What You Missed at SOCi ReImagine 2024

We recently wrapped up SOCi ReImagine, previously known as SOCi Summit, a two-day event packed with expert speakers discussing the latest trends in multi-location marketing and AI. The sessions delved into crucial areas like local search, social media, and reputation management.

If you missed the event and didn’t catch the highlights on our social platforms, this blog has you covered!

In this post, we’ll recap the most critical insights from the summit and share actionable updates to help your multi-location business elevate its localized marketing efforts.

Day 1 

Create the Future: Innovation, Change, and Disruptive Thinking

Day one of the event began with a dynamic keynote speaker, Jeremy Gutsche, CEO of Trend Hunter. In his career, Jeremy has helped Google, Sony, Disney, Pfizer, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, IBM, Adidas, and NASA embrace innovation and realize the potential of AI. 

At ReImagine, Jeremy used his time on stage to  offer specific tactics and strategies matched to archetypes, including the “farmer” and the “hunter,” helping attendees overcome organizational roadblocks and reimagine how innovation happens in complex organizations 

Welcome to the Genius Era

Next, we heard from SOCi’s CEO, Afif Khoury. Having spent more than 25 years at the forefront of technological innovation, Afif has led SOCi in building the world’s first CoMarketing Cloud—an autonomous marketing and data analytics platform that leverages AI and SOCi’s proprietary technology to “do the marketing for you.”

During his discussion, Afif took attendees on a journey through how SOCi started and how the company got to where it is now: a partner to more than 1,000 multi-location brands. He highlighted that none of this would be possible without SOCi’s amazing customers and passion for innovation. 

Afif’s session emphasized the need for brands to think beyond the limited consumer-oriented use cases we’ve seen with generative AI and toward a future where applied AI will be closely integrated with the platforms and solutions they need to execute on brand marketing priorities more efficiently and effectively.

Reimagining SEO in the AI Era

After Afif’s session, Mike King, the founder and CEO of iPullRank, took the stage to discuss how the AI era is impacting search engine optimization (SEO). Mike’s groundbreaking work examining a trove of recently leaked Google internal documentation helped unveil the true signals underlying Google’s search algorithm, including many tactics used by Google to localize search results. Mike also highlighted ways SEO practitioners can use AI innovations, setting the stage for the next session. 

SOCi: That’s Genius 

Speaking of innovation, SOCi’s very own Chief Product Officer Falk Gottlob took the stage, joined by VP of Product Marketing Nicole DiNicola and special guests Kyle Sawai, CMO of Liberty Tax, and John Lester, Field Marketing Director at Sport Clips, to showcase some of SOCi’s exciting new product releases including Genius Suite, which combines our three major Genius offerings Genius Search, Genius Reviews, and Genius Social into a powerful integrated solution. 

Additionally, Falk highlighted Genius Studio, which is set to launch in Q1 2025, where AI will become more intelligent by constantly improving as teams utilize it. Falk emphasized that SOCi’s domain expertise in local marketing makes SOCi Genius the first tool in the industry to utilize applied AI to help multi-location brands scale their marketing efforts as though they had a data scientist and trained marketer at every location.

Applied AI uses artificial intelligence to solve real-world problems or improve processes in specific industries. In marketing, one example is using AI to personalize customer experiences by analyzing past purchases or browsing behavior to recommend products a customer is more likely to buy. This helps businesses connect with customers in a more relevant and engaging way.

As you can see, SOCi has several exciting new product offerings and much innovation to come. 

Genius Breakouts 

The second half of day one began with a handful of breakout sessions. These breakout sessions covered topics from optimizing local pages to reputation management strategies, mastering the art of local social, and much more. Rather than going into depth about what each breakout discussed, we’ll quickly recap some of the most crucial information from select sessions. 

Winning New Customers: The Ultimate Multi-Channel Playbook 

This breakout, which highlighted the importance of optimizing your marketing strategy across search, social, and reputation management, touched on these points:

• To attract new customers, it’s essential to engage them across multiple platforms throughout their life cycle.
• Social media is key to building brand awareness and showcasing your brand persona.
• A well-maintained Google Business Profile provides accurate and comprehensive information, helping customers learn about you.
• Additionally, reviews reflect your product or service and how you handle customer feedback.

The Cutting Edge: Sports Clips Talks Reputation Management Strategies 

This breakout featured John Lester, Field Marketing Director of Sport Clips Haircuts, and SOCi’s Strategic Customer Success Manager, Kelly Settino. Sport Clips participated in a Genius Reviews pilot program, utilizing SOCi’s AI-generated review response tool for 400 locations.

