If you’re not convinced that social media is important to your circumstance, however, consider this: social media is the new first impression. The odds are a potential client’s first contact with you will be online – the welcoming greeting of sales representative is a Facebook or Twitter update with both poise and information. Your dynamic working culture is first encountered while reading your company’s blog. Your professional appearance is no longer only in your attire but a well-groomed, manicured, and updated website.

Your online social media is the new handshake that’s too firm, too soft, or just right.

Earlier this year, writer Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point and Outliers) suggested in an article published in the New Yorker that social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, are best utilized by acquaintances, not best friends. And this is great thing for business — small, medium and large — to maintain ties with current clients and reach out to new ones, because often, as Gladwell suggests, “Our acquaintances—not our friends—are our greatest source of new ideas and information.” (Read the rest of that article here.)

Think of it like this: Social media is your cocktail party chatter, the best pick up line, the word said at the right moment…but the best part is – unlike all these scenarios – you’re able to put your best step forward in your own time. There’s really no reason for that sweaty handshake, the spinach in your teeth, or the missed opportunity for a compliment, because you get to carefully present content on your social media platforms.

Do you currently use social media to get the word out about your business or product? What’s worked? What hasn’t?

(Recommended Read: http://www.christopherspenn.com/2011/06/social-media-now-directly-influences-search-rankings/)