SIGNS YOU SHOULD WORK WITH A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT TO MANAGE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA We all know that social media is an important part of a company’s online marketing mix. It allows companies to gain that genuine connection with its customers, extend brand reach, leverage site traffic and get new leads. And so business owners are scrambling to gain presence on all major networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google + and recently, Instagram is added to the roster. But did you know that the vast majority of time spent on social media is a total waste of time? Let’s admit it. Social media is one of the most common workplace distractions and when not used properly can make a large portion of working time to slip away and eventually kill the business. Here are telltale signs that you are actually hurting your company instead of helping attract prospects 1. Can’t separate gossip from a business strategy. Social media is, well, noisy. When you log in to Facebook or Twitter you can easily get distracted by what people you know are telling about you or your favorite basketball team or…Mark Zuckerberg or…Bill Gates or…Kim Kardashian or the latest Christmas sales. 2. You are “too social”. Being on social media is fun but updates from former high school friends can put you one click away from your original purpose of logging in…for business. If you are logging in to look for “fun” instead of use if solely for business purposes, you can put your business’ success at risk. 3. Substituting face-to-face interactions with social media. With the advent of social media, we can easily create connections in a way not possible in the past. This makes company owners to reach out to customers and vice versa, building instant relationships without the need for face to face meetings. BUT it doesn’t mean that it should stay that way and should apply to everyone. While social media can create connections, remember that those connections might be weak. Remember that physical interaction still offers the highest level of interactions, to really get to know your prospects and customers.