One standout panel at South by Southwest Interactive 2012 brought together divergent voices in the evolving social media marketing realm.

“As social media marketing moves from experimental to institutional, brands no longer question social media marketing as a line item. That said, the strategies and deployment of social campaigns continues to introduce big questions about ROI versus spending and effective measurement has been a trendy topic without clear answers for years” — Epic Battle: Creativity vs. Discipline in Social

The questions brands, agencies, and social networks need to answer in 2012 proved to be the most engaging of the myriad SXSW sessions I attended, featuring: Mekanism CEO Jason Harris, 140 Proof CTO John Manoogian III, the Barbarian Group’s Kristin Maverick, and former Formspring Head of Marketing & Communications Sarahjane Sachetti.

Tips for the up-and-coming start-up all-star

• We get paid to be smart and NOT just create splash pages for the sake of being on a platform
• Lean Startup has become required reading for our Digital/Innovations team
• There’s a difference between being an early adopter and having a strategy: Be first AND do it well
• Try many things, take risks and fail fast
• How edgy a campaign can be is dependent on a brand’s ability to handle the resulting storms
• Startup marketing budget realities and ensuing discipline can bring you closer to the customer: Use tons of testing and email
• Startups have to be smart; they can’t withstand tarnish from fails like an established brand can
• Must be disciplined in where and how you roll out campaigns to reach the right people and have impact

Testing and planning are still crucial for any brand

• Testing media and partner to create a better story.
• User feedback is  important but not the only component
• Planning sometimes looks more impressive and stands out a lot more than those who just jumped in
• Test & learn from small projects before launching larger campaigns with wary clients

Using social to boost social media marketing

• When brands let go a bit, amazing creativity can ensue
• It’s smart to wait and launch something that stands out from the competition on the Pinterest/platform-of-the-moment
• Joining Pinterest early will not convert to sales, but being the first could be great PR
• Thought leadership, and not being present, can be a risk.
• Social enables being nimble, testing variations. Try test campaigns

Hear out your client

• Essentially, the client is buying a metrics report at the end: Here’s who we hit
• Clients know their business better than you do, need to collaborate and build together
• Clients know more than you – invite them to the creative process, find out what work they like, build campaigns together

Why should I consider using multiple agencies?

• When working with multiple agencies, clients must own messaging consistency. Need to define who owns what
• Multiple agencies can work well for big brands, find the partners who have needed specialties
• When multiple agencies are involved, it’s the client’s responsibility to shepherd and drive focus
• Separating PR and advertising doesn’t work: Bring them together for full impact
• Position third-party analytics companies’ findings into client reports. They also tend to be more honest

There are no standards for online campaign metrics

• Metrics are more than just clicks: Sales, word-of-mouth also ranks high
• The Barbarian Group includes PR folks, can deliver more than just clicks and sales, wider reach
• Email marketing still works!
• Why build a microsite? Join in where your audience exists: The basis for community a la BabyCenter, LinkedIn Groups
• Build brand platforms and build campaigns on top of it vs making a ton of microsites

Special thanks to the many thought leaders at this talk: @TimMcDougall13, @triggerisobar, @beccax, @DanPinch, @AaronCacali, @paliosaratoga, @ACDunbeck, @spatafio, @harrisja, @kmaverick, @sf_sj, @jrh_creative