Every article I seem to read at the moment extols the virtues of using social media to network, some to the extreme; I mean really does having 500+ contacts on LinkedIn really help? Does having 500+ facebook friends really get you that job of a lifetime? I would say maybe.  Now I would not go as far as Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos who has banned email (http://www.forbes.com/sites/tykiisel/2011/11/30/ceo-bans-email/) , but I do take his point that it has become the norm to communicate simply in text. I spent a few hours recently with our CEO at the Ritz beach party where over 1000 delegates of the IMAC Conference where having their final networking and close party. It really drove home the importance of “face time” verses “text time”. We laughed with many clients (probably helped along by the free bar!), we swapped war stories and generally had a good time.

Now we often do business development meetings, but we also do “E-voidance”, we send clients a touch base email rather than just picking up the phone and saying “let have a catch up over a coffee or even a beer”. As business leaders we have to set the example and as there are so many good places in Cayman to eat and drink I cannot understand why we are not out more often! So to the CML staff – 2012 is the year we stamp out “e-voidance”, drink more coffee and eat out more. I know I am such a hard taskmaster!

In summary today’s blog (written with a small headache) basically says don’t ignore quality face time with clients in favor of becoming a social media guru. I am not going to hire someone I meet on twitter. I am going to hire someone who makes me think, “Ahh yes he/she was at the event last week, they seemed like a really good guy/gal let’s get them in for a meeting”… Social media can only do so much the rest is all about forging relationships and letting people know you’re more than just an online profile!