Recently I was asked to participate in a meeting with some colleagues to help them ramp up their social media efforts for 2012. I thought the purpose was to share what tips, tricks and best practices I’ve learned through spearheading Vision Monday’s social media initiatives.

It ended up becoming a philosophical discussion on why we even need social media in the first place with the first 20 minutes spent trying to persuade them that it was no longer optional.

I kicked off VM’s social media presence in January 2010 and in the two years since assistant editor, Delia Paunescu, and I have lived and breathed some part of Vision Monday’s Facebook and Twitter presence every day. Recently we added a LinkedIn page and Google+ may soon be added to the roster.

So I get implementing social media into your business can be daunting and time consuming. But I suppose I’m so entrenched in it that I have lost sight of the fact that some still aren’t convinced that it’s a vital way of engaging their respective audiences, be they customers, readers or fans.

Jobson Research says there are about 50,000 optical locations in the U.S. and ECPs’ social media usage is increasing; their latest study found that 52 percent now use it regularly. At presstime, VM was just shy of 2,400 Twitter followers and 1,500 “Likes” on Facebook. Those are high numbers, but skeptics still outnumber the converts in our industry.

Social media devotees are constantly looking for the new site, tool or device that will take our efforts to the next level. We’re so busy talking amongst ourselves, that we often forget that we’re preaching to the choir and a lot of our flock hasn’t even arrived yet.

What it will take to attract the rest of you? I would love to hear from those who have decided not to implement social media into your business. E-mail me at dcarroll@jobson.com and tell me why, and, more importantly, what will it take to convert you. ■