Marketing with a Flair

Face to Face or Digital Bits? Are you able to gain trust via social networking or are you being misrepresented?

We are inundated in the digital age—especially those affiliated with the marketing industry. Social media has recently caused me to scratch my head and wonder whether or not all these sites are interpreting our lives and motives incorrectly? Are we lost in the translation?

While doing research for a marketing project, I asked from my fellow PR colleagues and friends who know me for advice. (Know: meaning, having physically encountered my face and grabbed lunch with.) When I asked my cyber world PR colleague the same questions/advice, he/she assumed my request had an ulterior motive; I was up to no good, selfishly seeking a secret of theirs. This was 100% not the case. Unfortunately, this person, who only knew me via social media, was not willing to offer any help for fear I was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. My other colleagues, whom I meet with on a regular basis, trusted me enough to know that I was not planning on stealing their clients. Why is this?

Does the lack of personal involvement cause social media users to look at us with a wary eye? Does social media help us trust people? We as marketing professionals want to be trusted, don’t we?

I take pride in the fact that my company wholeheartedly embraces face to face relationships and our clients love us for it. How 20^th century, right? Well, the age-old adage still holds true: people buy people. When we sell something, we’re really selling ourselves. Remember that one? Think about it, the reporter who you physically shook hands with and introduced yourself to, will be much more likely to respond to your email or tweet. The clients who you personally met and lunched with usually replies to you in timely manner, don’t they?

These days business is submerged in emails, social media space and countless other digital forms of communication. We keep pushing more and more internet sites to better communicate. But are we really communicating in a trustworthy way? Pokes, Becoming a Fan, Following—what are they really saying? Don’t get me wrong, social media is phenomenal. It is completely revolutionizing the way we do business, however, is it enough? I think that the elimination of the in-person factor will cause us to lose sight of what humans really respond to. Is physically getting to know someone completely dead? What would happen if more of us stepped away from the computer and connected face to face? I think we would be surprised with the results.

I think the clear answer is that we need both the tremendous reach of social media as well as face to face connections for all around success.