Some folks have asked me about the threshold for “social media engagement.”

How many posts, how many followers and how much conversation do you need to have in order to “be doing it right?”

First, the more “quotes” you can use in these situations, the better.

Second, your results may vary.

All of these questions, including the dreaded question about social media followers (don’t get me started), hinge on what your purpose is, what your business is and what you want to get out of the digital community.

For me, there has been benefit in having a great back-and-forth with another user. But it’s important to remember that the public conversations you have on Facebook or Twitter need to ultimately serve a higher purpose. Are they helping your brand and speaking to your expertise, or are they just telling everyone how annoying or bullheaded you can be?

For the most part, businesses can find success in speaking generally to a network (Good morning, have a great day, etc.) while strategically finding and creating conversations that are relevant. You can do that with some keyword searching or you can do that by being online constantly.

But one thing I’ve found after more than a week in the land of working for myself — time online means time you aren’t out hustling for business.

Sure, that creates the paradox of a social media guy who isn’t spending a lot of time in social media (not to mention blogging at 4:45 p.m.), but it does means that it’s more important to do work for clients online than to do it for myself.

Discuss.

:/