Boosting brand awareness is the second biggest focus of increased marketing budgets this year behind increased conversion rates, according to ExactTarget Marketing Cloud.

Social media, mobile and personalised web experiences will be key to driving brand awareness according to ExactTarget which found increased conversion rates (49%), improving brand awareness (41%) and data acquisition (31%) the top three areas of increased marketing budget this year.

Kyle Lacy (pictured), senior manager of global content marketing and consumer research for Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud, said there will be a resurgence of location-based marketing this year.

He used startup Uber, which acts as an alternative taxi service, as an example. It uses mobile to help passengers locate a driver and allows them to pay for the lift via mobile.

Other key trends Lacy outlined at the event was brand personalisation and the importance of individual moments.

Dedicated social teams are almost as common as email teams now according to the 2014 State of Marketing Strategy survey. Sixty per cent of respondents said their organisation had a social hub compared to 66% with an email team.

National Australia Bank (NAB) has had a social command centre for about two years now.

Roger Seow, NAB’s head of social media and digital integration, said at last week’s event that the social command centre has given NAB a human voice.

“We have a 150 y ear old organisation so people just think we are bricks and mortar. Having a human face helps with connecting us to our customer.”

Having a human voice meant a lot of training to ensure the right tone of voice was used online.

“If someone asks you ‘what is my account balance’ you don’t go and say ‘Well, it is negative $25. Thanks. LOL’,” he added.

Seow said the team has had hurdles to overcome including the mindset that marketing messages should dominate NAB’s social channels.

“Let’s just blast them with every freaking message…you name it, let’s spray them,” is the attitude Seow first had to address.

Now he says the focus is on how to use social and “derive insights from it to actually inform the comms and marketing”.