I don't think people really understand how social media fits into the marketing mix. There are a few factors at play:

• Social media's platform, the web, is itself unnatural for marketers. Marketing really came into its own in the age of mass media. The web is the opposite of mass media. The web is micro-targeted media replicated many times over. In general, marketers just don't get that.
• Many social media sites appear to be thinly veiled dating sites. Indeed, Facebook, one of the most talked about social media sites, demands that you indicate relationship status right up front and displays it prominently on your profile page. People just don't take that seriously.
• Social media sites have a chicken and egg aspect. People join them to connect, but there have to be people to connect with for the site to be worthwhile to join. Where to start? And, the issue re-raises itself every time a newcomer joins. Facebook has found a number of effective solutions to this problem. Twitter, another popular social media site often in the news, less so.

My own personal cut is that the key to getting value out of social media sites can be summarized as:

broadcasting, engaging, and suggesting

I have a number of case studies, published on Michigan Innovators, that illustrate these points with real business people. I've been doing it myself. I have yet to formally work this strategy into university classes, but I have been discussing it with students. I'll be working on fleshing these points out more in future posts.