How to build a business using social media (Answer: Offline interactions)

A month ago I heard Mari Luangrath speak at the IDEA conference in Toronto. The theme of the conference was “Social and Experience Design” and Mari was speaking to us as someone who had built a successful business using only social media tools. How had she done it? What advice would she give other businesses?

As Mari described the growth of her business, her process, and the things that happened and how she responded to them, the key to her success became clear to me. Offline interactions. She regularly met people face to face, and all business transactions involved phone conversations. For all the social media tools out there, and the activities Mari was engaging in, nothing beat building customer relationships than interactions that happened offline. These tools had helped her build a wider audience, but as she joked herself:

The internet is no substitute for human companionship.

Key moments that built the business involved meeting people face to face, personal deliveries (some by Mari herself), and a personal confirmation of every order over the phone. She spoke about how the most impactful thing to come from Twitter was meeting people and building relationships at Tweetup events.

For any small business, this is sound advice. Use social media to support offline activities, not as the activity itself.

Tags: Brand, Social Media