Networking: Impact of Social Media on Business Cards

The networking need for business cards has not disappeared because of online marketing. Unless you never leave your computer to venture into the real world, you do need something to hand out to people who want to know what you do and how to contact you.

But as on probably everything else in marketing, social media has had an impact on business cards.

There was a time not long ago when few people would consider putting their photos on business cards. Yet now that we are so accustomed to seeing people's photos on their social media profiles, a photo on a business card doesn't seem that unusual.

And as people have pointed out at networking functions I've attended in the offline world:

When you meet several people at one event, it is helpful to have a photo on each business card to remind you which person went with which card.

Thus I admit I was rather annoyed when I was cced on an email that informed the email recipient that someone in the same professional field stated "he had never seen a photo on a business card" for someone in that particular field.

In my opinion "never seen" are not acceptable words in a global online world where major changes are happening every day and where Facebook has over 500 million members worldwide, the equivalent of making Facebook the third largest country in the world.

While things should be considered against a standard of "good taste," we should all be open to new ideas that can assist us in letting our target markets know how we can help them.

© 2011 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) and her social media marketing company partner Yael K. Miller (@MillerMosaicLLC on Twitter) work with clients to effectively use social media to get in front of their target markets. See the Miller Mosaic Quick Start Social Media Track at www.millermosaicllc.com/social-media-track

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