You would probably expect to impress people with these statements, right?
"My business has 1,000 fans on its Facebook Fan Page."
"My company's Twitter profile has 5,000 followers."
What about these?
"I took the bus to work today instead of the train."
"I worked on this project for 2 hours/day for 5 days instead of 5 hours/day for 2 days."
Nobody would care. And people would probably wonder why you were even telling them.
Do you see my point? All of these statements describe a means to an end. If you took the bus or the train to work, the only thing someone would care about is whether or not you got to work. If you use social media for your business, the only thing someone would care about is whether or not it benefits your business.
Unless your objective in using social media is brand awareness (which isn't a bad idea for a lot of companies, and is largely underutilized), all of your goals within social media are secondary to your business objectives. You don't put 10 hours into social media to get 1000 new fans and followers. You put 10 hours into social media to get 500 page views, 15 new orders, or one new client.
Social media is a means to an end. Just like taking the bus.
How much money are you making from social media compared to how much time and money you are putting into it, and how can you increase that ratio? Those are the questions I want answered.