Often when we speak with prospective clients, they express that they’re hesitant to get on social media (or online at all) because then people could leave negative reviews. Or just speak negatively of the business in general.

Which leaves us to break the awkward news: whether or not you’re online, odds are at least a few of your customers are online and on social media. And if they’ve had a great or terrible experience with you, chances are they’re talking about it online, whether you know about it or not. Not creating a Facebook page for your business will not prevent your customers from telling their friends on Facebook what they’re experience with you was.

Unfortunately, the odds are pretty good that your competitors – at least some of them – are on social media as well. In fact, some of them are there for the explicit purpose of doing competitor research. So whatever your customers are saying about you, your competitors have a fair shot at finding out.

It’s worth being on social media – especially once you’ve identified which platforms your customers are on – so that you can stay on top of what is being said about your brand. The additional benefits of promoting your brand and engaging with clients are certainly worthwhile as well. But engaging in some kind of social media monitoring is a worthwhile endeavor for all business in this technological day and age.