Are companies wasting their time with social media profiles?

Companies now a days rely on social media as a tool, well that's how I feel. Where ever you look "Like us on Facebook", "Follow us on Twitter" ------ BLA BLA BLA! Companies forgot that once you have liked them on Facebook or Twitter, that doesn't necessarily mean you will shop there or become there devoted fan?

On cnbc.com it stated that smaller companies tend to rely on social media too much and thus their company fails. Think about it, you pay for a profile, you boost your profile (you pay more) and then you have 62+ followers and they not even buying from you. That means a loss for you and your company.

There is an on-going perception that social media can hep you grow, I do not agree! Yes your company gains exposure but is it the right exposure? Many websites that write articles are speaking about how you can waste your time on social media and it will not get you anywhere. For example, http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2013/03/06/5-reasons-advisors-are-wasting-their-time-on-socia, this site speaks about how there is a non existent online market, or when a company choosing the wrong social media platform. What happens when you chose the wrong platform from the bandwagon?

You are stuck with the wrong target audience and the wrong mediums of advertising. I personally feel that social media can be used to advertise but to a certain extent, why go all out one a social platform when there are billions of ideas that one could use! Such as the wonderful print idea or a flash mob! Crowds love ideas that are exciting and different - I don't want to read about the same thing online over and over and about how this company can do this but that company can do better! Bo Ha! Everyone can say things online that won't come through or won't get taken the way it should.

Social media is a very tricky thing to tackle, but companies, like I have said, rely on social media platforms too much and think that traditional media is out the window and we should no longer focus on them. However you will find many individuals that do not agree and prefer old school to new. Social media is growing and some companies cannot keep up with the pressure, this is also another downfall with relying on social media!

Then some websites beg to differ that you not spending enough time on social media and loosing followers, I don't think so. An graph below show the statistics how much time companies spend on the social media platforms in the last couple of years. Scary that is how we revolve our world!

In short I feel that companies should use social media to gain followers and keep up with the trends but they (the companies) should also focus on the bookworms (me) and other people that do not feel the need to rely on the social pages of companies, because lets face it - not many companies reply to their social media pages anyways!

Social media might be something that is fascinating but companies should remember it could ruin them too!