On Social Media Relationships...

Social: adj.

1. pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations.
2. seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.
3. living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation: People are social beings.
4. of or pertaining to the life, welfare, and relations of human beings in a community: social problems.

(source: dictionary.com)

I value relationships. Between people, between businesses, between people and businesses. It boggles my mind how in our day and age, with the tools that businesses have at their disposal to identify who their clients are and to reward them that they would treat their customers as a commodity.

An example:

I check in to Segafredo Brickell using Foursquare on a regular basis. They know this so they follow me on Twitter. My best friend and I have held that mayorship for a good 6 months. Since this is a conveniently located business (I live across the street) where I actually enjoy going , I Like them on Facebook even though I'd already friended them years back. I retweet their events. I attend their events. I have hosted events there. Peruse my pictures and you'll see that I've spent a significant amount of time and money there. Hell, go on Yelp!

I believe I've been a good partner in this relationship.

I was so happy in my relationship with Segafredo that with a few clicks I gave it access to pretty much every aspect of my life.

A few months back when I was having my birthday party, all it took was a few mentions of the event for them to invite me to have it there. This time around, we've been asking for donations to our team for Race for the Cure for 2 solid weeks and all I got was a retweet....

I wonder why they don't want to partner with us for such a great cause...

I am disappointed. I mean, I don't think social media is just so you can go back and forth retweeting non-sense. If you have any idea of what you are doing, you would be able to easily recreate your customers' social network. You would know that the people who are asking you to donate are some of your most loyal customers. Those who often pay $15 for a drink.

Donating $20 could have cemented the relationship. But when it's one sided it's not a relationship.

And this is not an an accusation. It's merely an observation. And it also holds true for all the other businesses who have a social media strategy that involves interaction in a superficial level. They want us to do things and more often than not, as customers and happy members of our community we do it gladly. We support our local businesses.

It'd be nice if they'd volunteer to support us back.