eMarketer’s report on social networks and ad spending concludes that 2010 will see a slew of increased “activity and deployment” of social strategy – and that 2009 marks the end of “experimental” social marketing. The implication is that social strategy will become a more vital component of how brands engage with their customers.

I agree, with one pretty major qualifier. The justification for eMarketer’s conclusion is the increase in ad spending that brands say they have targeted towards social networks since they have proven quite effective at aggregating a critical mass of consumers and attracting key target demographics. True enough. But social strategy isn’t about serving up more ads to these attractive social groups.

If you need evidence of that, just look at the many experiments in the social networking arena that have posted pretty grim results in terms of its ability to engage consumers. Click thrus remain pretty anemic, as do CPMs. There are exceptions, of course, with MySpace being one of the bright spots. They have successfully integrated ads for entertainment and music into their social environment – and are one of the critical venues that movie studios leverage when releasing new films, but this is very much the exception.

Representing social strategy as simply devising and implementing advertising schemes, even clever ones, is misleading at best and downright wrong at worst. Social strategy must get to the core of why people engage on networks in the first instance, and then devise thoughtful approaches to fill unmet social needs that these groups have that in the same instance also pull thru demand for that brand’s products or services. This means that social strategy must relate to both business and product strategy, not just marketing and communications tactics. It’s a lot more challenging than cranking out a clever ad campaign, but more effective longer term.

Saying that advertising is social strategy is sort of like saying that iPhone is about making telephone calls. It really undervalues the power that these dynamic networks can deliver to brands who are willing to harness this potential.