How many times are you hearing the question, “Why should I engage in social media?” during your work week? I’m hearing it often, and it’s reminding me of 1995 and 1996, when clients — and colleagues — were asking “Why should I have a web site?” And who remembers when the question was “Why should I have email/a cellphone/a computer/a typewriter/a telephone?”

OK, maybe none of you remember the old telephone question, but I heard that when the telephone was first introduced as a consumer product, most families were appalled with the concept of putting a phone into their homes and saw it as an invasion of their privacy. Yes, the telephone.

Here is how I try to explain to people who may not be convinced that they — or their company — should be using social media for business. Hopefully, this proves helpful to those of you in the position of reaching the decision makers who are ignoring social media outright and consider it a fad.

While this decision tree may seem a bit simplistic, it’s meant to illustrate that when using social media tactics and tools, you must:

Start with a deep understanding of your business goals; and Make them part of an overall marketing strategy.

A good phrase to use with clients is: “Social media is not a silver bullet.” Make sure they aren’t looking to social media — or any set of tools or tactics, for that matter — as the one thing that will catapult them toward business success. That’s reckless. But also let them know that putting their heads in the sand hoping this social media thing will just go away will put them at a disadvantage, especially if they don’t at least try to understand what it is and what it could potentially do for their business.

Those of us who engage in social media understand that it is first and foremost about conversations and connections, so if one isn’t prepared to engage closely, frequently and almost intimately with one’s customers or potential customers, then jumping feet first into social media may not be a wise business move. We need to communicate this to our clients without scaring the heck out of them. Anything different can be scary, and social media is vastly different from what most traditional marketers are used to, so it’s up to us to shine a little light down that dark tunnel of the unknown.

Not everyone who is dragging their heels about social media is being unreasonable. Try to pinpoint why they’re avoiding it. Is it a knee-jerk reaction or a reasonable decision based on the limited information they have at hand?

If you’ve ever been at the forefront of any adoption of new technologies, you’ll know that there’s an advantage to waiting out something newfangled: You can learn from other people’s mistakes. The flip side to putting something like social media on the backburner, as you know, is that your clients will probably miss out on first-mover advantages, and they may lose market share to companies that understand that today’s consumer is empowered through social media.

If a client is unwilling — or unable — to interact with their customers in new ways, those customers may turn to companies that have a presence where they like to communicate (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter). They may favor companies that listen, respond, engage, interact and respect this new breed of customers.

You know all this. It’s just up to you to responsibly communicate this to your clients. This isn’t about hype and hyperbole. This is about making sound, rational, strategic business decisions to identify market and communications shifts and to adapt sensibly to them in order to stay in touch with one’s customers.

Social media is a tool, just like email is a tool, and just like a web site is a tool. Guide your clients to at least consider the new tools that are out there and that are probably having a major impact on their companies today, not to mention the effects they’re going to have tomorrow. I pity the fool who doesn’t at least pull their head out of the sand and ask the right questions in an attempt to make sound business decisions. If you understand this and have clients who don’t, it’s up to you to do some gentle pulling so they can see the new landscape around them.

Today, when you surf the internet you can always come across discussions on topics like that of a social media strategy. Well, this thing is nothing new. This is a remarkable development due to the booming of various social media networks in the worldwide web. Everyone in the world today has become intensely enthusiastic about or preoccupied with connecting and collecting to friends all over the world through personal accounts in Face book, which I think is getting more popular than its counterparts like Friend ster and Multiply. And most of the brilliant minds in the marketing industry think that there is a good marketing potential here as people from all walks of life are now into this hype.

As an agent of a marketing firm or maybe someone who is getting into personal marketing business, why not consider this as an alternative way to market your ware? Using social media as your avenue to the world of business can open up so many chances to grow and establish your name or the brand that you are now representing. You may have tried a lot of ways already and have spent thousands on your marketing campaigns. But you have seen only a very minimal effect out of a very stressful and costly marketing applications. Now it is time to add to your usual marketing techniques something that you can enjoy and at the same time make business with a broader audience. Why not get for your brand a free account on Face book and begin to explore the many chances of meeting people and groups who can be your prospect clients?

Every now and then, you will hear people mention about their Face book account. From time to time, you can receive people’s invitations to connect to them or join their group or participate in a game or activity on one of those social network locations on the internet. Obviously with social networks, you will no longer have a hard time looking for people or target customers because they just come to you even without your invitation. Remember, it is a network. It is like a virtual web that connects you to others and others to you. So with just a few people on your list, you can have as many connections as you can by just sending out and receiving invitations. In business, that could mean a greater chance to make many people know what your company is up to. Even with or without your paid advertisements, you can still have ways to come out and be noticed.

One thing that can be so true why social media marketing clicks is that people by nature simply has the longing to connect or to belong. And social media networks have somehow given the answer to what people need. So with the social networks that abound on the internet, one can finally find a refuge even just temporarily. This is the reason why social media networks get bigger every day. And where people go, there can always be doors and windows for business opportunities. This must be your reason to try social media strategy for your business to work.