#INBOUND17: Dharmesh Shah

HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah used his half of the founders keynote to delve into his take on some of the same topics as Brian Halligan, especially that of culture, as it was a running theme throughout this year's conference. He also got us back to the customer-centric mindset we need to embrace when creating inbound marketing, the urgency of creating value in all things (never creating just to put something out there), and demonstrated some of HubSpot's plans to deliver on these values, including a stepped-up CRM for sales professionals and HubSpot's recent acquisition of an AI company (per Dharmesh himself, he likes chat bots and he cannot lie).

(And yes, I recycled the picture from Brian's keynote; I didn't get any good shots in the back half!)

#INBOUND17: Brian Halligan

Of course I was excited to see HubSpot founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah speak at #INBOUND17. Last year's talk was inspiring and informative. This year, they decided to split their keynote, each focusing on their strengths (but with enough thematic overlaps and joint references that they still felt like related talks). I was also glad to see the return of the Brian & Dharmesh puppets on-screen. :)

As I said in a previous blog post: I hadn't originally planned to grow my company, but now that is absolutely part of my plan. I don't ever plan to become big like HubSpot, but I was still thrilled to hear lessons on startup mentality vs. scale-up mentality, and the important things to absorb or remove from each. His journey from starting HubSpot, through its exponential growth, and general commentaries on companies and marketing in general was engaging and on-point.

My favorite quote wasn't able to fit fully into a tweet, but I've found it:

"Netflix didn't disrupt Blockbuster; their late fees did that. Apple didn't disrupt the music industry; buying the whole album did. Then Uber, they didn't disrupt the taxi industry; waiting outside in the rain did."

#INBOUND17: Brene Brown

I live-tweet things at conferences; it's what I do. It's how I take notes. It's how I share the experience with those unable to attend. It's how I get noticed by fellow conference-goers (and, ideally, the organizers; bring me in as a speaker for #INBOUND18, HubSpot!). And it's how I'm able to digest the experience after the fact, when I'm able to focus again on the words and main points.

Everyone I know has been reading Brene Brown's latest book, Braving the Wilderness (as my cover image shows, I will soon be joining them, with my very own signed copy!). I had seen them posting quotes and snapshots of pages that held special resonance from them. And, early on in Brene's presentation, some of her words sounded awfully familiar. Were we just hearing a re-hash of her book? And what does any of this have to do with marketing? The answers became clear: no, she wasn't just re-hashing her book, or if she was, she was doing it in a sufficiently engaging manner to make me feel like she was truly WITH us (and made me want to read the book, of course). As for what it has to do with marketing: the theme that seemed to emerge throughout EVERY talk at this year's conference was that of connection. And Brene's book is about belonging. Makes perfect sense. And yes, her words will be affecting the way I approach my work, as well as the way I move through the world.

Social: who are you?

Those of you who follow me on social media know I spent this past week at #INBOUND17, soaking up insights from HubSpot's assembled team of experts from both within & outside of the marketing realm.

You likely also know that I tend to live-tweet the hell out of these things - which is how I met Jessie-Lee Nichols of Impact, whose thumb is apparently even more limber than my own. We discussed our favorite speakers (a list which includes Michelle Obama, Rand Fishkin, Piera Gelardi, & Brene Brown) and how their recurring messages of culture and identity spoke to each of us.

I'll be putting my own tweets from the conference into Storify threads, which will, in turn, be presented in a series of blog posts next week - keep your eye out for them!

I'd also be remiss if I didn't remind you all to register for Strike Up The BRAND - my eCourse on finding your personal brand, then rocking it out - ASAP! Course begins October 2. #tootyourhorn

MidweekMinute: now expanding to 2:80 (just kidding)

After a bit of a break, I'm back to a weekly #MidweekMinute! Did you miss me? This week's is coming at you LIVE from the #INBOUND17 conference in Boston! (To catch up with my conference learnings, check out my Twitter feed or stay tuned next week for blog posts of my Storify threads).

This week's top stories that fit into a minute:

Twitter doubles character limit from 140 to 280:

Giving you more characters to express yourself (Twitter blog)
Twitter just doubled the character limit for tweets to 280 (The Verge)

7 Questions About Twitter's Doubled Character Limit (The Atlantic)

Pinterest/Target visual search teamup:

Pinterest's Lens tech powers Target's visual search tool (Engadget)

Target Embedding Pinterest Camera Search Tool in Its App (The Wall Street Journal)

Instagram commenting settings:

Instagram Lets You Limit Comments Just To People You Follow (BuzzFeed News)

Instagram: Here’s How to Stop Users From Commenting On a Post (Adweek)

LinkedIn/Microsoft Office 365 profile integration:

LinkedIn profiles are coming soon to your Microsoft work apps (TheNextWeb)

Microsoft finally starts doing something with LinkedIn by integrating it into Office 365 (TechCrunch)

Social: iSocialFanz on getting the most out of conferences & events

Professional conferences can be a great opportunity to meet people in your industry who you admire - especially if, like me, your profession is also something you personally geek out over. One of the many fantastic social media leaders I met at Social Media Marketing World is Brian "iSocialFanz" Fanzo. Brian's expertise ranges from tech to livestreaming to public speaking and all sorts of topics in between, but today we spoke about something highly relevant as we head into fall conference season: how to get the most out of those experiences.

Some of Brian's best tips include:

• Start following (and participating in) the conference hashtag long before the conference; become an integral part of that conversation before the event even starts
• When interacting with the bigwigs you're excited to see (either before or after), don't just put out a generic, "Excited to hear your talk!" - share their work, offer value to them, and have something to actually say to them with some meaning and context
• One great way to get on conference organizers' radars (and good sides!) is to give their sponsors some love!

These, and way more fantastic tips, are all in our conversation below. Thanks again, Brian - see you at #SMMW18!