Social Networking The Old Fashioned Way!

As I started to sift through my various social media accounts this morning, I had a bit of an epiphany on the importance of “in person” meetings.  As people increase their use of email, social media and phone calls at work, they often forget the importance of social networking…the old fashioned way!

This epiphany actually began as I attended the Sage Summit 2014 conference in July.  Following this conference, I returned to my office and began writing multiple follow up emails and messages to those I spoke with at the event.  As I sent out multiple emails and messages through my social media accounts, I realized that I mentioned several times how much I enjoyed meeting these people in person.  I found these social interactions with fellow colleagues, other business partners, business professionals and various clients at the conference to be invaluable.  And the people I met with found these “in person” discussions to be just as important as I did.  Hearing the comments from conference attendees saying, “Glad to put a face with a voice”, made me smile and added a much needed pep to my work week.

Networking “the old fashion way”, as in face-to-face interaction with various people, gave me some great insights that I would have most definitely missed with the usual phone, email, web chat and social media updates that we seem to reside in today.  I have a new outlook on how to communicate with others in different ways than I previously had used.  For example, I plan to pick up the phone more often, rather than simply sending an email.  I also plan to make an effort to include more in-person visits to clients, who I have not seen for some time.

While we continually embrace the trends of technology to make our lives easier, I am also realizing the type of disconnect it can provide.  Having been someone behind the scenes for a long time, I am starting to understand how much harder I have to work to build rapport with others via technology.  The little personal touches seem to resonate with people and this is often a differentiator for why many people may choose your services or company over a competitor.    With my newfound thought process, I plan to incorporate more of those personal face-to-face interactions in all facets of my life, both business and personal.

Written by Angie Marquez, Account Manager at DSD Business Systems