Improving communication skills in business and Relationships

By Drew Hendricks

Corporately or personally, how do you rank your communication skills – especially in our increasingly digital world? For some, it has become easier than ever to effectively communicate and engage with friends, peers, and customers. For others, communication now feels forced or unnatural. Which camp do you fall into? Let’s take a closer look at how to improve communication in the digital age.

The Value of Digital Communication

Begin by asking a few questions. What does communication mean? More specifically, how important is digital communication in your life? Whether in personal life or in a business setting, conversation and engagement have, in many cases, moved primarily from face-to-face to digital in nature.

From a personal point of view, communication is a valuable part of building relationships and friendships. Using words, body language, and other nonverbal cues, recipients will be able to understand your thoughts, needs, and wants.

In the business world, communication is an extremely important component of success. It adds value to companies’ services and products, establishes authority and voice, and makes it simple to gather necessary feedback from customers.

While it’s easy to see the value in communication, we’re at a strange crossroads where physical and digital communications converge. Generally, it doesn’t take much tech-savviness to understand how to use each independently. But how do they interact with each other? As the divisions between the two are dissolving and digital communication is simply becoming communication, are you properly prepared and equipped to effectively engage and converse with people?

How to Improve Communication Skills through a Screen

From an interpersonal perspective, any type of positive communication is healthy. Here are a few tips for improving communication skills in a digital world:

• Utilize social media. Social media is one of the best opportunities for effective communication in the digital world, and is often regarded as the best way to build or grow relationships on the internet. To begin improving your digital communication skills, social media is an excellent place to start.The most effective social media platforms for professional communication are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Facebook is the most complete social experience and incorporates photos, videos, messaging, and virtual groups. Twitter is perfect for brief conversations and reaching out to people you may or may not know. LinkedIn is essentially the “business version” of Facebook and is a great way to network within your industry or career field.