Its all about YOU!

Don't you love those e-mails from companies who are trying to sell you something and have NO IDEA who you are. Chris Brogan recently blogged about his love of Macs (even showed a pic of his latest love). But, an e-mail from Apple greatly disappointed him. It told him about "the joys of owning a Mac, the same joys that I’ve experienced for eight or nine years and counting.." Apple wanted to sell a Mac to Chris who already had one. The e-mail was impersonal, badly targeted and frustrating. Chris' message to Apple: "I want you to really care about me. I want you to remember me. That second one matters a lot. I want you to remember me, such that when I contact you at your touchpoints, you know how much I’ve done with you."

This got me thinking about our personal online networks. How well do you keep track of the people you meet? Prior to social media, we all used our address books. Taking notes about who we met at what conference and what they were about. With the introduction of social media, this is all trackable online. Meet someone? Just connect to their LinkedIn account, get their twitter addy and maybe even friend them on facebook.

But will these tools, its easy to just add them and forget. Its important to think about how you are going to use the tools to actually nurture your relationships. Are you actively communicating with your online community or are you simply collecting connections.

Failing which, you might fall into Apple's trap of having a connection, but not taking full advantage of it.