Can You Prove That New Media Are Effective? A Report from NMX 2013

I was at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas this week. This is my short report. Though there was an attempt to shift away from blogging, it was still a dominant topic. So what can we expect in the near future, according to experts, bloggers and users?

After 2 years, New Media Expo, formerly known as BlogWorld, returned to Las Vegas. Over three days, several dozen speakers covered topics as straightforward as podcasting basics, intense debates on the future of publishing and the importance of social media engagement for brands, small and large.

It was great to catch up with some of our old friends and partners like Joe Pulizzi and Marla Schulman, and meet new friends – Bob Dunn and Jure Klepic. We’re excited to work with them in the upcoming months.

While the focus of the conference has shifted away from blogging, it still dominated the conference halls. The major tangent this year was continued push towards quantifying the value of new media and its disciplines.

Ted Rubin, the father of ‘Return on Relationship’, was there spreading his gospel. C.C. Chapman continued his quest for content creators to do better and work on content that makes a difference. Tamsen Webster hosted a session to show how any brand, online or offline, can take advantage of new media to proactively reach out to their users.

Just as much as there was pressure on marketing execs to provide proof of new media effectiveness for their organization before, the pressure will only get stronger. But a slew of tools and technologies will get better and make the task easier. There will be more effective ways to manage influencer outreach, there will be better tools to help create compelling content and there will be new and better channels to distribute amazing content.

And considering that NMX was held right before CES, Vegas was exploding in afterparty activities keeping everyone in great spirits and excited for 2013.