Is it called social marketing because it promotes social activism or because it uses social mediums to share messaging?

Both? Neither? Increasingly it seems like something that started as a way of building ad hoc interest has become co-opted by Fortune 500. Either way, there will be more of it and more to learn.

In my search for best practices, I ran across this collection of notable case studies on Mashable. Concluding with this memorable advice:

Forget divining a big, meaningful business objective before getting started – you’ll end up in analysis paralysis. Just make sure you’re making an existing business function better and get started.  Today.