At last week’s E2.0 conference in Boston, I was surprised and pleased by the way my “in-the-flow” phrase has gained common currency.

I was also surprised, but less pleased, by some of the “best practices” I heard flying around. Whether in keynotes, sessions, or just hallway conversations, I heard a lot of claims of dubious merit, claims like:

• Start with a small pilot and let it grow virally
• Invest heavily in community management, because a community is only as successful as its managers
• Workers won’t use social software without personal incentives
• Workers who don’t belong to the Facebook Generation don’t “get” social software.
• Social software adoption requires a culture of collaboration
• You shouldn’t launch collaborative tools without a collaboration strategy

There’s a common theme behind all this advice: You should be scared of launching enterprise social software, because achieving adoption is really hard, really time-consuming, and really expensive.

Sorry friends, but I’m calling Bullshit.

In the hands-down best session I saw at the show, Karthik Chakkarapani from American Hospital Association described how AHA achieved phenomenal adoption. Here’s the video Karthik’s team put together. It’s a must-watch for anyone interested in this topic. And for those of you with ADHD, here’s the Cliff Notes version:

• Made Socialtext their Intranet (so there’s one place to go).
• Integrated all mission-critical work tools into that very same Intranet (so there’s one place to go)
• Implemented Single Sign-On to remove the barrier of extra logins for the different applications (so it’s easy to get there)

AHA launched with a project team of 2 FTEs working for 3 months. Six months out they’re getting over 95% active adoption.

Karthik’s success makes me think that a lot of E2.0 experts don’t really understand what “in the flow” means. If your company is using social software in the flow of work, that means that the social software is where people work. It’s not a side-room where happy people take time out to brainstorm, swap ideas, or post random tweets. It’s where people go to work. Every day.

And it ain’t that hard.

When companies ask me how to deliver enterprise social software adoption, my advice is simple: Go to your local drugstore.

Walk into any drugstore in America and whether it’s Walgreen’s, Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid, CVS, or an independent, I can guarantee you it’s laid out the same way: The pharmacy is in the back of the store.

The marketers who create drugstore planograms figured out a long time ago that the pharmacy customer is a captive customer. If you walk into Walgreen’s for Zoloft, Zyrtec, or Zyprexa, you will fill that prescription. By locating the pharmacy far from the entrance, drugstores force you to walk past a vast array of other items that you may not have come in for: magazines, candy bars, greeting cards, shampoo, toothpaste, and even groceries. While you’re in the store, why not pick up AAA batteries and a few chocolate Easter eggs for the kids

The same principle applies to enterprise social software.

If you want your colleagues to try enterprise social software, you must get them in the door. Every organization has its “prescriptions”, information or transactions which employees need on a regular basis. If you make your social software implementation a place–better yet, the place–to fill those prescriptions, you greatly increase the likelihood of its adoption long after the hype and hoopla of the initial launch has faded.

What prescriptions do your colleagues need to fill on a regular basis? The answer depends on the nature of your business. Here are a few good, generalizable  examples:

• Product information. Elsevier and Getty Images post product specs, FAQs, pricing, and marketing collateral that their Sales Reps need to sell a rapidly changing product line
• Transactional systems. American Hospital Association and NYU Stern School of Business have integrated transactional systems and forms into their Social Intranets
• Ongoing operations. Epitaph Records and Meredith Publishing manage marketing and promotional campaigns in collaborative workspaces
• Customer solutions. OSISoft and GT Nexus maintain the technical knowledgebases required to support their enterprise customers

These are very different use cases in very different businesses, but they have two things in common. First, they fill prescriptions. They deliver must-have content and functionality that a broad cross-section of staff need on a regular basis. Second, they lead to other “purchases”. Users who initially show up to submit a Help Desk ticket or look up a price quote often find themselves staying to post an idea or upload a slide deck.

When companies struggle with social software adoption, it’s usually because they’re not filling anyone’s prescriptions. They try to lure shoppers into the store by promoting items that are perceived–at least initially–as non-essential. Because those lead promotions are weak, they don’t attract the traffic required to generate follow-on business.

If adoption is an issue for your company, I ask you this: What prescription are you filling?

Warning: Side-effects may include euphoria, engagement, reduced frustration, enhanced productivity, and noticeable spikes in interpersonal connectedness.