The question isn’t whether you need to have a social media presence, but to what extent and where. “Asking whether you need to use social media is today’s equivalent of, ‘Do we really need a telephone?’” says Bala Iyer, associate professor of technology at Babson College. Not only are social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter publicly available and free, he adds, they’re some of the best vehicles for building brand loyalty and getting the real dope on what customers think about your product and making immediate adjustments. “What would have taken several months to figure out before, social media can now do in a matter of days or weeks,” he says.