It seems like small business owners get so caught up in the terminology of social media that they forget the objectives involved in employing any marketing tool or tactic.

Mind you, it’s not their fault, the media is always quick to promote the next new, new thing – I mean blogs are so social media 1.0.

If you develop objectives, you know – “what do we want to achieve by talking to and inviting our customers and prospects to help us develop, refine and evangelize our products and services?” – you might discover that just about any tool could help you achieve those objectives. (OK, for plumbing, a wrench works better than a hammer, but don’t get so hung up on the tools that you forget to develop the strategies first!)

I mean, doesn’t a telephone allow you to achieve a great deal of the promise of social media – content, contact, interaction, community.

I had a great conversation with Paul Gillin, author of the New Influencers, for a upcoming podcast episode where we discussed this very subject.