A signature was always a very important part of communication. And so was the business card.

There were times handing out Business Cards was impolite

There were times where it was considered impolite to just leave a business card. It actually looked like you just leave a note collecting bills. Over time of course people realized the power of business cards. In the 60's and 70's a sales persons Rolodex became a significant asset and often times even the reason to be hired.

In today's world it is almost impolite but at least a lost opportunity to not give out business cards.

 

There is an interesting parallel to our social world.

Some of the more conservative groups and communities consider the use URLs spam and generally try to ban them – including a signature to make it easy for somebody to get in touch with the author. I'm sure this will change over time as actually the opposite is the case: It is a bit impolite to just post something and let the reader figure out what the authors complete social presence is.

I learned three key things using my XeeMe as a signature

1) Ensure people know what the XeeMe URL is

My main motive using XeeMe as a signature was always to make it easy for everybody to get in touch. Approachability makes all the difference in today's business. Initially I just used the URL with no description. I learned it would be helpful to explain the URL so people would know where it leads to. I added "ways to connect" or "My social media sites" or "My Social Presence" or something along those lines.

The biggest uptake in visits was when I changed to:

(My entire social presence)

The word "entire" made all the difference. There are many 'digital business cards' like aboutme, fullyfollow, gist, but they all allow just a glimps into somebody's social presence. Typically just the big three a blog, a website and maybe 2 or three others. XeeMe is the only one where people can easily share their "entire" social presence and that is very intriguing to others – obviously more than anything else.

2) Use it not only as an introduction

XeeMe is more than just a business card to introduce yourself or as a way to get in touch. Even your dearest friends my not know all your sites by heart – and you just don't knew when and why they want to pay you a visit. Therefore I learned actually from our users to always use it – not as a way to introduce but as a way to always be available – always be approachable. We are all in many groups and communities but still it's so hard to find even the best friends on other places. You maybe in a Facebook group and want to visit a friend on Empire Avenue – you have to literally search them to get there as you don't know all the ticker by heart. You maybe in a LinkedIn group and want to tweet to an author or commenter – even if you know them well and their twitter handle: A click on a XeeMe is just that – versus going to twitter, typing a name, hoping it is right…

3) Signature for people I know

My dearest friends of course know after all that my XeeMe is my entire social presence. All I want is to let them know that I'm just a click away. And so I started to just say so in my signature to those who know me well
(I'm just a click away)

Axel

http://xeeme.com/AxelS
(My entire social presence)

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