The rise in social media, often means that you have to take part, to a degree, to help your business grow and prosper. Most businesses have at least some social media presence. It is another method to promote your business, by at least making others aware that it exists. Many of you, I am sure, take a more aggressive approach using social media to promote your business actively.
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that social media is used by the bad actors, also. It is quite common, for them to try to “connect” with a business, often by sending “friend” requests. Accepting such requests should not be the automatic process that many use. By that, I mean that they accept any, and all, such requests.
There have been many cases where “friend” requests on sites such as Facebook, and LinkedIn was not from people wishing to support your business. Requests were used for more nefarious purposes. They may be trying to use the status of your “friend” to get access to other information, such as who else is on your friend’s list.
There have been cases, also, of using those that have accepted friend requests to leverage their position. By that, I mean that they use those on their friend list, to bolster their position when contacting others, by claiming to have contact sources (or influence) with you or your business. Think of the implications of someone saying “As you can see, I know the CEO of XYZ company, and they said…”, and they can then claim whatever they want.
Like many other things, a little time, and thought should go into your social media presence, like any other aspect of your business.
Dave.