I often have clients say “I probably should be on Facebook, right?” And my answer often throws them off, as it is “Not necessarily,” since they are waiting/expecting the loud, definitive “YES!” (That maybe they wanted to hear?)

But, there’s a reason my answer is “Not necessarily,” and it starts with commitment. Social is a GREAT thing to have a presence on. I could go through the stats of how many people are on it everyday, or you could just view this info graphic that lays out all the social stats for you. As you can see, there is a lot of traffic on these sites, which could really help you expand your audience and reach a lot more people than by just having a website. But, it can also really hurt you if you don’t “do it” right.

Once you make a commitment to Social Media, it will be less overwhelming, and keep you doing the best you can.

What do I mean by that?

Let’s say you join Facebook, create a company page, and 20 of your friends “like” you. You post for a couple of days, and then, well life gets in the way. Now you haven’t posted for 6 months, and a new visitor comes across your page after doing a Google search (you optimized that page when you set it up of course!). What do they see? That no one’s posted on it for 1/2 a year. Wow, they must have gone out of business they think, and then go back to their search results to find another company.

Let’s say you do the same thing with your Google+ profile. Guess who owns the search engine the majority of people use? Google. Who owns Google+? Google. What does Google’s algorithm look for? Updated content on your site (and theirs!), so, no updates, chances are you’ll never be seen on search results, but again, if you are, and there’s no recent information, are you really in business?

I always recommend setting up at least a Facebook and Google+ profile if you can commit to posting at least once a week, the more the better, but once a week will at least show that you’re in business. What should you post about? Current Projects, Tips, Personal Thoughts, anything that is interesting. You should make your content as shareable as possible, so that you increase your audience. It’s not hard, it just takes time and commitment like any relationship. So, before you jump into a Social Media Relationship, ask yourself if you’re ready to commit. If the answer is yes, hit the ground running, if the answer is no (or I’m not sure), I’d hold off a bit, and revisit how you feel about it in about 6 months.

Unless of course you really need to ramp up business, then I’d say, you better make time for it, because a committed presence on social media is going to help increase your search engine rankings, and drive traffic to your site, bringing more customers to you.