16, 2014
Will 2015 be the year of paid amplification?
A2: Well, US social media ad spend is to reach $16.2B by 2019, up from $7.3 billion in 2014 (Forrester). Paid is growing! #bufferchat
— Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
A2: I rarely use paid amplification for our business with 300k in the community. But large brands with millions? Paid works. #bufferchat — Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
@Buffer A2: I agree that it’s growing but I don’t think 2015 will dismiss the other areas of social – like owned and earned #BufferChat
— Cassandra Hayes (@Cassandrahayes) July 16, 2014
Not always. Lot’s of good messaging gets missed and doesn’t cut through. Consisteny is key @AndyVale @buffer @jaybaer #bufferchat — Kate Bourland (@katebourland) July 16, 2014
What does it mean to push the boundaries of “brands as publishers?”
A3: Brand publishers will evolve from “more” content to “useful”, better storytelling & monetization http://t.co/mo3pKuCTRJ #bufferchat — Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
A3: Also, more brand publishers will use real-time tools to optimize content on the fly like Sailthru and Visual Revenue #bufferchat
— Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
A3. More than “Content is King” – Content separates those who understand & care about community from those that think they do! #bufferchat — Brian Fanzo (@iSocialFanz) July 16, 2014
Does mixing paid and owned media accelerate content distribution?
A4: Creating your own content hub (owned media) while publishing native ads (paid media) on industry pubs can integrate well! #bufferchat — Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
A4 – The greatest content published will mean nothing without an audience. Now u have to pay for audience initially #bufferchat
— Social Media Chica (@SocialMedChica) July 16, 2014
A4: Moderation is a great thing – maybe even in itself ;). Look at where your brand’s @ & customize your balance accordingly. #bufferchat — Karissa Urry (@karissaurry) July 16, 2014
Everything worth doing takes a lot of time and effort ? the potential to monetize though is unmatched with social #bufferchat
— House To Home Moving (@MovingEasy) July 16, 2014
Paid channels give you a wider reach but if the content is not tailored to the audience then it’s a loss of money #bufferchat — Yuliya Kogay (@ykogay) July 16, 2014
A4: We should combine & leverage media (paid, earned & owned) like ingredients of a salad Mix it All! #bufferchat cc @buffer @brianclark
— Joselin Mane (@JoselinMane) July 16, 2014
How will sales use marketing tactics to reach new audiences?
A5: Just think if you could train a salesforce of 500 or 5,000 to blog, use 1-2 social networks. Wow! @jill_rowley & @kokasexton #bufferchat — Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
@buffer #bufferchat salespeople should be communicating on the web in real time
— David Meerman Scott (@dmscott) July 16, 2014
#BufferChat — Buyers are connected, social and educated! Old Sales ways won’t work! http://t.co/nj6hRaBYm9 pic.twitter.com/wtduDVb0J5 — Brian Fanzo (@iSocialFanz) July 16, 2014
A5: They’ll actually have to start thinking about their audience in terms of helping them rather than selling to them. #bufferchat
— Miss Grant (@callmemissgrant) July 16, 2014
A5: I think @dmscott‘s point is that saleforces can create content & socialize easier now than ever. Social sales = scale. #bufferchat — Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
What’s ahead in measuring digital marketing?
A6: We advocate a digital marketing analytics model of: Attract, Engage, Convert. Optimize the journey: http://t.co/ZFTbHQ5EQc #bufferchat — Lee Odden (@leeodden) July 16, 2014
@buffer A6: Probably better research analytics for positioning. Lot of noise out there, positioning is key. #bufferchat
— Jev2DaMaximum (@Jev2DaMaximum) July 16, 2014
A6: deeper platform analytics, more real-time mktg analytics, to name a few #BufferChat — Jason Galliger (@jasongalliger) July 16, 2014
A very special thank you to Lee from Top Rank Marketing for joining us for this chat! Join us every Wednesday at 9 am Pacific, noon Eastern, 4 p.m. GMT for #bufferchat! To keep connected with #bufferchat in between the chats, check out our
Google+ Community! Topics and questions will be shared on the Google+ community before each chat.

What do you think is ahead for digital marketing? What responses above resonated with you? Let us know in the comments! P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy our
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