Put Comcast, the American Red Cross and AT&T in a room to talk social media, and you are going to get a crowd.  And that’s what happened at last Wednesday’s sold out Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA) monthly meeting – Big Brands Discuss Social Media Initiatives.

The verdict:  PR (no ROI!) and logos did not fair well but passion, Twitter and customer support did.   And Facebook got mixed a review.

Those are at least some of the highlights from the Twitter stream of members of the crowd who came to hear the observations of:

- Frank Eliason, Senior Director in National Customer Operations, Comcast @comcastcares

- Mimi Chan, Director of Wireless Youth Marketing, AT&T

- Wendy Harman, Social Media Manager, Red Cross @wharman

- Dave Williams, CEO and Co-Founder, BLiNQ Media’s @blinqmedia

For an excellent summary of the evening check out Josh Martin’s post.

As event organizer Toby Bloomberg pointed out, the three panelist delivered three distinct perspectives: social media as customer service, social media as youth marketing and social media as community/non-profit outreach.

The crowd size reveals how hungry people are for information about social media.  Frank, Wendy (with a burning fever no less) and Mimi sounded almost nostalgic (Harman was originally ”hired to stop bloggers”) as they recounted their early experiences with social media.

My biggest takeaways

- It was clear to me that Comcast has been so successful with Twitter in large part because of Frank’s passion.

- I was surprised to learn that Red Cross is not using its social media channels for direct fundraising appeals, unlike other charities.

- I am still thinking about the question some one asked about whether each social medium should have the same voice.  The answer is worth a blog post of its own. It’s very certainly very complicated especially as Facebook tries to Twitterize itself, large brands try appeal to a diverse customer base in a direct personal way, and marketing, PR and customer service begin to merge.

- I am also thinking about legal implications of Frank’s prediction that the next big thing for companies will be to aggregate other forums & blog communities to provide helpful service to customers.  What kind of disclaimer do companies need when tapping the advice of customers to help other customers?

But being so focused on social media these days, I sometimes have a hard time separating the warmed over from the fresh and insightful. So while it was interesting to hear what the panelists had to say, it was even more interesting to hear what resonated with the audience.

Twitter Soundbites

Facebook vs Facebook vs Twitter

Emily30075 RT @KellyeCrane Key for AT&T on Facebook is to provide exclusive content. Give users a reason to come back and talk about the brand. #aima

thechrisjordan RT @raykillebrew: RT @tessa “It’s very hard to learn from your customers on Facebook. They don’t go to fan pages often.” #aima

abrill It’s difficult to learn about and from your customers on Facebook…Twitter utilizes conversation better #aima

amygriz Twitter allows you to find out things faster, easier & cheaper than any other medium, which allows you to respond to customers faster #aima

Logos

amygriz People don’t want to have conversations with a logo. Be personable with your customers in your interactions. #aima

Customer Service

DevonSuter RT @thomasls: It’s funny how many don’t consider helping customers as one of the primary reasons to get involved in Soc Med. Or sad. #aima

Tessa “Instead of having a focus group, I twittered – would you call our IBR(?)” Tons of response. – @comcastcares

Twilosophy Marketing, PR & service are coming together = most retweeted quote of the entire event so far #aima http://ow.ly/15SazU about 21 hours ago from HootSuite

leenjones RT @spunstephanie: AMEN. RT @Cerealguru: Customer service and marketing cannot be separated–it’s about connecting and relationships!

I will be interested to hear from other attendees to see what they took away from the event.

Let me get back to you.

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