Key Take-Aways from OMMA Global Conference

Submitted by Kip on

I attended the OMMA Global conference last week in San Francisco which featured a number of engaging speakers and panels talking about all things social media (so I guess everyone didn't go to SXSW in Austin after all).

Here are some of my impressions coming out of two days of a wide variety of presentations:

  • No one has figured out how to measure ROI yet in social media (but someone will). There's a lot of experiments going on right now (which is great) but I didn't hear anyone claim they were confident they really knew what they were doing. I just hope we figure it out faster than calculating ROI from TV commercials (in which I've read only 18% generate a positive ROI...but even that's questionable).
  • Mobile advertising is still the Great Future Hope in marketing ....the current size of cell phone (or iPhone) screens is just too limiting for consumers to do much with it compared to a computer. The iPad might change this for the better...we'll see.
  • While one might get the impression TV ads are dead, in fact more money was spent on TV last year ($60B) compared to all the money spent online ($25B). And there's plenty of evidence the combination of various media (such as radio, print, online and TV) with the same amount of money is more impactful (in terms of awareness, purchase, willingness to recommend) than putting it all in one channel. That makes sense to me....consumers are exposed to various media during their day and each time it can reinforce what they've seen in another channel.
  • The "glue" that makes social media so compelling is it fulfills a basic human need: the urge to socialize with others. That was the theme of the first English novel ("Robinson Crusoe" in 1719) and it's still true today. - The reason social media is so hard to do well over time is you've got to be authentic, timely and meaningful....all at once!
  • The future winner of the "killer" consumer devise will be the one which offers the best of a cell phone, PDA and apps platform. The problem today is you've got to trade off one for another.
  • 40% of engagement on Facebook is with social games. This will only get bigger over time and the challenge is to figure out how your brand can be a part of this without being overtly commercial in doing so.
  • Here's a scary article if you're a parent but a reality if you're a marketer: “If your kids are awake, they are probably online.” NY Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.htm
  • Augmented reality (i.e. the ability of your smart phone to identify points of interest nearby) has got some interesting possibilities that should be exciting to marketers and retailers alike. Doritos did an interesting experiment as shown in this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XFsDZyOW6Y

What an amazing time to be a marketer! Talk about a fast changing environment....I say it's "learn or burn" if you're in this profession.

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