Technology doesn't weaken business connections, it levels the playing field
I am the networking king and love technology for providing me the ability to build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships. I exchange information and ideas, potential possibilities and engage with my connections by utilising technology.
I maintain my focus, and keep my eye on the long-term goal of making solid, long-lasting physical connections that will benefit me over to the course of my life.
I am one of "those" people that holistically mix my business life with my personal life and everything I do is a means to an end. For example, I do a lot of social media marketing consulting and build up my personal brand (means) to make myself more attractive to potential clients (end). The advancements in technology and the rise of social media have been instrumental in helping me and society as a whole achieve those means. By using technology, I am able to stay connected and search out almost anybody in the world very easily.
Some people see it that we are hiding behind our computer screens and smartphones and this limits social interactions, but I see it as another exciting new means to an end. Why do you think the call it "social" media? People say we text too much, but short to the point text messages are just taking the place of long drawn out phone call. That’s why they call it technological advances.
Some argue that our lives look too perfect in our social media feeds and that we spend too much time on them, but I see it as social media pushing us to excel at our lives. Technology is great for helping you to make smarter and quicker decisions. It’s easy to see there’s value in technology, but we shouldn’t forget the value of connecting emotionally with a face-to-face physical meeting.
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Technology should by means take the place of personal interactions, but should work hand in hand to lead us to a more efficient and fulfilled life. If you have 10,000 followers on Twitter, odds are that a few more of them are going to help you out over your 10 real life connections. I am not arguing with the fact that human interaction is very important, I am just pointing out the fact that technology can only help your human interaction if used correctly. It is also equally important to remember to use technology to build real-life relationships to live a fulfilling life.
My life revolves around technology as one of the top Social Media Consultants and Global President of Social Media Club (the biggest professional social media organisation in the world). I have not met many of my clients in person and lead hundreds of people around the world remotely and that would not be possible without technology. I found out about the Social Media Club from a Twitter post recruiting to join their global board. I applied and was voted on without meeting anybody in person. I eventually met a couple of the other local board members in real life, but moved up to President a year later after only meeting 20 per cent of our board in person.
I have done some of the most exciting things in my life as President of Social Media Club. It has opened up doors that I would not have the opportunity to walk through otherwise. For example, my good friend and colleague, Ali Sabkar, invited me out to share my social media success stories to thousands of people in his region at the Social Media Masters summit at the Kingdom of Bahrain. I’ll be honest with you, this was the first time I had given a presentation to the public before, but thanks in part to my awesome social media interactions giving me support and making me feel strong, it went very well. I made so many awesome real life connections on that trip that happened because of technology.
I have endless, similar stories and am always looking forward to the new doors that technology opens for me. Technology also levels the playing field for people that may have a difficult time achieving everything they set out to do. I would like to share with you my own personal story of what technology can do to for you, in hope that you may feel inspired. The value of technology is unquestionable. I strongly suggest you embrace it and figure out how to best harness it for your own needs or risk becoming obsolete!
I originally posted this article in Virgin Entrepreneur.