If you are a business owner, the inventor of a product, or have a brand – maybe you are your brand, you must be on social media. I recently explained to one of my social media clients, a personal account compared to a business account is like night and day. You really can’t compare the two, so don’t compare apples to oranges if you’re on the fence about getting your business on Facebook. What started as social networking has turned into social marketing. It is a necessity.

Social media is a powerful tool that allows you to promote your brand and communicate with customers while bringing in new ones in real time. It’s an amazing customer service tool… if used correctly. If not, it has the potential to break your business. (Click here for more on why it’s important to choose your social media manager wisely.)

Your business needs social media for a lot of reasons, but here are my top five:

Communication. You need to be able to communicate with your current and potential customers. This is the best way because it’s so accessible. It’s also great because others can see that communication, unlike in an email or on a phone call. Show off your skills as a business that cares about communicating with customers.

Accessibility. When Facebook launched, it was only accessible to college students. That’s when I joined. Now, everyone is on it, so your business should be on it too. Every generation is represented. Name a demographic and you can target them and reach them through social media.

Customer Service. In my opinion, great customer service is the most important thing any business can offer. If I loved a product, but found the customer service to be bad, I’m not repeat customer. It’s that important! With social media, you can respond quickly to customers questions, concerns, and needs. You’re not only building a relationship with customers, but others are seeing that as well.

Transparency. In my opinion, this is the best part and why social media works so well. It’s also when things can get ugly… so again, choose your social media manager wisely. If you see a company responding quickly to customers concerns online, then you see a company who ignores customers concerns… which one are you likely to choose? Every time I go out to eat, I tweet or instagram a shout out to the restaurant. Some respond right away. Others never do. (Bad move.)

Relevant. In 2016, it’s expected your business has two things: a website and at least one social media account (depending on your business.) It shows you are active, you are busy, you are engaging… and you are relevant because you are online and you are online where it matters.

Remember when I said your business account is not like your personal account? This is exactly why you don’t want to hire your niece to post on your behalf while she is on summer vacation. If you are going to spend the time and money (yes, time and money) to market your business on social media, you need to have a strategy that will give you a return on your investment. Do not hire someone to post once a day and call it a day. Again, it’s not a personal account. It’s a business account for social media… something that should be making you money!

Today, social media is one of the most important pieces of marketing you need to pay attention to. If all of your customers are on it, then why aren’t you?!

For more, visit Media Maven… or even better, sign up for my FREE e-course to learn how you can promote your brand by doing PR yourself. Click here to master your PR.