“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter social media marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.

Real-Time is Old Time – Scott Monty points out in Digiday that, despite the headlines and claims that real-time marketing is either a fad that’s passed or the next evolution of marketing, we’ve been doing this for a very long time. Brands shouldn’t try to force themselves into conversations they don’t belong but should look at opportunities and decide a course of action from there—not every opportunity deserves action. Brands have been operating this way for a long time.

Key Takeaway: Speed is becoming just as important as the message, but no marketer has completely mastered it. Brands should take a step back, and evaluate what they can deliver to their customer that’s of value faster.

The Basics are Critical - Matt Ridings points out that behind every success in social media marketing is a quality social media policy. Social policies allow businesses to start thinking about the role their employees can and should take with social media, help build a mentality to thread social across the organization, address internal challenges and educate the company.

Key Takeaway: Successful social media marketing, at the end of the day, is about mastering the fundamentals whether that’s creating a social media policy, listening to social conversations for insights or something else. Brands shouldn’t get ahead of themselves. Even what seems basic is critical to success.

The Coming Disruptions – David Teicher shares four trends and the start-ups behind them that marketers need to know on AdAge. Teicher covers everything from content creation and the start-up Condition One, big data and Grokr, Commerce and Instacart, and Smart Interfaces and Leap Motion.

Key Takeaway: Mobile is driving disruption in terms of technology, and it’s all being used to make the lives of people easier. The marketers that are able to go mobile and deliver utility to their customers will thrive in the era these disruptions are sure to help create.