For some odd reason it seems fitting to me that as my 10th wedding anniversary approaches, my boys wrap up 1st grade and I start thinking of ways to dodge my 20-year reunion, that I find myself starting a blog. An admittedly foreign experience, my last “blog post” was to a BBS over a 1200bps modem connection (yes, bits), sometime back in 1988 – I was less hairy at the time (sorta).

Not to be mistaken for a noob, I build these things for a living, or rather, the engines underneath. So contributing as an author is decidedly experimental.

While trying to get my head around the “secret sauce” of social network-based marketing, I keep circling back around to a question my dad seeded. A senior marketer in healthcare, he’s always helping me to think outside the electronic cloud and to apply more traditional marketing principles to my blinky little world.

Dear ol’ Dad posed an interesting and alarming hypothesis: a rush to social networking-based marcom strategies, or even digital strategies exclusively, can lead to cannibalism of tried and true marketing channels. As traditional print marketing venues attrition, as billboards move from 1 month promotions to 8 second windows of opportunity and trendy think tanks shout “Print Is Dead!” from the pulpit, does the focus on social networking shift enough revenue from traditional channels that they themselves become at risk? And are the replacements adequate and sufficient?

It’s easy to forget how the majority of the world communicates – every time I leave my little Silicon Coast bubble, I have the abrupt realization it’s not by iPhone. In the case of marketing to hospital patients, for example, it’s safe to say that most older, sick folk are not hanging out on Twitter (yet). So what happens if print were to wither and die; and in its place were only an empty shell of unstructured, marcom-fluff-laden tweets and billboards that outshine the high beams from oncoming traffic?

Could this turn into a cautionary tale of how new media might usurp tried and true channels without the necessary fortitude? Doubtful. Does it beg the question of how to leverage these vehicles while simultaneously hedging bets and not burning down the house? Probably. In my twisty little brain, it seems there is only one rational solution: convergence on the backend begets ubiquity on the front-end. A set of tools is required that minimizes time to market, maximizes the consistency and reuse of brand collateral, and which gets as close to ubiquity in brand presence as can be justified. BTW, it must be justified. Agility is now – finally, truly – about central brand management, consistent messaging and the ability to write-once-publish-anywhere.

To me this smells like a fresh take on a staple recipe: one part content management (be it print, digital or ?), one part social networking (leavened with portal), one part identity management, one part data warehouse. Add digital asset management, translation and analytics to taste. Use fresh ingredients; steam, fry, grill or sauté to meet the occasion. Don’t overcook, and easy on the fat or it will kill you. Many ingredients are best left un-doctored. The result is sometimes rustic, always delicious:  comprehensive content management across, print, digital and – now – social.

Hmmmm; this is making me hungry. I’ll be in the kitchen . . .  SWITCH? Anyone?