Summer’s over. School’s in session and insta pix have changed from sunsets to dorm rooms. It’s time to get back to work. It’s also time to leverage the power of Personal Media.
Personal Media is best described as the often unused and overlooked little sister of Social Media. And for me, it is much more powerful. As Social Media has become ubiquitous, Personal Media has become much more important for real and meaningful communication. It’s the Personal Message you post on someone’s FB page that pulls his eyes from the newsfeed to your thoughts. It’s a text, an email, an actual phone call and even, God forbid, a hand-written note.
Personal Media separates us from the noise and for me has been a potent personal and professional communication tool.
It takes very little time to text “Just thinking about you. How’s the new [blank]?” Or “You told me in June to remind you not to become the kids’ slave this year.” And last night a “What’s up?” turned into an hour-long conversation with someone who needed to talk but didn’t know how to reach out.
I wrote a quick email to a client recently “How are you?” He wrote back one word “Crazy.” He was busy, but two weeks later he reached out to say “still crazy, but I need to talk to you about a project.”
When I’m in the car, I take advantage of the phone, catching up with friends or leaving actual VOICE messages with a jokes or impersonations of Donald Trump.
And yes, I write “thank you” notes and “how are you” notes and “you did a great job” notes, not because I think I’m supposed to, but because I want people to know that they are important. It takes time to craft, write, address and mail an actual piece of paper. And sure, he might throw it out. But I’ve known people to keep those little treasures because they are the unicorns of communication.
The bottom line is this: it’s September. There’s a college freshman who could use a “hello,” a client who is swamped with a post-summer six foot stack, a mom who just sent her kindergartener off for the first day of school, a friend who’s starting a new job.
I guess AT&T said it best back in the day: “Reach out and touch someone.” And today you have unlimited ways to do it.
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