blur Group was part of the crowd for once, at From Silicon Roundabouts to a Silicon World, one of the many events constituting London’s Social Media Week.

And some interesting insights emerged from the event, from some major players in the world of tech. So take a bow, Ash Choudhury, UK Head of Digital Marketing, Nokia UK, Mel Carson, Community Manager at Microsoft Advertising and Wendy Tan White, Founder of Moonfruit.

The first key point to glean from the event was this: the representatives from Microsoft, Nokia and Moon Fruit all agreed that a lot of revenue will be generated through social channels.

How businesses will ultimately secure their share of the booty is anyone’s guess, but a few pointers from personal experience were thrown into the audience to chew over. And here’s a selection…

Learn by doing

Firstly, succeeding with social media requires more than simply setting up a Facebook and Twitter account. There’s a need to actively engage with consumers and stakeholders. And to understand the power of social media you have to use it – learn by doing, rather than trying to replicate what other companies have done.

And it will probably need baby-steps at first, so focus on one platform at a time to begin with.

Listen up

Brands may once have controlled the conversation, but with social the baton is passed to the community. In many ways, the consumer now controls the brand as the channels of communication are two-way. Companies still have to be proactive, but there is more of a need to be reactive too.

People will talk about your brand regardless of whether you engage with them or not, on forums, review websites and elsewhere online. And this is why it’s important to engage with customers in a transparent and open manner. By demonstrating that you listen and are interested in feedback, this will reflect positively on your brand.

A brand with a plan

The best marketing initiatives are properly researched and planned. And social media is no different.

Decide what it is you want to achieve from your social media initiatives. Is it increased sales? Or maybe it’s just an additional customer service channel? Whatever your goal is, it needs to be clear from the start before you start investing large sums of cash in it.

Social media is about people…

Social media can really help give your company a ‘face’. Individual Twitter feeds from various people in a company definitely adds an element of trust to a brand.

Google’s Head of Spam Matt Cutts has his own Twitter Feed and a blog, as does Scott Monty, Head of Social Media at Ford.

People like people and social media helps bridge a big divide between ‘company’ and ‘consumer’.

The social snowball…

If executed correctly, social media can  do a lot off the leg-work for businesses. Social media can create a buzz that goes viral, which in turn boosts search engine rankings. With improved search engine rankings, even more business is picked-up, which then feeds back into the buzz surrounding the brand. The snowball effect can be massive.

Wendy from Moon Fruit cited a story where they asked their customers what Moon Fruit meant to them. A bit of teasing, and japery ensued, with someone asking whether Moon Fruit was a gay astronaut. Ultimately though, this exercise helped drive Moon Fruit up Google and into the giddy heights of page-one on Google’s search results.

So a good event overall. And to cap things off, Ash from Nokia UK showed us a short movie that was filmed entirely on a Nokia N8 mobile phone. It’s gone viral, thanks to the power of social media. You may recognise a few faces in this, enjoy: