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I had a “light bulb” moment yesterday (BTW, I really hate that phrase because it reminds me of Oprah but I couldn’t think of another way to express it): the birth of all these social media outlets has meant the death of any feelings of satisfaction of having completed a job.

As a social marketer, your job is never done. There’s no rest because, if you want to be at the top of your game, you must constantly be tweeting, updating and monitoring both what you’re saying and what’s being said about you online.

It’s never-ending. And it’s exhausting.

Sure, you can choose to ignore it all but I think it’s at your own peril. Five years ago you never would have dreamed of looking for a new doctor online but I had to do so just a couple of weeks ago. Medical practices have full blown, beautiful web sites. They have reviews. They post medical articles. At some walk-in clinics you can even book your appointment online. (And I can still remember when my pediatrician made house calls when I was sick. <Sigh>)

The thing is, if a doctor didn’t have a website, I’m sure I wouldn’t even consider them. And the same holds true for credit unions.

At minimum, you must have an up-to-date, useful website, Facebook page, and Twitter page. More importantly, you have to keep it current. You can’t just throw something up there and never look at it again. The more frequently you update, the better.

The bottom line is you need the word of mouth advertising all the social media outlets offer. You need people to friend and like you. You want them to retweet your tweets. You want them to write a positive review of the process of getting a used car loan from you.

Even the biggest retail kahuna of them all – WalMart – is realizing the impact of the social media game. They’ve started a contest aimed at connecting to small businesses with unique products. It’s called the “Get on the Shelf” program and people vote online for their favorite unique product (it seems the weirder the better). The winner will get shelf space in selected WalMarts, and the top three will be sold online. (To see some of the products, click here.)

The purpose of the contest? To garner “publicity and social-media hits.” Not sales? Well of course, but that’s not their first priority.

In a word – genius.

Maybe everyone can catch up on their sleep over the weekend.