Blog World Expo - Hot Topic - Three Dirty Letters

I'm at Blog World Expo right now and there are lots of interesting conversations happening.  Today is the Executive and Entrepreneur track, and I've primarily been in the executive sessions.  Lots of discussions about blogging and social media as a part of the marketing mix.

Hot Topic - ROI.  Three little letters.  This is probably one of the bigger issues facing those who want advertisers to buy in to "Interactive" media.  Measurement continues to be one of the bigger barriers, and I haven't really heard any great answers as to how to handle this.

My thoughts:

Social Media and on line marketing are huge and unavoidable.  On line media consumption will continue to grow, and offline media consumption (magazines and TV) will continue to decline.

If ROI is a barrier, then TEST AND LEARN.  Stop complaining that you don't know exactly what you will get.  Spend a small amount.  Test.  Try different things.  Compare.  Do some good analysis.  This is EVEN BETTER then some company giving you ROI data because it is specific to your business.

The quote of the screen now says "You have 2 choices.  Join the conversation.....or procrastinate and then join the conversation later on anyway......".  Well put.

I will probably write more later - very thought provoking and intriguing.