To Matt Peters though, “If it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed” = not necessarily true. I think a lot of the problems that people come up against with Social Media is that they don’t know what they want to work with it for, and with that in mind how should anyone expect to know how to measure something that they cannot pin point a starting point for?

I purposefully don’t use the phrase ‘don’t know what they want to *use* it for’. Social Media is just that, it’s a social medium, a method of communication between disparate groups of people with shared interests or questions. I don’t believe there is a way to “use” or to “manage” a social network (and hence, I disagree a little bit with Seth Godin’s idea of Tribes). I agree that a little bit of education in how it can be useful and what elements might be of benefit to different organisations would be a step in the right direction.

It seems to me that the lack of understanding, and perhaps adequate explanation, of social media leads to a lot of wariness on the part of executives, who may likely be worried about making any little mistake or about wasting the smallest amount of money in this economy. Social media is merely a set of tools, and certainly, it will not help everyone, but hopefully, with time and dedication, most companies can learn how to leverage it in tandem with their other marketing, customer services, sales, etc tools.

Kevin Dean
http://www.twitter.com/manobyte

You are spot-on: Companies must realize that people are talking about you and your brand everyday. All of those conversations can have a huge impact on your reputation, stock price and bottom line.

The media world has changed dramatically over the last 10 years — 10 Years ago it was passive – TV, Radio and Print. Today it is instant, viral, and massively collaborative. To top it off, it is MAGNITUDES larger in respect to content.

Companies need to realize that those millions of conversations can hurt them, but from a business perspective they represent an opportunity to engage with a huge stakeholder group to generate positive momentum and build a stronger brand.

The ROI of social media will be solved – there are plenty of smart people working on this. The key is understanding that there can be huge LOST opportunity if companies don’t listen and participate in this new world.

Chris Johnson
Founder
dna13

Twitter: chrisjjohnson
Blog: blog.dna13.com

“Regular” media now pays significant attention to social media, so if internal or external PR people generate enough talk in the social media world, their stories can potentially be picked up by regular media.

What do other people even do during the work day?

best,

Chris O.
Referral Key
“Your Trusted Referral Network”
http://www.referralkey.com/small-business-blog/