You Can’t do Social Media From Behind a Desk…WRONG!

I have a laundry list of blog topics that I have been meaning to write about here but just haven’t been dedicating the time I need to do it.  So for my first post in over a month, here goes.  Will this ruffle some feathers? Probably.

“You can’t do social media from behind a desk.”

This is a quote that resonated recently from a conference that I was attending in the virtual world.  I’ve always had a problem with Tweet-a-Thons from conferences as you often miss the context.  (Note 1…if you are in a conference and Tweeting from the seats, try to make sure your tweets are always the type that don’t require context.)

I adamantly disagree with the quote above.  I will however, give the benefit of the doubt to the fact that I may have missed the context of the tweet.  (Note 2… hang on, I’ll get back to that.)

You most certainly can do social media from behind a desk.  Social media by its design allows for you to engage in the digital space from where you are, when you want to do it and with whom you choose.  You can develop meaningful, deep and real relationships with other people on-line.  You can have great friends, supporters, mentors and champions without ever having the pleasure of meeting in real life.  You can form partnerships for sharing, caring and daring from the keyboard of a computer.  Relationships are one of the keys to developing an effective social media presence.

The quote above refers to just that.  Developing relationships.

You most certainly can do that from behind a desk.  I have very real, very sincere and very effective relationships with people who I have never had the pleasure of meeting in real life, that every bit as valuable to me as my friends that I have no online social relationship with.

When you do get the opportunity to get out from behind the desk and meet your audience, friends and partners in real life without a screen and computer keyboard between you, then a deeper level to the relationship can occur.  You can put flesh to the avatar and greet people with the confidence of long-lost friends re-uniting.

To say you can’t do social media from behind a desk is like saying the lost art of being pen pals had no real relationship value to those writing across the ocean with each other. 

I can’t count how many people who I have forged great bonds with through nothing but tweets, posts, shares, likes, comments and subscriptions.  I’ve met people who I didn’t agree with or didn’t agree with what I had to say.  Through conversation, educating each other, sharing different views and listening to and holding what the other had to say with high-value, great relationships have been formed.

I’ve been able to disagree with what friends have said and have been disagreed with by friends, without fear of offending or hurting each other because we have a relationship that is real.

OK, back to Note 2… “You can’t do social media from behind a desk”.

So you’re a brand new user to social media and you have just been told that this statement is gospel, what are you thinking of social media now?

• Thinking that you don’t know how you’re going to tackle this monster?
• Thinking that you can’t do it because your job function doesn’t allow you to get out and about?
• Thinking that you’ve just been road-blocked before you got going?

Yeah, that’s the problem with blind statements.  They just don’t work…there’s always more to the story, which hopefully I’ve opened up here a little and shed some light on the issue.

Yes, getting out pressing the flesh, shaking hands and meeting people in real-life can add a new level to your on-line relationships, but not doing doesn’t mean the end of the world.  Remember too, what’s great about meeting people in real life can also be a disappointment when you realize the meeting doesn’t live up to the hype.

However you decide to , or are able to engage in the social space, be great at it.