Kelly Mallozzi, print industry veteran and rainmaker at Success.in.Print has several years of experience helping the print industry in a variety of disciplines such as sales, content marketing and social media. At Print 18, she led an impactful breakout session that talked about the value of persistence in the use of social media. Here is a recap. Enjoy~John Parke, Domtar Customer Marketing Manager

Trying to quantify how companies are using social media is a bit of a moving target these days. Depending on where you look, it appears that as much as 70% of companies are using engagement strategies other than the phone, direct mail and traditional advertising channels like radio and TV to connect with their customers.

What about you? Are you regularly using Twitter, Facebook, or B2B’s most favorite channel, LinkedIn? If so, how regularly? Daily? Weekly? Whenever the thought enters your mind?

I am here to tell you that your answer should be DAILY. And below, I am going to give you five reasons why you should. NOW.

1. Your customers and prospects are there. They are lurking. In fact, 90% of people that use the internet do so without so much as a like, a share, or a comment. LURKERS. And if you are there too, sharing or better yet creating valuable content, you WILL connect with them. They will understand that you bring essential information and value to their businesses, and they WILL reward you with further engagement and even business, at least some of the time.
2. Smartphone traffic will exceed PC traffic by 2021, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index. You already know this, but everyone is on their phones today. A Lot. And they are on social channels. Yes, A LOT. Gone are the days when people sat at desktop computers or even laptops and read email all day. If all you are doing is calling people on the phone or even emailing them, you are only using a small percentage of the tools that are available to you. Did you know that you can create original content and publish it through LinkedIn? So, if your company is not that hot on the idea of adding a blogging page to your sad old website, (even though you should be fighting them tooth and nail to get one) you can become your OWN blogger with your own voice and then distribute the heck out of it all by yourself.
3. It’s fun and informative. For you, for your customers and prospects. Each time you jump onto one of the channels, there is something to learn, something to provoke thought or something to entertain you. You should be a part of that.
4. Your competition is. Do your homework and see for yourself. Check out what your biggest competitors are doing on social media. It is imperative that you know how they are using social, so you can see what they are messaging and to whom. Yes, it is true that they can do the same thing to you. But before you start complaining that you don’t want your ideas stolen or your customers poached, just STOP. The cost of you not participating in social is far greater than any potential loss you could suffer.
5. It’s FREE. The only thing being on social costs you is time. And before you try to tell me how busy you are just stop. Everyone can find 5-10 minutes a day (for starters) You can too. In just one year I increased my twitter followers from 1000 to 3000 JUST BY SHOWING UP EVERY DAY. Social media is an animal that if you feed it, it will grow. If it can’t be you, find someone at your company that can handle it. Or hire an intern. Or hire a consultant (AHEM) that can either teach you how to do it and help you establish a routine that you can execute or can do it for you.

The future is here, my friends. The question cannot be “should I be on social media?” but “how can I leverage all these great tools to help me deepen my relationships and foster engagement with my clients and prospects.
Stop hesitating and start socializing. You won’t be sorry. I promise.