By Rebecca Laming, July 13, 2011

The concept of crafting human experiences to yield brand growth was a central theme throughout the three sessions that made up the “Mashable Social MediaVest Forum,” held at MediaVest’s New York office on July 11. Top Mashableand MediaVest experts participated  as well as leaders in the social revolution including Naveen Selvadurai, Co-Founder, Foursquare; Eric Litman, CEO, Medialets; Joe Fernandez, CEO and Co-Founder of Klout.

Bill Tucker, CEO, MediaVest kicked off the event by stressing the need for marketers to create experiences that ignite communities and send echoes throughout the social space. Tucker’s comments provided the perfect set up for Mashable’sCEO and Founder, Pete Cashmore to further expand on how experiences live in the social space.

Consumers have come to expect, even demand, experiences from their advertising, explained Pete. The days of stagnant and linear marketing are over, and people want to be involved and engaged with their brands. That is why social media plays a more critical role in marketing — it provides a vehicle to create an experience on both a local and global level. “We have transitioned from traditional media to social or citizen media,” said Cashmore.

The social media experiences discussed all encouraged users to interact and engage with brands in an entirely new way. Naveen Selvadurai surprised listeners when he stated, “The goal for Foursquare is using the internet to get you off the internet.” Meaningful experiences can begin online but they should inspire offline activity as well to keep the shelf life extended for social media marketing. Foursquare promoted this online-to-offline engagement by “pinging” users when they discover new neighborhoods, and sending them tips from their intimate social circle about different restaurants, shops and activities in the area. Users have to be outside and exploring to unlock this level of Foursquare.

MediaVest’s own Jill Griffin, Strategic Innovation Catalyst, offered up an apt example of a social space engagement done right: the mobile contest “Catch a Choo,” for Jimmy Choo designer footwear. “Catch a Choo” encouraged users to locate a Catch a Choo person via Foursquare, Twitter or Facebook on their mobile device. Users then raced each other to that location to win a free pair of Jimmy Choo trainers.

One of the main issues marketers encounter with social media experiences is attempting to fit them into traditional media metrics – creating a classic square peg-round hole conundrum, agreed Klout’s Joe Fernandez and David Shiffman, SVP, Research Director, MediaVest.  “Traditional digital marketing doesn’t fit in social media because we are dealing with real people and that requires conversation and engagement,” said Fernandez. Shiffman reminded the audience that the success of an experience must live beyond numbers and hitting KPIs. The point of an experience is to connect meaningfully with consumers and engage them in a way that they will have a conversation with the brand in the future and feel comfortable to share their opinion of what works or doesn’t. Measurable brand growth will come, but first marketers have to build that bond through experiences.

So for anyone who missed this terrific afternoon of engaging conversation and insight, here’s your key takeaway: experience. People want to experience something when they engage with marketers and brands. This isn’t some blue-sky observation—this is the here and now of successful advertising in the social era. Find ways to establish an online to offline relationship with consumers and use experiences as a springboard for that meaningful connection.