The Very Best of This Year's Web Summit!

The 2014 Web Summit was a huge success and the conference has in just three years managed to become "the" event in Europe.

Over 22,000 people from 109 countries attended. There was 614 speakers, 2,160 start-ups, 1,324 journalists and 2,200 staff. 

In the Digital Marketing Institute's most recent blog post their Marketing Executive Zara Burke picks her three top unmissable takeaways from the 2014 Web Summit!

1. Big Data: Means Big Audience Understanding

Big data means that brands need to gain a deeper understanding of their audience habits, i.e. what they like, what they do and when they do it. This is so  you can make your customers happy and therefore keep them loyal. 

Takeaway Point: Think how much will it cost to lose a customer and not how much it will cost to gain one.

2. Native Advertising: Tell Relevant & Real Stories

Stop creating sales messages that distract, repel and annoy and start telling stories that people want to connect with and become a part of. As brands are put into the position of publishers we need to get more contextually relevant and find a way to target the right people.

Takeaway Point: 30% of HubSpot’s ad revenue is coming from native advertising and should rise to 50% in 2016.

3. Think in Terms of Mobility, Not Mobile

Mobility is about how the device fits into your customer’s lives. It is important for us to think of mobile marketing in user-centric terms. For example, what time of the day are your customers interacting with your brand on the go and how are they doing it?

Takeaway Point: Video will play a big part in successful mobile marketing campaigns of the future. 

For more information on what went down at the Web Summit check out the following link: 15 Things You Didn't Know Happened At The Web Summit.

And for some light hearted fun why not check out YouTube vlogger and Irish Independent social media editor Claire Cullen's short video, Web Summit Terms in Irish / Gaelic / Gaeilge.

Here are 8 interesting facts from the 2014 Web Summit according to the Irish Independent:

1. The average age of the Web Summit team this year was 27 years of age. The team was made up of 110 people.

2. Just 15 per cent of the speakers were women.

3. This year's Web Summit claims to have set up 10,000 face-to-face meetings between start-ups and investors. Each meeting averaged 10-15 minutes each.

4. Thursday morning saw Nespresso serve their 100,000th cup of coffee. This is almost five cups per person.

5. The youngest developer at the Web Summit was 8-year-old Ciara Whelan at the Coder Dojo event.

6. The youngest developer in Europe was also at the event - Niall Keogh is 11 years of age and already has two apps completed, including one on the App Store.

7. Approximately 8,500 students attended talks at the Web Summit in the evenings.

8. The 'powerhouse' behind the event was Cork woman Sinead Murphy who Paddy Cosgrave personally thanked on stage at the end of the final Web Summit day.