As each day passes, you're another day behind.

I gave a speech this week to a group of communications professionals at the Missouri Hospital Association. The topic was social media. And while, on an everyday basis, I'm somewhat immersed in social media, I truly became a student of it over the past several weeks as I prepared for this engagement.

My previous post on the growing irrelevance of corporate Web sites was one take-away from my preparation. Please feel free to argue, but as social media grow and citizens bring more and more content about their personal experiences on corporate brands to the Web, I don't see how traditional Web sites can maintain relevancy.

To see how corporate Web sites may evolve, you need look no further than the Web sites of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. These sites are masterfully designed content portals, providing their respective stakeholders with all kinds of content sharing opportunities, points-of-view and multiple ways to engage with their campaigns. They use Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, Eons and Twitter. They've built micro sites for their top constituency groups (Women for Hillary and BlackPlanet) to get their stakeholders further engaged in their campaigns. They even have ecommerce sites to sell pins, t-shirts and bumper stickers. They have opt-in opportunities everywhere — giving the campaign the opportunity to connect on a regular basis via email.

Think about how this transfers to your business. What are you providing your loyal brand advocates so that they may better tell your story. Is your Web site simply "brochure ware?" Have you given thought to your overall Web strategy?

Your Web site is a small nucleus in the center of a large microcosm of social media. It is surrounded by social media opportunities. But connecting with these opportunities doesn't happen by accident. You must be intentional. You must stop and think about how you are connecting with the people who 1) truly want to help you tell your story and 2) can bring you more business.

Each day, the Obama and Clinton campaigns hone their Internet and social media skills as they compete with one another — likely right up to the Democratic Convention in Denver. The McCain camp, on the other hand, is not getting the opportunity to sharpen the saw against an opponent for the next four months. No matter which Democratic candidate gets the eventual nomination, their team will enter the fall race more prepared to win the Internet battle than the McCain camp.

How your company is honing its Internet strategy is a good question to ask. Because as each day passes, one of your competitors is figuring out how to hone theirs, which is a double blow to you. Not only is the relevancy of your Web site eroding, the overall relevancy of the brand message your competitors are putting in the market through a well thought out social media strategy is helping their brand become more relevant.

Now is the time to map out your social media strategy. Reallocate resources. Determine your objectives. Set up your metrics and move forward. As each day passes you're another day behind. And so is your brand.