Social is clearly all the rage. Marketers want it. Consultants are pushing it. Some tout that it is the be all, end all. Not so fast, grasshopper.

Check out your prospects. Are they using it?According to our recent study Marketing Executives state that they aren’t personally active in social media. Only 15% are using Twitter with any modicum of frequency; 36% Facebook; and 33% LinkedIn.


 

…and of equal importance, Marketers’ companies aren’t playing heavily in social, with only 33% active with any degree of regularity.

 

So what to do? Stop being so social? Kill the Facebook account?

If you’re an agency, you need social for three reasons:

  1. It will help you find new business – if you bring real value to your prospects through your published work, and you activate it and push it out to your prospects, it can open up opportunities for your agency;
  2. It is important to practice what you preach. The last thing you want is to have a prospective marketer (you’ve been selling on the value of social) come to your site to find that you don’t play in the social space – or haven’t updated your social content for months;
  3. SEO. The more you post – and the more you post on similar themes, using similar words, the more your prospects will find you.

If you’re a marketer, you need social because:

  1. It will help you build business – if you activate it and push it out to your prospects. Social can help you keep awareness for your brand high, and can help improve the chances that you will generate interest among your prospects;
  2. It will improve your SEO – so when your customer searches for businesses like yours, you’ll be more likely to show up on the first page;
  3. It can help you reinforce your brand’s positioning and shape consumer/customer perception of your brand if you work at it in a smart strategic way.

So just because your prospects aren’t playing in the social space, doesn’t mean you should give it up – or dial it down. Stay active. And keep it value-added. Activate it. Don’t wait for your prospects to come to you.

And don’t only rely on it. It might be alluring because it costs nearly nothing…but the reality is social is of real value when it’s part of a larger program – regardless of whether you’re an agency or a marketer.