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What Gives You the Chills?

By on October 24, 2012 in Conversations, Social Media, Video with 2 Comments

Here’s J.J. Abrams (Lost, Super 8, Revolution) and one of my favorite question-askers/storytellers, Morgan Spurlock (A Day in the Life, Super Size Me) in a short video about choice, technology, and how to know which possibility to go after:

Isn’t this true with some of the Social Media choices we face? With so many choices – which do you go after? Certainly not all of them – that would turn into a slow process of none of them. Go after the one that thrills you first!  Hate Facebook but love Pinterest?  Go with Pinterest first.

When it comes to which Social Media track (or which “duck”) to go after first, what gives you the chills or thrills?

By the way, I’m lovin’ Zeitgeist Minds. Lots of great thinking going on.

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Capturing Conversation Using Skype and Snagit

By on October 5, 2012 in Conversations, Cool Tools, Social Media, Video with 2 Comments

Ginger Johnson and her WEB mobileI was visiting with Ginger Johnson of Women Enjoying Beer yesterday as she was packing things up and going to the Great American Beer Festival ’12 in Denver, and we decided to shoot some video.

Keep in mind that Ginger is in Oregon, I am in Nebraska. We visited via Skype. I turned on Snagit to capture the conversation audio/video.

I asked a few questions (and then edited my voice out) and now we’re uploading snippets (edited in iMovie) to her site and YouTube.

“Face to Face” yet not “Belly to Belly”. The latter is better, but not always possible.

If you’re looking to shoot some video, have some video edited and uploaded, or just want another voice to coach along during your recording – it’s one of the new SmallBizTracks offerings we provide.

If you’re going to the GABF12, make sure to visit Ginger and her team (look for the T-Shirts).

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8 Reasons Your Business Needs to Go Mobile – Free LogMyCalls Webinar

By on August 14, 2012 in Conversations, Marketing, Mobile & Local with 1 Comment

LogMyCallsI’ve shared stories about the lack of measurement and tracking in small business operations and I still hear about it too often.

Tracking how and why customers are reaching you is more important now than ever before. With social media at its highest and most widespread use and the rapid growth of click-to-call phone numbers (on mobile or with VoIP), measuring this data is extremely important for sustained success

How many people are coming in? What channels are they coming in from? Does your marketing work – or is it money down the drain?

According to research from LogMyCalls, 70% – 80% of SMB marketing doesn’t pay for itself. LogMyCalls is a great solution for small businesses in measuring how calls are coming in so you can keep from throwing money down the drain.

On Thursday, August 16th at 2:00 PM ET, I’ll be with LogMyCalls on a free webinar talking about the 8 Reasons Your Business Needs to Go Mobile

We’ll talk about:

  • How to get started on mobile today
  • Powerful data about mobile marketing in your segment
  • Pros/Cons of mobile sites vs. apps
  • Why it is critical to track calls coming via mobile
  • Where mobile will be in 5 years, 10 years

Registar today for the free webinar on Thursday, August 16th at 2:00 (even if you’re on a mobile device).

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What is Your Social Media Page Saying about You?

By on July 18, 2012 in Blog Coach, Conversations, Marketing, Social Media with 4 Comments

A targeted social media strategy offers big opportunities for businesses of every size. Social media can be a channel for stronger customer relationships, brand awareness and promotions.

But social media can be a double-edged sword, creating both positive and negative images of your company with far-reaching effects. Here are some easy-to-deploy tips to create positive impacts, while avoiding negative effects on your company’s reputation and brand.

How to Make Your Social Media Page Say ‘We Get It’

You’re doing social media right if your page:

  • Creates conversations: Blatant promotional updates are boring. Social media is not about you; it’s about creating conversations and building relationships. Listen to your customers. Ask them questions and answer their queries promptly. Let your customers be your promotional team.
  • Shows appreciation: Every Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube follower is valuable. Those who comment on and share posts are potential gold, with the power to influence others. Offer them perks. Ask for their opinions. And don’t forget to say, “Thanks.”
  • Is a sounding board: Embrace comments and complaints. Fix the customer’s problem and you’ll create a fan out of him/her and everyone who sees (and shares) the conversation.
  • Engages daily: Social media gives businesses an easy way to stay in front of customers. Take full advantage of this powerful opportunity – post every day.

