The Things We Learned at DF12--and how they'll affect Dreamforce '13

It seems like Dreamforce ’12 took people by surprise. Refrains of “It’s massive!” popped up all. over. the web.

We obviously now know to expect that Dreamforce ’13 will be just as giant. But what else did we learn last year that will influence how we all exhibit this year?

Side note: if you consider yourself a FirstRain competitor, please ignore this post. In fact, please do the opposite.

1. A successful business is a social business

I bet that if, for some reason, your company hadn’t embraced social media last year, that was the first thing you did when you got back from Dreamforce. How could you not, especially after Sir Richard Branson called you out on it? “For a business to not embrace social media … you’ve clearly got your head in the sand.”

Being on social media not only gives you an easy channel to engage more and different people, it allows you to really connect with people on a more personal level. Nowadays, people appreciate seeing the human side of corporations—and the corporations realized that at DF12.

This year, I expect WAY more traffic on Twitter (and Facebook, and LinkedIn…) and an effort to be more personable and, dare I say, casual—and, hopefully, some very cool ideas coming out of it.

Which happens to segue nicely to my next point:

2. If you want to stand out, you need to get creative
Dreamforce is huge. We’ve established this. So what can you do to make sure to get foot traffic at your booth, which is a tiny (but I’m sure very lovely) island in the Moscone Sea?

We just talked about how people like to see the clever, human side to a business. So if you want to get noticed, you need to get creative with how you promote your company in the run-up to Dreamforce. Recognizing this, for the second year in a row, we at FirstRain have made a Dreamforce-themed video, which is getting a lot of love, and a funny Dreamforce-themed Tumblr (check them out—you won’t be sorry!). We’ve seen other creative videos and Tweets pop up here and there, too (and we love it!).

Make sure you have the material to impress once people want to know more—but getting people to know your name in the first place is half the battle.

3. There are more apps out there than anyone knows what to do with
My prediction: at Dreamforce ’13, there will still be more apps than anyone knows what to do with. And there might be even more than that. Because people have now seen that being able to provide a quick and easy solution to any sort of business need, isn’t just nice—it’s what people expect. Oh, and if they don’t currently have your solution, the only way they’ll consider buying it is if it’s compatible with the solutions they already do use.

Expect to see an explosion of integration at this year’s Dreamforce. Have we mentioned that FirstRain can be dropped in to just about any CRM or corporate platform? And it’s mobile, which is also necessary.

Come visit us at booth #N1924! We promise to have cool swag (free lesson #4).