The other night, my S.O. was torturing me with bad music from the 70’s and 80’s. One particularly bad song that made its way into the cue was “One Toke Over the Line.” So who exactly recorded that song? Definitely a one-hit wonder group called Brewer & Shipley. Not only are they a one-hit wonder, I honestly wish I never had to hear that song again. Kind of the same way I feel about 90% of heavy metal bands from the 80’s but that’s a different blog post…

So the one-hit wonder of music got me thinking about the one-hit wonders in social media marketing and buzz. You know, the ones you hear about as big successes that never seem to work again. And frankly, it has been so long since I have heard one that I cannot even think of any, but I am certain there is a YouTube example, a Facebook apps example, a Tell-a-friend example, a corporate blog example, a Twitter, you get the idea.

So, what I am hoping is that now that at least some hype is dying down, a few things have and are happening:

1. Companies are being more thoughtful about their social media engagement
2. Companies are getting down to the real business of gaining an understanding of social media tools and creating strategies based on their customer, partner and vendor requirements

Though both of these statements are probably true for a small portion of companies, I hate to say that I still regularly hear from people that “My boss says we need a blog” or “Our agency says that everyone needs a presence in Second Life.” Or something else equally thoughtless. Sigh.

Remember folks, these are tactics. Tactics are not a strategy. Like everything in business, it helps to have a strategy that you go after with specific tactics. Tactics for their own sake are bound to produce disappointing results.