Five key takeaways from OMMA Social from a Silicon Valley outsider

Before I get to the meat of today's post, let me pubicly thank Cathy Taylor for putting together what proved to be a great event, OMMA Social. It was by far one of the best conferences I've attended to date; well-coordinated, solid content from industry experts and delicious food/drink. The event seemed to come off without a hitch too.

Now, to my obersvations...

The keyword of the day was "listening." 

Listening is the new marketing, or so it seems. It's a shame companies like Radian6 or Techrigy weren't there to take full advantage of the opportunity for them to speak to the issue from a sponsor/exhibitor standpoint, or at least as attendees, especially considering the room was full of agency people. Kudos to Perry Hewitt from Crimson Hexagon, another social media monitoring company, for being in attendance. (I joke with Perry that their company name sounds like a 60s Bay-area rock band.)

Gauging what constitutes "influence" in social media is a huge issue. 
Charlene Li led an outstanding panel on what was referred to as "personal CPM." Essentially, the panel discussed how to measure influence in social media. It's a topic you'll hear discussed a lot this year. 

When marketers do figure out how to reward users for access to their influence, I hope it doesn't bring complete and total prostitution to an otherwise authentic medium. (Sorry, Perry Hewitt. Guess that's 5 demerits for using the term "authentic.") I can imagine a mad gold rush by socmed users to up the anty on their personal CPM in order to profit. 

Measuring the ROI of social media is another issue that must be dealt with in 2009.
Given this economy, if it can't be measured, it won't be taken seriously by many, if not most. We're at a point now where we're faced with the task of proving this medium can produce pecuniary value.

OMMA Social was a seminal event.
Matters that were introduced at the conference will become fodder for much discussion around social network water coolers in the weeks and months to come. 

The Twitter business model was a hot topic.
While those of us serving on the Twitter business model panel were not exactly considered experts on the topic, the viewpoints expressed were well thought out and not necessarily naive or ill-conceived. Certainly, they sparked some measure of discussion by the audience. Whichever direction Twitter decides to go in terms of a monetization strategy, one thing is for sure, it will be the topic of much discussion and analysis.

Again, kudos go to Cathy and her team for putting together such a well-coordinated event. I hope to attend next year whether I'm on a panel or not.

BTW, Cathy has put together her own list of takeaways over at Social Media Insider. In addition, David Berkowitz did a complete run-down (well, almost... he left off the Twitter panel) of the event over at The Marketer's Studio.

Comments

[David Alston]

Hey there Paul,

Alas we do miss out on some great conferences. We'll have to look into attending next year perhaps. Unfortunately, only so much time and resources to spread around and we certainly do try to attend as many as possible. It's definitely great to have folks like yourself who are familiar with what we do at the shows in case a question does pop up about us.

Thanks for the highlights. And we'll no doubt see you at another show very soon - we certainly have quite the roster of them to attend in the next few months.

Thanks Paul.

Cheers.

David

[Sonny Gill]

Nice wrapup, Paul.

In regards w/the Twitter business model, I think the biggest thing that sticks out is the 'freemium' model. Offer a paid channel that gives up specific features/stability/premium access - and they'd be in business. I'm pretty confident a big portion of the 'power' users would be willing to pay up for that.

[Paul Chaney]

The freemium model does work. One thing that has to be in whatever is rolled out is the ability to send DM to a group. Imagine Tweetdeck taking that functionality and building it into their existing interface. Sweet!

[Paul Chaney]

I don't fault you for not being there, so it's not a criticism. I do think you should take a good, hard look at the event next year though. It was a great event, one-day, in and out, with an audience consisting of the market your company wants to reach. Hey, just lookin' out for you my friend.

Plus, I love sticking the term Radian6 in stuff just to see how quickly you respond. You get an A+! :)

[Connie Bensen]

Hi Paul,
I saw your note on Twitter.
It sounds like a great event! Thanks for the overview.

I have an itinerary lined up & as David said it's about time & resources.

Thanks for mentioning Techrigy!
Connie
Community Strategist
http://sm2.techrigy.com

[Paul Chaney]

Connie, happy to mention you. I'd really advise putting this one on the list of possibles. I mean, you should have heard it. Almost every session, without exception, included some discussion of listening as an essential element in advertising/marketing going forward. One session was even devoted to it.

But, I'm an opportunist and try to see opportunity when and where it exists. I believe OMMA Social is one to consider for future event planning.

[Perry Hewitt]

Paul, it was great to see you in SF. I agree that Cathy and the team did a great job pulling the agenda together.

We hope stay connected with all the great folks we met, especially from the agencies trying to put together solutions for monitoring and engagement. And we're working on the Crimson Hexagon 60s theme song!

Cheers,
Perry

[Paul Chaney]

And you as well Perry. Honestly, every time I hear your company's name I start humming "Crystal Blue Persuasion." Guess I'm really telling my age now. But, hey, I'm a child of the late sixties, early seventies and proud of it!

BTW, be on the alert for a new video series coming to an Internet screen near you, produced by the soon to be renowned studio, Bizzuka films, with executive producers John Munsell and yours truly. You, along with David Alston, was one of the stars. More later.