Building relationships is more important than ever. You might be surprised at the number of people who don’t realize they are either building or destroying relationships through their use of social media. They seem to forget the “social” in this term. Yet building relationships is what a business should be doing with social media.
There are some who think that unless you meet someone face-to-face, they won’t care enough to remember you, no matter how often you converse online. There are those that say Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn are a waste of time and energy. Everyone likes the face-to-face meeting!
Many businesses are guilty of this closed-minded perspective. But just think about it. When you partner social media with phone calls and face-to-face meetings, you can double your opportunities.
The question is: Do you have to have face-to-face meetings to create real relationships (and eventually opportunities)? I find that working the whole spectrum of opportunity is best. I have been successful gaining business from individuals I met through LinkedIn as well as from people whom I have called, chatted with and met face-to-face. The bottom line is this: it is more about the person you are connecting with, not the method of connecting.
The point is that in-person methods for building relationships don’t negate social media methods and vice versa. Imagine for a moment that in your consulting business, you suddenly stopped using the telephone. You would never get any business through that channel. The same is true for those who rely solely on the Internet as a way to connect. There needs to be a marriage of the two approaches in order to make business successful.
The secret to success is finding the right balance of communication and relationship building for your clients and your business. In an informal survey of my clients’ preferences, they responded with a wide age range of unpredictable answers. Some prefer e-mails and LinkedIn, others liked meetings and snail mail, and some liked it all.
At the end of the day, only you know your business and purpose for using social media. Perhaps for some, social media does not yet have a place in their business, but times are changing quickly.
Rebekah Geldart helps others understand the best practices of social media and its use in business. She works as a Business Development Manager/Media Relations for Eagle’s Flight and is the author of a successful social media blog. You can connect with Rebekah via the following links:
Having to meet your clients face to face is still very important in building business relationship. Remember you cannot email a handshake or fax a stare in the eye. Also, it gives your client confidence in you.