When I am talking to other CEO’s about using social media, they generally look at me as if I was suggesting to them that they give up their day job running their company. They tell me that they don’t have the time to keep up with all that “nonsense.” They are not interested in what people had for breakfast, or care what someone is doing on vacation. Others have heard or read about how people spend hours playing Farmville and Mafia Wars and figure there is no real business value on these platforms.
But probing a little deeper I find that some of them have experimented with LinkedIn because they received an email from a colleague to join, but were frustrated by it and never really started using it. Others signed up on Facebook to monitor their kids activities.
As these conversations progress we talk about how we network in order to create, strengthen and build relationships. It is not uncommon to find that these company leaders are spending a considerable amount of time going to business lunches, community meetings like Kiwanis and Rotary, chamber meetings, industry conferences, and charitable events to make connections and create networking opportunities that can lead to new or expanded business. What all of these tactics have in common is that they can take considerable time to implement.
Think about it. We meet a a lot of people at a charitable event, exchange cards with a few and if we are lucky, meet one person who might present themselves as a business opportunity – 3 hours of time. We follow up with him by phone to schedule lunch – 5 minutes. We grab lunch and begin to build a relationship – 1 1/2 hours. If we are real lucky, we could begin doing business that afternoon, or we could spend years building that relationship and friendship as we cross paths at various functions, and no business opportunity might result. How many times does this scenario repeat itself?
My point is that as business people we devote hundreds of hours per year in the hope that we will create business opportunities. None of this is viewed as a waste of time, but a necessary component of being a successful business person. We budget this time into our work week as well as extending it into our personal lives. It is part of doing business.
Social media provides an opportunity to achieve the same results in an exponential fashion far more efficiently. Over the past year, I have created new relationships and business opportunities by developing a social media strategy specifically designed to expand my business network and create new opportunities for me professionally, as well as my company. I have engaged in conversations with business leaders and consultants all over the world. I no longer need to go to cocktail parties, mixers, and charitable events to meet people; LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the places which have allowed me to meet thousands of people. Most of these people have only seen my name, I have had conversations with some, and ultimately have discussed business with a few. Almost all, were never part of my personal network, nor were they with in any degree of separation that would have resulted in the relationship.
Social media has not replaced one-on-one relationship building; it complements it. It is a new set of tactics which allows us to expand our sphere of influence and opportunity. Not recognizing this potential is a missed opportunity. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on using social media to build relationships.
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