A Genuine Article

Buying into the Social Media Machine: Are you a happy customer?

By Marc Carson · Friday May 18, 2012

Let’s say you invited a salesman in one day, and he sat you down and convinced you to purchase a new invention called a “Social Media Machine.”

“Everyone’s buying them! Customers demand them,” he said, shortly before you wrote out the check.

Now, let’s say that machine is your Facebook page.

Your time is money. If someone sold you a machine that did what your current Facebook page does, would you be happy with your investment so far? Would you view the Social Media Machine as a sunk cost or a profit generator?

How much cost? How much profit?

Continuing the thought exercise:

• Do you feel adequately trained in using the social media machine?
• Can you name others who have been successful because they used the machine?
• If you didn’t have the machine, what would you use instead?
• Where do you see the machine getting you in the next few years? Is it teaching you something useful? Is it

You may find some of these questions helpful to consider before you even flip the machine on again.

Yesterday I gave some serious thought to deleting my Facebook page—just as a mental exercise, mind you (I enjoy using Facebook, even as an introvert). What would that be like?

I noticed that when blogs became popular, there was a huge spike in completely worthless business blogs. Many difficult, but worthwhile lessons were learned.

Several clients have asked me to periodically send them helpful emails. I’m going to focus on that for now, and think about the Social Media Machine while I’m doing it.

What’s your plan?