Does Your Social Media Page Say ‘We Don’t Get It’?

It’s easy to see who “gets” social media – and it’s pretty obvious when a company doesn’t. You could be guilty of social media that leaves a bad taste if your page says:

  • We’re robots: People want to connect with people, not corporations. When interacting on social media networks, be a person. Use “we” and “you” statements. Have a personality (keep it in line with the brand strategy).
  • We don’t care about you: Ignoring questions and complaints has a negative impact on customers and prospects. Whether or not they’ve had a similar experience with your company, they can still get the impression that you don’t care.
  • We’re inconsistent: Give customers what they’ve come to expect from your brand. If you’re a fun, casual company, be fun and casual. If you’re professional and buttoned up, don’t post photos of employees partying; take a more serious tone but do show your human side.
  • We don’t have time for this: Building a community around social media takes time and effort. Don’t make the mistake of bailing on posts or slacking on quality content. Stick with your strategy, engage regularly and your community will grow.

Social media is a powerful, must-do business strategy. Show that your company “gets it” and you’ll likely reap the benefits.

Jessica Edmondson contributes on social media training and Internet marketing training for University Alliance, a division of Bisk Education, Inc.

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Mapping Out the Job Skills You Need to Move Up [Guest Post]

By on March 22, 2012 in Conversations, Social Media with 0 Comments

Climbing to the Top

Mapping Out the Job Skills You Need to Move Up
written by Dominick Frasso

Success in your career depends largely on motivation. If you’re motivated to get ahead, eventually you’re going to get recognized and get a chance to advance. Motivation alone, however, won’t move you up the ladder. You need to be able to identify and develop the right job skills so that, when the time comes, you’re really the best candidate for the job.

There are several ways you can go about mapping out the job skills you’re going to need to get ahead in your career:

  • Start with self-assessment. Identify your skills from day one. Know what you’re good at. You also need to identify those skills that you need in the immediate future to do your current job. It may be that you need to shore up some of your current capabilities before you go discussing other possible skills to learn. That self-assessment will allow you to generate a list of skills you need to learn. As you go through each of the subsequent steps, you’ll be adding specific skills and tasks to that list.
  • Look carefully at the stated job requirements. Now, before you go any further, realize that the stated requirements of any job are often very different from the real-world, day-to-day duties. Still, stated job requirements are a good jumping-off point. Regularly review the specific job requirements for your position. Consider asking your Human Resources department for a copy of other jobs in your organization, especially those that are higher up the chain. Be tactful about this, of course; asking your boss for his job description probably isn’t going to score you any points.
  • Learn to observe your peers. Some of your peers are just as interested as you are in moving forward in their career. Others aren’t. Get a good idea of what others in your department do on a daily basis. Identify those employees who seem likely to get ahead, and then start listing the specific skills they use on a daily basis. When one of your peers does get promoted, go back and identify the specific kinds of things that they did which got them noticed, and helped them close the deal.
  • Observe your superiors, too. Figure out what your boss actually does on any given day. Most of her duties might be wrapped up in people management. Some managers spend a lot of time dealing with vendors, or working with those above them in the organization. Make a list of the specific kinds of tasks that your supervisor or manager does, and put those on your lists to study.
  • Consider more education. Experts will tell you that most of the skills you need for any given job will come by actually working, rather than by sitting in a classroom. They’re right, but only to a point. Without a solid base of knowledge from which to operate, learning some of those workplace skills will be arduous at best, and impossible in other cases. Look at the job that you want to eventually land, and identify the educational and other credentials held by most of the people doing that job. Those should be your educational goals.
  • Identify industry certification and training opportunities. It isn’t just academic education that will help prepare you for advancement. Industry certification programs can give you a significant knowledge base, as well. In some cases, they’ll also help identify the skills you need to advance, and train you in how to develop those skills. A good example of this might be a project management certification, or perhaps a technological certification. Often, your employer will pay for you to take some of these kinds of training programs, as well. Avail yourself of them whenever possible.
  • Take advantage of cross-training programs. Some workplaces offer the opportunity to cross-train, learning skills from a parallel position. This allows you to back-fill for someone during a time when they can’t be in the office, or when there’s a gap in the position. Cross training gives you greater exposure to both the industry in which you work and your company in particular. If you intend on moving into a management position in the future, having fluency in as many job functions as possible will be a huge asset.

