Complaints from marketers about the inability to monetize social networks are pretty mainstream at this point. AdAge recently featured an article that continued to beat on that drum, suggesting that marketers don’t belong on social networks. We take a different view.

Perhaps marketers don’t belong on social networks in the traditional sense of click-thru advertisements as we know them on search engines, nestled between notifications that John Doe added new photos and Jane Doe just broke up with her boyfriend. But, there is certainly still a place for them. In fact, according to a study last month, 85 percent of adult social media users believe that companies should have a presence in social media and should interact with their consumers at least when needed (34 percent noted that interaction should be on a regular basis, and 51 percent believe that interaction should be on an as needed basis). And while clearly there is no gold standard at this point on how to be friended as a marketer on social networks (and thus an aura of delicacy is involved), we challenge marketers to dive in and start thinking a little more creatively about this stuff.

For example, try thinking dialogue. Last weekend a Timberland store in a high-end mall outside of Boston was conducting some market research, asking women who walked by the store to answer some questions about next year’s product line. They had some heavy-duty equipment that literally took up a quarter of the store — cameraman, interviewer, light setup, backdrop, the whole nine yards. Why isn’t this sort of dialogue occurring in social networks instead? After all, Facebook knows who is female, 25 years old, supports Greenpeace, graduated from business school and lives in Hoboken a lot better than Timberland can pick those same people out of a crowd at the mall.

As another example, try focusing on what social networkers are doing – like looking at pictures of themselves and their friends. Why isn’t that space being approached more creatively? If they are already there looking at photos, wouldn’t it seem only natural to place an order for the pictures then and there? (Given the approval of the subject of course!) That is where marketers have gone wrong, they are approaching their audience while they are in the wrong mind set – the key is hitting people when and where it is most appropriate.

According to an August study for Internet Retailer, a third of online retailers maintain a page on Facebook and just over a quarter are on MySpace and YouTube. But just because they’re there doesn’t mean they are doing anything creative, instead they should be thinking about how to creatively engage with their audience in meaningful ways.

Click thru ads are not the sole advertising mechanism used on the web, nor should they be the sole advertising mechanism on social networks. We don’t believe marketers should “get out” — not enough creative initiatives have been tried out to say that yet. Try hitting social networkers when and where it is most appropriate and have some discipline to pin down what your objectives are in reaching out to them. Start thinking outside the click-thru mold, and we bet a lot of creative initiatives can be cultivated.