And actually get to the heart of things. The touch of a human hand is always welcome. Yet it is what scares people the most. All kinds of push back and walls have been built to rationalize, compartmentalize and control the most basic of needs - that to connect with another human being.
Yes, I'm also talking about social media environments. It's time to start mingling with the rest of the world - and do/create something. Doing business is a way of connecting, that of the current economic model and context. While it would be nice to think about intrinsic value, we use money to buy groceries and pay rent - business today equals earning money.
If we're on board with the human fabric of business concept (or try this Fabrica), then why do we spend so much darn time measuring and dissecting and segmenting and watching what people click on online instead of just reaching out and touching them - potentially making their day? Why do we keep chanting the SEO/SEM mantra in organizations at the exclusion of content and people?
Do you know how you get good - no scratch that - great results? You touch people. You help them by providing a service that is trustworthy or simply relating to them. You care, and you show them by being in the conversation with them - not about them. People join care. Go dust off the manuals of the lost art of conversation, they will come in handy here.
If you're selling me your marketing services, for heavens sake don't send me stones for foot massage. What does that mean? That I'm such a dolt you'll need to do all the work while I get my SPA feet on? Give me a taste of the content that will make me doing my job easier and me smarter. Engage with me on a human level.
Enough with gimmicks. We need more business people to teach us about connections, to market and to communicate. Business people understand the importance of value. It's time for the technologies to become boring. It's time for us to stop seeing "channels" and start seeing people.
Technologies like Twitter and Facebook are approaching market saturation. Why? Because there are only so many people interested in a given activity, or in investing in platforms created by others.
People often tell me that I sound more like a business person than a marketer, communicator, or PR person - whichever bucket you'd put me into. I consider that a compliment. What are three things you'll do today to make a difference to someone in business?
[image courtesy of Gregory Bastien]