On Friday, I attended the SM301 conference, and couldn’t help overhearing, over and over again, “I think we’ve met – I recognize you from your Twitter picture!” and “it’s great to finally put a name to a face and not just a Twitter handle.” I made connections in person (finally) with Liza Sperling and Rod Brooks, caught up with Tac Anderson before he disappears to London for two years (sniff), and realized that the brilliance of social media is that it allows you to connect with people you might never have known – and that the true value doesn’t reveal itself until you also actually connect offline with those people.

Mike Whitmore told a touching story about social media has changed his life and allowed him to bounce back from painful personal events, and I think his advice leads me to a broader observation about social media: that your goal should be to connect online to connect with people offline.

Here are a few ways that you can do this:

Take the next action and be human

The next time you’re clicking a link on Facebook to send someone a birthday hello on their wall, go ahead and do it (and then, send them a personal note or card to let them know that you’re thinking about them.) Or call someone and set a time to meet for coffee. or just do something that lets the other person know that you value their time and their connection. You never know what that will mean to the other person, but I guarantee that it will mean at least as much as it means to you.

Send a friend interesting information at an unexpected time

If you’re actively listening to your friends, you’ll also find out about things that matter to them. Wouldn’t it be cool if your friends sent you cool information (a link, an article, or a video) about a topic or interest that matters to you the next time they found it? (Yep, I think that would be cool too.)

If you send that “I’m thinking of you” link with a one or two-sentence description of why that content makes you think of that person, you’ll be on your way to becoming a valuable provider of interesting information (always a good thing.)

Go Out of Your Way To Help

We’ve all been in this situation: “can you help me to do x next Thursday/weekend/whenever?” and the first response that might go through your head is “mmmm. I’m not sure I want to do that.” When you go out of your way to help someone, you’ll feel good about it (and they will too.)

You can do all of these things online (and I’m sure you are already doing that) – and think of how much more meaningful it will be for you to take the same energy you’re investing in a RT, “like”, or “follow” and to show your friends that you’re thinking of them. You’ll be glad you did it, and they will be too.