Social media is like a coffee shop
I like to compare social media to a coffee shop.
Go to the same coffee shop at the same time every day and you’ll start to recognize faces, then exchange pleasantries and over time get to know people better. You’ll build a variety of relationships with some stronger than others.
Go to that same coffee shop but only occasionally (maybe once every week or two), you’re unlikely to get to know anyone. Certainly not very fast. You get the same result if you go everyday but at a different times every day without any pattern.
Go to your favourite coffee shop several times a day at the same time every day. You’ll get to know more people than if you come once a day.
Go to too many different coffee shops or only use the drive through and you won’t build any relationships.
Spend time in the coffee shop instead of taking your order and running and you have the opportunity to have more in depth discussions and possibly get to know people better.
You get out of social media what you put into it
What I like about this analogy is that it neatly sums up many of the fundamentals for using social media. Substitute “coffee shop” for your choice of social media and you’ll see the similarities.
Whether it’s happening at a coffee shop, in your home, your office or any other place that you know people, building relationships takes time and continual work. What you get out of these relationships is based on the time and effort that you put into them.
The exact same is true for the relationships in your online social life. It helps a lot to see people regularly to get to know and build a relationship. The more time that you spend on any social media determines how much you get out of it.
Know the expectations for your preferred form of social media and meet them. That’s the difference between having an account and using one.
Can you spend too much time building relationships through social media? Sure thing. You can also spend too much time building relationships at the coffee shop or with people in your office.
More common though is not spending enough time on social and not developing any new relationships or strengthening existing ones. It’d be more like using the drive through at the coffee shop or going to the office and spending nearly all your time behind a closed door or ignoring what happens outside your cubicle if it’s not directly related to work.
You can use social media to broadcast messages. You can use it as a headline news service or to get leads on professional development. Those types of uses are all legitimate. Unfortunately, you’ll also miss out on the real benefits of social media.
Spend the time necessary to keep the social in social media and use it as a relationship building tool. You’ll benefit personally and professionally.
Organizations doing so will grow their base of supporters, better deliver on their mission and be more successful striving for their vision. The money and other results will follow.
