LeWeb, Not For Independent Professionals?

For independent professionals LeWeb is not the conference to go to. LeWeb is a tech conference. So only if you are interested in tech you should go visit this event in Paris in the cold (last year we even had snow). Or is this incorrect?

Le Web is an international event, with speakers from Europe and the US. You can meet and connect with 2.000 attendees from 46 countries. The presentations do cover a lot of tech stuff, but there is more. For example, last year we were inspired by a conductor, a live winelibrary.tv, Chris Anderson and more. LeWeb is about people, meet the speakers, entrepreneurs meet investors and lots of networking.

In the Demo Zone you can learn about some great new products and services that you can use in your daily business. At the startup competition you can learn from the entrepreneurs how to pitch or maybe how not to pitch.

This year LeWeb will help you to see how you can use the Real Time Web to make friends. To help your potential customers on the web. To see them more as friends, connect on Twitter or Facebook.

Do you need to be constantly on both platforms or is one enough for your business? Do you need to build your own network on Ning? Can you use live video like ustream to connect? Is LinkedIn more than an online rolodex? Questions that will be asked during LeWeb.

Social Media is a great tool for independent professionals to connect with their target customers. By writing informative and useful content for your target clients you can become an expert. No longer do you need news papers, magazines, radio or TV to do this. Will the real time web help you to get better connected to your target audience?

Brands and marketing use the real time Word of Mouth. Large companies use the real time web as a public customer service, they are listening live to their focus groups. Brands like Ford, Dell and Zappos are doing this with great success. In the Netherlands we see UPC and Vodafone proactively answering to customers on Twitter. Get the real time web, work at it and see the positive effects on your business.

For independent professionals this also means use the mobile internet to be always on. With smart phones we can be in touch and listen to our clients all the time. Not just 1-on-1 but 1 to many. Help people and build your social capital or Whuffie, that is easier if YOU are the business. You can decide instantly and reply right away. That is often a lot faster than the large brands can do.

So, yes LeWeb is a conference with a lot of tech. However, if you listen in the right way you as an independent professional can learn a lot here. From LeWeb I will show the effects of the real time web for the marketing of independent professionals. I will create video’s with some of the speakers to make this translation for my readers. Like this video from last year with Gary Vaynerchuk.

What about entrepreneurs and the tech industry in the Netherlands you are asking? Let me share 3 examples from Holland:

  • Layar, is a free application on your mobile phone which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality. It is a mobile augmented reality browser.
  • MobyPicture let’s you directly share your photos, videos, and more with all your friends on your social networks.
  • My Name is E, enables you to collect your accounts on social networks in one spot, and share them by using your mobile phone.

Are you already using these services from Holland? Try them, they are free to use.

Talk to you from Paris.

Erno Hannink helps independent professionals to use social media to get more clients. He writes on his Dutch blog enthousiasmeren.nl about internet, marketing, blogging, social media. Enthousiasmeren translates to ‘Making people enthusiastic’. Author of the book ‘Let the clients come to you’. Initiator of WordCampNL and the Social Media Club Amsterdam.

This is a guest post from me at the LeWeb blog and was also visible on Techmeme in the sponsored post section. I missed that, so no screenshot of that moment.

By Erno Hannink

Sparring and accountability partner for entrepreneurs who create sustainable positive impact. Explores decision-making. Shares his insights on this in, articles, books (Dutch), podcast, newsletters, and tools. Has a life mission to reduce social and ecological inequality. Father of two children, husband of M., runs, referee for the national soccer league, and uses stoicism for calm. Lives in the Netherlands. Speaks Dutch, English, and German.