Good discussion all around. And a big shout out GREAT JOB to Derek and da’ boys…not just for doing such a fantastic job on pulling it all together, but by making it free to the world at large.

So here’s my two cents (as background, my company provides social media marketing services to wine and spirits brands)… lets boil down the discussion from “influence” or “reach” to the 800 lb. gorilla-question in the room and the one we get asked by prospective clients all the time: “Does social media marketing (SMM) impact sales, and if so is there a correlation between specific programs (Blog outreach, a Facebook fan page e.g.) and results (e.g. mentions in blog posts, hyperlinks to brand websites, # of group members et al.) to sales?. And to take that question further, if there is a correlation, is it predictable or projectable?

And the follow up to THAT question is, how much does/should SMM cost, and how does it compare with other traditional marketing tools like media advertising and PR?

Lots of meat on that bone, and I’ll post more as the discussion continues.