Getting ahead in your career isn’t all about luck or favoritism. If you’re highly-skilled at what you do, employers are going to recognize that. The more you hone the skills required to advance, the more valuable an asset you become to a company. Even if it means jumping ship to a company that recognizes your skills, you’ll find a way to advance.

Author Bio

Dominick Frasso is the SEO/SEM Specialist at Vistage International, an executive coaching organization that helps CEO members build better companies through unique executive development opportunities. In order to provide a powerful learning environment for members, Vistage identifies qualified mentors seeking CEO jobs and positions them as leaders of CEO peer groups. Dominick leverages his experience in multiple marketing roles, including advertising, media buys, direct mail, email, marketing analytics, and SEO / SEM to help Vistage acquire qualified Chairs and recruit members with a high potential for success in the program.

IMAGE CREDIT: Photo on Flickr by WalkingGeek

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The Firehose of Change is Not Your Enemy

By on March 19, 2012 in Brain Stew, Conversations with 1 Comment

The “good old days” are more old than good – though they were good back then.

The “way we’ve always done it” shouldn’t be the way we’ll always do it.

Change happens.

Don’t stand in the middle of indecision as the swinging door of progress knocks you on your apathy.

Change is an Opportunity, not an Alarm

If you don’t embrace change as an opportunity, you might drown.

photo credit: ohhector via photopin cc

Invisible Children and the KONY2012 Campaign

By on March 13, 2012 in Brain Stew, Conversations with 0 Comments

KONY 2012.

The viral video that is still on the minds, tongues, and keyboards of many has been followed up with a video message from CEO Ben Keesey, offering an explanation of Invisible Children‘s unique development model and the philosophy behind the allocation of its money.

The fighting spirit that is within the hearts of Invisible Children has been burning for many years. It’s not an overnight sensation.

I’m fortunate to be able to watch up close with awe and amazement how one local citizen and teacher leads a group of students in this fight. Each year they organize multiple events and meet weekly as a team to heighten awareness. Weekly.

Some, once active in Invisible Children as students, remain active as adults. They are passionately invested. They’ve talked with, met with, and broke bread with people from Africa that have been helped by Invisible Children.

This “movement” has been criticized, often as if its a fly-by-night movement. Habitual critics are an amazing breed. They bounce from criticizing one thing to another with amazing tenacity, leaving emotions and gossip trails in the wake and dust of their contagion.

To those who are hurting because of the critics, I offer cheer and this post about the Zone of Mediocrity in which the author offers these words:

Creating passionate users is NOT about finding ways to make everyone like you. It’s about finding ways to use your own passion to inspire passion in others, and anything with that much power is bound to piss off plenty of status-quo/who-moved-my-cheese people. Bring it on.

Something worth noting on this campaign: Invisible Children has been working hard (HARD!) at it for almost a decade. The KONY 2012 video isn’t their first (and probably won’t be their last). The followup to the criticisms have been exemplary and transparent. You can tweet questions to @invisible with the hashtag #AskICAnything.

The critics?  Many have already moved on to their next attack.

