What is your social responsibility?

With the advent (or should I say onslaught) of social media and business social media, people are finally coming to their senses about what constitutes social responsibility.

But few are willing to do the work it takes to make an impact.

Social responsibility includes and transcends what you might know as “social media.” Business social media is just the beginning of your social responsibility.

Business social media has brought you awareness:

That you are being viewed and judged by your associations and affiliations.

That you are being viewed and judged by your customers and prospects.

That you are being viewed and judged by your superiors and/or your peers.

That you are being judged by more than a billion people.

Yes, it’s important to have an active and pristine business social media presence:

• A business Facebook page with more than 1,000 people who “like” you.

• A Twitter account with more than 500 followers – based on your consistent, value-based tweets on a daily basis.

• A LinkedIn account with more than 500 connections – based on the fact that your connections know you’ll be providing them with some sort of valuable information.

• A YouTube channel where you post short informational videos, training videos and testimonial videos validating your authenticity as a value provider.

But what else are you doing to meet your social responsibility?

Are you offering any of your services to the community? Are you helping Habitat for Humanity build a house? Are you a Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer? Or are you a big TV watcher and overeater?

Many people are members of some civic organization – Kiwanis, Rotary, Optimist, pessimist – but very few take on the responsibility of going to other clubs to deliver a free speech to spread their value message, thereby exhibiting their social responsibility.

But there is way more than that. Ten years ago, I saw an opportunity to take social responsibility with my own email magazine, “Sales Caffeine.” Next week, it reaches a milestone: In the past decade, 500 weekly, value-based email magazines have gone out to hundreds of millions of recipients.

I don’t think of it as a milestone of personal achievement. I consider it an execution and expression of social and personal responsibility.

I recognized that my customers and prospects were interested in sales information, and I thought, “Why not send them my weekly writings?” So I did. In the 10 years that followed, my list has grown from 21,000 to 500,000, all from one person forwarding to another who then became a subscriber and potential client.

By employing the process of social responsibility to its maximum, you also open the floodgates of sales and the possibility of total strangers sending you money for more of your information.

Here are some examples:

• If you sold me clothing, are you sending me weekly fashion updates?

• If you sold me real estate, are you sending me weekly home equity building updates?

• If you sold me insurance, are you sending me safety updates?

• If you are my travel agent, are you telling me where I can drive to have a great weekend?

Or are you still trying to sell me something I really don’t want to buy?

So let me re-ask the question: What is your social responsibility?

I’m asking you, and at the same time I’m challenging you.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by email at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2011 Jeffrey H. Gitomer