Getting better at Social Media

When you are running a small business, there are so many demands on your time, it's hard to know how to prioritize. Lately, everyone has been after me to spend more time with social media, (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc). It' not that I have anything against this type of media, in fact I am quite a gregarious kind of guy who loves to chat, both online and via voice, but I'm really busy and I don't have time to waste when I am working.So my question becomes: is social media more important or more profitable than something else I might be doing instead?

The answer probably depends up on the type of business you have, the kind of person you are, and what you might be doing instead. For me, as the owner of a public relations company, it's a balancing game. I need my name and the name of my company, ProLine Communications, (see how I slipped that in there when you weren't looking?) to stay in the forefront of the minds of editors and business people. I need to stay in touch with editors because they are in charge of what is published - and the very thing my clients pay me to do is get material published in one form or another. I also need to stay in the forefront of the minds of business decision makers so that they think of me when looking for a public relations firm or PR project manager. You can't be considered for a new project if you're not on the list.

Social media is very good at keeping you right at the top of the list in the forefront of everyone's mind. However (And isn't there always a however?) I don't want to overdo it and become the pest everyone wants to avoid - publishing endless updates of information that no one wants to read. And sometimes I just don't have that much to say, as hard as that is for people who know me to believe. Further, much of social media is NOT business related and many people don't appreciate seeing self-aggrandizing business material in a social context. So where does that leave me? Should I or should I not spend valuable business time promoting myself and ProLine on social media?

Let's go back to my original supposition: the answer depends on the type of business you have, the kind of person you are, and what you might be doing instead. We have already determined that my business is substantially dependent upon mindshare, so score 1 point for social media. I am a gregarious type of guy, who is usually quick off the mark with a joke or relevant comment, so give social media one more point. Finally, what might I be doing instead?

Ah, this one is harder... Is it more important for me to make one HHAY (Hi, How are you?) phone call and one LMIM (Let me introduce myself...) phone call than it is to update social media. Yes. But do I always have the ability, or the time, and am I always in the right frame of mind to do that? No. So when I can't make those calls, can I update social media? Yes, I probably can. Looks like social media gets that final point.

Uh oh, I guess you'll be seeing me on social media much more often.....Let me know how you feel about doing business with social media marketing. We can compare notes. Bruce