As the world moves toward blending personal life and marketing, it can be easy to lose track of why we are in social media in the first place. When you tweet about how your son just learned to ride a bike are you being too personal or just building rapport with your followers? It can be difficult to distinguish sometimes.

Social media has two specific purposes, but they are not separate from each other in most cases. Oh, there are people who manage to keep work in one groove and home life in another, often by separating their accounts, but for most of us, a blend of the two is used.

Why So Social?

Human beings are made to interact with each other, yet these days, we find ourselves isolated in our homes or work cubicles more often than not. Gone are the days when people knew their neighbors and parents could list off the names of every kid in town. So, we turn to our computers as a method of connecting with others.

As far as interaction goes, social media is an excellent medium that allows you to connect with hundreds of people all at once and stay on top of the latest news. But the ramifications for businesses are huge. People love being able to interact with their favorite brands and the ability to glean feedback from your clients is invaluable. Word of mouth advertising is not just limited to the people around you anymore, it can now go global within minutes!

Making It Work for You

Everyone approaches social media differently. What works for you isn’t necessarily going to work for someone else, so it’s important to find your own voice and make your own decisions.

I could easily sit here and tell you that a blend of 20% personal with 80% business is the perfect ratio on social networks, but really, that isn’t true. For someone, it might be just the right amount. For others, it’s too much personal and others would say it’s too little. While it’s true that all personal info is not going to net you many business followers, being yourself is going to attract more people in the long run.

Part of the beauty of social networking is that you get to meet people and whether they are more business oriented or love to share their personal lives, you could make some very valuable contacts. Just be real.

So, why are we in social media? Because it works. It gives us the interaction that we crave, along with the ability to market to the world or just a very small segment of the population. Each person uses it differently, but that’s all part of the fun!