There’s Nobody In The Lobby: Part 2: Authentically Social

About a month ago I published a blog post, a quite lengthy one if I must say, called “There’s Nobody In The Lobby. An Introduction to Social Media…” that got a LOT of attention. I Got TONS of emails and kudo’s from the Readers of this blog, and others that caught the article on my MediaPRO profile and in other places that I placed the article, where I thought it would add value. 

What bothered me though, was the fact that the blog post was only surface at best, and there is a whole piece that I have written that I took from to produce that “snap shot” which has now become quite the discussion piece. SO with that – I decided… “Heck let’s continue to tell the story, it’s helping people…” So here is what I am now calling: There’s Nobody in The Lobby: Part 2: Authentically Social… If You have not read “There’s Nobody in The Lobby. An Introduction to Social Media” read that first… It will 1. Help you, 2. Make this MAKE SENSE.

 

… SO after you realize what has just happened, and after you have made your way back over to the couch in the lobby, you sit down to catch your breath. You have about 100 thoughts running through your mind all at one time and you are trying to get a grasp of all of the NEW information that you have found. You are overwhelmed by all of the people that you have met, and what’s amazing you the most, is that though many of the people that you met were NOT in your line of work, and were NOT your USUAL SUSPECTS, you somehow felt “a connection”. And in that moment – you felt alive and rejuvenated about the business that you are in, because somehow it just felt more “dynamic”. 

As you look at your handful of business cards and yellow Post-It stickies, you start to realize just how “un-connected” you have been, because you realize that your business card resides only in the hands of those you THOUGHT or FEEL will appreciate your business, the ones that you picked out and targeted to give your business card to. You start to think about all of the elegant systems you have in place to get your business cards in the hands of these “Chosen Few” and you quickly start to understand that “business as usual” is NOT so usual anymore. 

You look down at the table, where you in-fact, left your business card – and surprisingly enough it was still there. You reflect on how when you were engaged in the Facebook room – you were able to talk about your business, and project just how excited you were about what you did, and how excited the people that you talked to where about your business. Scanning over the empty Lobby you started to understand that, THINGS HAVE CHANGED, yet you, until now, were still the same. And the question of – “How come I can not get my cards in front of enough people?” starts to fleet and become a memory. 

Renewed with new information, you travel to the parking lot and you get into your Fresh New Car, the one you bought when you accomplished the big Corporate Brand account the month prior. And in THIS moment you realized, THIS IS WHERE ITS HAPPENING. You turn on your cell phone and you start making calls to the Business Cards and yellow Post-It notes that you had ascertained. You start talking to contacts and building REAL RELATIONSHIPS with them, inviting them to lunch and to social events that your company had put together 6 months ago, but were still trying to figure out how to get people there. You had posted the companies social events under the tab 

What We Are Doing At My Company

on your website, but looking over your websites site statistics, you know that only a few people even visited that tab. SO you knew that your company events would be more “elbow rubbing” with your own team mates than anything else. BUT NOW you were engaged, you were more aware than before, and you were connecting more organically than you had before. The people that you talked to on the phone you told them… 

“I don’t want to keep you on the phone forever, I know you are busy, but check out our website at www.mycompany.com if you want more information about us, and see you next week for lunch!” 

and the more you did this, the more you realized that your business card and your website were much the same. In a time where they WERE the tools to have, you used them, even optimized them, however; you are now in a time where they are simply what they are – TOOLS. They are the residue of real interactions. The residue of real conversations and real relationships. You realize that in today’s information driven marketplace, the leading edge resides where it always has… Real Authentic Human Interaction, and HOW and WHERE we communicate is as diverse as the Restaurants we frequent, the meeting rooms, the boardrooms, and the conference halls – except now they are more agile, and easily accessible. Restaurants are now called Rejaw, meeting rooms are now called Twitter, conference halls are called Facebook, and it’s in these places that we have to become authentically social. 

Have a business card? YES! Have a website? YES!! Become Authentically Social? HELL YES!!!! As we consume more information, as business speeds up, and connections are being made at the speed of a “click”, we no longer have the luxury of sitting in “The Lobby” – It’s back to what Gary Vaynerchuk calls Hustle 2.0. It’s back to getting in front of people, in real-time. REAL PEOPLE with real stuff going on. So from the seat of your car, you make real connections, you hire people (if you do not have the time) to connect with people WHERE THEY ARE from within your company,get someone that is a “Twitter Fanatic” or a “Rejaw Maverick”  because I am telling you… The audience you are trying to reach, IS NOT coming to sit with you in The Lobby anymore.