The results spoke for themselves: 

• 100% of users said Genius Reviews cut down on the time it takes to answer reviews. 
• Sport Clips’ response rate increased by 26% across test locations. 
• 80% of the responses Genius Reviews crafted were accepted without any changes. 
• Since the pilot, Sports Clips’ has seen a YoY response rate increase of 6%. 
• The average response time has decreased from 12 days to just under five days.

While these are just a few of the breakouts, all sessions provided helpful information for multi-location marketers looking to improve their brand’s marketing strategies while increasing efficiency. 

How We Drove Innovation at Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware CMO Kim Lefko offered a presentation that was very well received by the ReImagine audience. The presentation outlined how Ace Hardware, in its 100th year of operation, has outperformed its big-box competitors by honing in on the customer experience provided by each Ace Hardware store. As demonstrated in recent press coverage, Ace has strengthened its position as a trusted part of the local community, with digital channels supporting the in-store customer experience.

Capitalizing on the New Opportunities in Local 

We ended day one with a panel led by Brandon Rhoten, CMO of GroundTruth, joined by marketers, including Bobby Pettey of Olympus Property and Kelly McGee of Jersey Mike’s, who discussed the challenges of implementing innovation. The participants shared their success stories, advocating for change with internal teams and working with SOCi to implement transformative solutions that help companies reach consumers in local markets. 

Day 2

What You’re Missing in Local: TikTok as the New Search and Discovery Platform 

SOCi CMO Monica Ho took the stage with Mike Westgate, Executive Leader, TikTok Shop to kick off day two. The two began the conversation by referencing data from SOCi’s 2024 Consumer Behavior Index, highlighting that younger generations are starting to leverage social platforms for search. 

More specifically, among consumers aged 18 to 24, Instagram is the top local tool used by 67% of respondents, followed by TikTok at 62%. With TikTok’s growing popularity, many marketers are unsure how to market on the platform. 

Monica and Mike emphasized that to market on TikTok, brands must: 

• Be on TikTok (have an account!) 
• Create native content on TikTok 
• Lead with education and entertainment over anything else 

The two also explained which metrics matter most when tracking performance on TikTok. For instance, it’s essential to prioritize local traffic on the platform. Marketers can find these metrics within the app, but they should also be paired with your brand’s own traffic data. TikTok also has opportunities for ads and TikTok Shop, which include their own set of performance metrics. 

Check out our blog for a more in-depth look at how to improve your brand’s presence on TikTok. 

The Most Visible Local Brands of 2024 

The week of SOCi ReImagine was a big week for SOCi! On day two, Damian Rollison, SOCi’s Director of Market Insights, took the stage to announce the release of our sixth annual SOCi Local Visibility Index (LVI). 

This report analyzed nearly 3,000 multi-location brands. The report benchmarks performance in the most influential digital channels for driving foot traffic and sales at the local level. Damian’s presentation outlined the methodology behind the report and touched on the characteristics of top performers and the new 2024 benchmarks that reveal the minimum performance levels brands must meet to outperform industry-specific competitors in local markets. 

The AI Effect: How Automation Drives Results 

As a marketer, understanding how to increase efficiency is always important. By now, you’ve likely heard that artificial intelligence (AI) can help streamline your marketing efforts, but quantifying the impact has been difficult. Many marketers ask, does AI work? Is it accurate? Is the quality superior? 

Marketers want AI to work for us. In fact, 37% of CMOs worldwide view generative AI as helping most with productivity and efficiency. Kaci McBride, Director of Customer Experience at SOCi, assured those attending ReImagine that leveraging AI boosts productivity and efficiency. Using proprietary SOCi data to find answers, McBride shared that SOCi’s Genius Reviews boosted review response rates for our customers by 450% and saved 63 days annually. In comparison, Genius Social increased Facebook engagement by 14%, delivering more revenue for less cost.

This data further emphasizes the importance of incorporating AI into marketing strategies. Not only does AI help marketers get things done faster and allows us to hit higher key performance indicators (KPIs), ultimately leading to more revenue! 

Crafting Winning Game Plans With Marketing Automation 

We ended ReImagine with a panel of brands implementing new digital marketing technologies and AI solutions to improve local marketing performance. During the conversation, panelists revealed their strategies to overcome internal bottlenecks and the Xs and Os behind the local marketing campaigns, allowing them to dominate the local marketing landscape.

Join Us for ReImagine 2025 

As you can see, SOCi ReImagine was packed with impactful information geared towards multi-location marketers! We’re already excited for ReImagine 2025. Keep an eye out for more details to come! 

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about SOCi and how our Genius products can help your brand dominate its local marketing strategy, request a personalized demo today!