MattSnodBlog

Okay, I hate the term "2.0," unless I'm actually dealing with a piece of software that has, in fact, reached its second major build. Moving on ...

Business cards have a long and storied history, dating back to 17th-century France as "visiting cards" or "visite biletes." They were used by the social elite as a means of introduction. Today, they are de rigueur in business introductions. They come in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and materials.

I remember making my first set of business cards in the early 90s, printing them out on perforated Avery paper. This meant that it had really gruesome clip-art design and bumpy edges. Then office superstores like OfficeDepot and Staples started offering business cards, which were usually just black text on white card stock. But this time, you got a thousand of them, so you were always assured that you had a healthy stock of at least 950 cards in reserve at any time.

In the heyday of the dot-com boom, I remember getting a business card from a friend of mine who worked at a video postproduction company. They went all out on their business cards with an etched and laser-cut tin business card that had to have cost $4 per card. Needless to say, that company is no longer in business. Today, I'm happy to see that there are online companies like Moo.com that print you custom business cards for around $20 per thousand.

Nowadays, I typically have a post-business-card-exchange routine that I recommend to anyone looking to network.

• Go card crazy. Acquire as many business cards as you can physically hold. There's no downside to collecting business cards from people you don't want to know. Throwing away a business card is tantamount to throwing away a possible business relationship.
• Extra details. Have a pen with you, and write down on that person's card the circumstances under which you met or details about them, including their Twitter handle or blog. You'll need this information later.
• Address Book. Enter that person's information into your address book right away. Use the "notes" section of your address book app to add those extra details you wrote down. Also enter the date and location you met. This is easily forgettable.
• Scan them. If you regularly get a lot of cards, like at a convention, get a card scanner. I prefer the CardScan scanner, although they still don't have a Mac version of the CardScan Personal, so I have to use Parallels.
• LinkedIn. After you've entered their information, find them on LinkedIn and link to them, when appropriate. If you will ever want to LinkIn to them, the day you met is the time to do it. You are still fresh in their memory, and they're more likely to accept your invitation. And do NOT use the boilerplate LinkedIn text for an introduction. Remind them how you met, how much you enjoyed their talk, etc. Make it personalized.
• Follow them. Similarly, find them on other social media, again, where appropriate. Follow them on Twitter, subscribe to their FriendFeed, subscribe to their blog (and comment on it), view their YouTube videos. All of these are very passive and unintrusive. Friending them on Facebook is crossing a business/personal line that you'll need to be sure is safe to cross.
• Stay in touch. This is something I often forget to do. The worst way to build a relationship with someone is to say hi once and then again later only when you need something from them. Keep in touch with them. Just say hi. Comment on their blog post. Retweet them. DM them. Better yet ... call them! What? Pick up a phone?

With regards to your own business cards, a few tips:

• Have them. Always have enough of them with you. Nothing screams "d'oh" like accepting a business card and not being able to reciprocate. In some societies, this would be an insult. Store them everywhere: in your wallet or purse, in your travel bag, computer bag, suitcase, etc.
• Stand out. An interesting shape or design is always a conversation-starter. Our Lippe Taylor business cards are among the best I've seen. It's a square shape with a great design.
• Forget the fax. Put nontraditional information on them. I put my Twitter handle, blog URL, and IM on mine. If I were to have them done again, I'd also add things like Google Voice, Google Wave. Think of how people will want to get in touch with you, and cater to that. NO ONE WANTS TO FAX YOU.

A mentor once gave me a great piece of advice, "Never throw away a business card." Mind you, I do actually throw away the card (in the recycling bin) after I've done the above, but the principle holds true. You never know when or where a business connection will happen, so the larger your contact network, the more likely those connections will happen. It's simple mathematics.