The OMMA Social conference on social media today at the Yale Club is overwhelming. There is standing room only. Also, the information is so rich and new and coming at all of us so fast, it’s hard to wrap it all up in one post. Instead, I’ve organized quotes heard from client people, agency people, tech people, and publishing people.
 

Best Social Media Advice
 

In order to know what your constituency wants, you have to talk to them, which means you have to become one of them.
 

People on social networks are doing things that are social. They are ignoring things that aren’t social.
 

Right now, this game is jump ball.
 

People just want guinea pigs to carry their message forward. Really, social media is more about listening.
 

ROI. Sigh.
 

ROI is difficult to talk about.
 

In terms of the ROI question, I can’t give it to you. Not because I don’t want to or because my general counsel said I can’t. But because I don’t know.
 

While engagement might not generate into a sale, it certainly has to help.
 

I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t equate a widget install with a clickthrough to your site.
 

Reality Check
 

You need to continue the engagement while realizing you are a commercial enterprise.
 

We sell a product. What we’re really about is the physical. How do you take the social model into the physical space?
 

Advertising has always been based on reach and frequency. How do you blow up an entire industry?
 

If you don’t have standardization, you can’t possibly monetize this stuff.
 

Will You Stop Being So 1.0
 

If you just have a transaction value in your head, you’re going to miss the long term value of the customer.
 

Not all the things that you can count counts.
 

Does engagement transfer into ROI? Should it?
 

A lot of people thing that if we’re not talking about millions and millions of eyeballs it’s not relevant. What about thousands and thousands of engaged people?
 

Shocking Numbers
 

Social networking will be a $7 billion dollar business by 2012.
 

In social networks, there are more impressions than ever. But the clickthrough rate is abysmal. It’s .02%. And the CPMs are 4-5 cents.
 

I just got a $10 million insertion order for a social networking buy from a major computer company. That means to me that the Fortune 500 is moving real dollars into the medium.
 

Curmudgeonly
 

It’s not a given that since consumers are showing up they want advertising directed at them Do I want an LED screen around my neck serving me contextual advertising while I’m having a conversation.
 

Jargon Disease
 

There have to be contextual psychographics.
 

We’re both a container and a developer.
 

Social media is more than just arbitraging traffic.
 

What social media does is it allows you to take a 360 degree view of the customer.
 

When we talk about data mining in the social networking space at the end of the day it’s about consumer behavior.
 

Well, we’ve all heard about tribal media behavior.
 

We’ve said a lot of hard words today. Like “engagement” and “snarkle.”
 

Really Interesting Perspectives
 

If you’re a marketer for Crate & Barrel, try to market to the wife’s dad. He’s the real influencer.
 

Mortgage ads saved the ad networks. Entertainment will do the same for social media.
 

The Unanswerable
 

Engagement. Does anybody know the definition of engagement? And what does it have to do with the broader objectives an advertiser has?
 

Can you hit everyone on the entire internet? Is that media buy possible?
 

Social media is a $1-$2 CPM. How is that going to support New York lunch accounts?
 

I know I came in late, but what’s the definition of social networking?
 

What does above the fold mean? My computer really doesn’t fold.
 

Zen-Like Truths
 

Lego is modular self expression
 

All media will eventually become social.
 

When a marketer says viral, I get all nauseous.
 

Just because we call it “media” doesn’t mean it really is.