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Health & Fitness

Hugs vs. Handshakes

Share who you are, what you do and why. You may unknowingly inspire someone that you may never have thought of inspiring or simply connect with someone that you never intended to connect with.

My friend and mentor, Tim McDonald, shared this with all of us who attended the GLMV Social Media Breakfast this past June at Mickey Finn’s - Libertyville. Tim and I were part of a panel along with Markus Ketel and Brandon Lewin. I was most humbled to join three very influential and local social media minds.

Tim was explaining how to get started amidst “the groundswell” that is social media. He advised asking yourself what do you want out of social media? Do you want more customers?  Better customer relationships?  Do you want to extend your brand’s reach?

Tim advised to consider social media the new telephone. You answer your phone when it rings…right?

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Well, instead of rapping on the phone, in a two-way conversation, setting up the next “power lunch” – take it to a social platform and share even more about yourself in a deeper, more complete context that extends your reach exponentially.

Let the community hear what you have to say!

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Share who you are, what you do, who and what you support, your passions, and why. I talked about this in my last post "It's Not About the Technology".

You may unknowingly inspire someone that you may never have thought of inspiring or simply connect with someone that you never intended to connect with. The technology is only the start. You are the one sharing, making connections and building community.

I met Tim via a post on one of his Facebook Pages called ‘365 Things to do in GLMV’. The post shared details of a Kid’s Bicycle Safety Day. Well – I “returned the phone call”.

I took my daughter, Abby, to this event where I met Tim for the first time. It turned out that Tim and I have a few friends in common both online and offline.

It also turned out that Abby would be on the cover of a local newspaper!

About a month later, Abby and I attended our first “Tweetup” hosted by Tim and Lake County Social Networking (which Tim founded) at Main Street Smokehouse in Libertyville.

I gave Tim a hug at that event…so did Abby.

Handshakes are for power lunches. Get off the phone.

Hugs vs. Handshakes.

This is part of the Tao (“way”) of community.  It goes deeper.

I’ll expand on “The Tao of Community” in my next post.

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