Using the maven scm plugin

Can I use the maven scm plugin to release tags without using the release plugin?

I am trying to do the following but not working

Extract from pom file

<scm>
  <connection>scm:git:ssh://myuser@gerrit/tutorial.git</connection>
  <developerConnection>scm:git:ssh://myuser@gerrit/tutorial.git</developerConnection>
</scm>

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-scm-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>1.7</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <goals>
        <goal>tag</goal>
      </goals>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

and from the command line I do

mvn clean install scm:tag

Maven returns the following error

[INFO] One or more of the required plugin parameters is invalid / missing for 'scm: tag'

[0] Inside the plugin definition of 'maven-scm-plugin', specify the following:

... COST

-OR -

at the command line, specify: '-Dtag = VALUE'

[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Trace 
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Error configuring: org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-scm-plugin. Reason: Invalid or missing parameters: [Mojo parameter [name: 'tag'; alias: 'null']] for mojo: org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-scm-plugin:1.7:tag
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:723)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeStandaloneGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:569)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoal(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:539)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoalAndHandleFailures(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:387)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeTaskSegments(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:284)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.execute(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:180)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:328)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:138)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:362)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.compat.CompatibleMain.main(CompatibleMain.java:60)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:315)
    at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:255)
    at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:430)
    at org.codehaus.classworlds.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:375)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.PluginParameterException: Error configuring: org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-scm-plugin. Reason: Invalid or missing parameters: [Mojo parameter [name: 'tag'; alias: 'null']] for mojo: org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-scm-plugin:1.7:tag
    at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.checkRequiredParameters(DefaultPluginManager.java:1117)
    at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.getConfiguredMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:722)
    at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultPluginManager.java:468)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.DefaultLifecycleExecutor.executeGoals(DefaultLifecycleExecutor.java:694)
    ... 17 more