If you ever worked in retail as an everyday sales associate, you know what I mean when I say “creating different levels of relationships”.

Some customers are one-offs (see them once and never again). Other customers, though, are regulars. Some are so regular that they can (and often do) become personal friends. How you interact with your customers has great influence over what kind of customer they become.

Take that sort of relationship-building and place the involved parties on opposite ends of the planet.

Previously there was no real way to mimic the face-to-face connection between individuals. Introduce the technology of social networking/social media, though, and bam – you’re now much closer to creating that person-to-person connection.

Simple, no?

The big hurdle shouldn’t be what social media is. It’s just good customer service, and I’m confident that everything I’ve said above is just common sense.

The hurdle, instead, should be more specific; more tactical than strategic.

What social media channels do you use? How do you use them? What goals are you setting for yourself with these channels?

The Four Essential Traits:

1. Develop real relationships.
2. Keep tabs on what’s popular, catch trends early.
3. Try new things.
4. Give back to the community, support others, promote the work of groups aside from yours.

The blog comments are filled with praise, as if these four traits are something new and innovative, and I can’t figure out why.

This is the same stuff we learned when we were in elementary school (or grammar school or grade school, depending on where you are):

• Become friends with lots of people.
• Stay in tune with fads (eg., Transformers, Pogs, Crazy Bones, Beanie Babies, Pokémon).
• You can make new friends by getting involved in new activities and meeting new people.
• Volunteering your time to extra-curricular groups and school organizations created new opportunities for making friends.

Sound familiar?

When we are young, we’re always trying to make new friends. In business, we’re still trying to make friends, but for different reasons.

Social Media is just a means to an end. It’s just a way to make new friends.

The technology and tools may have changed, but the “essential traits” have remained the same.

There’s nothing new to it. We’ve been doing it since we were kids.

“Your website is not important anymore [...] you are a publisher, and if you’re not, you better start being one.”

I responded with the following:

Shifting from presence to engagement is the next step for bigger organizations. For many small businesses, however, the first hurdle of the web — creating a website that’s more than an online business card — is still a daunting task.

It’s unfortunate. These small businesses stand to benefit the most from having a website, let alone a strong conversational presence. Yet many agencies and developers turn their back on them. Why? “Because they’re not big enough.”

I stand by that statement.

It’s why I’m on board with the Limestone New Media Group. It’s also why I work with small businesses and artists on side projects.

Before we start talking about getting these businesses connected to individuals through the web, we need to get them on the web first.

These folks have no budget and no time for building a web presence; they’re too busy running their business. Forget being publishers – they need a decent site!

As soon as I unfollowed many of these people, my own follower count dropped drastically. I was riding near 600 when I decided to trim down, and as of this post, I’m now sitting at 520-ish.

It’s interesting to see the difference in user activity for different types of accounts. On @gtanet (the account I operate on behalf of the GTA Network: http://twitter.com/gtanet) we have 700+ followers while following only 2 other users. We don’t refollow anyone, most updates are RSS driven, and interaction is relatively nil. Yet we’ve grown steadily over the months since I launched @gtanet back in the fall.

The bottom line? Twitter users are a fickle bunch. I was always curious as to what the response would be if I started to unfollow a bunch of people. Now I have my answer.

I won’t get into a long diatribe about the ongoing turmoil in Iran. There’s enough coverage of that going on from sources that are much more credible/knowledgeable on the subject than I am.

That being said, there are two reasons I’m posting this. First off, I’m a huge fan of Bon Jovi – his music is a cornerstone of my more pleasant childhood memories. Second, I like to draw attention to specific examples of social media / new media being used to support a cause.

Here’s an excerpt from the TV Guide article:

Earlier this week, Bon Jovi and bandmate Richie Sambora recorded a version of Ben E. King’s classic “Stand by Me” with Iranian superstar Andy Madadian. Their mission: to send a message of global solidarity to the people of Iran who are caught in the midst of debate and protest over the country’s recent election.

And here’s the video:

Sources:
Bon Jovi – “Stand by Me” for Iranian People (TV Guide)
Andy and Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora (YouTube)