A few months ago an interesting “Social Media Marketing campaign” was initiated online for a major airline.

Today, the YouTube video, which is more than 4 minutes in length, has been viewed more than 5 million times. The “campaign” is for United Airlines. However, it was not created by United Airlines but by user and musician Dave Carroll who, because of various complaints apparently not addressed by the company, created the video clip called, “United Breaks Guitars.”

According to eMarketer, more than 50% of social network users become “followers” of a company or brand. It’s clear: a brand’s presence in social networks is vital.

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But is simply being present in social networks sufficient? Why should a company have a Web page or it’s own blog that users can easily access? Is it to communicate with users? To have a new means of sending information? Is it to find users that have an interest in the brand in order to send them the same message?

And from these questions, new ones arise . . . Why are these users interested in the brand? What exactly is it about the brand that interests them?

Many Social Media Marketing companies continue to measure success or failure by the absolute number of visits, registration or the number of times users interact with a brand.

Is this information an accurate representation of success or failure? Is the time users spend with a brand used to send a message? What is that message?

Social Media Marketing campaigns should involve more than just a new means to send the same message. Social networks are not only a way of finding more users to send a message to. Brands need to begin to listen and speak to users, otherwise users will be the ones who choose the message sent about a brand.

Here’s the video I mentioned at the beginning of the post: more than 4 minutes on the brand, more than 5 million times.