Seth Godin’s latest post, Hammer time, makes a point that has been bugging me for weeks. Companies, en masse, are selecting the marketing hammer to approach social media, and in large part are ignoring the most common, non-personal use of social media, namely solving problems and getting questions answered.

If you want to select a hammer for corporate use of social media, you’re much better off choosing the technical communication and support hammers. You’ll give your customers something of value that they are asking for, you’ll set yourself apart from all the companies trying to deliver a marketing message through social media, and your marketing message will still get through.