One of the more obscure things we do is help companies understand the difference between where their company is headed and where the public is headed.

Vague enough for you?  What I mean by that is companies are going through major changes in how they approach marketing. Social media is working itself out as to skillsets and measurable ROI, but integrated marketing is still the real value center for professional consultants.

Yes Twitter and Facebook are cool, but Twitter and Facebook pale in comparison to what you can do with Flickr, YouTube, blogs, and even email marketing.

It probably does seem strange for a social media consultant to say that you should spend 70-80% of your time outside of social media.   That's primarily because I've seen so many companies unable to speak to their strengths, and integrated marketing makes that process easier.

So when someone says they first want to listen to what is being said about them online, I tell them they should first start listening to the internal voices.  Learning what they say, and how to broadcast it, will make your social media campaign much more successful.