Social Media: Is it a necessary evil or can you achieve success without it?

I consider it necessary for customer service. In short, when people want to buy something, they use Google; when they want to complain about a company, they use social media. So having social media is necessary to manage those complaints and comments.

I think it's really product-dependent. If your product is more general and consumer-facing, social media can be extremely helpful. If it's mostly professional or B2B, I don't think it's as important. Think about which companies you see advertising on social media/have a large social media presence

If you’re looking for a large global audience then yes. If you have a more niche product that is mostly excluisve to a smaller community then not at all. Might help but definitely not necessary

It depends upon your audience and target market; if you are targetting young people, then it is an absolute necessity.