We are big supporters of Gilda’s Club of Metro Detroit and I serve on their board of advisers. At last night’s board meeting, we were discussing how to ensure we get full participation to their huge fundraising event coming up next week. The plan was to continue to email blast the members to ensure they remembered to pick up their tickets and come to the event. That was until this social media guy raised his hand and said, “I think we should call them.”

Most everyone was a bit shocked by my statement as I’m the ‘social media guy’ and they always hear me ranting and raving about facebook, twitter, video, email marketing, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love each and every one of these tools and I use them to promote and sell out my events all the time. BUT, there’s something the phone has that none of those other tools has.

A guaranteed open rate.

emails can get filtered out in spam and junk folders. Facebook and twitter messages can get lost in the abyss of farmville, mafia wars, follow fridays, etc. But a surefire way to at least ensure your message is heard is by picking up the good ‘ol phone. Beyond that, people know an email or facebook blast is impersonal and meant for mass consumption. A phone call is personal and it’s just you and the person you want to come to your event. The likelihood of them saying YES! goes up when they feel like they are being personally invited.

So, am I leaving the social media space and heading toward the telecom world? of course not. All I’m saying is when you need certain people to come to your event, of course use the normal social media channels, but if that doesn’t work, pick up the phone and call them. Let them know you’re not a telemarketer but you just wanted to personally invite them to this event. They are that important. That’s the best chance you’ll have of getting the YES! you were looking for.

To Your Success!

Corey