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Giving Yourself Permission to Not Listen

By on January 30, 2012 in Blog Coach, Conversations, Social Media with 3 Comments

Give Yourself Permission to Not ListenA lot of my business conversations are convened around a coffee table at my neighborhood Panera. I’ve always said, that when I’m in public – I’m accessible, otherwise I’d meet in private.

On any given day, I know at least one person at several tables. As folks I know (or simply acquainted with) walk in Panera, I give them a wave or nod – often waving them over for a quick introduction. They go about their conversation, I go about mine. Maybe we’ll gather again in a few minutes.

I don’t hear everything they say. I don’t want to. If I heard every sentence from every table that sits someone I know …

I’m confident if they say something really good, they’ll repeat it to me (or I’ll hear it from someone else).

I have a list of folks I follow as much as possible (and you can too, here’s a starter list), but there is no way I can catch every thing they say. I’d never get to Panera – or to bed.  And if they something really good, someone will retweet it.

Give Yourself Permission to Not Listen (to every word)

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Ignoring the Social Media Echo Chamber Chamber

By on January 20, 2012 in Blog Coach, Conversations, Social Media with 5 Comments

Close Your Ears to the Social Media Echo ChamberYou may occasionally read about the “social media echo chamber” – maybe you even write about it.

Me? I don’t think it exists. Not really.

And you shouldn’t let it exist – because if you do, it’s all in your head. Yep, I think you’re imagining things.

Granted, there are a lot of folks that talk about social media, and as a small business owner using social media – social media is part of the conversations in your day. But it’s not your core business.

Let’s say you’re a furniture store owner, you should be more concerned about the custom wood vs particle board debates. The Google-Facebook thing? Pass. You should be engaging with folks talking about the process of  re-upholstery more than those on the practice of re-tweeting.

If you follow or connect with a lot of people talking about social, you’ll hear a lot of talk about social (even if they aren’t talking to you). If you follow a lot of people talking about food … guess what … they talk a lot about food (even if they aren’t talking with you).

SMI-SMO? Social Media In – Social Media Out. Listen to something else. If all you’re doing is following conversations about social media (social media in), you’re probably going to talk a lot about it too (social media out). And then two things might happen:

  1. You get a headache
  2. You alienate your intended audience

I’m not saying social media conversations are bad (well, some of them are), but too much of any one thing could become a burden. And when we burden ourselves, we usually point fingers elsewhere.

There is a whole lot of conversation happening around your core business. Engage in social media chatter now and again, fine. More important, find and immerse yourself in the talk around your business.

(Did I just tell myself to shutup in this post? If I did, I didn’t hear it)

Photo on Flickr by massdestraction

 

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Would Walt Disney Support Internet Prohibition? No on SOPA

By on December 14, 2011 in Brain Stew, Conversations with 2 Comments

We see it in the blogosphere too often.  Great headline, yawn of a blog post. Yet, because of its killer title, it gets shared across the Twitterverse without being read.

SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act] may be a great headline. But the bill itself is a disappointment and dangerous to the Internet we know now and the creative, communicative power of tomorrow.

Looking over The Domino Project’s listing of who supports SOPA (mostly entertainment and publishing corporate execs – not the artists and authors per se). After following the link to this article about Everything is a Remix and watching the video, I noticed this bit:

An example of this would be Walt Disney making beautiful art of such stories as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Alice In Wonderland. Disney played absolutely no part in the creation of these stories, but he did adapt them, giving the public classic films that have stood the test of time. With that in mind, let’s see what happens if one of us — members of the general public — try to make use of characters from the The Lion King.

Wait a minute. Disney was one of the corporations list in supporting SOPA. And if SOPA existed in Walt’s day, would that mean no Snow White, no Alice, no rabbit hole?

If SOPA goes through, the world stops being freely flat and we won’t have to be concerned about having a global reach. Who knows, maybe the Prohibition Act will make a comeback.

SOPA will make it harder to do the good and creative things. Putting bars up will raise the rate of the crime they are trying to stop.

A video on SOPA found via Fred Wilson’s site:

And for an example of Everything is a Remix:

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