Though I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what 2012 will bring for the the state of social marketing, I’m not sure how productive all of the predictions we’ve been reading and spreading around in the past week have actually been.

Aside from the theoretical ones, most of the predictions I’ve read thus far are not so helpful when it comes to considering a whole year’s worth of marketing (If you are going to read some predications, check out the 2012 Social Marketing & New Media Predictions put together by some  of the industry’s most progressive thinkers – courtesy of Brian Solis). Some predict the rise of social media, the demise of Facebook, the rise of google+, the list is endless.

Instead, what I’d like to focus on is how we can start using what we already know about social media marketing in the coming year. So many marketers have, up to this point, merely translated their traditional marketing and advertising efforts into social media lingo. For instance, remember when CVS launched their CVS_cares twitter feed? Probably not. That’s because they made their profile private, so that only confirmed followers could read their tweets. Again – it’s not an advertisement, it’s a conversation. How can someone retweet CVS if they can’t even see their tweets to begin with?

This sort of thinking completely undermines the the nature of social marketing – there’s not one set reach. Instead of relying on one commercial to reach one person, social relies on one tweet to reach one individual and then reach another individual and so on and so on exponentially.

So, in 2012 I resolve to think of social media differently.

Instead of spending my time thinking about what might change in the social media landscape, I’d rather spend my time coming up with strategies and opportunities that take advantage of the true nature of social networking. Most importantly, I resolve to develop strategies that leave room for brands to be flexible as well as responsive to consumers. I resolve to do my due diligence and research consumer opinion before diving into any strategy. In effect, leveraging the consumer’s ideas and willingness to share to create campaigns that stretch across platforms and beyond the traditional marketing mindset.

What is your 2012 social marketing resolution?