Social Media - a long-term perspective

My close friend and colleague Marc Ames uses the phrase "Social Media is for life, not just for Christmas" a fair bit these days (he also says the same thing about Search Engine Optimisation, but then why not!). This phrase is a play on the old advert used to remind people about the commitment required to keep a pet. In changing the slogan to refer to Social Media I think he's making an important point that I'd like to reinforce.

Once an organisation decides to use social media, it needs to keep using it over a lengthy and sustained period. Its not like a short-term advertising campaign when the aim is the quantity of immediate customer eyeballs that see your message and click to do something, its about the quality of a relationship over time.