Mediaboss Marketing

Whether youre every other freelance blogger at your local coffee shop (latte in hand) or a small business owner struggling to keep the lights on, its certainly a question worth pondering. The answer to such a question, relayed to us by a faceless sea of gurus, experts and tech start-up superstars is a resounding Of course not, or at the very least, Well, I guess it depends.

Lets cut to the chase. Its hard to deny the notion that our social presence online has truly become an extension of ourselves off.Facebooks new policy allowing for Internet immortality further cements this reality. Our existence offline is becoming less removed from our existence online, meaning that if were making connections and doing business in the real world, the same rules should apply on the web, right?

Not necessarily.

Reality check. The anti-social movement has been brewing for quite some time, both in the face of business and our everyday lives. Take BJ Mendelson (the self proclaimed Mark Twain of Social Media) and his not-so-subtly-titled book titled Social Media is Bullsh*t. Mendelson asserts that social media is a vague cash-grab concept peddled by marketers with questionable credibility. Meanwhile, critics such as Sherry Turkle claim thatsociety at large is growing alone together in the face of the rapidly-changing technology at our fingertips.

Whos to say whether theyre right or wrong? Its certainly plausible that this anti-social movement was born out of cynicism from entrepreneurs who poured their precious time and money into social networking and saw nothing in return. Maybe they just dont get it. However, we should all take a step back and consider the following:

The caveat to the gloom and doom concerning social media, of course, is that not all industries are created equally. Maybe you really do just need to hit up your followers every now and then. Maybe that tweet or blog share really will lead to a sale or meaningful conversation. Theres no harm in making face and shaking hands.

Social media feels good. The shares. The likes. The metrics. Theyre fun, theyre sexy. Why would anyone want to give that up?

Yet ask yourself; what would it really mean for your company if you went ghost on the social channels? Sure, others might think of you as some sort of insane nomad, floating alone in the vast void of online commerce. But what would it really do to your bottom line? What else could you do with all of that time, energy and money?

Nobodys asking you to go it alone; however, maybe its time to rethink exactly what social means for you and your business.

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com.

Read the rest here:
Is Social Media a Waste of Time?