@ Jonathan – I agree with you completely – even if you do not want to actively engage in social media marketing, it’s critical that we monitor the conversation – just as we would with the traditional cutting of press releases we reviewed in the past.

Make it on going if you’re continually rolling out initiatives. And by understand I mean know what people are saying about you (brand/product/organization), who they are, where they talk and the relative influence / impact of these places and how these converations mobilize opinion online.

That way you can set and monitor goals and metrics because Tim Wilson’s Einstein quote (see above) holds true in this space. See http://ijor.mypublicsquare.com/view/sense-and-online and/or visit http://www.asomo.net for more on this.