The WTIA event on Social Media last night (June 24th) was a fun event, with some general information that was semi-helpful. My five take-a-ways include:
1) Social Media is hot, hot, hot. Not a shocker, but there were ~300 people there. Every conference that I have been to in the last year that has a social media track or session has been PACKED.
2) Social Media is like an elephant to a blind man. There are so many different angles, pieces, sites, approaches, tools, etc. that to put together a social media strategy is much more difficult than an SEO strategy or a PPC strategy or a PR strategy.
3) Social Media is the NEW PR. Press releases are done. Social Media and feeds are the future of communicating with the media.
4) So many tools, so little strategy. How do you create a social media strategy that drives business goals? There is no tool for that, but there is a tool for just about everything else. The real value will be created this around figuring out how to harness the tools to drive your strategy.
5) Invest in people not tools in Social Media. One of my favorite quotes from last night (I think it was Louise from Microsoft). Tools are inexpensive, but the face/words of your organization in the social media world is more important than whether you are using TweetDeck or not (and you should).
Bonus Insight: 6) Twitter is the new instant messenger and email combined for short form communication. Money will be made on top of Twitter - Twitter will have to go infrastructure business model to make big money.

It’s a great time to be in the Social Media tools business!