These days, there seems to be an insatiable desire to link everything we do on social media back to ROI, a statistic or something else that helps move your business forward in a dollars-and-cents kind of way.

• How many new prospects did you generate on Twitter?
• Did your LinkedIn article show how knowledgeable you are?
• Did your Facebook post make people want to work for you?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I agree that there has to be a purpose for it all at the end of the day. Why spend countless hours and brain cells working on something if it doesn’t elevate your business in a quantifiable way?

But lately, I can’t help but wonder if we are missing some of the really important ‘soft’ benefits of engaging in social media.

Like creativity, for example.

Posting to your social media account can allow you to flex your creative muscle and to solve some of those business problems that have been nagging you for days.

Branding Breakthroughs may be dedicated to advancing our client’s understanding of branding, but let’s be real … creativity is a critically important component of crafting an insightful and inspiring brand strategy.

For us, outlets like Tumblr and Instagram provide the opportunity to go beyond the day-to-day business workings (which can get tedious at times) and express ourselves in a way that brings new clarity and vision to the work at hand.

If you read any of the many articles written on breaking through creative blocks – like this one at Creative Bloq or this one at Fast Company – you see some common threads. Take a stroll around the neighborhood. Snap some photos. Draw a picture. Write aimlessly. Commune with nature. It is through these creative outlets that our brains are allowed to free float and to, sometimes miraculously, come up with a solution to a problem that has stumped us.

Perhaps Jill Davis is on to something when she says, “The waves of the sea help me get back to me.”

So, don’t be afraid to use a social media channel like Tumblr, Instagram or Pinterest to feed your intellectual curiosity and to nurture your creativity.

It may pay off for you in unexpectedly wonderful ways.

To see how Branding Breakthroughs nurtures their creativity, check out our Tumbler, Instagram and Pinterest accounts. You will notice each still pays off our brand by delivering consistent imagery in a voice that is in total alignment with who we are.