Do you like the things you are eating?

Everyone eats and drinks, but few appreciate taste.

Confucius

It is often said that if your company is not using social media it will be diminished in the next 5-10 years.  Take the quote from Confucius at the beginning of this item and try to link this to social media: everybody can use social media, however not everybody can (or wants to) use social media in a way that it will be a real input in the enterprise (or incorporated in the core processes of an enterprise).

However the last part is key, signing up on Twitter and broadcasting Tweets is not enough, creating a Facebook fan page is not enough, doing web care is not enough. It can buy you some time though, however it is not sustainable, your company will then be diminished anyway. You should not only be there on social media, you should also allow yourself to really taste what the result of social is. Not everybody likes the taste and some might even never like it, however if you allow yourself to do a bit more with social media than just consume it you’ll notice a lot of extra value in it. The taste of social media is defined by the input, and if you are in social media for your enterprise you are the one who is creating what it tastes like.

At first is might be rather bitter, especially if you are just into social media because you think you should be there, however you have no clue why (and how) you should use social media. However if you are doing a good job, you could create something that tastes like Ambrosia (or even is Ambrosia), giving you something like n eternal life.

Key is to check with others if your efforts in social media deliver a taste that is enjoyable. Just like baking a pie, is sharing your ideas on what you are doing and asking what others think of what you did or made very valuable. A pie can look very good from the outside (and you might even used a very good recipe) however the taste can be still awful. Ask others what they think of what you are doing and ask them what they think you should be doing that is the only way to create a sustainable future in social media.