One of the first lessons we learned as a kid was to say “thank you,” whenever someone gave us something, or did something for us. Got a candy from grandma? Say thank you! Received a birthday present from your friend? Say thank you! Did the neighbor drive you to school in the rain? Say thank you!

I remember well that, whenever I received a little present through the post from an aunt or uncle, my mother saw to it that I picked up the phone, dialed their number, and said thank you. Of course, as a kid I hated this. I didn’t know what else to say to them! But young as I was, I understood her point.

Saying “thank you” means that you acknowledge and appreciate that someone spent his time, money or energy doing something for you.

Even if it’s a customer…

It’s a wonderful gift when you are given a suggestion or comment on how you might do something better or different. They’re also giving you an incredible buying signal. They might really be saying, “If you make that change, your product or service will be more attractive to me.” – Andrea R. Nierenberg (The Nierenberg Group)

Saying “thank you” is not a waste of your time. It is an investment in your social capital. Granted, the investment is so tiny, you might need the Large Hadron Collider to measure its size. But even the richest people in the world started with one coin at a time. Yet their coins added up, and so will your social credits…

We contribute to discussions on each other’s blogs, we share and promote other people’s content on social media platforms like Twitter and FriendFeed. We recommend people to others, vote, make introductions, give credit and link liberally to content we like and benefit from. These small (free) actions are the currency of the social web. When we benefit from free, we should always make sure to give back this way and say thank you. – Steffan Antonas

You can say “thank you” in many different ways. You can publish thank-you notes, but you can also share links, follow your customers, or make them your “friends”. Anything that sends a signal of acknowledgement and appreciation counts as a credit.

When your customers go out of their way to say something nice about you, publicly saying “Thank You!” is a goodwill gesture that’s always appreciated. […] Social media is all about building and forging relationships with your community, and saying “Thank You” can be a powerful way to start to a friendship, indeed. – David Alston (SocialMediaToday)

Last week I spent a little time saying “thank you” to 56 designers who participated in the crowdsourcing contest for the new logo of this blog. Together these people had created a total of 174 logo designs, for which we could choose only one winner. Jeroen and I were happy with our new logo, and it would be easy to forget about all the people who didn’t win. But they were the very first 56 people who came in contact with our new brand name. How could we hope to build a good name, and a positive image, when we ignored the 55 people who had labored in vain, in an attempt to deliver us a great design?

So I wrote them a thank-you note. All of them. Even the ones who submitted logos that looked like the snot of a jellyfish with the Mexican flu. They all deserved a token of appreciation.

And I didn’t even hate to do it this time.

My mother would be proud.

References:
Key Ways to Say “Thank You” When You Are Building Your New and Empowered Network (Andrea R. Nierenberg, 13 February 2009)
How To Say Thank You On The Social Web (Steffan Antonas, 14 July 2009)
The power of “Thank you” in social media (David Alston, 17 September 2008)