Making Real Connections

There is a flurry of discussion on one of my LinkedIn Groups – Calgary Entrepreneurs and Small Business Group about Social Media.  This group I created a while back has really gotten a mind of its own now and I don’t really have to do much with it any longer.  This is great and perhaps one practical application for social media.  We still get the boneheads that rather spam the group versus participating in the discussions at hand.

I don’t spend a tremendous amount of time working in the Calgary market any longer however it is still good to be part of it.

The discussions at hand these days revolve around “real connections”.  I am in Dallas now attending the HTG 2011 Peer Group conference and this is something that the HTG group has been really about since day one.  Real People making Real Connections.  At the core of this group…this is what it is about.  Well for me at least.  I don’t sit in sessions and I don’t go to the labs…I sit in the lobby and talk to people one-on-one or as my friend Frank Allen (The Humble Warrior) says – eyeball to eyeball.

So the debate on social media heats up.  Many have questioned, insulted and yelled at me on my stand with social media.  I love to blog, I love to hook up on Facebook and I really get jazzed up about LinkedIn…but only for one reason, to connect with people.  Not a bunch of people, a small quality group of people.  Quality is much better than quantity.

Here is my fundamental challenge with social media.  It is not the application, it is not the use of the tools, it is not the adoption…it is the hype that many and only my opinion, unqualified s0-called marketing people are telling people that this is the saving grace to their business or if they are not on social media they are out of business!  That message alone is the biggest piece of BS I have ever heard.

The last time I checked, business does business with those they know, like and trust.  Social Media can play a role in ensuring this occurs but alone it can not.  You see, what these social media hype and propaganda machines don’t tell you and it is sort of like the “secret” hype from a few years ago…it takes damn hard work to make your business succeed.  It takes phone calls, meetings, planes, wearing out shoes, sleepless nights…this helps get you to the success pinnacle.  Don’t believe the hype.

Use the tools, leverage them to help you build relationships, but don’t rely solely on them.