There is no doubt that social media has gained a foothold in our personal and business lives. Yet despite the fact that many businesses and associations are embracing it’s use and realizing the qualitative and quantitative results/benefits from adopting specific tools for specific purposes, for many the decision and choice are still a crapshoot. Having a clearly defined objective is essential for choosing the right tool/service/media.

This video from Will It Blend with special guest Forrester analyst and Groundswell co-author Josh Bernoff reinforces that thought.

It’s all about having clear objectives and using the right tool for the job. Otherwise, as the video illustrates you end up with nothing more than a pile of dust. If you need a refresher to help you get focused or even a starting point take a look at a few of these eBooks:

• Geeks Guide to Promoting Yourself With Twitter - Geekpreneur
• The Zen of Blogging - Hunter Nutall
• What is Social Media - iCrossing
• A Primer in Social Media - SmashLab
• We Have a Website. Now What? - Craig Rentmeester
• Social Web Analytics - Social Web Analytics
• Blogs & Social Media - PRSA

For a number of other great eBooks on Social Media, check out Chris Brogan’s recent blog post: 20 Free eBooks About Social Media.