i agree with ur post and should have clearly stated that there is a difference between strategy (planning/vision) and tactics (the means to acheive the strategy).

let me restate, businesses should leverage anything they can as long as it does not compromise their strategy.

i see social media like other mediums as a pillar of strategic marketing. nothing more or less.

I am not a fan of seo, google adwords or SEM. i still believe that the humble organic ranking is the best way to go.

ofcourse it requires effort, regular and quality content.

ultimately, the internet is just a medium and the offline world still offers great opportunities (if not more now than ever).

Businesses, particularly small businesses need to leverage whatever they can, but be mindful that its a long term strategy that they should be working on.

The benefits offered by these tools can also work against you when things go wrong.

However in my own experience relying purely on social media to get you sold is wrong and means that success might be years away. To get your message out there successfully you need to use traditional media.

The best salesforce are loyal clients. Can’t beat word of mouth marketing/advertising and why not bribe, i mean, reward influential clients.

You have to spend the money somewhere. might as well spend it on the client.

check out page 30 on the following link:

http://downloads.mailchimp.com/guides/MailChimp_LetsGetSocialGuide.pdf

In business, i have always leveraged influential and affluent clients and i tell them (and the referee) that i would rather spend on them out of my profits then spend on mr murdoch out of my pocket.