When i was first in college i did some internships at a local hospital. There was always the talk of the differences between those doctors who became doctors because of prestige and or money and those who were in it for the money. when being around them regularly you could really begin to tell who was who.
or 
The intent became obvious. When you being to sit down and think about your dealings with all professions you can tell peoples intent and why they are doing what they are doing.
- Do they really care?
- Do they really want to help you?
- Are you just another customer to them or are you a valued client that they truly care about your success, and or satisfaction?
Getting out there, using Social Media, and building community gives you more exposure and gives people more views into your work, more exposure insight into your intent.
So ask yourself what is your intent? Why are you out there? Why are you interacting with others? Why are you trying to get more involved in the community?
Think back to some good examples of great experiences as a customer you have had in the past 6 months. Was the service extra special because you thought that they really wanted to help you? Was the service great because how you felt special? Try to be more conscious of this as you interact with people i think you will find that as you try to to notice it more you will see how it affects you more than you thought.
I don't believe that all businesses are going to have good intentions when they start out, or even at any point in their lifecycle. However I believe that those that do have solid intentions will have the advantage. This advantage will be even more obvious when delving into social media. The more you interact the more it will become obvious and the more people will talk about it.
Something i believe everyone should do BEFORE getting out there in Social Media is to completely and honestly examine their intentions. Ensure you understand why you are doing what you are doing. What are your motivations? What do you hope to gain by being involved? If these motives became obvious, how would people react? Would this help or hurt your cause?
What do you think?
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome here. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Or you can email me directly chris dot geier at Gmail.com
Good Post Chris. You are right that intentions can be masked for a while, but eventually they will come out. When they do AND if they are earnest the people that interact with you (or the business) will typically be positive and will lead to the next interaction.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the opposite can also occur --- when false intentions are revealed the reaction and response from the community at large can be devastating to a business and to the people involved.
Today people in the US are dealing with the AIG fiasco and the resulting financial meltdown. AIG caused a lot of their own problems, but it was not every employee or even every department that was involved. However, it seems everyone is being painted with the same broad brush. This is an area where intent can be mis-represented and people can be wrongly accused for something they had nothing to do with (akin to a Type II Beta Error). This is a risk area where Corporate Intent may be at odds with Personal Intent.