Social media, Support and a Twitter thank you

It's not a huge secret that I'm a social media fan.  It gives me an opportunity to share my thoughts, provide (hopefully) useful information, engage with both potential and existing clients, and market my business.  However the interesting thing with "social media experts" (which is a term I'm not too keen on at the best of times) is that they talk about the benefits of promoting your business on-line but don't talk often enough about one of the key advantages of engaging in social media - sharing ideas and expertise.

This week I was deciding what my route was going to be to Chartered status (one of the highest qualification standards a financial planner can achieve).  I decided to reach out to my Twitter connections for some ideas about what might be the most appropriate route.  Within a few minutes I'd received some brilliant ideas from fellow professionals who have completed this journey already on their experiences and the best potential route forward.  Within about half an hour I'd received offers to provide help me along with this.

I've written on this Blog before that financial planners working together benefit everyone including the professionals involved and their clients.  I'd like to add to that, I also firmly believe that the best professionals in any sector also understand that collaboration and not competition is the best route forward.  It's easy to be territorial about your business and your clients in a professional services environment, but I think it's far more powerful to be as open as long as you are ethically, commercially and legally sensible whilst taking this approach.

So....Thank you Twitter for connecting me with other professional people who are supportive and open.  Also, thanks to the professionals in question on this occasion, Martin Bamford, Pete Matthew, Rob Stevenson and Abraham Okusanya for being so helpful.

So, How do you use social media?  Do you believe it just should be a way to promote your business or also a place to exchange ideas?  and do you believe it's important to have an open and collaborative approach to your business, or do you think this is commercially unwise?  As ever, regardless of whether you agree or disagree I always look forward to hear your thoughts....