Social Media is effective if you know what to measure - and the best way I can think of to talk about what Social Media does is take a situation that came up a f ew days ago when I first heard about the YouTube Symphony Orchestra on my Microplaza feed.
I looked at the YouTube Symphony Orchestra landing page but didn't quite figure out what I was soposed to do or if the YouTube Symphony Orchestra was an actual Orchestra, or just a marketing campaign for YouTube.  However, I whatever I may have thought about YouTube Symphony Orchestra on April 11th, I was clearly exposed to the concept that there was a YouTube Orchestra out there.   So far, no ROI, just familiarity with a brand or concept.
A few days later, on April 14th, I'm reading a local newspaper and find an ad to attend the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on April 15th.  Immediately, my mind lights up to the Microplaza feed I subscribed to that let me know some my Twitter followers were talking about Youtube's Symphony Orchestra.
I thought about it for a few minutes and decided, on the spot, to buy Two Tickets, on a discount (coupon code was provided in the newspaper ad); it's very likely that had I not been exposed to YouTube Symphony Orchestra beforehand, I'd never pay the add as much attention, or even notice it, in the first place.
Needless to say, my friend and I had a great time at Carnegie Hall last night, thanks to Social Media and Youtube Symphony Orchestra.  Carnegie Hall found out how popular the local Newspaper ad was in driving ticket sales and they got 60 bucks from me they'd probably never have gotten, otherwise.
With Social Media, and the right concept of measurement, everyone can come up as winners - but it's interesting to note Carnegie Hall would not have really attributed the conversion (my buying 2 tickets and showing up to Carnegie Hall) to Social Media, even though, that's what really took place (they'd have just picked up the campaign code for the discount tickets in offline newsprint, and totally missed the online social media connection - as do most organizations, which is why they don't invest in Social Media in the first place - along with the issue of being able to use social media for larger campaigns - a doubt that SM will scale well).
While waiting to pick up my tickets at the box office, I ran into Erica Pearson, a reporter from the New York Daily News, who I briefly spoke with and here's her article about last night's performance - YouTube-assembled orchestra plays Carnegie Hall to sold-out crowd.
And here's some videos I took of the innagural appearance of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, followed by the entire Act 1 filmed by YouTube.
The first video, below, I'm walking across the street and approaching Carnegie Hall.
The Second Video, I'm in front of Carnegie Hall and noticing the crowd gathered, waiting to get in to the performance:
Now, I'm inside Carnegie Hall Balcony and waiting to get to my seats, getting in shortly after the first piece being performed, Johannes Brahms Allegro giocoso from Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 by the YouTube Symphony Orchestra:
And now, I'm totally enthralled with the light show and music of Mason Bates - Warehouse Medicine from B-Sides:
Finally, here's YouTube Symphony Orchestra in the first part of last night's performance at Carnegie Hall - thanks to Social Media and my own gut instinct for being at a historical performance (the whole concept of a YouTube Symphony is historic and unprecedented)
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