The registration line has been braved and the panels have started.

We’re at SXSW Interactive and we’ll be tweeting and blogging like crazy for the next couple of days. Follow Spiral16, Aaron Weber, and Ken Miner to get the latest.

In the meantime, here’s some more valuable information, this time from Brian Solis‘ panel called How Your Brand Can Succeed in the New Web .

Solis was joined by Dennis Crowley, Comcast’s Frank Eliason, and The Altimeter Group’s Jeremiah Owyang as well.

Some interesting points made by Solis during his presentation to a packed house (and our comments in parentheses):

• Social media feels like the summer of love. (True, but this is why we maintain that you have to educate yourself so you don’t end up like Janis Joplin.)

• Often times, those who believe in the power of social media report to people who don’t. (This is slowly changing, but the point remains that sometimes it feels like an uphill battle convincing those in charge that this is important. Do your research. Help them catch up!)

• There is an illusion of control (IT blocking Facebook at work, etc.), but this revolution is starting from the bottom up, and the CEOs and COOs can’t afford to stay ignorant of it.

• It’s not what you say online as a brand, it’s what the people online say about you.

• Everything starts with listening and research, but when it comes to monitoring social media, knowing what you want to measure means everything. (This is SO true–we can’t stress it enough.)

• In social media, the ability to ask for ROI is different than the ability to measure it.

Frank Eliason talked about the advantages of having personal interaction and things like company contests. If you engage your customer, it can make them your advocate.

We’ve seen this time and time again. The best social media campaigns come with a specific call to action–so true!

That’s all for now; stay tuned for more from SXSW…

Tagged as: 2010, band, brian, engage, Interactive, management, media, roi, social, solis, sxsw, web