While Brian’s been busy educating Atlanta’s business owners about search engine optimization (SEO), other members of the Optimize Atlanta team have been busy with SEO, search engine marketing (SEM), and other initiatives. The online marketing landscape is changing rapidly, especially with regards to social media; to ensure we can advise you on the latest and greatest for your digital marketing strategy, we recently attended the Fall 2009 Digital Marketing World conference.

Hosted by MarketingProfs, this “virtual conference” was unlike anything I’d attended before; although I regularly sit in on webinars regarding all things marketing, this was — I have to admit — very cool. Hosted online, the conference included almost everything you’d find at a “real world” conference, including tracks on marketing to businesses and consumers, exhibitor “booths,” networking lounges — even conference schwag! The online format also allowed for chat sessions on specific topics of interest for attendees and a greater level of interaction during each of the sessions with moderated Q&A toward the end of each session.

The keynote address was given by Tina Brown, a force to be reckoned with in the media world. Formerly editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, Brown now heads up the crew over at The Daily Beast, a great source for the latest in news, culture, and entertainment. Along with other speakers, Brown emphasized the importance of delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time. Other sessions focused on strategies and tactics for social media marketing, building customer loyalty online, and optimizing conversion rates for customers on your website through great landing pages, targeted testing, and nurturing online leads through the sales cycle.

I know I got a lot out of the B2C-track sessions I attended, and all reports are that the other sessions were great as well. Thanks to MarketingProfs for hosting such an innovative online event!