I’ve lost count. How many blogs and tweets have you read about Social Media? And certainly many do provide sage advice: 5 things to do, 10 things not to do, 3 things to consider, 8 things to blog about, 15 reasons not to give tips and reasons.

But as another day winds down, I can’t help but think back to the ‘90s. We were all a twitter (it had a different meaning back then) about e-commerce. Every product, every service, every company began to use the prefix, “e” as if just using the letter would magically make you relevant. I remember joking, today’s marketing strategy is brought to you by the letter “e” and that Sesame Street was suing! I also remember reading a 300 page dissertation on how e-commerce was going to change the world, not just how we buy and sell things but how we interact with each other. Everything else was going away. No more bricks and mortar. Everything was a just a click away. E-commerce was truly a game changer. Don’t misunderstand me, e-commerce was a game changer but the last time I looked, Main Street was still packed with “box stores.”

I think Social Media is similar. I’m not questioning the dramatic impact social media is having and will continue to have on how we converse, how we buy, what we think, etc. But at the end of the day, it’s just a tool. Without defining up-front the end game and employing some good ol’ fashion strategic and operational marketing principles, Social Media will not work. Sounds like I’m stating the obvious but it’s something to think about as you start another day.

A few years from now, we won’t be tweeting about social media because it will be embedded into our work and play lives just like the web is today. I wonder what’s next…Hey, I got it, what about eSocial Media!?

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