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Nice bumping into you, to bump into you nice...

Posted by Andrew Grant on Friday 27 Aug 2010, 11:32:00

This week I spent three days in Glasgow. Since moving to London I've had an amazing time. I've met incredible people, networked with successful entrepreneurs, picked up some new high profile clients, developed a strong pipeline of house-hold named clients, sourced great new suppliers and even danced in the sun at 8am on a Sunday morning under a palm tree (did that really happen?)

In short Im a big fan of London.

However my wee trip home to Glasgow this week highlighted one major flaw with London I'd not noticed so far: bumping into people.

Whilst in Glasgow I bumped into at least eight people who I'd not arranged to meet hadn't seen in ages and had a great time catching up with. In the street, in the gym and in the bar. Added to that the banter from the four taxi's I took and the successful/productive client meetings I had whilst I was there all served to remind me how important it is to just bump into people you like and know.

In London you rarely bump into people.

But this got me thinking about the whole online thing too - as more and more people migrate to manage their social lives online they are increasing their chances of bumping into people (mind you some you want to avoid). Sitting on Facebook last Saturday night, after resolving to not go out post my Ibiza holiday - I ‘bumped into’ an old Uni mate, now working in India. We'd not spoken in ages and I spent a good few hours on Facebook messenger just talking crap and having a laugh about what we did and what we're doing.

There's a lot of negativity (sometimes rightly) about privacy etc surrounding social media and with Eric Schmidt CEO of Google’s quote this week "what happens when everything is available, knowable & recorded by everyone all the time" is valid if (not a thought experiment too far) stirring up a frenzy, its easy to understand why. But there's a lot to be said for visibility. Even more so if you're a brand or selling stuff. Too many brand owners shy away from social media for fear of what damage it can do, and let's be frank: it can create problems, but it can also solve them too. With a well thought out strategy and a good team to execute it (with the necessary experience to also effectively deal with any problems you encounter’ social media for business could have you bumping into more customers that you otherwise would.