We have a lot of friends, clients and business acquaintances that we would like to send a Birthday card to if only we knew their birth day. In this post we will look at several new ways that are available through social media.
Of course, the simple way to get someones birthday is to ask. A simple question " Hey, I like to send Birthday cards out. What day and month is yours?" Don't worry about the year as that is getting personal and can make some feel uneasy.
But I'm also finding that Facebook and Plaxo are wonderful sources. Both have profile pages, and formats for sending an e-Birthday card. While e-cards are OK, I've grown leery of e-cards as there are a lot of viruses spread through bogus links.
Facebook is great as it is a tremendous gathering place. I use mine mostly for friends and is closed to the general public. The drawback to Facebook is that most people don't put their address in it. But with a little work you can usually find an address, even if only a work address. Again, asking for an address personally usually works as well.
Plaxo is great. It's purpose is to automatically update your contact record when you change it. Change your job or email address and it automatically alerts your Plaxo friends that something has changed. My Plaxo account is open to just about anyone who has access to my email address and wants to be included.
In the last 24 hours, I was alerted by both Facebook and Plaxo that 2 different Realtors I know are having birthday's this week. I entered their information into SendOutCards for their work addresses, downloaded their pictures off the Internet and made custom Birthday cards with their picture on the front. I sent a gift to one of them since I know him better.
It took about 15 minutes from start to finish and cost less then $2 for the card and postage. AND, I'm home sick. I did this in my PJ's.
Did I need to send the cards? No. Will I get anything out of it? Probably not. But, and this is the important part. I made their day a little bit better. Just part of loving my neighbor as myself.
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