Random Thoughts Inspired by Day 1 of PodCamp Boston 4 – a Social Media Un-Conference

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

• Chris Brogan‘s kids are adorable and he is such a proud papa 🙂
• Matthew Ebel (@matthewebel) is way too funny. I have not heard his music, but if it is as good as his stand-up comedy during the “How to Set up a Studio in Your Dining Room” session then I will gladly pay for his music CD. BTW, still confused why he called speakers – monitors. Monitors are well… computer monitors in my book.
• I heard that @Vanhoosear session “Why Bother with Social Media” was exceptional particularly regarding convincing senior mgmt of the Social Media value. Sorry, Todd, couldn’t pass the live taping of “Marketing Over Coffee” next door with @chrisbrogan, @CC_chapman and the man himself @cspenn. But can we talk during day 2?
• The venue and the view of the Harbor were truly spectacular, but did not quite make up for a very spotty internet connectivity and luck of afternoon coffee (I would gladly buy it if I could) Hint, hint for day 2.
• Even though I did not sit at the “power table” with the “big” players, @CostaVidaFred @bSashin, @engagility and myself made it a power lunch talking about lawyers and Social Media, spammy groups on LinkedIn and Twitter scalability. We did not solve the world’s hunger problems but still had a great conversation.
• I agree with @SteveGarfield that Outside conversations were as valuable (if not more) as inside conversations
• I had the most relaxing walk down the Harbor path on my way back to the hotel.
• I must have been out of my mind to stay in the hotel and  work on this silly post instead of singing karaoke with @JeffPulver

SOCIAL MEDIA MEASUREMENT THOUGHTS

• Met a lot of people who were very passionate about Social Media metrics. Justin Whitaker (@justinmwhitaker)’s session proved it. As soon as he showed the title slide “Forget ROI, Social Media & How to Swing It” the projector died.
• There seemed to be a lot of people in the room sharing this view: Social Media is in the same early stages of business adoption as the Internet was in early 1990’s and we simply do not know how to best measure it. However, I am not sure if @KDPaine would agree with that.
• There were some, myself included, who think of Social Media as the best way to improve brand recognition, brand engagement and consequently brand value, but our argument gets us nowhere since we cannot easily measure that impact 😦 unless of course you are ok with saying that 50% of your marketing budget is working. You just not sure which 50% it is.
• The last perspective that got the most nods in the room focused on NO Social Media-specific metrics at all. None. Instead you should use the existing metrics: marketing or otherwise that are used as key performance indicators for the senior management of the business you are trying to convince. IMHO: easier said than done.
• Finally, nobody mentioned the Net Promoter Score. Thought that was rather surprising.

Can’t wait for day 2.

Image links courtesy of Stephen, paul.monaco, stevegarfield, Elizabeth Thomsen